My First Trip to Red Mountain Resort: Shred the Love

We spent the day “Shredding The Love” today at Red Mountain Resort in Rossland.  Yes, the management at Mountain FM determined that it would be okay to send me out skiing today. The last time I scarred some children at Phoenix Mountain when my pants fell down on the bunny hill (for that story click here).

Today I was way out of my comfort zone heading up to Red. I am not great at skiing. I wouldn’t say I’m dangerous on skis (to anyone other than myself) so I set out to shred the love.

John and Jenny (from the New Morning Rocks) were broadcasting live from the bottom of the hills and they were my safe place. This was my first time at a straight up mountain; it is definitely the biggest place I have ever skied. As we approached I started to get a little bit of an anxiety attack looking at the incredible runs and small dots making their way down the mountain.

The first half hour of my Red Mountain experience was really more proof that I am becoming a pansy with age. Last week I learned my lesson with dark places on rides and roller coasters, this week I learned I really need to keep skiing or I will always get the antsy feeling before going to the hill.

On a side note, for the first time since we moved to the Koots I went to the gym this week. I am making every effort to work out everyday after my show. I have been to the gym three days in a row straight; I was feeling pretty much like jello when we hit the slopes.

After we got into the day, more like after Kevin dragged me to the first run of the day I was totally back in the swing of things. I was pretty freaked out by the lift at first; I haven’t been on one other than at Martock pretty much a decade ago. It totally weirded me out at first but I got over it quickly.

Skiing Red was great! There was 0 wait time to get on the chairlifts and the runs were a lot of fun! When they say, “Ditch the Crowds!” they really mean it. Red is a great place to cut the crap and get time on the slopes.

After taking in my share of the first chair lift during the first part of the day, Kevin coaxed me into going up to the top of Granite Mountain. I have never been anywhere like it. I wish I could have taken pictures from the lift; we were higher than I have ever been in my life!

By the time we reached the top it had changed from lightly snowing to pretty much almost whiteout conditions. It was blustery and ice pellety when we got off the Motherlode (as you can see in this picture).  We were going to take the run that connects to Grey Mountain and ski Grey for bit. The weather turned on us a bit and we ended up making it our last run of the day and took Northern Bell to the bottom.

In my truly anxious way, the white made me worry. Kevin’s red pant was my beacon on the trip down. I kept them in site and knew all would be all right. This is typically how I am on my first run anywhere; I am guessing you would be a hell of a lot more ballsy than I am on the first run. The entire time all I could think of was about the news headlines reading “Idiot Girl From Flat Province Gets Lost On Ski Hill”. Passing university was easier to me than basic navigation and judging distances. This is a “me thing”, children and basic skiers were whizzing by me all day at Red. 

Another side note, I was totally blown away by the crisp smell of the freshest alpine air while skiing down these runs. 

Overall a great first trip to Red! There are lots of runs for all skill levels.

I was really impressed by the numbers of kids out on the hill. There were so many kids killing it on the slopes! It is so nice to see families out keeping kids active. I wish I had learned to ski as a child L

As I mentioned, in the first part of the blog, today was great event at Red Mountain called “Shred the Love”. “Shred the Love” is a fundraiser for Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC) John and Jenny broadcasted live from the event all the important details about this initiative from 10a-2pm. 50% of the revenue from the day lift ticket sales at Red were donated to B4BC!

 

For more about B4BC you can check them out here.

Next week there will be another amazing fundraiser at Red Mountain, if you missed out today or want to get another run in before the end of the season it is the perfect time to get to Red (and support an important cause). Next Sunday is “Slopes for Hope” a fundraiser to support the Canadian Cancer Society. 

“Slopes for Hope” is another cool event that challenges everyone partaking a chance to ski the height of Mt. Everest (29,092 ft). You can register now here.

Just in case you are wondering what maps out to be at Red Mountain here are the runs you would have to get in to meet the goal:

Red- 1,420 feet - 20.5 runs

Silverlode-705 feet - 41runs

Motherlode-2,332 feet - 12.5 runs

Paradise – 1,286 feet - 22.5 runs

Grey – 1,988 feet -14.5 runs

(Stats from: http://www.redresort.com/activities/events/?nodepage=47354)

You have a week! Get to it!

Register up and start fundraising. Any adult who raises $100 will receive a ½ price lift ticket and any child who raises $50 will receive a ½ price lift ticket. Support this important cause and win some swag on March 16^th 2014 at “Slopes for Hope”.

Again (do it now) click here to register.

For more information about skiing's hidden gem in the Koots, Red Mountain Resort click here. 

Friends, come visit us and lets go skiing! 

#ThrowBackThursday: Ski Ballet

To me, the 80s were a crazy time that I absolutely obsess over. Today’s throwback Thursday video is a salute to the upcoming Sochi games and a sport that I would love to bring back to the games. It was part of the Winter Olympics back in 1988 and 1992, it is also known as acroskying.

The hair, the outfits, the sport; to me ski ballet is the quintessential 80s sport.

Here is a clip from the Calgary games

And another gem, in this one I’m not sure if the commentator is really onboard with the sport or making fun of it. Either way, it is comedy gold for winter sport jokes.

