Day 9. Powdaaah! And Longhorn misery.

I woke up this morning to take some early calls, and found that Breck was covered in 8" of fresh snow.  I had to take the calls, after all, it was I who had scheduled them, but the snow was still sweet by the time Kristin and I got to Peak 10.  It was sunny and windy, and Kristin was really enjoying her freedom as she flew down the mountain.   In fact,  on our 1st run, Kristin didn't want to "make me wait", so she blasted down the mountain at Mach 2,  never stopping,  top to bottom, leaving me gasping for air as I tried to keep up "so she wouldn't get lost".  ;-)  We had a good laugh at the lift,  once I realized I wasn't having a heart attack.

Later in the day, after Kristin headed back to the house to sauna with Lynne (YES! The house even has a sauna!)  I took the T-Bar up to the back bowls.  The scene was surreal; I wish I could have caught it on film.  The snow was blowing across the mountain as the lift took us straight into the sun,  shadowy skiers silhouetted on the horizon though the blowing snow;  shimmering ghosts phasing in and out of view.   It was mesmerizing.   If it wasn't so brutally cold,  I would have gone up again just to see the show!  The run down was a blast;  thigh-deep powder through the glade; then dropping down into the bowls.

This evening,  of course we watched the Longhorns suffer their terrible defeat at the National Championship BCS game.  After Colt McCoy's injury,  freshman Garrett Gilbert, who had taken our local Lake Travis High School to their 1st State Championship, tried hard to rise to the occasion.  But he finally came up short against the #1 team in the country.  It was tough to watch, but he showed a lot of poise in a very tough situation.  And Colt never got to finish his quest, after 4 years, to repeat Vince Young's legacy.  A sad ending to a great day.