winterfest (3/52)

The snow in our area has melted. The temperature has risen to the 50s. It was an awful weekend for the Winterfest. But we went anyway. Thank goodness the ski resort makes snow.

I picked up my Pakastani student at noon. (The Indian one went to graduation.) Thirty-five minutes letter we were in the land of snow. I was wearing a sweatshirt. And sneakers.

I parked an we followed the masses to the lodge. Next to it, on a training slope was the festival. My student realized the time and we went searching in the lodge for a place for her to do her prayers. We ended up in the locker room. She has a compass map on her phone.

The first stop was the ice carver. The guy had his work cut out for him. It was close to 50 degrees, even on top of the mountain. And the sun was bright.

We watched the sled dogs and my student Facebook lived everything. Switching between English and Urdu. I got the lay of the land while she filmed.

First stop was snowshoes. You could use them a half hour before you brought them back. I'm counting this portion as this weeks hike, though the rules said you need to hike for an hour. I snowshoed a half hour and walked for three. I think it counts.

We found the ice chair at the edge of the ski slopes. We watched the people zoom down the hill and the chair lifts go up. It was funny, you could see the summer roaps course in the trees because it was so bare.

After turning in our shoes, we went and visited the guy carving trees. He had just finished the bear.

The USA Luge was represented and the ski resort built a mini luge run. Not as steep or as dangerous as the Olympic ones. The sleds were plastic.  We briefly stood in line and it was clear the line was going nowhere fast. Unlike the snowshoe people, they did not set limits for how long one could use the sleds. We bailed.

Then we hopped on a shuttle bus and went to the base of the mountain and bought tubing tickets. I said I'd go once. There was a line at the bottom. I was fine.

You had to hop on a conveyor belt to get to the top. I can't do a treadmill. What makes you think I can do a conveyor belt going up. I got on and started flying around like a dead fish. I tried to get my baring and hold on to the rail, but to no avail. I finally ended up walking up the sides.

I had to get on the belt to get off and I crashed into the employee at the top getting off.

What I didn't expect was the lines at the top. By the time it was my turn I didn't want to go. My student was in the adjoining lane and went down two before me. My heart was beating out of my chest. I was terrified. The top was horrific. The rest wasn't bad. At some point I turned backwards.

 This is me landing. See I did it!

This is my student coming down. You can see her clearly at the end. Third lane from the right.

It was really, really busy and the cycle took at least a half hour. Our tickets were good for three. We gave up. This is a better activity for mid-week.

We took the shuttle back to the top, and check the luge line one more time. Still long. Maybe longer. It was time to head home.

52 week hike challenge:  3/52
Miles/Steps:   2.5 miles. 
Weather:        mid-50s°, sunny