Day Two - Big Sky, Montana

This cold I have is really bringing me down. I dosed on NyQuil last night to get a good night's sleep and did until about 3am when I had a prolonged uncontrollable coughing fit. I was up until 5am and then fell asleep again until 7am. I didn't feel great this morning but not poorly enough not to ski. After breakfast I saddled up and drove up the mountain. It was cold; nine degrees by my truck's thermometer. Strangely, when I got to the mountain it had 'warmed up' to 15 degrees. It snowed most of today, at times heavily with some great sun breaks. I had intended to take it easy today but the day and my enthusiasm got the best of me and I skied from first to almost last chair with a couple of breaks along the way. The morning I spent skiing bumps and powder on mixed black and blue terrain since we got six or so fresh inches over night. In the afternoon, I worked on my form, speed and control on some moderately groomed blues.

This morning I realized that every time I put on my skis for the first time for a day that I feel awkward and hesitant for my first few runs. It takes a while to get my head back into the right space where it 'flows.' It is as if I am afraid I have forgotten everything that I know about skiing with each new day and I need to 'remember' it before I can go on. I have taken to warming up and stretching before I hit the slopes and I hope that this transient fear will go away with time.

Today I observed a strange and disturbing husband/wife interaction. I was taking a traverse to Mad Wolf which also goes on to the upper Elk Park Ridge and I heard a woman whining to her husband in an incredibly nasal voice, "Stanley, this goes to a black diamond and you know I can't do that. It's too hard." Stanley replied gruffly, "Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about." It went back and forth like this for a couple of rounds as we headed to Mad Wolf (the black diamond). I offered that they could continue to traverse on the cat track until they got to the blue slope they wanted. They didn't appear to hear me and continued to bicker. Stanley decided to try to traverse across the top of Mad Wolf while his wife stayed on the cat track. It was somewhat gratifying to see Stanley fall hugely on his ass in the steep and powdery moguls. Serves him right for being such a jerk to his wife.