Ski week

Sometimes when you are in the middle of something, you think it is very normal. But when you start talking to others about it, you realize your reality is just that, only your reality. That's the conclusion I came to when I mentioned to a few of the sales reps I work with who live out of state that I was taking off for Ski Week, to go skiing, of course.

"Ski week," they said. "What do you mean ski week?"

"All the kids around here get not only President's Day off but the whole week after that Monday. It's called Ski Week," I explained.

"Oh, so they get that instead of Spring Break?"

"No," I replied, "They get Spring Break too. I think the schools stay open one week longer in June to make up for it."

"Why do they get an extra week of vacation?" asked my sales rep friends.

"Parents were pulling their kids out that week anyway to go skiing so the Newport Mesa School District decided to institutionalize it by declaring this week an official week off. It cuts down on absences and, hence, increases the school's revenue."

"Interesting," they commented.

That's when you realize you live in "The O.C." and things here are just different.

We decided to go to Mammoth Mountain for our ski week http://www.mammothmountain.com/. Actually, my husband decided. When it comes to skiing I have been a nonparticipant in our family going on 8 years. My husband and my Kid took up snowboarding last year, because it was time to purchase equipment for the Kid and stop renting. My husband decided that he, himself, would like to start snowboarding. And so it was decided, the Kid would snowboard. They went up 3 or 4 times to local mountains. It was a struggle to teach the Kid how to snowboard (crying, whining, the usual) but my husband prevailed. By the end of the season, the Kid had stopped talking about skiing and seemed excited about snowboarding.

So my husband set up this trip to Mammoth and invited his sister's son who also likes to snowboard. My husband and Kid had already went once in January with Indian Guides and had a blast (more about Newport Beach Indian guides another time). I was the last one to convince to join the trip. I had a million reasons why I didn't really want to do this including "busy at work," "too cold," "old dog," "too crowded" etc. I had tried snowboarding 2 seasons ago and it seemed too hard to me (hence the "old dog" comment). The real reason: I was afraid of my skis. I had bought them when I knew how to ski 9 years ago. They are Volkl skinny 190s. I knew I would potentially injure or actually kill myself on them. Finally I revealed my fear to my husband. He explained to me that nowadays people ski on short, fat, parabolic skis. He showed me a story online which explained them http://www.getoutdoors.com/go/golearn/477 . Well, heck. Even I could ski on those things. So I agreed to go, and got myself down to Sports Chalet and rented some beat-to-death K2 153s. They came to below my nose. I was thrilled. And also happy to not be left out of something that was rapidly becoming a major family activity between my husband and son.

The 6 hour drive to Mammoth was pretty uneventful. Our nephew and Kid chattered in the back. The nephew is 15 and extremely patient. He listened to all the Kid's stories and laughed at all his jokes. The Kid was in heaven. We stayed at Chamonix Condos right near Canyon Lodge. They were functional and pretty reasonable at a little below $200/night for a one bedroom with pullout sofa. The 70's decor with matching avocado appliances was just about in style again. The weather up at Mammoth was absolutely spectacular. You can see from the picture above that there is no way anyone got cold. The parabolic skis were a joy. I felt completely competent and could keep up with the snowboarders really well. In fact, my fellow boarders started to bore me a little. Skiing with snowboarders can be a drag for skiers. Snowboarders need to clip and unclip in and out of their boards all the time. And, they fall down a lot (even the good ones). Once down they like to sit for awhile and appreciate their surroundings. The scene below of my husband, nephew and Kid was pretty common for me on our trip.

Another funny thing about Ski Week: you constantly see people you think you know or that you really know. I bumped into a friend as well as a lady that goes to my gym that I see frequently in "Spin Class." Both mentioned that they had bumped into a bunch of people too. So "The O.C." truly seems to invade Mammoth during Ski Week.

Not having skied for 8 years, I was shocked by how many snowboarders there were. In the early 90's snowboarders were kind of an oddity. Sort of a rebellious group of surfers who needed something to do during the winter. Skiers liked to put down the snowboarders and talk about how they interfered with the grooming of the slopes, got in the way sitting on their butts across the face, clogging up the chair lift unloading zone with their buckling and how difficult it was to sit on a chair lift with boards jabbing at horizontal rather than vertical angles. All true. But it looks like a funny thing happened. To me, it appears that if anyone is taking up a snow sport, they tend to take up snowboarding more than skiing. There were just more snowboarders, plain and simple. Could be that it's cooler? Or that it's cheaper (2 edges are cheaper than 4)? Or that the boots are more comfortable? Or the clothes are better? Or that it's easier to learn? Who knows, but whenever we ended up at the base in long lines, I would amuse myself by trying to figure out what the ratio of skiers to snowboarders was. Probably about 55% snowboarders to 45% skiers. Meaning just over 50/50.

There have been other big changes at Mammoth while I was gone. The Village area now has a Starbucks, a Gondola, restaurants and shopping! And, Warming Hut 2 is now called Canyon Lodge. Still looks the same. I guess I can commit to skiing at least once a year. If they're gonna make it this easy.