Opening Day

October brought my favorite day of the year: Opening day of the North American ski season! I’ve improved significantly in my skiing over the last year here in Colorado, but I am still fresh enough that I get giddy about getting on the mountain as often as I can. My wife’s family has turned me into a ski bum, where any day on the snow is a good one.

Getting to Arapahoe Basin on opening day is kind of the epitome of that. We try to ski every month, so it had not been too long since we strapped on our planks. We skied the Fourth of July Bowl in July and St. Mary’s Glacier in August and September. All of the hiking to get to these places is worth the reward, but I really enjoy skiing to go fast. This just isn’t as possible for the summer ski sessions, where the snow is frozen solid in the morning and mushy in the afternoon. Skiing the first run of the season at A Basin was like heaven. The snow was so powdery even though the base was a light 18 inches.

Being that this is a blog on Eagle-Summit Foot & Ankle’s website, I would be remiss to not talk about something involving the lower extremity. Going up on the lift, I noticed that my ski boots have taken a tremendous beating in the off season. Over the summer, strapping in and hiking the summits in my boots really chipped them up. I know that if I’m in the market for new boots, I have to try them on and evaluate them carefully. We see foot pain and nail trauma in the office from ski boots everyday over the ski season and, while I could take care of my own problems myself, I’d rather spend the time to get the right boots and not have to. Happy skiing!