Steamboat Springs

We spent the weekend in Steamboat Springs, and it was great. Not quite what we expected, but still a good time. Kendall was a little sick, didn’t ski Saturday, tried Sunday and had a big wipeout. She said she couldn’t walk afterwards, but it was a bruise. I ended up getting a Ski Patrol guy, a toboggan, and snowmobile to get us down, which was interesting. She was fine at the bottom, walked to the shuttle with me and we headed to the hot springs.

When she wrecked, we were way on the right of the back side of Steamboat, about as far as you can be from the base. It was two lifts and 2 long runs to get back. It was a bumpy blue, and as I came out of a turn I saw a cloud of powder below me and then Kendall sliding. At first I thought she’d gotten scared and bailed, but when I got to her she was crying. Tia was there and she’d lost one ski and was hurt.

I felt her leg, trying to see if she’d broken anything. She swore she had, but she’d been sick on the way up and not feeling good, so we weren’t sure. We sat there for 10 minutes or so, got her to try to stand, but she said she couldn’t walk down to the lift (we were in sight of it) and couldn’t ski. Since Tia had been with her Sat, so walked down to call for help and Tia took off with the boys to enjoy themselves. I felt a little embarrassed calling for help, but I knew Kendall wasn’t feeling good anyway, and without pulling off her ski pants in 11F weather, there wasn’t a good way to check. There’s always the chance she was hurt.

A ski patrol guy skied over just as I hiked back up to her. He asked her what was wrong, triaged a bit, checking for broken hips, legs, etc. When he thought she was OK, he bundled her up in the toboggan, strapping her down, head in the front, and turned her around. A snowmobile drove up and I got on, and the Ski Patrol guy held onto a rope as he pulled the toboggan and got towed. It was a busy day as the snowmobile drove to the next lodge where he picked up a second person and Ski Patroller with his own toboggan.

We wound through the fairly flat, switchbacks up the mountain and then across to the gondola mountain. It was interesting because I’d seen those trails, but never knew what they were. They’re for snowmobiles, which can’t get straight up the mountain with a load. We had to keep watching for skiers coming down as we passed numerous trails.

I’d never been on a snowmobile and it was interesting. Not great, not sure I think it’s fun, kind of like the ATV, but cold. When we got to the gondola, we got off and the Ski Patrol guys started down. I grabbed my board and went after them. The guy with Kendall was waiting for me and of course I went to stop and slipped, tumbling nicely in front of him. I’m sure he thought going down the blue might mean he’d have to come back and get me, but we started down and no more falls for me. I followed him except for a few times I enjoyed the blue and raced down ahead of him a bit and then stopped to wait.

We got to the base, which amazed me, given how steep and bumpy the blue was, and he asked Kendall if she wanted to walk in or ride the gurney.

Silly Question

The gurney it was. They slid the toboggan onto a lift, which raised it to the level of a gurney and then slid Kendall onto that on a backboard. She rolled inside, got checked again, she seemed fine, and then we filled out some paperwork. I was sure they were going to ask for insurance and bill us something, but they didn’t. Nice to know the mountain covers things like this and provides a service. Probably balances out some of the lawsuits people want to file.

Once we were done, Kendall and I walked to the shuttle. They offered a ride, but I wanted to see how Kendall did. I figured if she couldn’t walk, we’d go back and get one, but she did fine. I carried her skis and poles and she had her backpack and we hiked the half mile to the base, stopped for coffee and hot chocolate, and then went to the shuttle.

When we got to the hotel, we had checked out, so we loaded the truck and drove to the Steamboat Springs hot springs and went in. It’s amazing there. The pools are outside, but they’re warm. We swam a bit, I tried the rock wall twice and failed miserably, and then we ended up in one of the hotter tubs. Kendall fell asleep in my arms, and after about 20 minutes, I walked back to the other pool since I was worried about her overheating. She woke up, and complained that the main pool was “cold” and it felt cool at first, but with the cold air (probably 15-20F), it warmed up quick and she fell asleep again.

We repeated this a few times, and she kept nodding off on me, I’m sure because she was sick. Tia and the boys got there later, Tia ran, then I ran while she watched Kendall and about 7:00 we finally got out of there for the drive home. Kyle had come up Sat himself, so he and Delaney followed us back, Kendall dropping off almost immediately. Just before Silverthorne, Kyle flashed us and we pulled over. He was too tired, so I drove his car home and followed Tia.

We got back around 11:30, got kids in bed, were both slightly wired, had to change sheets because the dogs had taken advantage of our absence, and finally dropped off around 12:30.

A long, but fun, weekend.