My own private Everest

It snowed 4 feet on the mountain last night, so there was LOTS of fresh powder this morning. On the first run of the day, I followed Heide (the mother of Nani, the student who invited me out) through a deep run, in between the trees. I forgot to mention - Heide runs LOTS of marathons, skis a TON and is extremely fit.

So I followed and did well for a bit, but then crashed out. It was a VERY soft landing, but then I couldn't quite get my board turned over so that I could stand up again. I can only seem to manage from a face-down position - my arms are DYING from doing push-ups! So there I am, lying in the snow, feeling like Ralphie's little brother Randy in "A Christmas Story." Remember? He was all bundled up like a tick and then got knocked over as he was walking to school. He couldn't get up and just rolled around in the snow until his brother came to his rescue.

Only problem was, by that point I was alone. NOBODY around, and I'm stuck in the snow. At one point, my board jammed in the snow (which was very wet and sticky) about 6 inches and I had to take it off just to get it out. Then I sank up to my thighs in the powder and had to spend A LONG time trying to walk out of the situation. It was very tiring, and quite comical. Needless to say, I was spent when I finally got out and made the run down the mountain. I keep referring to the episode as "My own private Everest."