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We took our time this morning & Headed out around 8 am. As it happens, we had a good run up the mountain and just got onto the shuttle bus before it left, so we were on the mountain by 9:10 am. The earliest so far, but we didn't have a deadline this time!
The mountain was very cloudy at the top, with very poor visibility - We couldn't see from one side of the run to the other. However, further, down the mountain, it was clear - it remained consistently like this all day.
Ethan was very keen to show me some new runs. We went over an intermediate slope first & then got to a point where it said, "More Difficult". This was like a red rag to a bull - and Ethan had to give this a go! He, for the most part, did well other than a fall or two; however, he persevered with the same run more times & never fell again! The same can't be said for me… The first part we deceptively good (although I did manage to fall there also), but the second half was horrendous - a combination of moguls with exposed grassy areas & some rocks & some big "lumps/jumps" at the end! I very much struggled through this - every time, Ethan had to wait for me at the bottom. On one run, I managed to get through ok and did all the lumps - only to fall at the very end on the flat part… No idea how I managed this, but Ethan thought it was quite amusing…
Ethan started timing how long it took me to reach him at the end (my worst was 3 min - as I fell 3 times on the one run).
On reflection, giving Ethan 2 full days of lessons was probably too much - as now he's a lot better than me! But great to see him having so much fun with it. He is very keen to do an advanced run, however I've out my foot down on this (I don't wasn't to completely break myself)!
Yesterday, I tracked my max speed on one run as 40 kmph. Didn't track today, but Ethan was certainly going very fast at times. Fortunately, where there are flatter sections or uphill sections, I can generally catch up (a benefit of being 3 times his weight! I have a lot more momentum).
Ethan had a lot of fun making and throwing snowballs at me most times we stopped.
We went to the Summit quite a few times and spent the morning on the South side of the mountain. While steady, there were rarely any cues on the lift runs so that we could make the most of the time.
Ethan also went through the "Park" section a reasonable number of times. This is where the jumps are! I used the adjacent slope with no jumps to keep up.
For lunch, we brought a lot of small snacks with us, much of it in our jackets & pants, and left a bag at the bottom (this worked well). We ate throughout the day (muesli bars, a Packet of chips & Bananas).
At around 1 pm, we went to the café/bar/restaurant I had found the prior day (Triol) - despite knowing where it was, finding it in the very low visibility was quite a mission when can see no one & no signs… and everywhere you look is just white. But did find it (with a bit of backtracking). It is quite surreal to have a building, and all these people appear out of seemingly nowhere.
Had Coffee/Hot chocolate and some hot chips. It was a great way to warm up and take a break.
Then headed out and decided to do the North side; this was short-lived. Did one run but at the bottom, as I was going into the ski lift (very slowly), I needed to manoeuvre past someone who stopped at the gates quickly, and one of my ski poles snapped! So, we skied back to the main village and went to the ski hire to have it replaced. It turns out the insurance I had to take out on the equipment doesn't cover broken polls! Fortunately, it was only $15. In doing the harder runs, it had been significantly hurting my right big toe, so where there was able to swap the boots out - which made a big difference.
On heading back out, Ethan's B-tag didn't work for some reason (the person behind just activated the gate on their tag); I assumed it was a one-off glitch. However, on the 2nd run at a different lift, the same thing happened. The operator let us through & we did another lap (with me using my B-tag to let Ethan through). To address the issues, we went to the administration and waited for ages (as a family in front of us didn't know what they wanted, so they were working it out while the receptionist sat and waited…). When we did finally get through, it turned out that, for some unknown reason, Ethan's tag was completely dead! Despite being in a pocket with nothing else & having no damage. So we were given another B-tag & had time to do one more lap to the bottom of the South Side of the mountain and back.
Finished up around 4:30 pm (most lifts are closed, other than the shortest and most crowded/chopped up slope).
Caught the shuttle to the car and drive the pot-holed drive back to our accommodation (pic included of an average pot-hole, some are worse, some are better). When charging $60 per vehicle per day & also charging each bus passenger, it is hard to understand why they can't fill these…
Our drives and dinner discussions, and most of the time, are filled with lots of "what-if" questions. Enjoying chatting with Ethan, although I do need him to repeat a lot of stuff so I can process the odd questions and comments. He is very creative and likes to think through every conceivable eventuality.
Had left over's for dinner & spoke to Mummy/Makayla for quite a while.
Not many pics today, we were busy just skiing (& not breaking anything / trying to keep up!).
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