Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Whitetail Report

Well, I'm sort of tired now. But I went on a ski trip to Whitetail, one of three resorts around here. The cost was covered, less $40, by that brunch about 2 weeks ago. The place is 17 years young, with major improvements fresh for this year. The facilities were very nice, but holding a near-monopoly grip on the lucrative DC ski market (did you know lift tickets cost <$100!?). There's only 2 others. Well, we split into two groups- those who have skied, and those who haven't. So as a morning treat, we went up to a blue trail. Soon, after frantic weaving slowing measures, I lost control and performed a whiteout to avoid serious injury. The leader was on me like a hawk. So I was saying that this was not my morning coffee, he nevertheless had me come down, occasionally slipping out of the skis, and tripping over the pole. Somehow, I made it down, and headed for the relaxing bunny slopes. There were two lifts- a quad and a u-me double. For some reason, the quad was frequently stopped for the twinkie who left the lift the wrong way. Actually, it was poor exit design. But there were no problems on the intimate double. So that was fun. But quickly, it was lunch time- packed- would I pay $4 for a soda!?!?! So then it was up to the advanced greens and easier blues on a quad. Yet, it was sort of icy, and the weave-slowing, a time and energy consuming process, was required from losing speed control (as what happened on the shock starter in the morning). And it was 5pm, and time to go. Somehow, in the dark at 6:30pm, I fell asleep. And conveniently, I woke up inside the Beltway.

PS- I recommend the slope for snowboarders- they seemed to thrive on the rough conditions and steady downward gradients.

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