I went snowboarding on Winter Park’s closing day. It was a warm sunny day. During lunch I sat outside the restaurant at the top of the mountain. There are lounge patio type chairs out in the snow just outside the restaurant. Most of them were full and all facing the short path from the top of the ski lift to where the ski run starts. It was a rowdy crowd and almost all the chairs were full, but we managed to find a couple of chairs. Some people are dressed up in silly costumes, some are stripped down to just a t shirt because it’s so warm. All are fortified with snowballs. So, after I see what is going on, I start making some snowballs because I feel that is my obligation based on where I am sitting. There are about 30 people lounging and anyone that tries to ski by is at risk of a one-sided snowball fight. I quickly learn that I’m not very good at throwing snowballs at moving targets, not a surprising discovery. Of course, the three girls skiing in their bikinis get quite a large number of snowballs. The ski patrol guy thought he should be exempt, but he wasn’t. Women and children were not safe in this war. Costumes got more snow fire. People that tried to escape did not. People that mooned us or egged us on got pummeled. Some people figured out what was going on as they were coming up the lift or because they had run the gauntlet before. They came with a snowball or two for us. In times of little to no traffic the loungers turned to friendly fire. But the ones that got the most snow fire were the ones who decided to leave the lounge chairs and take a run. I think I hung out there for 2 hours before I took off. My arm hurt the next day from throwing so many snowballs.
Tag: Winter Park
Secret Balcony
Near the end of ski season there was a big party at the base of the ski resort. There was a live band a people were dancing. I met a couple new friends there for a drink. The day was warm and the atmosphere was celebratory. After a drink and some snacks, the people I was with were ready to go, but I wasn’t. I was enjoying the nice afternoon and the sun. I had run into some other friends as they came in from skiing, but I didn’t see where they went. So, I texted one to find out if they were still hanging out around the festivities. His response was “yea. We are on the secret balcony, hanging out with the cops”. Huh? I waited a few minutes expecting more information to come in, but none did. So I asked him if was going to tell me how to get to this secret balcony. He told me to go to the elevators past ski school and go up to 3r. I had a heck of a time finding the elevators by ski school. In fact, I didn’t really ever see anything that said ski school, but I hunted around the building for an elevator. I found an elevator down a hallway that didn’t quite look like I should be in the hallway. But, of course, if it’s a secret balcony, I guess it shouldn’t be easy to find and I shouldn’t feel quite like I’m supposed to be there. The elevator had a 3r so I pushed it and ended up in another hallway. At the end of the hallway looked like what might be a balcony, but no one was there. Finally my friend poked his head out a different door. I followed him through a room that looked like where kids might eat lunch – lots of low tables with small seats. On the other side of the room was the secret balcony. It sat just above where the live band was. We could look down on the crowd below. But we had to sit on small children sized chairs. It’s nice to know people with access to secret places.
Tubing
The winter season is winding down. The ski resort is still open, but it’s mostly slush, not snow. It’s less crowded. One of my friends got $5 tickets for the tubing hill at the ski resort. And it was the last week the tubing hill would be open. So at lunch time, three of us went tubing for an hour.
On our way to our first run we heard a little kid screaming very loudly in giant protest when his parents made him leave. We all thought we might feel like that when it was our turn to leave, when our hour was up.
There were four tracks. We went down a couple, taking turns before we found out we could go down all at the same time holding onto each other’s tubes. That was a game changer. We tried all four until we found our favorite one. We hooked our tubes together and went down screaming and laughing like teenagers. It was amazing how little control you had, just hold on and giggle.
This is where I live. These are my friends. This was my lunch break. How wonderful. I was sad to go, but was able to keep from screaming and crying in protest.
Torchlight Parade
I didn’t travel for Christmas this year. So I searched for things to do in Grand County for Christmas. I found that Winter Park does a torchlight parade on Christmas eve. “What is a torchlight parade?”, you ask. Well you are in luck because that is my Beautiful Things story today.
