On New Year's Eve, Colton and I teamed up once again with our partners-in-adventure Bree and Ben to a night at Powder Mountain Resort near Eden, Utah. Our adventure packet that night included skiing, snowboarding, dinner, and glow sticks! We headed out around 3 o'clock. The closer we got to Powder Mountain, the lower the temperature read on the car's thermometer. We were already rather upset when it was 12 degrees Fahrenheit partway there. Then it dipped down to 7 degrees closer to the resort. The moment we got out of the car, every part of our bodies immediately screamed in protest to be warmed up again. By the time we were all wrapped up, we looked like a bunch of crippled people by our lack of mobility due to the layers. The only part of Bree's face you could see were her eyes.
Bree and Ben chose to ski, and Colton bravely decided to try snowboarding with me so that I wouldn't be left behind. This was only his second time snowboarding, and the first was six years ago. After the first run, Colton was rather discouraged and really hating his decision of boarding.
After the second run, he was about as good as I was. By then our eye lashes had also been coated with a sparkling array of ice.
After our second run we went to eat dinner.
It was my ideal dinner, with all my favorite foods. Mashed potatoes and dark gravy, ham, turkey, potato soup, chili, chips and dip, and Dr. Pepper! There was also a side of vegetables Colton and I forced ourselves to eat to be healthy.
We all ended up getting so much food that we couldn't finish and were full to bursting. During dinner we checked the temperature, and it had gone down to -3 degrees. I had never been in conditions that cold before, or willingly put myself in it for any amount of time. After bundling up once again, and hanging the glow sticks they offered at dinner around us, we boldly faced the cold once again. This time, as Colton was now as experienced as I was (or more daring, which was also true), we went down a steeper, more powdery run. This resulted in him front flipping and back flipping, and beating me down the slope. We ended up going down that run the rest of the time. The slope was so wide that we could cut across the entire thing quickly and smoothly. We also found a secret way that went behind some trees and was complete powder. The first time I went down it, I discovered why people loved skiing and snowboarding so much. It had gotten dark by the time we stopped for dinner, so the only lights were the ones on the sides of the runs. This powder spot was farther away from light, however. It was dark, cold, and quiet. I went down before Colton, and my board slid through pure powder. All I could hear was my board slowly rushing through the powder, and absolute silence around me. Funny how silence is something we always describe as hearing. There was no one else around me, and I just had such a feeling of peace and excitement rush through me at the same time. I was where no one else was at the moment, doing what no one else was doing. Three quarters of the way down, I turned and looked for Colton. He was still stuck near the top. Once you get into the powder, it's terrible to try and get out of. Needless to say his experience on that run was opposite of mine.
Colton snowboarding down the slope |
My face, hair, and eyelashes coated with ice.
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I suppose one good thing that came out of that was that I was no longer tired and paid better attention to the road, as did Colton, who was driving thirty miles an hour on the fifty-five mph road. That was a good thing though; who knows that might have happened had we been going faster with moose lurking around...
We ended up going to a family friend's house for an hour to watch the ball drop and bring in the year 2011. I wonder what it means to go into a new year being almost frightened to death by a moose. Guess we'll just have to see.
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