Just another beautiful day up at Mt Baker. Watched the Race Team warm up for the day.
Alice was almost ready to go.
Just had to do some stretches first. The Race Team inspired her.
Streeeettttccchhhh...
Then we were ready to go!
What an incredible day. Our Spring Fling lessons were in the afternoon so we had the morning to ski wherever we wanted to. Being there early, after the Race Team took off, we pretty much had the mountain to ourselves. We were the first ones up on Chair Two. It had been a few week since we last skied, so we took a few trips on the green runs then headed over to the blue runs and rode on Chairs Three and Four. Sneaky Pete is still our favorite.
In the afternoon, we met up with our new class. As luck would have it, we knew our instructor, Charlotte. Her daughter skied with Henry his first two years up there so it was fun to see a familiar face. The other two kids in Alice's class, although younger, are best friends, have been skiing for three years, go down black diamond runs, and both boys are quite confident. However, at least today, they were sort of like hyper puppies and were sloppy skiers. Alice did a great job showing them how to be in control.
The advantage to skiing with kids who are at a higher skill level than Alice? They challenged us. Didn't take long before we were up on Chairs Five and Seven, whizzing down Easy Money. I couldn't believe it. It was quite a steep hill. Charlotte was a very patient instructor and really worked with Alice on her parallel turns, hockey stops, and slides. In just one lesson, I know that Alice improved. And so did I! One of the great advantages to tagging along as a parent in her lesson.
Charlotte also took us down Half Pipe which was a great run for practicing parallel turns. Loved that. And then we went down The Gut. It's named The Gut because it's the run where all the other runs intersect - meaning, snowboards and advanced skiers are coming at you from all directions. It was a little insane and incredibly steep. Charlotte was in front of Alice and I was right behind, with my poles held wide to signal anyone behind us. But we did it. I was impressed. Being in a lesson really pushes you. Alice and I never would have gone down The Gut by ourselves - but with Charlotte by our side, it was no big deal. Pizza, french fry, french fry, pizza.
Next week, Charlotte said we're going down Death Star. Hmmm....
And Henry? Well, he had a great day too. Went down The Chute for the very first time and he was grinning from ear to ear.
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