I meant to write something yesterday but completely forgot so here's the run down on both days.
In August we reserved a condo that would sleep 12 people, thinking that would be enough but thanks to an awesome freshman/newbie class we quickly outgrew that condo. So on Sunday night, yes the one right before Thanksgiving, I began the hunt for another condo. Thanks to the bad economic outlook and the fact that there is no snow in town this was an easy hunt. It wasn't long until condo owners were throwing amazing deals my way. We ended up in a condo that would sleep 8 people for less than $100/night! It's awesome! That was the beginning of an amazing time!
As you drive around Fraser, Tabernash and Granby you can see a decided lack of snow. Actually, saying lack of snow implies that there is some, which there is not. Completely dry and bare. It doesn't look remotely promising for a ski camp... The Snow Mountain Ranch Nordic Center assured us there was skiing and when we stopped by the nordic center then even charged us $5/person. We were thinking this was a ripoff as we drove up the ski trails, places that I had always skied, to a road blockage. We walked past the barrier and there was some snow on the trail, little but we were like the dehydrated sailor "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" with no snow so the small amount looked extremely inviting. That was until we just kept going up and up and up and the snow was extremely variable, in fact I don't think you could call it snow most of the time, really just ice and rocks.
After what seemed an eternity of uphill in Zone 3 we crested a hill and saw an amazing sight! Groomed trails, with even a classic track! For some reason, due to elevation, north facing slope and trees, the snow up on Blue Ridges was amazing! Like mid-winter conditions, perfectly groomed, not icy and plenty of it! Suddenly the $5 wasn't looking bad at all! We skied for well over 3 hours, working on skate technique and doing a little video work. Everyone was smiling and happy and we really couldn't have asked for better conditions considering there are only a handful of places in the lower 48 that can actually ski at this time at all!
We opted for not skiing for the afternoon, due to the fact that the trek up to the snow is fairly long, and went for a short run. Michael then made an amazing dinner followed by video analysis and we were all ready for bed.
Thanksgiving Day dawned cloud and snowy! Yay! About an inch fell and it was enough to make good skiing a little better. Another 3ish hours today and we're going to Devin's mother Susan house for dinner tonight, we're really looking forward to it!
Things have worked out exceptionally well so far and we're looking for a little more snow tonight and even better skiing tomorrow.
We're rocking the the training camp!
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