The day is good when your first assignment is to skin up the hill to attend yoga.
An early morning backcountry tour is an invigorating way to start the day. And when you schuss back to the car, take a few minutes to prop your foot on your bumper to stretch out muscle tension. If you’re like me, this doesn’t happen. By the time you’re at the car, your mind is already down the road prioritizing the day’s to-do list. The solution: temptation bundling. When willpower isn’t enough, combine two activities, one you avoid with one you love. For me, this means sandwiching yoga between skin and ski.
Aspenite Charlotte Roennau makes it easy by hosting an early morning yoga class at the Cliffhouse restaurant atop Buttermilk Mountain. Skinning from the parking lot takes about 40 minutes. When we arrived at the Cliffhouse, the sun was beating down on the clean cement deck. After the alpine air gets a bit warmer this month, it will be a dreamy spot for salutations. For now, the class is held in the back dining room with views of the dazzling Elk mountains and Pyramid Peak. Charlotte provides new yoga blocks and mats. After 40 minutes of gentle poses, my legs were loose and free of lactic acid. My body felt happy. Skiing down the mountain on this sparkling bluebird morning was an exhilarating end to my morning workout. A good day has begun.
Ski better with yoga.
Recap of blog posts from 3/09/15 — 3/13/2015:
Cooke City Experience – Beartooth Powder Guides and Patagonia
G3 ION is TIGHT — Testing Toe Springs in Tech Bindings
Dynafit Beast 14 Ski Binding — Review
New Patagonia Backcountry Touring Clothing Line
If you read this far, here is a tidbit. Exactly 30 years ago the .com domain burst into creation. The very first .com domain name (symbolics) was registered March, 15, 1985. Thirteen years later (an epoch in internet time), Lou registered WildSnow.com on August 28, 1998. Those were the foundational days of the internet bubble. Several backcountry skiing sites beat us to the punch. Some went whole hog into the web, others didn’t do much with their domain names till years later. From the start we bought into it lock, stock, barrel, and keyboard (little known history, before there was a public “internet” and hissing modems signified much wasted time, Lou started out as a forum sysop on a BBS called Compuserve.) Now all Lou’s books are out of print except Wild Snow, but he writes something like 600,000 words a year. Twelve keyboards later…
WildSnow Girl, Lisa Dawson, is the luckiest girl in the world. Also known as Mrs. WildSnow.com, she tests whatever gear she wants. She gives the WildSnow family of websites the feminine voice.
