Mountain Slopes, Snatchbacks and Manual Driving

Above picture: We hit the West Wall but it was just as steep at the Salom Slope...what's up with that? Look in the distance to the right and you can see the last lift that reaches the tippy top of the mountain.

That Morning

The frost on the inside of the car windows gleamed with the lights from the Keystone Ski Resort shining directly in front of the car. Chad and I had made camp in a shadowy parking space of a nearby lodging area for the night and eagerly drove to the Arapahoe Basin Ski Resort just down the road. The mountain was huge, intimidating and loomed around us forming a legit basin where we stood (aka the reason behind the name of the resort). Snowboarder hair flopping in the wind (imagine longer hair slicked back and lightly rippling in the wind for dramatic effect), Chad practically raced me getting our things together and dashed to the rental shop as he was very eager to attack every single run on the mountain. Lord help me*.

*Katie’s skiing background: Maybe have put 30 hours total in my life into skiing and would call my skills “moderate”. *Chad’s snowboarding background: snowboarding since around 14 years old, he is familiar with turns, jumps, speed, and varying levels of difficulty. He also volunteers as Ski Patrol at Hyland Ski and Snowboard Resort every year which allows him to practice every other weekend.

Mountain Skiing Highlights

• The lifts are the coldest part of the entire day
• Once at the top of the mountain it’s amazing how far you can see
• Chad loves a challenge and helping me learn quickly to make it down the hill alive
• Chad also loves to go down black diamonds by mistake and we have no choice but to go down the slope
  • The first run of the day we rode two sets of lifts to reach the tippy top of the mountain. Chad went first and lead me straight down a mogul filled black diamond by mistake. Yard sales any one? They are around every corner, you can’t miss them.

• There were more yard sales and casual falls by me with occasional wipe-outs from Chad
• No injuries (thank goodness)
• Small kids were going down the blue square runs better than me (WHAT?)
  • By the end of the day both Chad and I had improved drastically and actually enjoyed attempting the black diamonds
• The sights were absolutely beautiful and the steepness of the runs shocked me
• Cooking a venison stew in the parking lot was awesome

Goals achieved

• Hitting the majority of the runs (skipped the extreme black diamonds with rock outcroppings)
• I was able to learn how to slowly go through moguls
• Chad was able to get some good air on a few jumps and was able to practice movements with the longer runs

Yes, I know they aren’t snatchbacks and the real term for the winding roads on mountains are called switch backs. It didn’t come out that way when I was speaking with Chad as we went around our first one the night before. The reason they are so prominent now is because after skiing we left at 3pm to hit the highway and flee the mountains as soon as possible to avoid driving in them again at night. Except this time, I had to drive. Cue the horror movie music before something bad happens. I was terrified as I have re-discovered I am not a huge fan of cliffs or heights let alone slippery roads added into the equation. Chad had to catch up on work and it was unrealistic for him to drive so there was not wiggle room and stalling won’t help.

Things to avoid when driving in the mountains

• Avoid the clutch and let the car brake for you while in a lower gear
• Listen to the engine for high RPMs and apply brake to lower them
• Stay calm and never look over the ledge because the car will stear that way
• Don’t apply brakes on the turn, only before to avoid slipping
• Having meaningful conversations while focusing is out of the question

+3 hours later I safely carried us both through the mountains and sped our way to Grand Junction, CO. It would have been really cool to see the caverns we were driving in and to appreciate the huge tunnels that were chiseled out of the side of a cliff face, but the sun sets around 5pm and the dark hinders all beauty.