Miami Hits the Powder
Caroline Briggs
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Sports
|
Ninety members braved the bus all the way to Steamboat, Colorado for the annual winter ski trip, embracing five ideal days of two feet of snow accumulation atop Mt. Werner. They then turned around for another day of travel, just in time for second semester. Thirty other members opted to fly and skip the hours of the cramped, smelly and draining ride. As a Colorado native, I love to ski, but I'm spoiled. I always fly.
All my dreams were coming true for my third ski trip. Sorority rush fell on the date of the trip, increasing the ratio of guys to girls (no offense fellow snow bunnies, guys cry less on the slopes). Steamboat is my favorite of all Colorado mountains because of the legendary champagne powder. There were fewer Miami students than usual, so bonding was inevitable. A music festival featuring The Wailers, as in Bob Marley and The Wailers, coincided with the trip. The stage was erected at the base of the slopes. We were taken care of by a professional company who deals with groups like us all the time, Echo Tours.
While the trip was an overwhelming and memorable success, my preconceived dreams were ruined hours into the trip.
Sorority girls, I soon found, play a crucial part in the ski trip. Lost men in black North Face jackets wandered around missing their Miami counter parts.
The conditions were perfect: two days of billowing snow, one day of blinding sunlight in an electric blue sky and another day of half and half, with clouds ghosting the highlands. Senior Marina Orekov pinpoints the conditions as, "mad-freshie powder."
The small group fit into one condominium complex this year. But the six plus person rooms were hard on those sleeping on living room couches. Room was also tight in the two complex hot tubs after a hard day of carving. Sharing Jacuzzi space with that many guys was less awesome than it is in my dreams. The Thursday wine and cheese party lit up the sunny afternoon on the pool deck, with a splendid assortment of cheddar cubes and Franzia.
Other event socials were held through the week. A night at the Strawberry Park Hotsprings left everyone happy, relaxed and dehydrated. The hundred-degree soak melted the physical stress caused not only from slopes, but also the long ride weaving on a narrow and snow-packed road late at night.
The other event was a two-establishment bar "crawl" that could be summed up in a few words: two bars with a male ratio much higher than the trip's. Some members like senior Thad Boggs preferred just to kick it in his condo while off the slopes.
"We went at our own speed. I focused mostly on skiing and relaxing, which is the perfect vacation to me," Boggs says.
Unfortunately, we found out The Wailers were set to perform the week after the trip was over. All we heard was country music. Nothing draws Texans to the scene like country music and nothing irks a Coloradan more than Texans all over the slopes. Ten-gallon hats, ironed jeans and ostentatious hair ran rampant the last days, much to the chagrin of powder purists like me. However, Texans don't often hit the backcountry or higher elevations, so the crowds were easy to escape once a skier left the base.
Despite the Texans, creepy thirty-somethings and hot tubs equating to dude-stew, the conditions at Steamboat epitomized a great time. Trip executive Brandon Piteo is already planning the next trip, with ambitions to fly the whole team to capitalize on time and enjoyment.
"It was one my best trips out West. While the planning fell through a lot, we'll be much more prepared for next year," Piteo says. "It was a great learning experience."
Be the first to comment on this story