Visit from the Saunders

Jim and Carmella Saunders are two of our best friends from Raleigh.  They came out with Jim's dad and their two daughters to ski and visit. From left to right we have Jim's dad Sam, Alexandra, Briana and Jim.  Unfortunately, Carm couldn't ski because of some back pain.

They came during the Sundance Film Festival, which is great timing for skiing.  With the hotels all booked up by film goers, the ski slopes stay fairly empty. Briana was able to tackle almost all the blue slopes at Deer Valley, and one accidental black slope.

Alexandra was the speedster.  Although Jim kept nudging her back into the moguls, she voiced a preference for groomed smooth and fast.

I was surprised at how good the snow stayed.  It hadn't snowed in a week, but the cold weather kept things in pretty good shape, at least on the groomers.

Jim doesn't get many chances to ski each year, but he's s strong skier and he's comfortable anywhere on the mountain.

God knows we ate enough during the visit.  In addition to a very nice dinner out at Mustang and a visit to the gorging trough known as the Stein Sunday Brunch, we got to feast on Jim's birthday cake.  I think he said he was 29.

As I mentioned, Jim kept dragging Alexandra into the bumps.  Here she is admiring her work.

And here we see the mountain admiring its work. Once you are that far back on your skis, recovery is tragically unlikely.

Tied up with Alexandra - 1,  Mountain - 1

Jim bounds down, making it look easy.  I did a few trips through the bumps but for some reason, I tend to be a lot more cautious with thousands of dollars worth of camera and lens strapped to me.

Briana wasn't out skiing with us this day.  I think this picture seemed to best capture her feelings about the whole thing.

Jim's dad had already left, so this was the whole group after dining at the Sunday Brunch. You can't tell from the picture, but we all have our pants unsnapped to accommodate the feasting.

Julie and Carm, ready to head back to our house and watch Jim and I watch the football playoffs.  Actually, they went shopping with the girls.

We are still trying to figure out how to have Briana out here watching Jasper and Cosette when we go on trips.  She loves the dog and tolerates the cat.  There should be a nice win-win in there.