“I ski too. I’ve always preferred boarding though.” I unstrapped my back foot and glided over to the ski lift. The mountain was crowded considering it was Sunday, but thankfully there was a second line reserved for lessons. Kevin and I moved to the front of the line, and I nodded my head in greeting to the younger guy working the lift before we were back on the chairlift and heading up the mountain.
I leaned back in the seat as the ground whizzed by below us. Everywhere I looked, skiers and boarders were catching turns or tumbling into the thick snow. I fucking loved it here. Honestly, it was kind of hard to believe I’d spent so many years in Denver when places like this were only hours away. Granted, many of them were expensive as hell, but Key Ridge had managed to maintain much of its quaintness despite the big resorts and developments coming up around it.
“Do you ski a lot out in Cali?” I asked Kevin while the lift slowly moved us up the hill.
“Not as much as I used to, but we always try to visit one new mountain every winter. The last two years, we’ve gone up to Canada.”
I whistled. “I’ve been meaning to get up there.”
Kevin swept his glove through the air, gesturing toward the endless expanse of snow-covered mountains stretching out before us, their peaks disappearing into the horizon. “Well, it’s tough to leave when you’ve got all this at your back door.”
“That’s true,” I said, breathing it all in.
Kevin was cool. Even though he was older than me, I saw a similarity in us. Hell, a new mountain every winter? Nowthatwas the kind of plan I could get behind.
I had never been the kind of kid who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. And now that I was partiallygrown, I still didn’t have the faintest idea. Nathan was always the successful genius in the family, leaving me to be the adventurous one with the wanderlust spirit. Maybe I could drift from mountain town to mountain town. Frankie was all excited about helping me find a life plan, but maybe what was next for me was to be planless. Everyone acted like I was falling behind while they moved on with their lives, but I wasn’t even thirty, for Christ’s sake.
“So where are you off to next?” I asked Kevin as we neared the top of the hill.
“Who knows. We likely won’t decide until next year.”
“Love the spontaneity,” I said.
I angled my body as we arrived at the top of the lift and leaned forward to easily exit and move out of the way of the rotating chairs. Kevin followed behind. Even though he said he’d only had one beginner lesson prior to today, I hardly believed the guy. He’d picked up everything right away and was already cruising down intermediate runs.
Although, come to think of it, that was how I had been when I first got started snowboarding. I hadn’t grown up doing the activity, but I had gotten a skateboard for my tenth birthday after I’d begged my mom. I used to drag my best friend, Harrison, to the skate park two blocks away from my house. It had taken me awhile to pick it up, but I was naturally pretty good at learning a new skill. When I first came out to Colorado, I’d bought a secondhand snowboard and drove out to the mountains to give it a try. The next season, I was already trying my hand at a competition. Granted, I didn’t win—not by a long shot—but I had a good time. It was actually that competition where I’d first met Giles.
“Alright, you sure you’re good to go down this hill?” I asked Kevin. “If you stay to the left, it’s groomed, but the right does have some moguls.”
“You lead, and I’ll see what I can manage,” Kevin said.
I pulled down my goggles, grateful I had remembered to grab the ones for darker days. The sun was still nowhere in sight.
Cruising down the mountain, I kept my right foot forward to practice my switch riding. I did this a lot when teaching lessons—the beginner terrain wasn’t very challenging for me, so it was good to practice the skill.
I kept right to hit the moguls, weaving in and out of them as I careened down the hill. There were a few spots of fresh snow that had just fallen and I let out a loud “Whoop!” as I cruised through some especially soft spots. Boarding all day every day like this was a dream—one which I absolutely did not want to wake up from.
It only took about five minutes for us to reach the bottom. I’d slowed a few times on the way down to check on Kevin, but he hadn’t fallen once. He honestly barely even looked shaken anymore. Damn. He was goals. He was who I wanted to be in ten years—bumming around different mountains, learning new skills, being an all-around badass. It was comforting to see someone not conforming to the typical wife-and-kids route. Gave me hope that my current lifestyle didn’t really need adjusting after all.
“You killed that.” I held up a hand for another high five, and Kevin met it. We both slipped off our helmets, and I tucked mine underneath my left arm, shaking out my hair in the process.
“Thanks. Today has been epic. I’m stoked I finally feel confident on one of these things.” He unstrapped his board, and I followed suit.
“You’re a natural. Hey, I’m about to grab dinner in town. Would you want to?—”
Before I could ask him to join me, a little girl that onlycame up to my waist in a bright-pink ski jacket flung herself at Kevin. “Daddy!” she yelled excitedly.
Kevin laughed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Sweetie. How did you do in your lesson?”
“She did amazing. As if there was ever any doubt.” A tall woman with black hair peeking out of a white knit beanie walked up to Kevin and gave him a kiss on the lips. “And how was your lesson?”
“Ollie here is the best,” Kevin said. “He had me in way better shape than I ever thought I could be. We’ll have to get you out there next.”
“I don’t think so,” the woman—who I gathered must be Kevin’s wife—said. She turned to me, shaking her head. “I used to love skiing, but I broke my leg a few years back. Now I’m officially retired.”
“She always did like cocktails in a warm lodge more than being on the slopes anyway.” Kevin looked at her with fond familiarity.
“Hey.” She swatted his chest. “I was good, thank you very much.”
