Blue Mountain

I decided to go to Blue Mountain to get some experience skiing because the plan when I head to Austria was to go skiing in the Alps.  I think I’ve gone skiing about 3 times over the course of my 30 years on the planet.  Needless to say, I would be mince meat on the Alps without some warm up.

The weather attempted to deter us but Jeff, Evan, and myself woke up early on Friday morning and headed off to Blue Mountain in the Pocono’s.  We made a pit stop at Wawa on the way their where I downed to Sizzlis and they were delicious.  We were one of the only sedan’s making the way up the mountain but we made it safely.  For $99 dollars, we were able to purchase tickets and equipment.  We were ready to go a half hour after we arrived which was pretty good.  Only noteworthy story at this point was that I put my boots on the wrong feet and when the guy who was handing out skis looked at them, he asked me, “are those comfortable?”  Type I skis for me.

Jeff is a pretty experienced snowboarder and Evan had gone a decent amount when he was younger so we had a decent range of talent.  We started off on Burma Road which was green.  Unbeknownst to me you are supposed to wrap your poles around your hand, I got one planted in the ground and lost it on the first run.  This also caused my ski to fall off which got us off to a rocky start.  A little girl, maybe 6 years old, handed me my pole as she came up behind me.  I didn’t feel embarrassed at the time but in hindsight, this is pretty pathetic.  Getting my ski back on took forever as well so Jeff was down the mountain while Evan waited for my tard self to get it together.  We eventually made it down as things improved.

After a flawless run down Burma road, we decided to tackle a few intermediate hills.  I was getting better after each run but would still probably bite once or twice depending on the situation.  After a non spill run on a blue square, I was flying high.  We met Jeff at the lodge and ate a bit before getting back out again.

The lines for the lifts were non-existent which made this the perfect day to do it.  Also the weather was perfect as it wasn’t too cold.  The 3 of us actually did a few runs together which was pretty fun.  Jeff and Evan had a little bit more balls than me and did some freestyle hills which had a few tricks.

At one point I didn’t want to go down a freestyle part of the course so I went to the right in unknown territory.  These decisions usually don’t work out and I was confronted by the steepest hill I’d ever encountered.  I basically fell down the entire time it but I made it safely.

Sidewinder is the middle blue that goes back and forth

Sidewindered

At that point I’d probably give the day a high 8 fun factor if we quit there.  Naturally we decided to do one more run and decided on the course Sidewinder.  We had done it earlier in the day and I fell a time or two but it wasn’t horrible.  For whatever reason this time was different.  There were some bumps to start it and I gained too much speed too fast and bit it.  My ski fell off and I was unable to get it back on.  For what it’s worth, I wasn’t even lifting up the part on the ski that had to be down so no wonder it was impossible.  Jeff hits me right in the head with a snowball during this process which was a complete dick move but he did help me get the ski back on after feeling bad about it.  After I got the ski on, I fell again but this time I hurt my ankle and the ski fell off again.  This was turning into a nightmare.  I ended up walking down the hill and basically feeling like a pussy and it pretty much ruined any good feeling leaving the day.

Either way I’m glad I did it and for about 90% of the time it was a great time.  Fortunately I’m not seriously injured and we made it out and back with no issues.  My one remark from this trip is, “if your ski falls off while your on a hill, you’re gonna have a bad time.”