This year, Mark asked if we both could help, and for both days. James got gold passes through Backcountry.com, so we didn't have to buy lift tickets for Snow Basin, and Mark paid for our registration fees. James' job was to test 'boutique' skis. My job was to test women's specific skis. Demo days were on Wed/Thurs, so we also got to take the days off work and ski!
It was very, very, very strange to leave the house to go skiing, without any skis in the car. We parked at the main lodge at the base of the resort and then rode a little beginner lift (without skis) up to where all the demo tents were set up. About 25% of the tents were snowboarding stuff. 70% were for skiing. The last 5% were goggles or sunglasses or helmets or boots or whatever. James said he was a 'kid in a candy store' as he wandered down the row of tents to decide which to visit.
Here is a pretty good picture of the row of tents (& James). As I was taking the picture, a huge gust of wind blew through and you can see some of the destruction in the background. Tents and skis down!
A close up of my James.
This is a helmet that advertises that you'll never need goggles again! Reminds me of the helmets our helicopter pilots wear - with the huge eye sheilds!
Wednesday was SOOOOOO WINDY! Most of the lifts were closed. The beginner lift that we used to get up to the demo tents was open, one lift right next to the demo tents, and one other lift that was only open half of the day. Both gondolas, the tram, and all the rest of the lifts were closed due to high winds. Luckily, we didn't pay to ski those conditions and most of the people on the mountain were demo-ing skis or boards, so being crammed onto the same lifts was mostly tolerable.
Then it SNOWED like crazy on Wednesday night. And on Thursday, the entire mountain was open with fresh snow! Of course, while testing skis, you can only get about two runs in before swapping out for another pair. So we didn't get to ski much of the mountain anyway.
I bailed out at lunch time on Thursday. I guess I'm not in shape for skiing two full days in a row. And skiing with James is very energetic skiing. He took me off the groomers for most of our runs on both days. On Wednesday, we found a couple runs that had some fairly fresh snow and really fun turns. But the run out took us across a flat little meadow, so you had to really keep some speed to get across. The first time, James tried to skirt the meadow by staying on the hillside and following a little 'bump' trail. I followed. One of the 'bumps' was jump enough that I was kicked completely up in the air, off balance, and landed in the soft snow off trail. Baby caught air! Do you think he liked it?
