Mountain Time

Happy Valentine's Day (yester-yesterday), friends!
As stated in my last post, I took last week off to spend some much needed mountain time with my wonderful family on our favorite mountain in New England. We have been coming to Okemo way before I can even remember to get our ski fix in and relax in one of Vermont's quaintest towns! 

We arrived midday on Saturday so instead of buying a half day ticket, we broke out our snowshoes and hiked our butts halfway up the mountain. I guess I underestimated how exhausting snow shoeing up a mountain would be because I was shedding layers left and right. There was definitely some tripping, slipping and falling business going on, but we made it back down the mountain and were able to take a mandatory picture in front of the ski lion!

In November, Okemo installed a new ski lift, the Sunburst Six, that seats six, has heated seats AND a bright orange shield that protects you from the elements. It is SO comfortable! I'm especially loving the bright orange pop of color that it brings to the white mountain. A couple of the rides up the shield was completely frosted over from the never ending wind and snow making it impossible to see out, you had to make your best judgement as to when you thought the shield would go up (automatically... fancy stuff, people) and you would be at the top. 

The conditions on the mountain were like none other last weekend. Day 1 was freezing cold. I was thankful for the Summit Lodge and the hot cocoa/ cookie break that day because my toes were breaking off one by one. It was really busy (as expected, hello Sunday!) but we were lucky to get a ton of great runs in. We got a big ole pile of snow Sunday night (and Monday) which left us with fresh, fluffy, powdery snow for us to shred up. We stuck to the South face of the mountain (a personal favorite) for a majority of the day and then wondered over to Jackson Gore for the rest of the day. Tuesday was groomed a little, however they did leave a little powder for people to play on, and I managed to make it to the waffle cabin to nosh on a chocolate covered waffle to wrap up the trip. SO GOOD.

 AND what's an Okemo trip without a squinty eyed chocolate covered waffle cabin picture!?

I would say staying slope side, inhaling chocolate covered waffles, getting a great leg workout from all of the powder snow, skiing with 17 other family members from all over the country, eating great food, and getting tons of snow made for another great ski trip for the books! I'm already counting down the days until next years trip!