I drove to the ski resort in the early evening. I got a little lost finding parking because I’m not familiar with Winter Park. I ended up parking at the sledding hill not realizing that wasn’t the base village and I needed to be at the base village. I almost stayed because sledding sounded fun. But, that’s not what I came for. So I asked for directions, got back in my car and headed toward the parking garage at the base village. I got close and it was a giant confusing mess of small roads, cars, people and not very good signage. A guy was stopping traffic telling people the garage was full and the parking lots were full. Right as I pulled up to him another guy came out of the parking lot and said there was one more space in there. Score – I’ll take it!
I parked and walked down to the village. It was covered in people. It was also covered in snow and pretty lights. By now the snowflakes were huge and and if ever there was a picture of Christmas, this was it. There was an ice skating rink with parents pushing kids around in funny looking carts – I’ve never seen this before. The stores and restaurants were all warmly lit up (and packed). There were carolers in the streets, people gathered around fire pits and little happy kids running arond. The line out the door of Starbucks was insane. A warm drink sounded great, but I don’t know if I’d miss the show waiting for a decaf latte. I found my way to the base of the ski run. There was Christmas music blaring on a giant sound system. The base was wall to wall people, some still in their ski gear, some wearing their fancy winter gear that announces they are tourists and some locals too. Excitement and holiday joy filled the air. There were random fire pits around to keep people warm, although the shear amount of people made it warm.
At some point you could see a couple of lights up on the ski hill and everyone started ramping up the excitement. An announcer told us the parade was about to start and further ramped up the crowd. Eventually, skiers and snowboarders carrying red lights started coming down the ski hill. They took a wide turning path back and forth across the hill. By the time the first ones were getting near the bottom, the path created the look of a giant red glowing, moving Christmas tree shape on the slope. Then the fireworks start. The whole time huge snowflakes are coming down, Christmas music is playing, the crowd is cheering and I am crying my eyes out. This is my new home. I actually live in a place that thinks this is the thing to do for Christmas. Here, winter is celebrated, not cursed. Everything is sparkly and shiny – a true winter wonderland.
Then the song “Do you hear what I hear” came on and the snowcats drove up behind the skiers. The song has such a power to it and these giant powerful machines drive part way down the slope and park. They each have colorful Christmas lights on them. I imagine each driver decorated their own cat. Their headlights are so strong they light up the whole hill. They park and you can’t keep your eyes off them even though there are still skiers. They command your attention. The crowd goes wild. I even had trouble watching the fireworks at this point. These drivers work all night grooming runs for the next day., unseen by most and probably never cheered like famous rock stars. But tonight, they steal the show.
Finally Santa and Mrs Clause come skiing down. This delights all the kids. Santa is a couple turns from the bottom and falls. Everyone loves it and you hear laughter all over the mountain. I think he should fall on purpose every year.
Then the mad rush back to the cars, the condos, the bars and the restaurants. That’s a brief look at Christmas Eve in a ski town, my ski town. Merry Christmas!
https://www.winterparkresort.com/things-to-do/events/torchlight-parade
Breathing Trees
I decided to go snowboarding this morning. I got to the mountain before the lifts opened. I wanted to be there early to get some decent time on the mountain before heading back home to work. Being early, it was also very cold. But the sky was blue and there was fresh snow on the ground. I got on the lift and braced myself for the cold ride. The ground sparkled like someone had thrown out millions of tiny diamonds. I held on tight to the lift as I felt myself drawn toward the sparkles unable to take my eyes off the ground. I noticed that I wasn’t cold even though the temperature had to be close to 0 degrees. The air just felt crisp and clear and you felt you could see forever. Then when the sun hit the air just right, I noticed that the air wasn’t clear at all. The air between the trees was sparkling. There was no wind. The sparkles were not falling or blowing. The sparkles were just hanging in mid air. Tiny ice crystals suspended in air as if the trees were slowly exhaling and you could see their breath. There was nothing else in the world but me, quiet stillness, and these magical trees sending out sparkles. I imagined that even though I could not see sparkles above the trees where I was, that they were still there covering me as I moved through them. This lasted for the rest of the lift ride and the next and then was gone.
Sorry, the sparkles were magic and cannot be captured in a photo. You will have to close your eyes to see them.
Rraine Drops 