Day 31: Zen and the art of skiing HIGH!

(No,  not THAT kind of high.  Too old for that.)

Today was a beauty!  One of the few full weekdays I have taken off;  and it was well worth the scads of unread emails in my inbox that greeted me when I returned to "our" house.  We skied with our Nikon D5000 DSLR (equipped with a 70-300mm zoom lens!) for the 1st time,   so I have some nice pictures to share! (All other downhill ski shots in my blog have been shot with our Olympus point-and-shoot.)

After lunch, we went to the top; up to double-black-diamond territory.   In an inexplicable lapse of common sense, and forgetting for a moment that I am just one month shy of 55,  I took off my skis to scale the summit of Peak 8 from the top of the Imperial lift,  to 12,998 feet. 

Since there is at least 5' of snow on top of the mountain,   let's just call it 13,000 feet, ok?  From here, you can see almost all of Summit County and beyond;  it feels like you can touch the deep blue sky!  It finally hit me how high I was,  when I realized I was looking down over 1000 feet to the top of the Copper Mountain ski area! 

Check out the picture below!  This shot looks down on the town of Breckenridge,  but also down on to the lower ski slopes of Peak 8.  It looks like it was taken from an airplane, doesn't it!?  (and remember, this was taken with a very long lens!)

Uh, wait a minute.

  I have to ski down from here?  

Looking down on the black slopes of Peak 9 and 10.....

After taking these photo's, I put the camera away, finally recovering my breath after the steep (and scary as hell) climb from the top of the Imperial lift.  I clicked into my bindings, and faced a man who looked like he had seen a ghost,  turning to me as his son dropped over the cornice to begin the adventure back down.   We looked at each other,  and he asked, "is this the easiest way down?"  I pointed to the north where you can ski along the top backbone of the 10 Mile Range to Peak 7,  and the famous Whale's Tail.  "Afraid so.  I think this is as easy as it gets! See you at the bottom!"  I had never skied anything this steep before.  It was an exhilarating ride that eventually got me back down to the tree line, only after 1000 feet of steep!  Wow!   Feeling free; feeling alive.  

Afterwards, I appreciated the simple truth of the Buddhist notion of "living in the moment".  When you are experiencing something as intense, and awe-inspiring as this, daily "troubles" disappear. 

Don't sweat the small stuff. 

Life is good. 

Live it.

 Love it!

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