Elevation Day 3
Despite the 7 hours of drinking (see Day 2), I woke up feeling great and, even more importantly, woke up without altitude sickness. Jeff and I were on the chair lift by 9am and got in some great skiing. It was amazing how much different I felt, and how much more fun I had skiing. We tried some more challenging runs than the first day. This one, Slot, started out a lot of fun. It was challenging, but do-able. As I went down a little further, I noticed a group of about 8 people standing on the top of a ridge. That is never a good sign. There’s usually some reason they aren’t skiing down. When I reached the ridge, I saw why. There was a narrow, steep section full of huge moguls. While I was developing my game plan for getting down, this wife began yelling at her husband, which brought some humor to the situation. I fell on my ass about 10 times trying to get down, but I made it. I continued on the rest of the run, which was fun.
After this, we decided it was time for the Elevation lunch at the top of the mountain. Nothing too exciting happened, but Jeff and I chatted with our new friends, before hitting the slopes again to ski a couple more hours.
After skiing, we prettied ourselves up for the Apres ski event, which was even more well attended. By the time we got there at 5, the bar was so full that we couldn’t find a table. We grabbed our new friends John and Jason, and went across the street to LuLu’s to have our own happy hour. John and Jason are a couple that have been together 4 months that live in Houston. They both have slight southern accents, though they deny it, and are super sweet and a lot of fun.
After our own happy hour and dinner, we decided to head up the mountain to the first DJ party, which is at McCoy Station lodge at 10,000 feet. Our Elevation guide advised us to get there early, so we heeded that advice, and planned on an 815 arrival. To get there, we needed to take the gondola from the main lodge up the mountain. However, the bus doesn’t run to the main lodge that late. At this point, I was the most sober, so I took one for the team and volunteered to drive. We rode up the gondola in the dark (which was really cool, although a little freaky), and when we arrived at the top, we were informed that we were the first guests and that they were not ready for us. Finally about 820 they let us in, and we got our drinks. We were there by ourselves until 845 when the second group finally arrived. The party was really cool, and I was surprised at how much DJ equipment and lights they brought up the mountain for us. By 10, the party was packed. We drank our red bull and vodkas (we needed energy!), danced and chatted. I was in the zone and having a great time, but Jason and John, who’s car I drove, wanted to go. Although I was the "sober" driver, it was their car, so I begrudginly left, though Jeff did not. I was in bed by 1130 and got a great night sleep. Jeff got home around 230. (I’ll let him tell his own story. I’ll just say that his night involved a condo we nicknamed the brothel, because there were 8 boys staying there (officially), and every night there were a couple other "guests".
