When I left the Distant Horizon, I was going home for my granddaughter’s birthday and to go skiing. I had signed up for a trip to Whistler, British Columbia. I had been there several times before because Brynn was living in Seattle at the time. This trip was with friends.
Prior to the ski trip, I stayed with Brynn and her family. They had moved to Denver a couple years prior to this. My good friend since childhood, Steve Mayka made several trips down to Denver to pick me up during the week so we could go skiing together.
Some of our group with our Whistler Mountain Guide
Whistler was a fun trip… good people, endless terrain. Unfortunately it rained 8 days straight before we arrived. So, those not accustomed to east coast skiing struggled a little bit more. By Tuesday, new snow arrived and the remainder of the trip was fantastic.
A view from Whistler
On this trip, I needed new liners for my boots. After three days of hard ice skiing, my skis were in the shop for an edge sharpening. Besides the liners, the technician made other (significant) adjustments to my boots. So, I demo’d a pair of Head Core 93s to test my boot adjustments. It was like a whole new world had opened up!
The technician referred to my skis as “bottom feeders”. Now, I knew what it was like to float! Two of these skis weighed less than one of my other skis. Needless to say, I came back from British Columbia with a new pair of skis.
Stopping with the “Bottom Feeders”.
After the Whistler trip, I spent a few more weeks skiing in Colorado.
Loveland Creek Trail
Skiing down from the Continental Divide.
It wasn’t all about skiing. Breckenridge holds an amazing international ice sculpture event. Here are a couple samples.
Ice Sculpture by a group from Wisconsin
This was a Chinese Entry
Finally, I returned home to Central New York (CNY). It was at this time at home that I decided to sell the house. I knew this meant delaying my return to the Azores. However, in the long term, my stress would be significantly reduced.
Instead of a brief trip home for the winter, what actually happened was: leaving the boat, skiing much of the winter, clearing and cleaning the house for sale, moving to Colorado, skiing all winter. All this before returning to the boat. Two ski seasons not one!