by HighAngles » Sun Oct 20, 2013 6:09 pm
I got in my first day of the season yesterday (Saturday). Loveland opened on Thursday and then got a nice dump of about 9" Thursday night. I was really impressed with the snow conditions and the amount of terrain already opened at LL. This was the earliest I've ever started my season (by about 10 days). I usually avoid the white ribbon of death, but this season is starting out better than it was after Thanksgiving last season (it looked like mid-Winter conditions up there). The snow on Mambo was quite soft, but Lower Richards was a bit sketchy with lots of golf balls that needed some grooming attention. Spillway actually improved as the morning went on.
Anyhow, my first day was definitely different than the past few seasons. My first two runs felt great - I know I said I would start slow, but the carving with "high angles" just naturally came out. But then my feet were killing me and my lack of fitness reared its ugly head. I'm not only fat around the middle - I'm pretty sure that my feet are fatter too. Of course I didn't do my normal month long foot preparation wearing my boots around the house. So I had to stop after 3 runs and go in the lodge and completely remove my boots. After about 10 mins. my feet were feeling fine again so I fought the battle to get them back in cold shells and went back out. Then at least my feet felt fine for another 9 or 10 runs, but my skiing felt like it completely fell apart. I honestly pin this on my complete lack of physical fitness. So kudos to all of you who have been diligent in your off-season preparation. Now I'm going to have to fight to get back to skiing weight and sufficient fitness so that I'm not dying out there.