Here is more on Ski Ballet care of Buzzfeed:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/ski-ballet-is-the-forgotten-olympic-sport-you-need-in-your-l

Mountain FM Night at Phoenix Mountain

I just wrote about the awesome first part of my day onSaturday at the Rossland Winter Carnival. My awesome day continued with a trip to Grand Fork’s to check out Mountain FM Night at Phoenix Mountain. Now, I haven’t been downhill skiing since I was 15, nearly a decade ago. And before that it had been since I was 11. Skiing, not a huge part of young Kate’s life. I have always loved to ski, I think I would have been seriously addicted to skiing if I had not have started playing hockey and would have had more time for it. But, here we are, I am nearly 25 and have downhill skied three times; and I love it.

Back to Mountain FM night at Phoenix Mountain, well it started a little rough. My boyfriend joined me on the night adventure to Grand Forks and he wanted to test that I really am able to ski by taking me down the bunny hill. This was a horrible idea. It was like my body had forgot everything it had learned skiing in rural Nova Scotia and was intimidated by BC skiing. I had to walk sideways on my skis to get to the bunny hill, it was quite embarrassing. Could it get worse? You bet!

I approached the bunny hill, my boyfriend had already reached the top of the bunny hill. I waited my turn while all the kids that surrounded me caught the tow-rope up. When it was my turn I made it about half-way up the hill before my crappy cotton gloves gave out on the tow-rope, I frantically tried to pull myself along with the rope to no avail. My boyfriend waited and watched, I think he tried to say something to me but I was too caught up being embarrassed by the approaching child who was coming up behind me on the tow-rope. Then the rope lost all traction and I start sliding backwards towards the child behind me. The child wisely bailed off the rope and went down half the hill rather than being back-plowed by a twenty-five year old idiot sliding backwards. Part of me secretly wanted to play reverse ski-bowling into the children to see how many I could scramble. The other part of me wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

I managed to hold on to the rope as I slide backwards and then with a massive jolt I began moving forward again and gained a little ground up the bunny hill. I could feel the blisters forming on my thumbs so I let go and skied off before getting to the top. This is possibly the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me in front of my boyfriend (he missed me eat-it cross-country skiing a couple weeks ago). As soon as I was within communicable distance with my boyfriend he shot off down the hill. While cursing him, I debated how bad it would look if I had as much trouble going down the hill as I did going up the hill. I discovered it could not be as embarrassing and shot off.

We met at the bottom and I made him promise to not make me do the bunny hill again. I used to think there was nothing as embarrassing as being passed by a small child on skis, I was wrong. The most embarrassing thing truly is halting the tow-rope line on the bunny hill while scrambling to hold on and pull your pants up. The poor kids behind me definitely got a little skin show; I need to by proper snow pants.

It has been said that I am relatively fearless on skis, which is kind of true. My first hockey practice when I was 12 years old (I had just quit figure skating to play hockey and had never skated in hockey skates before) I was really proud of myself that I did not fall at all. I was skating astonishingly slow, with flailing limbs; but I did not fall. My father was not impressed, he told me that was not how to measure how well I was doing and that falling meant I was really trying; I guess I took those words to heart because I tend to fall a lot as an adult… especially skiing.

Anyways, I only had one real wipe-out skiing at Phoenix and it was on my first run of the night. After the bunny hill everything seemed to come back to me really quickly. I have a nice little snow burn on my side to commemorate my only real skiing fail of the night on my first run, the tow-rope welts on my thumbs  are much worse. I was much more of a disaster on cross-country skis (somehow).

Thank you to everyone at Phoenix Mountain, you made my first night skiing trip memorable and managed to test my relationship! I think we passed our first trip skiing as a couple, I managed to not embarrass my boyfriend after the bunny hill experience and no one was injured.

I think Phoenix Mountain is the perfect starter hill, I am so happy I warmed myself up skiing there! It would be a great place to take the family and everyone there was incredibly nice! There is a full canteen with everything you could ever wish for food-wise. I can’t wait until Mountain FM night next year, I hope we see you there!

For more about Phoenix Mountain click here.

Lessons I Learned at the Tour De Soup

Saturday was Mountain FM's 2nd Annual Tour de Soup at the Black Jack Ski Club. It was so much fun! I had not been cross-country skiing since elementary school and it really showed. It was free to ski all day at Black Jack so Morning Rocks co-host Jenny Fines, 1035 The Bridge Afternoon Ride host Megan Milne and I took full advantage of it! 

How many times did I fall? I think saying I fell 20 times would be a little high. I think it was around 10 times, but there were some big falls. I even tried to take a picture of my biggest wipe-out because I left a full face and body print in some pristine, previously untouched snow. That was the only time I went headfirst and it taught me a lesson about staying in the previously made tracks. 

I also learned that when skiing with friends I provide a running play-by-play commentary. "Megan, we're not going to crash, I've got this, nope we're not going to collide.... YES, YES WE ARE!” BOOM impact, Megan took the high-road and I took the low-road into the snow.

Another lesson I learned at Black Jack on Saturday was that is absolutely soul crushing when a small child passes you on skis, especially if you are really struggling to get up again.

Make sure you come out the 3rd Annual Tour de Soup next year, to keep updated on everything going on at Black Jack Ski Club check out www.skiblackjack.ca!