Cheesy Skiing

Special On The Road Edition: West Salem

Yesterday a new Christmas tradition was started in the Bersagel household…skiing. And it was good. After several consecutive days of snow, and an early season that dropped a 50 inch base; we headed over to Mt. LaCrosse for a day of turns. 

Johnathan and Isaac went into a lesson: it was their second time skiing and first in about a year. Jamie, KJ, Matthew and I hit the slopes together. For Jamie and KJ it was the same year off that the boys had. For Matthew, it was more like 10 years. And to drop into the first run off of the first chair onto a blue and with 8 inches of fresh powder….they did great. Not that the Colorado resorts  have been bad this year (they have gotten almost 5 feet this month), but it’s interesting to think that I had to travel to Wisconsin to get a great powder day.

I was able to rent telemark gear at the base, which was nice since I was actually a little nervous about the thought of stepping into alpine stuff for the first time since I made the transition. The attire was something to behold: jeans with a snow shell over them (borrowed from Jamie, and a size or three too big), a sweatshirt as the main thermal layer under my fleece jacket, teal and fuschia colored gloves, my hat, ear muffs from Matthew, and white 10-year old goggles. The thing about it was that I was warm, and had a great time. Who cares about the clothing? Well, normally I admit that I do to some degree….but it was easy to set aside those thoughts and just have fun. 

KJ and the boys headed home after their lesson was finished, but Jamie, Matthew and I stayed and skied for a while longer; then enjoyed some food and some beer in the St. Bernard Room in the lodge. The resort boasted a vertical drop of some 615ft, around 15 trails (two blacks), and three lifts (all double chairs from 30 years ago). The lodge was the perfect size for the hill – and the parking lot matched. I estimate that there were no more than 200 people on the entire mountain while we where there, and I don’t think that I saw anyone on the ski patrol that was under 40. Seriously, it was perfect. Like an Arapahoe Basin of the LaCrosse area. I loved it.