Course Inspection

Can you see the lake?

Today was the course inspection day for the 2013 Supertour Finals hill climb event being hosted at Royal Gorge and Sugarbowl tomorrow. The race course starts with three kilometers in the meadow at Royal Gorge and then climbs up the alpine area at Sugarbowl to the top of the Disney lift. It's going to be brutal, especially in soft conditions. But Sugarbowl graciously offered lift tickets to athletes as a part of their inspection of the course, and I -of course- seized the opportunity to show my xc athlete credentials to strap on some fatter skis (relatively speaking) for the day, and rip around at a place I've never skied before. I did a quick inspection of the cat track leading up to the top, and then proceeded to "inspect" the other terrain and chairlifts Sugarbowl had to offer.

It started as a foggy and misty day, especially at the higher elevations. The summit photo is of me at the overlooking view of the lake. Can you see it? Eventually the clouds burned off and it became a beautiful sunny day. 

I can't express how much fun I had skiing today with all the other nordies and meeting a bunch of new people. I've gotta say, take a bunch of nordic skiers downhilling and you'll laugh your butt off at their enthusiasm, questionable ski attire, and unfamiliarity with edges. On the whole you can tell that these guys can get down the mountain, but it's rather unpolished and that makes it all the more fun. My only wish was that there was one more rest day between today's "inspection" and the race day so that more of the athletes could have come skiing all day, instead of being worried about saving their legs for tomorrow. You gotta get the fun, while there's still fun to be had.

-Gus Truck