Monday, February 4, 2013

Weekend Report: Skiing Whitetail



Saturday morning, after hosting a Friday night dinosaur-themed birthday party (yes, you read that right), I got up at the crack of dawn to go skiing at Whitetail, PA.


The dinosaur party was for SpeedyKate’s friend, and our apartment is now covered with blow-up dinosaurs, dinosaur flags, pin-the-horn on the dinosaur, and random hard-to-find mini dinosaur toys.


The food was dinosaur themed too, if you think dinosaurs eat coconut curry soup and lots of hummus and spinach artichoke dip… (They lived millions of years ago! Who’s to say they didn’t love some carrots and dip and Black Forest cake?!)


But let’s talk about skiing. In an echo of our October camping trip, my officemate and her husband (Tracy and Mike) and I met up for a little outdoor adventure. We drove to Whitetail, which is only an hour and a half from Arlington! So close! And nowhere near as terrible as anticipated!


People say such horrible things about mid-Atlantic skiing. They tell me I’ll hate it (condescendingly: Mollie, this isn’t out west, it’s really small and icy.), and that skiing around here isn’t worth my time. I understand that perspective. I have skied in many an epically awesome location, so I know what good skiing is like. But I also just straight-up 100% love skiing. Any time. Anywhere.

I’m no snow-snob – I keep my expectations low, and when offered the choice between “bad” skiing and no skiing, there is really only one way to go! I just see bad conditions as a challenge (how perfectly can you turn on bullet-proof ice? What about choppy moguls? What about dodging between out-of-control newbies?), and really only whine about the temperature, because above all else I am a Northern Californian whose winter-time happy-range is 25-40 degrees.


Saturday was Mike’s second day on snow ever and he did super-well! We started making a movie, but then my phone(/camera) died, so it will have to be continued on another ski weekend in the near future…

Tracy and I made some bold decisions...

The convenience amazed me the most – we skied 7 hours (until 6pm! Night skiing under the lights!) and were home in DC by 9. Just in time for me to inhale some food like a zombie and collapse into bed (you know when your body is so tired it’s buzzing? Does this happen to other people? If not then please disregard my crazy...).

And I needed the rest because Sunday morning I was up early again, ready for the next long run in my marathon training venture. I actually have a post-run recipe to share (best. thing. ever.), so I’m going to hold on the details until tomorrow or Wednesday. For now I’ll say that I had a great run, was exhausted, and finally dragged myself outside for some Super Bowl action…which was disappointing to say the least…

But luckily I care A LOT more about skiing than football, so my weekend was a WIN.