Sean and I had a late start today because there was no reason to rush. Yesterday's warm spell of 43°F! melted the top layer of the snow and made it bind like concrete with the lower layers. It's as unpleasant of a ski surface as you can ski. Thankfully, the mountain received three inches of snow last night that turned the crusted, hard, top-layer into a soft skiiable surface with a supported base. This type of snow is alot of fun to ski because you can just haul and ski as fast as you want to on it.
With being competitors, we thought it'd be fun to race each other on the Nastar course for bragging rights. For those of you not in the know, Nastar is a national race program for recreational skiers and snowboarders. They have side-by-side race courses at most ski resorts in the country that are layed out in Giant Slalom style, where there are about 15 gates that are spaced out by 20-30 feet.I have some racing experience, so you could've said that I had the advantage. But, Sean always skis fast, so I would've given him the advantage. Either way, we were both at a disadvantage with our powder skis, which are harder to get from edge to edge due to their wide widths and don't have the response of race skis.
After paying the combined two bucks, we headed to our respective start gates and waited for the countdown. Sean had a better start than I did, so I was immediately in catch up mode. Then, I applied too much pressure to my downhill ski as I was making a left turn, which caused me to shave some speed. Thankfully, I saw Sean make a similar mistake and was able to blow past him as I tucked the final seven gates on my way to victory.It was good to win. It's been awhile. But, it's even better when you beat a friend. I have bragging rights until I win again... Ummm. I mean when we next race.
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