OK, so it's not the next day. In fact, its almost a week later. Sometimes, I guess, life gets in the way, especially when its Christmas. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. As I explained in the last post, I went to Monarch after the weather and time conspired to rob me of the last free pass opportunity. Here's how the day went.
As I headed up Monarch Pass from Salida, I began to wonder whether I would even get a spot, and be able to ski. I needn't have worried, though, as I got a spot in the 2nd row of vehicles. Given that there had been a good amount of snow 2 days before, I was more than a little surprised. I wasn't uphappy, but I was surprised. Oh well! Stuff on, pass bought, and off we go.
Monarch has 5 lifts (if you ignore the magic carpet used in the new ski school area). Four of them head up from the base area. There are 3 lifts right in front of the lodge, and then one further to the skier's left and down a small hill. As per normal, I took that lift up to the top of some mixed terrain, and headed down. I was trying to improve my turning performance, using the Guns. To be honest, it wasn't working too well. I hit a number of blue runs, and I kept feeling like I was barely in control. I would love to blame the conditions, but that wasn't it. the packed out runs weren't ideal for the wider skis, but I wasn't skiing on ice, or anything close.
It turned out to be one of those situations where the complaint "I used to be better" was quite accurate. A couple of years ago, I could ski everything that I can now, plus more of the mountain. The biggest problem that I had was with moguls, which still seem to perplex me. So, I've somehow managed to give up the performance on the rest of the mountain, and gained nothing in the bumps. Why did that ever make sense to me?
So, what's the difference? Balance. Well, not exactly balance, but more weight distribution. For reasons that escape me, I seem to have more "centered" my weight over the skis. Instead of keeping more pressure on the fronts of my boots, I've been trying to stand on the middle of the ski. The result has been tired legs, and poorer skiing. So, that's the end of that little experiment.
The results of that realisation are dramatic, to say the least. All of a sudden, I own my skis and I can put them where I want to. I'm putting more pressure on the fronts of my boots and everything is good. I'm back to skiing where I want to, when I want to. I even took on a short black run, called Picante. I know, nothing to call the ski magazines about, but its a start. I was starting to look at the other blacks and it wasn't scaring me. I'm going to get there, and soon. Who knows, I might even start looking at the back side of the mountain a little more.
Oh, and there was another benefit. For the last few trips (this year and last), I've had to give up early. My legs have been done after about 4 hours. This time, I was able to ski from about 9.30 until about 3.30. Yes, I stopped for lunch, but that was about all. In fact, I could've gone longer, but things were starting to get silly. The ski area filled up as the day went on. By the time that I left, there were people everywhere, and they seemed to be "in the way" a lot.
So, what about moguls? Well, I still suck so no change there. I need to work on the technique. That's where the problem is. I don't know how to deal with moguls, from a technique point of view. I've been doing some online reading about moguls, and I have some new ideas to try. Maybe, I'll pick a day and spend it in the bumps. I will not let them beat me. They really are the last piece of the puzzle, in terms of skiing the whole mountain.
Oh, just as a note. It's snowing again. Hard. This is the first time that 2 major storms have blown through Colorado in December. The last storm dumped about 2 feet of snow on us, and this one looks to do about the same. I've already bought my lift ticket, and the equipment is ready to go. Now, I just need to hope that they clear the roads quickly. I guess that I picked the right year to buy wider, powder skis. You've got to love it. Well, I love it. I guess that the bump day will have to wait. Then again, its time to see how I do in the powder.
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