To be honest, I wasn't sure how today would go. I have never seen Logan ski, but I only imagined a 5 year old would hold up the group on the mountain.
We had about a 50 minute drive over to Brighton from our Park City rental house. It was a nice 8am drive with the sun shining, plenty of coffee, clear roads, and beautiful scenery. We geared up and hit the chair lift. It had to be upper 30's as the day went on. A perfect day to spend outside.
Toward the end of our first run, Shawn and I looked at each other shocked at how well Logan did! He charged! He was doing parallel turns on his edges, keeping his speed, and staying in control when near other people.
Ski lessons for him at Park City were expensive at ($560ish for 2 days), but even though we're super frugal, we were thinking it was actually worth it. He was about as good as Ryder. Probably lays better turns than Ryder, but Ryder goes a teeny bit faster and is a little more reliable / not as likely to make a wrong turn on his way down. I only compare them because we think Ryder's a good skier already and this is his third trip out west (Montana, Squaw, and now Utah). But that's what they say about second kids, right? They have to keep up with their older siblings.
I loved how he crouched down into a tiny ball to keep his speed when trying to get to the chairlift at the end of the run or when he saw an uphill ahead. I also loved how he jumped into the edge of the woods anytime he saw a cool path he wanted to take (even though it freaked me out a little to have my baby skiing in the trees), and that he tried to get air on every little jump / bump on the run (again, even though it freaked me out). There was one jump (double jump?) he took that he essentially rag-dolled in the air and his skis came off. Although it looked painful, he was fine. He got right up, Shawn put his skis on, and continued down the run. Just like Ryder did the couple times he fell (usually only from getting a ski stuck in powder).
We enjoyed a solid day on the mountain, hitting almost all the runs that were open (and not marked with hazardous obstacles - it's been a low snow year). We took a little break for some snacks around lunch time and then continued until 3pm-ish. And of course, finished the day with a beer (and Sprite for the kids) at the bottom.
We all stayed together for the majority of the day, only splitting when Craig and Ryder had their 'incident'. I hope Ryder remembers this memory because he was so amped to share the story with us when we reconnected.
He was riding the chairlift with Grandpa Craig and accidentally dropped his ski pole off the lift. Then, while he was looking for the rest of the group at the top, he forgot to get off the chair and dropped 4 feet (according to him) when he finally realized he had to get off. Then they skied down to the pole and while Craig was trying to pick it up, he somehow fell and took Ryder out right under the chairlift where all the people could see, skis off and all. Oh man, I should just record him telling this story. He giggles so much. He said they were too embarrassed to look up at all the people witnessing their debacle :) Eventually, they got the ski pole, took some runs together, and then reconnected with us. Even though he's only 8 and barely remembers my phone number, I wasn't too worried when I didn't see him for a while. He is a pretty safe skier and already great with his mountain navigation. So, other than that, the speed of the two littles was fast enough for us to all stay together.
While cruising both powder runs and corduroy, I remember thinking I could do this every.single.day.
But I'll also remember the boys making each run their own, giggling together on the chairlift, and candidly showing us their impressive skills.
A sunny, warm, cruise-along day. A perfect end to our trip with family and friends.
