Fact: My body is sore.

Fact: That is an understatement.

We headed to Vail, bright + early Friday morning. Before we knew it, we were at the top of the mountain.

There was a deep layer of powder, which was lovely. I typically describe powder as what you would imagine it’s like to float through a cloud. However, I think I thought of a better explanation. Can you imagine what it would be like to glide through flour? That is what it feels like. Well, not that I’ve floated through flour before, but I swear it would be exactly the same. ;)

The snow stashes through the trees were the best!

I stopped to take a photo, in the woods, and almost got clipped by a skier flying through. I was totally caught off guard and had NO idea he ended up in the photo, until I looked through them today.

Hello under eye bags….yikes.

Tree action.

This is Chris’s friend Dana, from back home in PA. I’m not sure if this was after a fall or just taking a rest. Either way, we all looked like this pretty frequently.

I could not wait to tear into lunch. We only stopped for about 10min to rest our legs and stuff our faces.

This was everything I was hoping for + more.

The journey continued. I’m pretty sure I had a goofy smile plastered on my face all day long.

Pretty sure I came up smiling, even after doing a cartwheel using my head instead of my hands.

Just one of the reasons I need a massage…

Chris on skis! Traitor! [he used to only snowboard]

At the very end of the day, as if we weren’t exhausted enough, we decided to go on a 1/2 mile hike at the very top of the mountain. A half mile, at around 11,500ft, is not easy. Add a 6hr day of snowboarding beforehand, carrying a snowboard, 10lbs of clothing and clumsy boots…oh, and uphill through snow. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

It also makes me wonder how in the world one would ever be able to possibly climb Mt. Everest [29,000ft!!!]. I finally finished Into Thin Air, and ended up really enjoying it. I can’t even fathom the difficulty of that expedition.

We hiked to the top of the mountain, so we could ride down the backside to the town of Minturn. It’s not part of Vail but it’s also not out of bounds. It’s kind of an “at your own risk” type of thing.

I’ve done this run once before, and on a clear day this view is breathtaking.

The run is called “Minturn Mile.” The top starts wide open and then descends around 2,000ft and follows a creek 3 miles to the town of Minturn. There are quite a few flat spots along the way that make the journey a bit difficult on snowboard. I just kept telling myself “chips + salsa…chips + salsa.” What’s waiting in Minturn is the Minturn Saloon. They have the BEST chips + salsa…possibly the best because you would eat just about anything at the end of that journey!

This was before making our way down. A bit exhausted already.

Snowboarding + skiing uses every single muscle in your body. Muscles you didn’t even know you had.

Heading down.

Gliding through the narrow paths. Most of the run is only about 3-5’ wide.

Like I said, we got stuck quite a few times.

Finally we arrived!!! My camera was a little fogged up, but this is pretty accurate in how I felt. ;)

Thankfully, some people that also just finished the Minturn Mile, gave us a ride 1/2 mile down the road to the saloon. We couldn’t have been happier for the lift!

Tired much?