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Grrrrrrrrrrr………………….
It was the last day of the 7 day ski season for the Heavenly resort and we were all quite excited to be tackling a area we had only ever seen on the big screen.
First lifts were at 8.30 so we were up early to give ourselves time to get ski fitted and take out a new mortgage for the ski passes.
The buzz of the day soon faded at the rental shop, where we made the biggest mistake of the holiday. We hired skis from the rental shop at the bottom of the ski lift. After living in a ski resort ourselves for such a long time you would have thought we knew better.
Why didn't we book online? Simply because I have known others who have fallen fowl of this and we wanted to have more control over which equipment we hired. Our eagerness to hit the slopes obviously blinded us.
We all plumped for the experts hire sets which didn't come cheap, but we figured we would only be skiing the resort once so it was worth the extra expense. So far so good.
The boarders in the family were handed reasonable kit, although the binding on both boards came loose during the day. Even son number one who has Sasquatch sized feet, found ski boots to fit. Although he had to suffer what the ski tech described as 'All mountain skis'. Needless to say they weren't and proved difficult to turn in the powder.
My experience of Heavenly was completely clouded by the lack of ladies skis or boots and after trying various pairs of mens boots which all cut my calves I had to settle for a pair of beginner boots which allowed very little control of my heavy men's 'all mountain skis'. Needles to say I made everyone's life a misery with my outrage and even though I tackled the powder a best as I could, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience with decent kit. For my sons sake I held back from burning the ski techs at the stake as I threw them back at the end of the day.
Putting the cost of the day ($200pp incl lunches and coffees) and the lack of decent equipment aside. The snow was good until the late afternoon, we had clear skies and the board boys whooped and hollered as they hit the fresh powder. The runs were a bit tame compared to our usual haunts but we did manage to find some interesting chutes.
At our lunchtime burger stop we spotted some fellow skiers with S7 powder skis so I dispatched hubbie to quiz them about where they had been hired. He returned with an address and a mission for the late afternoon.
The slopes closed at four o'clock so once we had de-booted we hit the affiliated ski shop with our $50 off vouchers (presented with our passes) in the hope of bagging ourselves a rare bargain. In need of a new ski jacket hubbie tried on a couple but came away empty handed.
After a few false starts we found the rental shop we were looking for. A pair of S3's and decent boots were happily reserved for my next outing, which would hopefully prove to be a better day on the slopes.
Foccacia and crisps weren't really justified after an easy ski day on the blue runs of Heavenly but they were most welcome . A soak in the hot tub and the chance to sample some great black beer ended the day on an up note. Although I still haven't sighted a real bear yet!
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