More Mammoth
I promise: no more snowboarding pics for a while after this. I just saved the contents of my SD card to the hard drive and thought I'd share some of the better ones. Above, my sister Angelyn and wife Wendy zone out on the way to the peak of Mammoth.
To get to Dave's Run, you have to get to the far end of the range. I'm not much of a hiker, but I never get tired of this walk. Surrounded by snow-topped mountains, you really feel like you're on top of the world--or maybe even another planet.
Left to right: my brother-in-law Eric, Wendy, Angelyn, and twin brother Greg strap in on top of Dave's. This is my favorite run not only because of the steepness and typically great, wind-packed powder, but because of the ritual of the walk and preparing the descent. (It's my opinion that in snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing, such moments leading up to the action are as important as the actual activity. This is what separates them from, say, football.)
I hardly ever take still photos of actual snowboarding because the images never look as good as the moments feel in real life. Here, you can't really see how steep the run is or how amazing the surrounding vista is. But you can see Wendy and Angelyn smiling after making some nice turns on the way down.
The sun sets early these days, but we hustled to make outings. Above: Eloise, my sister-in-law Cathy, Angelyn, and her daughter Lucia prepare to hit the road.
Eloise and Lucia bookended by Angelyn and me wearing our babies and Giant Robot hoodies. I'm hoping the cousins will grow closer through trips like this in the future. So many questions, though. When do we start them on the slopes? And do they have to learn how to ski before they snowboard? How much will a lift ticket cost by then? (Right now it's over 80 bucks, but I have a season pass that makes it more affordable.)
Amazingly, the Lumix's flash didn't totally ruin this picture of the gondola ride to the Village with Mom and Dad. Honestly, the destination is no big deal, but going out together is still great. As new parents, my brother, sister, and I are fortunate to be part of a family that sees the value of making annual trips like this. If Mom and Cathy didn't come up to watch Eloise, Lucia, and Greg's daughter Saoirse (below), there's no way we'd be able to hit the slopes.
posted by gr at
11:26 PM
My parents started my brother and i with skiing when we were around 7 or so, and when I tried to learn snowboarding when i was a teenager, I think it made it actually more difficult because I thought it would be very similar when it really was like night and day..
Wyatt is nearly 4, and we've been putting him on skis since he was 2.5. He is JUST now starting to plow and stop on his own. Ski school (which we did for $50 for two hours at June) was the best thing we did. It kind of hurt our egos (we thought we'd teach the boy), but he doesn't want to believe us anymore. A few more lessons are in order.
Ski school wants the kids pottytrained.
Kids ride the lifts for free until they are 6. They should be eligible for their own pass if you keep yours up.
I don't think they do snowboarding lessons until kids are 6. Do they make boards small enough?
It's so neat that your Mammoth trips are family deals. Your pictures were awesome and Wendy and your sister are rad to board Dave's Run. It was so windy today that 2 was closed for much of the morning says my husband who went.
TH - I wanted to call you in Bishop, but Eloise was sleeping so we drove through town instead of having lunch there. Doubly bad, because (1) we didn't get to introduce you to her and (2) it took 90 minutes to get "the best burgers in Lone Pine!"
-mw
Plenty more trips where that came from, I'm sure. Let sleeping babies lie.
Good luck w/ the deadlines.
Sun leen fai lok!
Tricia
The family that shreds together stays together. The Wong family gene seems to create gorgeous girls. I'm loving these posts as much as I despise the snow and cold.
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