Steamboat Spring Break - Day 2

As promised, we were up at 7am and I was cooking breakfast for everyone. We were hoping to get on the hill by 8:30 for a full day of skiing but the rental collection took a bit longer than expected so we didn't actually load the gondola until about 9:00, which was fine. We got to see Mike, Sky, and Eli which was such a special treat. We have missed them so much!
4 of the guys (and Tim) were pretty decent - good skiers/boarders so we decided to give them a run of the mountain. We took them EVERYWHERE and had them ride everything to see how it went since we would be turning the boys loose for the rest of the week. The other guys that were not very confident or hadn't skied/boarded before had a full day of lessons.
We grabbed lunch at Rendezvous Saddle and then Kate met us for the rest of the day. She is a work horse and a phenomenal athlete. She has one speed, fast and furious. It was awesome to ski with her again. It was so fun to be back to see my girlfriends who are so inspirational and so fit and athletic. Everyone in Richmond (that we know, of course) makes such a big deal over the races that I do and the places that I come in but what they don't understand is that I was way below average with my fitness in Steamboat. The women (and men, of course) out there make it a way of life to ski/run/hike/bike/board/etc...every single day. I miss that lifestyle. I do a pretty good job of getting after it in Richmond, thankfully I found a race buddy (Creighton) that will push me and motivate me but it's still nothing compared to these ladies out here!
Anyway, Kate took the guys on a locals tour of the mountain and it was all they could do to keep up;) We even had them skiing the "hike to" sections on the top of the mountain where it is nothing but double-black diamonds (the steepest stuff on the entire mountain). They loved it but were begging to go in at 3pm. They were wiped out;) It was awesome.
I told B I would take them back (truthfully, I was feeling a bit tired too. I had run a bit the day before and my legs/lungs were feeling a little busted) so he could stay out and ski until the hill closed. He and Tim kept the tour up and running and the guys and I headed back to the hot tub, it was fabulous! After a nice rest, we went downtown to the Rio for some dinner and shopping. Angela, Kim, Kate, and Craig met us out for dinner. It was so great to see everyone, there are no words.