This weekend was a mid-winter retreat up to Breckenridge. We went up with another couple; it was the longest double date that I’ve ever been on, and it was wonderful. We stayed in a trailer that we found online. I was a little nervous since I’ve never had any real trailer experience, but I have to say that it was absolutely beautiful. It had just been updated – new everything. So clean and bright and welcoming. We had our own rooms – definitely an upgrade from the New Year’s trip when Kevin and I slept in a second story office area right off the stairs. It was warm and cozy and the design was really well thought out. You could tell the owner (who is also a designer) put thought into each and every decision she made. The space was lovely.

I did my first double-black run on Saturday!  Sort of. Mostly, I just fell down the mountain, but luckily for me, the top part was nice and fluffy, so falling didn’t hurt at all. I think that I was too hesitant to really just jump into it – I might have had more success that way. The black run after that was much harder for me, partially due to my frustration with the terrain. It was bumpy and rough; about halfway through, I fell really hard and pulled my shoulder in a direction that shoulders shouldn’t go. As I sat there trying to gain my composure (read: didn’t want anyone to see that I was starting to cry), I had a moment of realization. I had to keep going to get back to a groomed run. There was no other way. I wasn’t about to take off my board and walk it, so I mustered up the courage to just deal with it. I went as slowly as I wanted and I focused on keeping my balance. By the time I saw the groomed trail looming ahead of me, I was filled with excitement. I felt good. I had just gotten off the highest lift in North America and made it down. And the top part was awesome – I’d happily do that again!

By Sunday, I was much more comfortable. I’m now nearly able to keep up with everyone – Kevin still waits for me at certain points to make sure that I’m alive, which is really sweet of him since I know that he’d much rather be flying down the mountain. There’s one run that’s labelled as black off of Peak 7, which is mostly just blues (all of which I can do with no problem!) – the top part of it is steep and through trees, but it flattens out as you get to the bottom of it. I found myself complaining to Kevin that it would be so much better if it didn’t flatten out. This is a sentiment that I’m surprised I’m expressing. I’m excited that I’m willing to try harder things, I’m excited that I’m up for trying runs that I normally would be hesitant to even attempt, I’m excited that I’m getting more and more confident. I look back even a few weeks and realize how far I’ve come, and it’s so satisfying. I’m going to be good at this in no time. Considering I’ve only been doing this for a season (and only been up about 11 times), I’m amazed by my progress. Yeah, I definitely still cop out and ride the back edge of my board down the steeper hills, and I still get a little bit more panicky on the more crowded runs, but I’m definitely getting there. Baby steps.

I’m grateful to have such patient friends – no one pushes me to do things that I’m uncomfortable doing (the one exception here is Kevin, who always says, “this is the easiest way down!” but even then, he knows that I have my limits and never tries to force anything). Everyone is wonderful about waiting for me at the bottom of the run (I’m about a minute or so behind these days, hoping that soon it’ll be much quicker). It’s been such a wonderful experience and I’m grateful for the opportunities.

We drove down last night in the snow – it was a sketchy drive and I’m grateful that Kevin is so confident and cautious when he needs to be. It was nice to see Carlos, who definitely missed us. Even though I’m super sore today, it was absolutely worth it.