Skiing the Sierra Nevada

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Hey Everyone,
I took a trip to the Sierra Nevada in Granada to do some skiing and it was very different from what I was used to in the United States. I am used to skiing down tree lined slopes that are well defined and narrow. At the Sierra Nevada there are no trees and the altitude is much higher than what I was used to. I caught a bus at 8:00 in the morning to the mountain and it was about 40º, but as the bus climbed the mountain slowly the temperature dropped to 0º. I arrived in a small skiing village at the base of the mountain and there were a lot of people renting skis and getting their passes in the town. I found a place to get some skis and got in line to get my pass. There was a huge jumbo-tron displaying the weather report for the day and the skiing conditions. It was full sun and no wind, but at the summit there were avalanche warnings and -15º temperatures. I got my ticket and got in line for the gondola. The gondola brought me to the half-way point on the mountain. When I got to that point, I found that there was another small village with people coming out to rent skis or catch another ski lift to the summit. They had an observation tower with a satellite to let us know the conditions and about five more lifts. I decided that the first few runs down I would try and get my ski-legs back to practice.
The trail was enormous and very well groomed, and it didn’t take long before I decided that I should try and get up to the top. I caught the gondola again at the bottom and got back up to the top. When I got to the top I took the ski lift up to another point (that I thought was the top) but found out that there was another T-bar to take you to the very top, so I caught it and worked my way up. I didn’t realize that I was exhausted and had trouble breathing, but when I read the sign to go to the top, it said that the elevation was 3,400 meters (about 11,500 feet). The altitude made me dizzy and I had to stop at the top of lift to adjust my breathing and relax my muscles. I had no idea that the altitude had that much effect on my body. I managed to snap a few pictures at the summit, and found it really cool that I was above the cloud level and I could see over them. I’ve never skied at that altitude before. The trail was marked with a red diamond and I knew it was one of the more difficult runs because when I approached the start of the run, I could not see the trail ahead of me. I was looking down and only saw the lift where I started. I made it down the trail without any problems, but stopped at the lift to rest my legs and catch my breath before continuing down. It took me more than 20 minutes to finally reach the bottom where I could catch the gondola up again for a couple last runs. There were a ton of trails and a person could definitely spend a long weekend there skiing everyday without skiing everything. At the end of the day, I turned in my skis and managed to catch the last bus ticket down the mountain at 4:00.
Overall, it was a great day of skiing and a completely new experience. I would definitely go back and do it again, and hope I get the chance next year to make the trip up and see it. Even now when I go to Granada I see that the mountains are still snow covered and people are still skiing. I guess skiing now is one of the best times to go because it is sunny all the time and you can ski in just a shirt and regular pants. It is warm enough during the day and people really enjoy it. But at night it is still cold enough to run the snow cannons and make snow. Vicky told me that they will be skiing unit the end of May, and then it is too warm to make new snow. It was a great trip. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

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Comments

[Nancy]

WOW!
Jimmy: I am living vicariously through your many adventures and I love being on your email list to get them. The pictures are great and you are as cute as ever, and I can tell you are having the time of your life, as you should be at your age. What beautiful pictures and commentary of standing above the clouds. I love it! Did you see God? Love, Nancy