Durango, Day 2

I had my second Christmas of the year on my second morning in Durango (my first Christmas was the previous Friday with V&S).  Because the visiting crew in D-town was moving in and out on different schedules, Christmas celebrations had to be timed and separated accordingly.   The present opening was followed by a breakfast of bacon and eggs, which was followed by a flurry of activity in an attempt to get out of the house and up on the mountain.

This was my first time skiing at Purgatory, and there was a group of seven who went.  I've never skied with a group that big before, and it's an interesting but fun exercise (probably aided by the fact that they are all cool people - with a less fun group, I would imagine the whole outing could have been a disaster).

I took one pretty awesome fall of my own accord, and then expressed a death wish by suggesting/agreeing to ride tandem for our last little run.  Here's how this happened:

I was the only one of the crew who rented gear, so when we returned it at the base of the lift, everyone else was still kitted up.  We took a little break post-equipment return for beer or margaritas (as the mood suited) and french fries.  So after a drink or two, it occurred to us that there was still one little chute we had to run down in order to get to the lower parking lots, where we had parked our cars.  I had no skis.  So why not just hop on the back of someone else's skis for the ride down?  The lucky victim was T, E's husband, who is a good skier and a bit of a daredevil.  Really, what could go wrong?  (Never you mind that there is actually a shuttle.  What fun is that?)

Off we go!

To T's credit, he navigated the first (and toughest) part of the route quite well.  We had to make a big turn, run under a bridge, then make two sharp turns to the left and right.  No problem.  But after that, it's a long, steady downhill grade, and my feet were about as wide apart as they could get.  For T it was no problem: (1) he's taller, and (2) his feet were in the middle of the skis, not on the tails.  So I did the most gymnastic thing I could, which was get a feel for the ground underneath me and just tuck into a somersault.

The bailout, from a distance.

T managed to stay upright even as I bailed, and because I came up laughing, we decided it would be a great idea to try again.  This time, we made it to the bottom.

Somehow, miraculously, we're each still in one piece.

I finished off the afternoon with an hour or so of work while noshing on cheese and crackers and sipping some delicious pinot noir.  Dinner, which I neglected to photograph, was venison loin with wild rice and Brussels sprouts, followed by dessert of pecan pie and vanilla ice cream.

Keys, enjoying all the attention he can get

Roxy, enjoying having no attention at all

And last but not least, a late-night run to the airport to pick up K and J who came in from Florida.