Happy New Years!

Hope everyone had a blast! As I've mentioned, I was most excited about January 1st because it would be my first day off in over two weeks. Apparently I was so excited about the idea of sleeping that I decided to get an early start on December 31st. Instead of heading out as planned I actually fell asleep at around 10:30pm. I woke up around 11:55, but my New Year's party consisted of listening to a couple of neighbors set of fireworks outside. I can't say I was terribly disappointed, though, I really like sleeping. :)

Since I did have a few days off, I decided to take some Colin-time to enjoy the non-snowboarding perks of my job (and it hadn't snowed in over a week). I spent my days off exploring a local tubing park (which has a rope toe to pull you back up!), ice skating at the mountain's outdoor (but tiny) ice rink, and riding the alpine coaster. The alpine coaster was definitely the most fun, it's basically a roller coaster on the mountain. You get pulled about a third of the way up the mountain and then cruise back down through a series of drops and spins. It's a bit steep at $15 a ride, but at $0 a ride it's a great deal and a fun way to spend 15 minutes when you're waiting for a lesson to start.

Although my couple of days off got me somewhat rejuvenated, I was still a little slow rolling out of bed early this morning. However, looking out my window I saw that the .5" inches of snow that was forecast had turned into a full on storm. There were a few inches on the ground and it was coming down hard. Nothing makes me happier out here than being out in fresh snow, so I was in a great mood all day. The snow kept up too and by 3:00pm we had over half a foot. I dropped my students off and immediately jumped back on the chair to get a couple of runs in for myself. I was still in my team uniform so I was limited to green runs (and a couple of easy blues), but new snow is new snow; I didn't have time to change.

And that's where things sit now. The snow is still coming down, I can't wait to see the damage tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, it was a little warmer today (in the high 20s) so the snow is a little wetter than the champagne powder we're used to. I'm sure I'll figure out some way to survive, though.