Skiing out west is not a vacation for wimps. Each day, you have to get up early (if you are serious), pull on layers of clothes, check and double check your gear (did I get my chapstick, neck gator, mittens?), drive to the mountain on treacherous roads, carry your skis and poles from the always distant parking lot while wearing boots that are designed to hold your calves “comfortably” in a bent knee stance (good for skiing, stupid for walking), in an altitude that your lungs are not accustomed to, in temperatures that are usually unpleasant. Are we having fun yet? We pay for this experience! Ahh, but once we are schussing downhill in knee deep powder, it all becomes worth it. The world comes into focus and we say “This is EPIC!” Or at least that’s what my son-in-law says, but I would agree. But as with many ‘epic’ sports, I am cautious--an intermediate that knows my limits. I can comfortably navigate the “blues” (medium difficulty runs), but draw the line at mountain black diamonds (most difficult).
So I found myself at Copper Mountain, CO, taking a Blue Tour while the rest of my fam hit the steeps and sought out the free snowcat skiing in the back bowls. In our blue group of 5, I quickly assessed that I was the youngest (trust me, it was obvious), and that myself and another gentleman named Les, were probably the best skiers. We soon found out that it was possible to ride the snowcat up the mountain, and ski down behind it on what would be a really cool blue-level run. When I expressed interest, Les offered to come and try it too. We used the buddy system, watching out for each other and exchanging small talk. He was from Washington State, a retired nuclear physicist (I managed to say nuclear correctly, avoiding a Bush moment!) who was on an extended ski vacation. His wife had not been skiing with him recently due to a knee replacement. He planned to ski 14 out of 16 days. We were well matched in skiing ability. So as my husband quipped to Les “either you ski like a 42 year old woman, or my wife skis like a 70 year old man!”
Yes, Les was 70 and 2 months old. After asking if we minded him joining us for lunch and afternoon skiing, he shared a bit more with us. He had climbed 7 of the ‘14ers’ in Colorado (mountains over 14,000’) and had climbed Annapurna, a mountain in Nepal (26,538 ft the 10th-highest summit in the world). He had worked as a glacier guide.
When I asked him how he had met his wife, Betty, he told a rather long story of an ill-fated hike many years ago. Due to bad weather and other mishaps, he had ended up hiking quite a bit with Betty. He was married at the time, they became hiking friends on the trip. A couple of years later, he arrived home following a conference in Chicago to find a note from his wife saying she was leaving him. With surprising emotion in his voice for an event that happened almost 40 years before, he said, "her father had a lot to do with that". “So what did you do?” I asked. “I went and found Betty”, he replied. They have been married 39 years.
A long marriage like that is not for wimps. You have to do things that you aren’t accustomed to and go through things that are often unpleasant. You have to look out for each other when things are treacherous and carry each others burdens. It’s only accomplished through sacrifice. But when you take that kind of risk, and plunge into that kind of love, it is truly “epic”.
So I found myself at Copper Mountain, CO, taking a Blue Tour while the rest of my fam hit the steeps and sought out the free snowcat skiing in the back bowls. In our blue group of 5, I quickly assessed that I was the youngest (trust me, it was obvious), and that myself and another gentleman named Les, were probably the best skiers. We soon found out that it was possible to ride the snowcat up the mountain, and ski down behind it on what would be a really cool blue-level run. When I expressed interest, Les offered to come and try it too. We used the buddy system, watching out for each other and exchanging small talk. He was from Washington State, a retired nuclear physicist (I managed to say nuclear correctly, avoiding a Bush moment!) who was on an extended ski vacation. His wife had not been skiing with him recently due to a knee replacement. He planned to ski 14 out of 16 days. We were well matched in skiing ability. So as my husband quipped to Les “either you ski like a 42 year old woman, or my wife skis like a 70 year old man!”
Yes, Les was 70 and 2 months old. After asking if we minded him joining us for lunch and afternoon skiing, he shared a bit more with us. He had climbed 7 of the ‘14ers’ in Colorado (mountains over 14,000’) and had climbed Annapurna, a mountain in Nepal (26,538 ft the 10th-highest summit in the world). He had worked as a glacier guide.
When I asked him how he had met his wife, Betty, he told a rather long story of an ill-fated hike many years ago. Due to bad weather and other mishaps, he had ended up hiking quite a bit with Betty. He was married at the time, they became hiking friends on the trip. A couple of years later, he arrived home following a conference in Chicago to find a note from his wife saying she was leaving him. With surprising emotion in his voice for an event that happened almost 40 years before, he said, "her father had a lot to do with that". “So what did you do?” I asked. “I went and found Betty”, he replied. They have been married 39 years.
A long marriage like that is not for wimps. You have to do things that you aren’t accustomed to and go through things that are often unpleasant. You have to look out for each other when things are treacherous and carry each others burdens. It’s only accomplished through sacrifice. But when you take that kind of risk, and plunge into that kind of love, it is truly “epic”.
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