By: Maya Silver
If you love to ski, you know that not everyday will be a bluebird one. Sometimes, temperatures sink into the teens, single digits, or even negatives. Other times, clouds with silver linings bring heavy snow that means super fun powder but also difficult visibility and tired legs. And then there's my least favorite element of them all: wind.
| view from atop Loveland |
Recently, my friend and I arrived at the top of Lift 9 at Loveland--already nervous about the line we were going to take—and robust gusts greeted us from all directions. As I tightened my boots, I wondered how anyone was supposed to ski in wind this strong! We made our way to the top of the run we were planning to take and covered our faces as the wind blew icy snow onto our faces. I noticed a few people bailing, sidestepping up the run, and wondered if we should do the same. Between the steepness of the pitch below, and the swirls of snow blown up by the wind, I couldn't see the run below at all. But rather than bail, we set our focus to making turns and it ended up being the best run of the day.