Singles Lane on Valentine's Day

It makes me smile
Photo: Laurie Tewksbury

Before I head out the door and into some snow, I needed to write something in the spirit of love in tribute to the passing Valentine's day. 

Usually I spend Valentine's day with a significant other on the slopes, but this year I spent it as a solo adventurer. Emotions were pretty mixed the night before. I was reminiscing about peanut butter sandwiches and wild horses. Plus, the sappy music on the radio celebrating love didn't help. I snapped it off and went to bed, feeling pretty alone in this big wide world. 

Then morning broke.
The beautiful condo I was given to stay in the night before shone with warm sunlight. I put on some music, avoiding the sap, and jumped in a warm shower, enjoying the fact that I had a place to scrub my face and get the ski-induced tangles out of my hair. I was happy to have a washer and dryer to wash my base layers (which I was also so grateful for — as they reliably keep me warm on all ski days — that I took a photo in them to give props to Columbia). 

Then I hit the hill. Attitash was the mountain of the day (more to come after the ski tour).  It was warm and sunny, something I had been missing since being in the dreary weather hitting the northeast section of the continent for 2 months. The snow was bright, there were little rippers laughing and having a good time everywhere (ski kids are the greatest), and my first chair ride up was graced with this: 

Gotta say, I was feeling pretty grateful at that point. It was my third day of skiing in a row; massive runs at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine followed by 15" of blower powder in Jay Peak and a crew that took me into the sidecountry, and now some love at Attitash. 

I had views of mountaineering training ground, Mt. Washington, on every run that day. I sat in the shack with ski patrol and shot the breeze which lead to me getting invited to do sweeps (last run) with them and a free dinner at the local hotspot, Wildcat Tavern. That night I would roll into the Grand Summit Hotel, slopeside, and curl up in a California King in the upstairs section of my suite.

As I skied in the cloud of snow lifted up by patroller Andrew's tele-skis, sun fading and mountain absolutely still, I reflected. Yeah, I still missed my other half. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. But somehow everything worked together on Valentine's day, through no doing on my part, to make me feel incredible love for my life and for other people. And that's a pretty spectacular feeling.