USA 09/10 – Beaver Creek Day 12 – The final frontier

Our final day on the slopes started at a similar time to all other skiing days so far – earlier for Ed, but about outside by about 11am for Pip and I. While we were slowed by a CSI:Las Vegas marathon this morning, we were actually more interested in the new feature of the photo software Picasa where it recognises people’s faces (automatically) and allows you to name them. As stupid as this sounds, it’s particularly addictive to get every face named… except when you realise that you’ve got 4,000 or so faces to do!

When we finally hit the slopes we realised that there had, yet again, been no new snow overnight and that the sun was shining clearly through the perfect blue sky in all directions – not a great mix for snow conditions. We headed up our usual route and went to the very top of the mountain to assess the conditions. While the snow was generally good on the main runs, as soon as you ventured too far it was a certainty that you would encounter large patches of brown, rocks and grass… not the nicest thing to come across for new (or any) skis. We skied a few runs before I decided to head back to the Men’s Downhill – which I had done a few days earlier – but this time Ed decided to tag along.

The run, surprisingly, was in good condition, but that didn’t stop Ed making comment that it “scared the living hell” out of him (or something along those lines). This particular run was steep (ok, very steep) in some parts, but great fun all the same. Although I did take some pictures the other day when I last skied it, there are a few additional ones today because I forgot how good the view was. Unfortunately the sky had developed a slight cloud covering – not enough to bring any snow – but just enough to ruin an otherwise perfect weather day.

We skied a few more runs after this (including another visit, or two, to Redtail) before heading to the Spruce Saddle for one last lunch break here at Beaver Creek. We spent a bit of time inside, but not nearly as much as some other days. I guess it was probably the guilty feeling of “oh, it’s the last day… I guess we better ski some more”. After lunch we headed back out and explored a few new runs, including Harrier – which was great for the first part, then the last half turned very bumpy and rather rugged.

From here we returned to the Men’s Downhill, but both Ed and Pip decided to take Redtail instead of the slightly-more-challenging run that was the Downhill. We headed up Grouse Mountain one last time to see if the conditions had changed and found practically nobody on this part of the slope. We only skied one run here, however, as it was a little slick in parts and other runs had been more interesting for all involved. By this stage in the day, it was about 3pm and so we made our final run choices. Another quick spin down Harrier (although skipping the lower part) before heading to the top of the mountain one last time was the choice, and by the time we finished all of this is was nearly 4pm.

We packed up our skis one final time, and returned to the room to begin packing our bags. An NCIS marathon slowed progress (as always), but by about 7pm we were heading back to the village to get some dinner. We returned to the Hyatt, as we had done once before a few nights ago, and had a very enjoyable meal. A little more shopping finished off the night, but before we returned to the hotel we stopped to get icecream – as crazy as it is eating icecream when the temperature outside is well below zero.

Our walk home was rather quick, balancing some shopping and icecreams, and upon returning we packed our skis and boots into their bags and finalised the packing of our other gear. Tomorrow we are travelling all day and so may be hard to contact (unless there is some free wifi to be had). In once sense we’re lucky not to be staying longer, as the snow conditions worsen everyday the sun shines with no new snow falling overnight; but on the other hand, it is sad to be leaving the snow country for another year.

Hope everyone is well back home, and we look forward to seeing you all very soon!