While in the dentist’s office this morning , I read an issue of Conde Nast Traveler that detailed the best ski resorts in the United States.
They talk about the best slopes, the best powder, the best hotels and the best in après-ski, which is a French term for a place to thaw out your toes.
I read through it, but I didn’t see any of the slopes that Dave and I have been skiing for years (about 13 of the last 18).
Our first year, we got ready to ski by drinking Vodka and cider the night before the four-hour drive. The hilly, winding road to the ski resort (in North Carolina) the next day made us wish we hadn’t. There was snow…but not much of it.
For a few years we went to a ski resort in West Virginia. We went on a budget.
We didn’t stay at the resort, we stayed at a Super 8 hotel about 15 miles away. Our après-ski was a cooler full of beer and peppermint schnapps. We drank the beer in the hotel room and the schnapps on the ski lift. I’m sure we ate, but I don’t remember what.
Note: The worst thing about not staying where you ski is the ski boots…getting there and having to put them on outside in the cold (so you can leave your shoes in the car and save on a locker fee) can be pretty tough. Something about expanding feet and shrinking boots.
The snow was okay, but unfortunately, it was mostly in the woods. The slopes themselves (the skiing part of the mountain) were a lot of ice with grass mixed in. The occasional snow/slush patch encountered on the route made the skiing tougher, as one ski caught in the snow/slush and the other ski…well…didn’t.
We slowly graduated over the years to better resorts and lodging closer to the slopes. But our climb to the Conde Nast Top 20 (we were only 345 or so away) was interrupted by my move to paradise. My ski equipment has been sitting in Dave’s house in Maryland for three years.
But, we’ve got big plans this year…I got a new cooler.
