We were almost stuck at homeIt all started on New Years Eve. The snow fall outside was promising, surely it's snowing up in Vermont as well which means it will be perfect for snowboarding. I went to pick up the SUV that we rented and parked it in front of my home. The plan was to pack all the bags I would need for the trip into the SUV and around 3am pick the last person up and start our journey to Vermont. After the Old Year's night activities I loaded up the van with my gear, pressed down on the foot brake to release and prepared to go. I went nowhere. The van refused to move. I noticed the brake light was still on found the brake with my foot again and pressed again; it went all the way down to the floor and refused to come back up. I was stuck. I was tired and slowly becoming frustrated so I did the first thing I could think of, I opened my laptop went to Google and typed "dodge durango foot brake release". To prove my tiredness I could not find any articles or manuals on the brake for the Durango. It was getting close to 2 a.m. on the first day in 2009 and I just wanted to quit but instead I called Erik, the first person I needed to pick up, to explain my brake situation. I asked him to go to Google, maybe he'd have better luck. He put his dad on the phone to help me out, but what could Mr. J do than ask me to do the things I’ve already done? Erik said that there was a hand release next to the overdrive. I had no idea where the overdrive was. I looked and looked and saw nothing resembling overdrive or hand release. Finally I did what I usually do when I can't get over a crisis; I called my dad. (Yes, it's ok to call me a daddy's girl. I've accepted it).
Dad was on his way home so it only took a few minutes for him to get there to take a look at the SUV. He went under the steering wheel and looked at the wires, he pressed something and it came up, but not all the way up. I got into the driver’s seat and started the car, I saw the brake light on; “It’s still on Dad” I said to him. He went under the steering wheel again and pressed something and it came all the way up. He showed me what he did; there was a red lever that released the brake under the dashboard. While pressing the red lever a part of the SUV almost hit me in the face. I looked at it carefully in the dim light – did I mention it was 2 a.m. and the only light we had was the car light and a flash light? As it turns out, this model did indeed have a hand release for the brake as opposed to just the regular press down and release that I was accustom to on the minivan. Unfortunately, I am of average height, so with my seat pulled really close to the steering wheel I had no chance of seeing the faint P printed on the lever in the 2 a.m. moonlight. Gray on gray, folks? That’s not very smart! So off I went to Erik’s place, the journey to snowboarding had begun.
Compared to the beginning, the rest of the journey was relaxing uneventful. We officially set off at 5am after picking up Sue and Albert. The guys slept while Sue kept me company as we spoke about everything under the sun. It seems as though a Vermont road trip from New York is best done on January 1st, there were hardly any cars on the road and so we made it to the vacation home rental office around lunch time. The condo we rented was vacant, however, they needed to do an inspection, so we asked about a breakfast place and about an hour later we were having breakfast at 1p.m. The place seemed packed with skiers and snowboarders; almost everyone was dressed in their gear, stuffing themselves with carbs before another trip to the mountain. We were hoping to get the call that the condo was ready before we finished our lunch (or breakfast), but no such luck. We didn’t know what to do; I was super tired – not having napped the day before so being up for 36 hours and counting, - and the rest were in a food coma, long journey state of being. We decided to check out the snowmobile, it looked like something that didn’t involve a lot of work as prepping for snowboarding would have at the time. We got to the snowmobile place and it was locked, no one was there. We tried the number and one was not working, the next went to voicemail. We left a voicemail and then went to check out Pico Mountain, a smaller mountain compared to Killington only six miles away. While we were figuring out the cost of tickets for half a day of boarding we got the call that the condo was ready and decided to call it a day and just relax at our temporary home.
The condo was one of the best places I have ever stayed in away from home. It was roomy, it was homey and it had that comfortable feeling to it. It was like visiting a familiar relative. I was so tired I passed out for about two hours before Sue asked me to help direct Karen and Eric to the condo, their GPS took them to someone’s backyard. It was a slow and lazy afternoon. Eric just graduated from culinary school and so he made us dinner using the steak. It was seasoned and juicy, I had so much steak that night I believe it was more than I have ever had in my entire night. There was still a tray of steak left over, apparently Erik bought enough meat for 9 people and our number had dwindled from 7 to 6. That night we went to bed early to get up early for the next day.
A few hours later we were out of the house (without breakfast) to hit the slopes. It was super cold on the mountain, I could feel the coldness seeping through my coat and multiple layers, of which I had five, and forming a chilly cushion all around me. It was not fun to say the least, especially when we found out that the only trail options we had at this K-1 base were a few blues and an icy green and several double black diamonds. We took the gondola ride to the top about two times and then Erik and I took a break to go to the store, him to get new socks for his shoes and me to get a second layer. We met up with Sue and Albert again and went home to have some steak sandwiches for lunch. We decided to go to Pico in the afternoon since our lift tickets were valid there. For a few runs I felt like I was keeping everyone back since I did not have my linking down. After a few runs though I started to get it and was able to keep up if only for a little while. I was getting a bit frustrated, after all, I was able to link a bit at the end of last season, why was it that I was failing at it this season? I was a little disappointed with the day. Close to 4p.m. we took the van back to the condo where our chef was making us a chicken dinner.
We planned to get up early the next morning and this time have some breakfast. So it was early to bed again, I was hoping that the next day would be better.
Fresh PowderWhen we got up in the morning it was snowing outside. A few inches of snow had already accumulated and so we quickly ate a breakfast of eggs and steak – yes, we still had stake left over – and headed out for the second day. This time we went to a different base, one that had more blues and greens. While riding up the lift we saw the boarders and skier going down a blue and we could not hear the sound of board scarping ice. After much anticipation and wishing that the lift would move faster we finally reached the top and started down a blue. The snow was so thick and my turns still weren’t down that I twisted my knee a bit on the first run while trying to do a toe side turn (yes, amateur I know). I was a bit concerned since I had to sit down for quite a few minutes before it stopped hurting enough for me to stand again. Pushing all pain aside I started down the mountain again on the best conditions I've snowboarded in (and I've only done it about 8 times before), the powder was fluffy, so much that you left a poof of cloud when you fell. I left my personal clouds every few feet for the first few run until I got the hang of linking. Linking on loose powder is the best. I managed to get my links down by the second run. A few runs later and I was comfortable, even when the snow stopped falling and the ice started showing up again. I had more confidence to carve on the ice; that and an insane amount of padding. :)
On one of the lift rides up I spotted a terrain park and we figured out how to get there and started to do some "jumps" which ended with us mostly falling in odd positions. I didn’t do much jumping, I just got linking down, I didn't think it would have been wise to do jumps so I mainly boarded over the ramps and got just a little air every now and then. Most times I landed on my butt but that was ok, that’s why padded shorts were invented. A short lunch break and chocolate waffle later and we were finishing our run for the day. Overall I was pretty happy with myself and even though I know that the snow was predicted by the weather people, I can’t help but think that the snow was sent just for me to gain some confidence in linking my turns. Now I cannot wait for the next snowboarding session. :)
The rest of the trip was uneventful. We left for home the next morning and back in New York we shared the tale of our first experience boarding on loose and fresh powder. For all of you who can experience this every time you board, man, you are lucky.
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