Wolf Creek, our first ski trip of the 2022-2023 ski season, was a success! We had 20 pillows filled and a total of 18 club members on the trip. We were joined by some out-of-town skiers on this trip. Luke Willis came up from Austin, TX to join us and Charlie Bockhorn came down from Salinas, KS.
We set up carpools to head over to Hillside Inn at Pagosa Springs, CO. Some people left on Thursday and split the trip up over the course of two days. Some left very early on Friday. But we all arrived safe and sound on Friday evening.
Saturday was the first day on the slopes and everyone was eager to get up there early. A good number of skiers warmed up on the green runs off the Raven Lift in the morning and took the time to encourage beginner skiers, then moved over to the more challenging lifts (Treasure and Alberta) in the afternoon. Unfortunately Luke Willis got sick and ended up not being able to ski Saturday afternoon or on Sunday.
Saturday night was the Welcome Party at the hotel. There was a ton of food, so much so that it became lunch the next day for many of the club members. There were assorted subs from Subway, chips, cookies, and clementines. Best of all, Adaeze Ajoku, the trip captain, made adorable snowman goodie bags with candy canes and chocolates inside for everyone.
Sunday was another packed day of skiing. The Alberta Lift proved a favorite amongst the club. You got to this lift by taking the Treasure Lift up and skiing down a blue run to it. Despite the different levels of expertise and start times, the Tulsa Ski Club always seemed to have an impromptu reunion at the Alberta Lift.
Belinda Fletcher proved to be the most daring of us all! She ventured out into the black runs on her snowboard and got lost. She tried to crawl her way back down to a green run where she could see people, but the snow was very powdery and she couldn’t get out. She sent us a text to inform us of her predicament and it wasn’t long before our fearless president, Karla Winterscheidt, went out in search of her. Thankfully, ski patrol was able to fetch Belinda out. They said if she’d gone out any further, she would have ended up in “Venus Fly Trap” and they would have needed a rope to pull her out. After that experience Belinda decided that she’d ski her last day!
Monday, our last day, was a busy day on the slopes. More families
were skiing since the holidays had officially began. “Schools OUT” as Toni Sophy cheekily informed us. For lunch, some members met up at the Raven’s Nest restaurant, to avoid the crowd at Wolf Creek Lodge. Tuckered out from the earlier two days of skiing, a good number of club members called it quits early in the afternoon and indulged in some hot tubbing back at the hotel.
Tuesday marked the beginning of the journey back. Some left as early as 2am and powered through the drive. Others may or may not have stopped to tackle the 72oz steak at the Big Texan in Amarillo.