Ski School 2021

Jack and Eliza were able to take advantage of attending Ski School again this year and it was even more smooth and fun than last year!  Classes took place 1:30-4:00, every Friday of January starting on the 8th.  Jack completed level 3 and Eliza completed level 4.  They learned a lot and became even more comfortable and confident.

Week 1: Cat and I were still in Florida, so Ben took the kids to Sundance for their first day.  He dropped Jack and Eliza off, then took Luke skiing for a bit.  There was more snow than when we were there in December (but not a lot), and at least there were now two lifts operating.

(Ben snapped a pic of Jack pretending his pole was a sword after class)

Week 2: I signed Luke up for a group lesson and Cat and I did a little skiing while the kids were in their various classes.  We had a great time, and enjoyed the comparatively warm weather.  Luke's teacher took him on the back mountain - the first kid to do so! - even though the snow cover there was pretty sparse.  His teacher said Luke would intentionally fall when he needed to stop.

Week 3: Cat and I took a group lesson together while Luke had his second lesson of the season.  Luke's teacher said he was no longer stopping-by-falling, so that was good.  It snowed on us almost the whole time (three different kinds of snow!) but the air temperature was above freezing and the roads were clear when we drove home.

Week 4: Cat stayed home to do schoolwork, so Luke and I skied together while Jack and Eliza had their last class.  Eliza was excited to finally ski on the back mountain and felt great about that accomplishment.  Luke did a great job with me and it was so fun to hear him say things like, "Mom, if you lean forward, you'll have more control AND you'll go faster," and "I love skiing on fresh powder!"  It snowed on us a lot on this day too, but after the previous week I didn't think much of it.

The storm turned out to be a big deal - there was a lot of snow in the Provo Canyon which caused multiple accidents and cars weren't able to get on that road from the Sundance road.  At some point a large truck was also completely blocking the Sundance road.  Luke and I put our skis away at about 3:50 and got on the shuttle to go pick up Jack and Eliza, and waited on the shuttle for over 30 minutes because the roads were closing down right then.  Thankfully, J and E waited for us in the pick-up spot, and I'd gotten helpful information from the shuttle driver.  He warned me that the road would probably be closed for at least 2 hours, so instead of going back to the car and sitting in the parking lot for a long time, we all headed to the Creekside Cafe.  We spent almost 3 hours there eating food and hanging out with the other kids and moms who were stuck there after ski school.  The kids played games (Mother May I, plank challenge), worked on a puzzle one of the Moms bought in the gift shop, and played outside in the snow.  The boys also watched a couple of shows on my phone.  We finally found out that the road was open around 7:15, and after cleaning up and collecting our things and going outside to get Jack's and Eliza's skis and waiting for the shuttle to take us to our parking lot and loading up the car and freeing the minivan from the snow that had accumulated around it since 1:00 (with the help of a kind stranger).... we were on our way home at 8:05.  We took our time driving on the slushy roads as it continued to snow most of the way home but we made it back safely.  What an adventure!

Not a bad place to be stuck, if you ask me.

Another beautiful view near the cafe.