Elevation 2007 - Day 2
Jeff and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 730 so we could try to be on the slopes at 9 to enjoy the snow before all the other skiers destroy it. Some may call me a slavedriver for waking up early and engaging in heavy physical activity, but to them, I simply say "bah".
At this point, I should mention that Mammoth Mountain is really tall. Our condo was at an elevation of 8000 feet, the top of the mountain is 11,053, and most of the skiing is between 10,500 and 8,500. The reason I mention this is the air is really thin. I read that one in five people get altitude sickness when they first get to Mammoth. Unfortunately, I was part of that 20%. I had a headache and felt nauseaous the whole first day. Even more tragic, it caused me to not really enjoy the first day’s skiing. The snow was decent considering the conditions (50 degrees during the day and high 20s at night), and the runs were challenging, but I just wasn’t feeling it. After four hours of trying, I decided to call it a day, go sunbathing, and then take a nap in the hopes that the next day’s skiing would be much better.
After my nap, the altitude sickness had gone away and I was ready for the first Apres Ski happy hour. More queens had arrived since the previous night, and there were about 100 of us at the happy hour. While I was at home getting well, Jeff made some new friends, Jason and John, at the Elevation lunch. We met them at the happy hour, along with a group of lawyers who live in LA now, but attended law school at Georgetown, and their gaggle. We also met a guy, John, who trains the dogs of rich people in Beverly Hills. His Tuesday client was the family that bought the imfamous Menendez house.
For a few hours, we drank, made new friends, had some dinner, and drank some more. The first day, I skied 4 hours and drank for 7, which I realize makes me sound like a lush, but contributes to a pretty damn good day.
