It had to happen sooner or later, and sooner was definitely the preferred of the two options. So, last night we took Ezra and rented him skis and boots, and this morning we hit the slopes at Arapahoe Basin. When he first put on the boots last night, he wasn’t so sure about keeping them on for an extended period of time, but he did think that they were pretty cool – and that carried through to this morning.
We packed everything up and hit the road for the 1.5 hour drive. We arrived at A-Basin just after 9am and it was already sunny and warming up quickly – a perfect spring skiing, Colorado bluebird kinda day. If you’ve never been to A-Basin, well your simply missing out on one of the great things in the world. It’s not a pretentious, stuck-up, expensive ski resort that charges $10 to park a mile away (Breck, Vail, etc, etc, etc). So, we were able to secure a spot that was literally 20 feet away from the ski run, and no more than 100 feet from the chairlift for the beginner area. After a long walk of nearly 10 seconds, we were ready to go.
Ezra had his boots on and clipped into his skis with no issue at all…it just took him most of the time that we were there to understand how to balance and stand on the skis (and he’s still not there just yet) – especially when they were moving. We started off on the Magic Carpet lift, which turns out to be the steepest one of those in North America; and off we went. After the first run, Ezra smiled and asked: Again! So I obliged and we did it several more times. After those trips, I decided to take him up the chairlift and go for a little longer of runs. I would hold him between my legs, and we would sometimes go fast, sometimes make turns, and sometimes forget to stop where we were supposed to.
After a little more than an hour, Ezra asked to stop and to take off the boots. We did, and the skiing for the day was over. I don’t know that any of us could have asked for a better experience. Ezra talked this afternoon about going skiing and going fast down the hill, and when asked about going again soon, it’s a simple smile and a ‘yyyeeessss!’
PS – Ahna was the assigned sports photographer for the day, and I think that she did an amazing job.
The Life of a Little Hippie 
Atta boy Ezra! Great pics and video, as always. I also like the stylin’ gloves Oren was sporting!
YEAH!!! I cannot wait to go skiing with all of you. What a fun set of pics, Ahna! thanks for sharing the memories…
Wait – did I see Ezra’s legs flailing about in the second downhill shot? The video is sweet!
Too stinkin’ cute…looks like a wonderful day.
It was great to see Ahna today, glad to have her back
I think the flames on Ezra’s helmet are an indication of what you have in store for you!! Amazing video and photos–thanks for sharing.
What fun…good job capturing the moments, Ahna! The best part of these great photos are the SMILES on Ahna’s and Oren’s face. It was beautiful and wonderful to see!
Awesome photos and video. Looks like Ezra will be a natural. I’ll need to get Sydney up on some skis so Ezra can have a ski buddy.
rosy cheeked boy thrills in skiing with his father as mommy films!! love it!!
What a cool moment to see your child on skis for the first time. It is truly amazing to me! Congrats, Ezra!
Love the flames on the helmet!