The slopes at Ski Roundtop, PA
What's better than fresh powder and beautiful weather?? To be honest, this was my first time out on the slopes. Not that I didn't want to get out sooner, it just never happened. Well this year a buddy of mine and I went! I finally carved out the time and gave it a whirl! There was definitely a lot of laughing at myself! I was 100% on my ass most of the day! lol But some fractured ribs and a bruised tailbone later, I was finally getting it down! But before all that let's get into some details that you may be asking! (Just keep in mind I won't go into details about the actual sport or technicals, I am a complete noobie to the sport and don't want to pretend to be knowledgeable on it and misguide anyone)
Ski Roundtop is a ski resort located in my home state of Pennsylvania in a town called Lewisberry. It is quite tucked away and had some dead cell spots at times. This just added to its charm in my opinion!
When I finally pulled in my adrenaline was on full throttle! I was so pumped to be getting out to do something so rewarding and potentially dangerous! I wasn't even on the mountain yet and I was feeling more alive than I had in long while! I went into it almost hoping I'd have the chance to feel what an injury felt like.. (is that weird?) I've never had an injury in all the years of dangerous things I've done and I felt like as a man, I needed to know what my threshold to pain was. Either way, I was ready for one hell of a good time with good company and social time! As a first time visitor I can assure you it is a little confusing navigation the parking lot to get where I needed to go. So just be ready for that. Let's make our way down to the check in! Woot!
Now as you get down to the buildings there is the lined off spot to get your lift passes. You can order online and pick it up in one line, or you can go to a different window and make your purchase there. My lift ticket and pass cost me right around $100 for the day. Next up was finding and getting my rental gear! I felt like every time I got closer to getting on the mountain the harder my heart wound pound! I went into the rental shop all giddy! haha So good to know fact, If you rent your gear online you'll save some cash! It's might only be a $10 savings, but that's $10 that you can use towards a cold pint in the bar area! Your welcome.. haha It ran me $57 with the discount, so $67 if your rent in person. That included a board, helmet, and boots. Or for sure bring your own gear if you have it and save even more!
We were now ready to hit the slopes! So when we got up and onto the powder leading up to the line of people waiting for the lift, we strapped in! I didn't do to bad keeping balance on the board as we slid along getting nearer to our chair ride. But even so, I was so nervous and excited! I'm definitely a dive right in and learn while doing, so I thought why should this be any different... That was mistake 1, really the biggest mistake. haha I was setting myself up quite nicely to receive that injury I was secretly hoping to sustain. Now let's skip ahead to the fun ride up!
For your ability to picture everything, here's a nifty map right from Roundtop themselves!
So we took the lift on the far right side of the map, the Drummer Boy Quad Chair. And I can tell you this is where I stayed! haha I didn't dare venture to the harder runs to the left! The lift was quite relaxing! seeing everyone down below making their way to the bottom of the mountain! It was amazing! And I knew in a mater of minutes I'd be joining them! But then it hit me.. "I have to get off this thing at some point... How do I do that without looking like a clumsy idgit?". HAHA As we got close to our dismount I took notice of the very slight downhill to the prep area. Relaxation was now past, and anxious nerves now kicked in. But I was determined! So I steeled my nerves and dismounted.
And down I went sailing! Thank goodness there was no one in front of me. Cause I don't think I would have been able to stop. To my surprise and satisfaction, I made it safely to a stop in the prep zone before starting the trip down Powderhorn run. You never forget your first run.. Oh how true that is. I wasn't up for more than 3 seconds before I went down. And somehow my board was magnetized to get pulled into the grassy wood line! I could not stay out of the mountains gutter! LOL Let's just say I wasn't making a new records. I made it approx 50 ft in 30 min! I feel like this is being generous. HA I couldn't help but belt out laughter at my own expense! I was having so much frustrated fun. My backend was getting more snow time than me! haha Eventually I finally started to get a feel for controlling direction, speed control, and balance and eventually made it to the bottom! I felt so accomplished making it down all on my own without an instructor or lessons! I realize some might call this foolish or stupid, but it's just how I like to do things sometimes. Makes it way more fun and entertaining!
No sooner had we finished that I was in that lift chair line ready to get back up top! The next three runs got progressively better! On the third I took a head over heels falland jabbed my ribs with my elbow. Now it smarted a little but over all not bad. So up I got (but not before I had even more laughing! lol) and continued down to the finish line! Now going into run 4, my shins and calves were starting to feel it pretty good! But back up I went. Just wasn't wanting a break yet. Probably should have cause this was when things started going down hill. (pun intended! haha) As we hopped of the lift chair, I totally lost footing and hit my tailbone on a particularly hard part of snow! Oh did I feel that one! I could barely move up or down without feeling it. So we made it down to the bottom and now I opted for my mid day break. Once I had a good 25 min of heavenly rest, I decided it was time to get back up and get a few more runs in. Wrong decisions just kept adding up. On run 5, I was determined to make it as far as possible without slowing down or going down to the butt to stop. (mostly cause my arse was really sore from that fall from earlier) Well I went down, in epic glory.. As I was gaining more and more speed, I caught some slush at the right angle and went flying! I remember seeing my board and feet with an odd background.. I was upside down looking up at the sky mid tumble. Wouldn't you know it, my elbow found its mark and smashed the exact same ribs with even more oomph.. This time I knew I would be in pretty good pain the following day.
Now you would think a fall like this would cause the normal man to call it a day. Not me apparently, as I went back up for my last run of the day. This time though, I made it all the way down with only 2-3 falls! Had to end the day on a high note! Now we were both ready to call it a day. At least for the slopes that is.. Once I had all my rental gear returned, It was time to explore! At this point my buddy Matt decided to head on home. Young kids just can't keep up. LOL JK I was feeling quite parched from the days long hard activities. Where better to go than to the onsite bar and grille! It was literally the best ending to the day that I could have hoped for! The atmosphere was quite nice and so were the people and staff! I ended up making acquaintances that were also into backpacking; so we shared stories for the next 1-2 hours while downing a few pints of cold brews!
Feeling incredibly sore and in pain I made my way to my car. It ended up being around a week for my tailbone to feel better and 6-8 months for my ribs to fully recover! Just in time for this years season to start.. HAHA
Overall I thought this ski lodge was pretty nice and worth a visit for your winter activities! Check them out for more details HERE
Lionheart signing off...
2/3/24