Ever since their first foray into snow two years ago at Big Bear Mountain when Uncle Darren & Aunt Suzy got married, Summer and Rachel have been desperate to ski and snowboard again.

We arrived at the mountain mid-morning with plenty of time to rent skis, boot, poles, and helmets and had just a short line for lift tickets.  Skies were sunny, snow looked good, kids were excited.  I said goodbye and hauled all their extra gear and shoes back to the motorhome and figured I’d have the day to myself.

Peter and the girls took the scenic Heavenly gondola up 2.5 miles (yikes!), then they (Peter) had to schlep all their stuff down a set of stairs and over to the ski lift…  Peter was exhausted before they even started.   As told by Rachel:  “I got off the lift and people were zooming straight down the mountain 90miles per hour”.  Yep, only one run was open.  An intermediate run.  It would have been fine for the girls if they had a small slope to gain a little confidence on first, or if Peter had only one kid to ski with.  It was impossible for him to handle the two of them.  Plus, with only one run open, it was packed.  They even saw a runaway snowboard zooming down the mountain that missed Summer by mere inches.

Needless to say, after trekking down the mountain, they talked to Customer Service, got a full refund and went back down the gondola for a late lunch.  Unfortunately, I still had their shoes.