Lessons on Skinny Skiis

This story is courtesy of Dave’s first Rockies ski trip back in 2009/10ish. This was to be Dave’s first taste of big mountain skiing and the time he knew even less about ski equipment than he does now (which ain’t saying much). Thanks to that lack of knowledge, Dave thought it would be wise to forgo renting sticks out west and instead pack up these skinny toothpicks that he’s been learning on out East to tackle Vail and Beaver Creek.

Well as you can imagine, it didn’t take long for Dave to realize how bad of an idea this. Dave managed to force his way down the slopes for most of the first day out but his lucky streak came to end in the afternoon. Just as the confidence started building to explore the top of the of the mountain, snow started coming down and Dave took a tumble good enough to bury his ski deep in the never ending snow base that the Rockies had that season.

After a lengthy search effort for the ski proved fruitless, the remaining friend group decided to ski down to grab a spare ski to get Dave down the mountain. Dave stayed back hanging out around 10,000ft elevation trying and failing to maintain any semblance of body heat. The sweat that formed digging for a ski quickly turned into an icy blanket and it didn’t take long before the excitement of skiing in the Rockies turned into nervousness about having hypothermia in the Rockies.