- "Mort, do you think we should sign up the twins for more lessons when we go to A-Basin tomorrow? Mal seems a little clumsy yet. You saw the scrapes on the side of his face," Agnes said.
"Mal didn't do that on his own. I think Joey deliberately pushed him," Mort said. "I gave Mal the chance to tell me about it, but I guess he didn't want to tattle on his cousin. Joey's been strutting around and showing off."
- "Joey's at a difficult age," Agnes replied. "He's older than his other cousins and he's discovering that he's no longer a little boy, but not quite a teen. Fortunately, we've still got a few years before Mal gets to be that age."
- "Well, I hope Mal grows up more graciously. This is probably a good time to start talking about things like this with both the twins," Mort said thoughtfully.
- A Different Kind of Beach and Roller Coaster
- Each bend in Highway 6 brought new, spectacular scenes into view. Agnes insisted on driving because she wanted Mort to take in the splendor of the rocky peaks. She also knew what awaited once they arrived at the Arapahoe Basin ski area.
- Agnes made her way through the narrow turnoff approach to the parking lot.
- "Is THIS the parking lot?" Mort asked in amazement, as Agnes skillfully maneuvered the car through the bumps, dips and slick spots of A-Basin's close-in lot. Mort was expecting a paved or level gravel road.
- "Sure is - and the roller-coaster ride through it is free!"
- Agnes wanted to arrive early so they wouldn't have to carry their skis very far before putting them on.
- "Why don't you park over there?" Mort asked, waving toward the empty spots to the right.
- "Oh, that's the beach," Agnes said.
- "Mom, you didn't let us know we could bring our bathing suits," Mal said, disappointed.
- "It's not a real beach, silly," his sister said, taking the opportunity to show how quick she was to notice things. "It's 'cause the snow looks like sand. Right, Mom?"
- "Actually, people have winter picnics here. They bring outdoor grills for hot dogs and brats, sit on lawn chairs, play frisbee and even bring their dogs. People leave those parking spaces for the picnickers." Agnes said. "You'll see lots of them later in the day."
- "Neat! We should bring Rufus next time," Mal said. "He'd like this place!"
- Next time? both Mort and Agnes thought.
"This is higher than any of you have ever been before, close to the very top of the Continental Divide. Let's set our skis outside the A-frame building there. We can get some hot chocolate to warm up and take our time getting ready. We should also take it easy for the first run or two," Agnes advised.
- Mal wasn't interested in taking time indoors. Besides, this buiding didn't have anything neat -- in his view -- like the huge mural of the locomotive at Breckenridge's 10 Mile Station restaurant.
- In the Shadow of Black Mountain
- Agnes studied the trail map and was delighted to see two major improvements since she last skied at A-Basin: Black Mountain Lodge, a cafeteria restaurant at the top of the first chairlift and Montezuma Bowl, a brand new area on the back side of the mountain. They wouldn't have to ski all the way back to the base for lunch. She loved skiing above the timberline and hoped her family would too.
- Mal was so awestruck by the stark grandeur of Black Mountain, he nearly fell getting off Exhibition Lift. "Wow," was about all he could say.
- Mel was the first to notice the moonscape look of the trails above them. She pointed upwards. "Mom. It looks like the sand dunes. Where are all the trees?"
- Agnes and Mort explained that trees, like people, need air to breathe. Since trees don't have lungs, they simply don't grow at a certain point where the air doesn't have enough oxygen for them to grow. The A-Basin slopes they were looking at are above the timberline (or tree line, as many people call it).
- "How high is the tree line?" Mal asked.
- Mort looked at Agnes to answer. "About 12,000 feet," she said. "Can you figure out how high that is in miles?" she asked Mal and Mel.
- Both twins were worried. They hoped they didn't have to sit down and do arithmetic.
- Seeing the looks on their faces, Mort reassured them. "The hills are calling us. We'll figure it out over lunch. Ag, where do we do now?" Mort was nearly as awestruck at the wide expanse as Mal. He truly hoped Agnes would choose to go up on the next lift instead of down to the base.
- Agnes could guess what Mort was thinking. "It's going to be cold up there," she warned. The wind is nearly always blowing, so the wind chill is going to be more than you've ever experienced. Bundle up here. You can always partly unzip your parkas if you get too warm."
- They skied the short way down to the Lenawee lift behind the Black Mountain Lodge. Agnes checked the children and adjusted their skimasks.
- It was COLD riding up the lift. As Agnes predicted, the wind was howling. Mort didn't want to wear his ski mask, so the little snow and ice crystals picked up by the wind stung Mort's face. When they got to the top of the lift, Agnes pulled Mort's ski mask from her parka pocket. "Here, I thought you might need this," she said with a grin.
- "That was brutal! Did you see how fast the weather vane was spinning? I thought I left my mask in the car," Mort said.
- "You did. I just happened to see it and figured I'd better look after all THREE children," Agnes said, highly amused.
