My husband and I had the opportunity to go night skiing to Wolf Mountain a week ago. I hadn't been skiing in five years and hadn't skied at Nordic since high school. How life changes!
We almost went to Powder Mountain that night, but I wanted to go to Nordic for old time's sake. I've actually wanted to go there for years, but you know how icy/rocky Nordic is without enough snow. You have to wait for the perfect time so you don't waste your money or ruin your skis. Since it's been pretty snowy lately we took our chances.
Nordic was the place I learned to ski and consequently spent many a school night there cruising the slopes. My husband also spent many nights skiing at Nordic as a child so we both enjoyed the time sharing our separate memories.
We started out on the big lift. As soon as we got to midway I had a story to tell. I told him about the second time I ever went skiing. It was my first time on the big lift. I was in fourth grade and my friend Kelli Carver's dad had taught me to ski a few nights previous. She felt like I had graduated and was ready for the big hill, but knowing that I wasn't quite ready to go all the way to the top she said we should get off at midway. All the way there she coached me on how I needed to kind of "jump" off. Well, I couldn't quite get all the way off the lift in time and Kelli got off without me. As I scrambled to get my body back on the lift I heard her yell from below some encouraging words including the fact that she would wait for me. I had no idea what would happen to me when I got to the top. When I finally got there I had two choices- left, Oden or right, Valhalla. I chose the wrong way and went right. I'll never forget looking down that run from the top. It was so steep and icy as always. I pretty much tumbled all the way down the hill. It could have been much worse if it hadn't been for some more experienced skiers who saw me and helped me get up each time I fell and get my skis back on. When I finally made it back down to Kelli I told her the bunny hill was just fine for me.
Aaron and I didn't stay too long that night. It doesn't take long to ski the whole mountain. We had skied Oden and Valhalla, mogul city and the bunny hill. The face was definitely too icy and I never skied there that much growing up anyway. Besides the fact that we had skied the whole mountain, it was cold. I don't remember the cold so much growing up except one time. Tiffany Tams and I decided to go skiing one really cold night against our better judgement. We went down one time and called it quits. Although it seems unlikely I remember it being 15 or 20 below zero. Tiffany was the braver one between us and she talked the ticket lady into giving us back our five bucks. Back then if you were 12 or younger you could get in for that price. The price has gone up since then, but is still affordable when compared to the other resorts. We paid 20.00 for me and Aaron got the graduate student discount for 10.00.
Before we left I told him we had to stop at the lodge just to take a look. As we looked around we could see the familiar stove in the middle of the room, the kitchen on the right. The color of the walls had changed, but the familiar smell of fries was still there. I'll never forget watching others eat their fries and drink their sodas while I ate my 50 cent snickers bar. Asking my dad for ski money AND money for fries would be really pushing it. Aaron didn't even buy that much. He told me he used to put milk in a mason jar and bury it in the snow to keep it cool. Then he would ditch a peanut butter sandwich in a lunch sack near the building somewhere. Typical Aaron. I wish I would have thought of that.
Fun times. If you haven't been up to Nordic/ Wolf Mountain for a while now is the time to do it. The snow is great and the memories even better. Check out their website on this tag to learn about their discounts and snow totals. And no, the tag is not still hanging from my coat.
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