Downhill Skiing, Snow Shoeing and Schweitzer Mountain!

This past week has been a blur of activity and vacation bliss.  Close friends of ours have a family condo on Schweitzer Mountain and were gracious enough to invite us up for some vacay recreation and relaxation.  Last year on a dare, I agreed to take downhill ski lessons with Tiff and Trish IF Eric (Tiff's hubby) would agree to join us at a Thompsons' BAT session.  Deal!  So, without much ado the three of us signed up for beginner lessons at Schweitzer last January.  I was totally infatuated.  Next day, I went back and skied the bunny hill for hours.

Fast forward to November of this year, and my sweet husband bought me ski equipment at the Mount Spokane Ski Swap for my Christmas presents!  All geared up and ready to go, I set out on Wednesday to check if I still had ski skills on the bunny hill.  Slow going at first, but I managed to fall only once throughout the day.  Yay!

On Thursday, Jessi and Emma accompanied me on my very first time skiing down real mountain runs on Schweitzer.  We rode the quad up and skied a gentle run to the t-bar lift up the top backside of the mountain since it was a foggy morning.  I will admit that the first time I looked over the edge of the next ski run, I almost peed myself with anxiety...how in the h-ell was I supposed to get down the mountain without breaking every single bone in my body?  In typical genuine calm and enthusiasm, Jessi literally talked me off the ledge.  Emma all the while cruised passed me with ease and speed, patiently waiting for me to catch up.  She is a little skiing beast, killing it on the runs and in the trees alike!  Eventually, we made it down a few runs together, me crashing and laughing all the way.  After a solid three hours, I was exhausted from hauling my big bootie outta the powder.  I finished with a smooth run down cat tracks and the bunny hill, safely into the parking lot.  I am thrilled to say that skiing was everything I hoped it would be and even more.  I haven't fallen in love in a long time, but I sure remember what it feels like :).

Friday morning, a few of us decided to enjoy some trail snow shoeing at the mountain.  Schweitzer has many scenic trails to offer for getting your fill of some easy, meandering snowy miles.  We "mostly" stayed on the trails and had a great time while it snowed, sleeted and rained throwing snow balls and slapping each other with the occasional tree limb! 
After returning to eat some lunch, we all toyed with the idea to snow shoe up the face of the mountain together.  Greg and I had not done this before, but we were game if everyone else was.  Finally, sometime around 5 we got ourselves out the door on up the mountain for the hardest "walking" I've ever done in my life.  The weather conditions were kinda brutal...heavy snow falling, windy and cold.  No fear!  

We trekked straight up the mountain, Rog leading our crew.  Many times we slipped and struggled on hands and knees finding some foot holds to push up the mountain higher and higher.  Steve enjoyed teasing us by falsely predicting we were ALMOST at the top a kazillion times, but eventually we reached the summit.  I'm not gonna lie, that shit was hard!  The wind speed at the top was probably near 40 mph, but we shoed our way to our downwards destination giddy with our accomplishments.  
With a breathtaking view ahead of us, we bounded, leaped, slid and skied our snow shoes down the mountain, laughter at our child-like recklessness following our screams and screeches!  We bounced down the mountain, into and under small trees, crevasses and drop-offs.  Luckily no broken bones or egos, as everyone had a blast.  What a perfect end to a ridiculous vacation.