Winter Fun Through Rose Colored Glasses

Many people are familiar with one or more of the ski resorts in the Laurel Highlands, but I often wonder how many realize just how many opportunities there are to ski, board or go tubing in this area. Seven Springs and Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain are quite well known as premier resorts in the East. Then there’s Nemacolin’s Mystic Mountain and Laurel Ridge State Park for Nordic and skate skiing, and for something that is free of charge and both easy and adventurous, there’s backcountry skiing on the trails or nordic skiing on the GAP trail at the state park in Ohiopyle. Each of these venues has it’s own unique personality and style.

I remember the first time I went skiing (snowboards were still banned on the slopes back then). I was 20 years old and I walked out of the ski lodge ka-lumping in my unfamiliar ski boots and blue jeans and saw graceful people of all ages swoosh down the slopes with an air of grace and freedom, laughing and yelling back and forth to each other. The day was flooded with sunshine and these folks were wearing sunglasses or goggles of all tints, dressed in attractive, active snow pants and jackets, clearly as comfortable in this world as I was not. They were cool. I wanted to be one of them.

My first attempt at riding a lift was on a J Bar. I’m well known as a klutz, but I made it about 75 feet before I fell and lay there, in the lift track, with each successive skier behind me lifting their skis just enough to ride over my body and continue up the hill. Although it took some doing I eventually figured out how to move myself and those awkward skis out of the track. Standing up would take more effort but I was helped by an agile young man wearing a red jacket and outrageously pink-tinted glasses who gave me a few tips.

As my first day continued I had numerable mishaps, but I began to notice something I hadn’t seen earlier. A lot of folks were wearing jeans. They had no goggles. And many were falling down. A lot. They were people of all different makes and models, but the one thing they had in common was that they were all having a good time skiing or falling down the slopes. They would take breaks to go to the lodge for a nip of food, cocoa, wine or whiskey and then go out again. At the end of the day the ones who were new at the sport were skiing more and falling less, and everyone, including me, was having a great time.

Many years have passed under the bridge since that day. I’m lucky to be at Paddler’s Lane now, in the center of the Laurel Highlands, surrounded by snow resorts and venues. I have my choice not only of where I want to go, but also whether I want to downhill ski, or cross country ski or skate ski. Maybe I’ll go snowboarding or snow tubing, snowshoeing or sledding. But one thing is certain. This year I’m going to get some pink-tinted sunglasses.