- "That was super neat, Dad. Next time I'm not going to wear my ski mask either," Mal said.
- "Yes you will, Mal. And so will I. At least until this wind dies down," Mort said.
- The wind subsided somewhat as they made their way down Lenawee Face and then Dercum's Gulch, a nice wide trail. There was plenty of room to practice turns and "cruise," as Agnes put it. They stopped frequently to catch their breath, taking in the spectacular views and admiring some of the better skiers who were making their way down the more difficult runs from the cornice to their left. Mal looked longingly in their direction, hoping that he would one day be able to ski like that.
- A Different Kind of Downhill Skiing
- "Look, look there," Agnes said, pointing in the opposite direction to the very top of Lenawee Mountain.
- "What are they doing? How did they get up there?" Mort asked.
- "They climbed, carrying their skis," Agnes said. "Let's watch as they ski down."
- Mal and Mel watched intently, amazed at the sight of the people so high above them. It looked really dangerous. Mort thought so too.
- First one, then another and another of the skiers started down the North Pole. They didn't seem to be like regular skiers, though.
- "Mom, what are they doing? They keep kneeling down and standing up," Mel said.
- Agnes praised her daughter. "You've got good eyes, Mel. They are telemark skiers."
- "Don't tell me they're calling people on the phone to sell them skis," Mort said.
- Agnes threw back her head and let out a big laugh. "No, no. Not telemarketing. Telemarking. You know, where the heels are free. Similar, but quite the same as cross-country skiing."
- "They look really pretty. I'll bet it's really hard to ski that way, though," Mel said.
- Mal wasn't particularly impressed with the skiing technique, but he was impressed that people would actually climb up a mountain rather than riding a chair lift.
- "Let's go back up the Lenawee lift and I'll show you where they start out," Agnes said.
- The ride was far calmer this time, as the wind had died down considerably from their first ride up. Agnes pointed out the North Pole hiking gate and took note of the path to the Montezuma Bowl at the back of the mountain. Maybe after lunch, she thought.
- Everyone wanted to ski down Dercum's Gulch again because it was so fun last time. This time they finished at Norway Lift because Mel complained of feeling a little cold and Agnes suggested they visit the Snow Plume Refuge at the top of the lift.
- While the rest of his family was enjoying the scenery from indoors at 12,456 feet elevtion, Mal decided to look around the deck surrounding the hut. "Don't leave the deck, Mal," Agnes warned.
- A ski patrol team was in the process of training rescue dogs just the other side of the narrow path leading to the hut's steps. Fascinated, Mal watched from the deck as a dog "found" one of the team members deliberately buried in the snow. He wished HE could have been the one buried in the snow. Cool!
- They skied down Norway Face, which joined Dercum's Gulch, and decided to take an early lunch break at the Black Mountain Lodge. In between bites of buffalo stew and hamburgers, Mal and Mel figured out that the tree line was about 2.27 miles above sea level and the warming hut was 2.36 miles high. Neither of them could quite imagine how far...or high...that was, but they did get practice in long division.
- After lunch, they all decided to explore Montezuma Bowl. This was a different experience for them because you start at the top of the ski lift, ski down and then take the lift back up. Mal liked looking up from the bottom because he felt like he was in a giant cereal bowl. He could see where the expert skiers started from the Zuma Cornice, but couldn't see beyond that, where the rescue dogs were training.
- Mel wanted to go back to the main ski area after two more runs in the bowl, so she and Agnes left Mort and Mal to continue skiing the bowl while they tried some of the easier runs (relatively speaking) near the Lewanee lift.
- When Mort and Mal got to the top of the bowl once again, Agnes and Mel were preparing to go down one of the slopes near the warming hut. "Dad, you go ahead back down. I'm gonna go catch up with Mom and Mel," he called out to his father and skied out of sight. Mort just shook his head, but was happy to try one of the more difficult trails in the bowl without needing to worry about Mal.
- Uh Oh
- Mal pretty much knew that his mom and sister would be gone down the slope by the time he reached the warming hut. This was his chance to test the rescue dogs. He saw only one ski patroller who was facing away from him, so he took his skis off, laid them against the warming hut and, making sure no one saw him, climbed a little snow mound and jumped to the other side of it.
- It was early in the season and the snow was dry and fluffy, especially where no one had walked on or skied over it. Mal sank into the powdery snow and before he realized it, he was buried under it. It felt nice, though. Cool and comfortable, although warmer than the outside air. He could see out of the hole he made when he fell in, but he couldn't move his feet because the snow under the surface was packed more tightly than the looser snow near the surface.
- That's ok, he thought. The dogs will find me.
- What Mal didn't know was that the training was conducted on the mountain top for only an hour or so in the morning. After that, they accompanied ski patrollers on various other exercises at different ski areas and, of course, on rescue missions.
- Please click HERE to continue reading.
|
|
