Beyond the Chairlift :: My First Time Hiking the Bowls at Loveland Ski Area

By Courtney Allen, TWWI Marketing Intern

A few weekends ago I finally did something I had been waiting to do for a long time: I hiked the off piste bowls and chutes of Loveland Ski Area. I have been snowboarding for a good couple of years now. In this time I challenged myself on black diamonds of all kinds and enjoyed zooming down Loveland Pass under a bright full moon but I had still yet to hike beyond the chairlift to savor well-earned first tracks on the fluffiest of powder. It took one of my dearest friends, Cecilia, who shares both my passion for snowboarding as well as female empowerment and camaraderie on and off the mountain, to make me realize that I was more than capable of hiking off piste territory.

The thing I love most about Cecilia is she has a way of waking me up one morning and showing me that all the things I don't think of doing or don't think I can do are things of the past-and that it makes perfect sense to do those things that very day and not a day later. It was in this very way that we found ourselves pulling into the Loveland parking lot on a cloudless, blue bird Friday morning. After nearly turning around in frustration from the ridiculous amount of traffic, looking up at the majestic chutes of white towering before us breathed new energy back into our bodies and lifted our spirits. As we caught our first chair I realized that I was finally going to ride down the mountains my eyes were always longing to take me.

We did three hikes that day that took us into the afternoon. Each one was a little longer than the first, the last approaching an hour as our photos kissing the North Gate 4 sign testifies. It was exhilarating working so hard for one run. I often wanted to stop short of the top but once I strapped my feet into my board and dropped in, all my exhaustion traveled down my legs, spread out over my board and disappeared into the powder that flew up around my knees. In my mind I made up a sound track to accompany my floating turns that felt worthy of a Warren Miller film.

Nothing can really capture the emotion I felt looking up from the bottom of these chutes and realized what I had just accomplished. Then to look over at my beaming friend, and see the pride and excitement in her eyes only reaffirmed her belief that I had it in me all this time to ride these untamed runs. Sometimes it just takes an outstanding encourager, friend and mentor to make you take that first leap.

Her camera held up with one hand, Cecilia leaned over, sticking her head by mine and says, "Smile!" Click. The lens captured a picture perfect memory of two women feeling quite wild and wonderful.