What goes up must come down
by Eric Stone

As new homeowners in Bear Valley, we were thrilled to invite our family from the Midwest to join us for our first holiday season. We talked of beautiful mountains, amazing skiing, and outdoor adventures for all. It was our first winter season as well, as my wife and I explored Bear Valley with our three kids.

When my sister and her family said yes, we were ecstatic and started prepping our cabin for our first visitors, and the joy of getting to spend the holidays together, in one big full house. What a thrill! My sister confirmed that three of their daughters would make the trip, along with one boyfriend. A boyfriend! With my kids not yet at dating age, the idea of a boyfriend on a trip was a real treat - it gave us all something to gossip about for quite some time.

Soon the holiday and snow arrived and we were all together. There are few things that can fill your soul more than having a cabin filled with family, telling stories together, and sharing time in the mountains. Add to that the joy of taking someone up to your cabin on a snowmobile for the first time.

We first enjoyed a day of downhill skiing. We started on the bunny slope, and cautiously progressed over to the Cub chair, which was definitely the biggest mountain that our Midwestern relatives had ever seen. It was a thrill, as everyone was getting to challenge themselves and do more than they had ever expected.

With sore bodies and aching muscles, we decided we needed a day off from downhill skiing. As an alternative, I suggested we try cross country skiing, and explained the miles of groomed trails and beautiful Aspen forests available. They were game.

We headed to the cross country area, all 11 of us, to try our hand at cross country skiing. It became evident fairly quickly that we were not experienced skiers, and would need a minute to figure out how this worked. “Let’s just make it to the Warming Hut”, I thought. It would give us a good destination. We could grab some hot chocolate, and if needed, we could then turn around.

Everyone slowly got the hang of what we were doing. We eventually made it to the warming hut - all one-fourth mile of it - and took off our skis for a treat of some hot chocolate and rest. Re-energized, the group was ready to keep going, and was bound and determined to see the Aspen forest. Sounds great! Let’s go!

Off we went, offering tips and tricks along the way, as everyone started to figure out what worked, how to go faster, and how to do this a little better. Little did anyone realize that cross country skiing also included hills. And to reach the Aspen forest, you first had to go up a hill. Well, going up a hill on cross country skis is not simple or easy.

We demonstrated the “V walk” and the sideways step up the mountain, and slowly we all made progress. The boyfriend, who was both trying to impress his girlfriend, and full of teenage boy energy, decided both of these methods were unnecessary - and simply charged up the hill full force. Which, to be honest, works fairly well if you have boundless energy. Until you stop, still on the uphill, and start to slide backwards.

Unfortunately, at this point, Boyfriend had no ability to stop his backwards momentum. And even more unfortunately, he was headed right towards a tree, which had a tree well with a large drop-off surrounding it. Before anyone knew what was going on, he was upside down in the tree well, skis flying in the air, with his head nowhere to be seen. A faint “Help!” came from the tree, as we all curiously looked to figure out what had happened. Once we confirmed all was ok, we made sure to document the fete with some pictures and ask him “How are things down there?”. While this briefly slowed him down, and made him listen a bit more to our instructions, we were surprised that this didn’t slow him down at all. Ah, the glories of youth. “Let’s Go!” he said, as he charged up the next hill.

As we skied, the beauty of the Aspen forest surrounded us and before we knew it, we were in a magical winter wonderland. The fresh fallen snow hung on each of the tiniest of branches, making a dazzling display of winter beauty before our eyes. My sister and her family were in awe of the beauty that surrounded us, with the beautiful trees, dazzling mountains, and untouched snow.

It almost felt like a fairly-tale, until we realized, as the saying goes, what goes up must come down. As we continued our adventure, we came upon what seemed to be even steeper hills than the beginner runs of Cub and Super Cub from the day before. And we were on cross-country skis!

Up until this point, most of our crew was having a hard time staying up on the flat ground. I started to doubt if this trip had been a good idea. The adults were a bit nervous, but all the kids were game.

The kids were falling down just staring at the hill. And then someone would make some progress, only to be wiped out by another kid coming down on top of them. I don’t think anyone made it down without falling at last three or four times. It was a demolition derby on skis. The quiet serenity of the mountains was broken by our roaring laughter as we watched the acrobatics unfold. Through tricks and turns, each one funnier than the next, the kids all made it down the hill, as did the adults, helping us end the day with the biggest sense of accomplishment.

Once down, we all regrouped, and safely made it back home. Sore. Tired. Exhausted. But that night in the cabin, we shared the best stories, the biggest laughter, and had the most fun recreating our skiing mis-adventures. Our souls were full.