Let’s straighten this out right away: As far as I’m concerned, it’s Purgatory. That’s the name that always sparked my skier’s interest growing up, and, now that I’ve finally been there, that’s the name I’ll use going forward thank you very much. Sort of like I’ll always call Mile High, Mile High, no matter who pays top dollar to put their name on it.
Okay, so, Purgatory …
… was in full spring-skiing mode on March 5, 2016. The sun was out and the ski school kids were dressed as superheroes, with the odd raccoon and rabbit trying to blend in with Spider-Man and Wonder Woman (nice work, mom and dad, didn’t get the memo, huh?). In other words, it was gorgeous and the mood festive, and because we had some late-afternoon commitments (stay tuned for the next post), Michelle dropped us off in time for first chair on the Village Express Lift.
I’m not ashamed to admit that the boys and I were still giddy from our previous day at Silverton and really didn’t have much of a game plan put together for Purgatory. Dade likes the maps, though, and definitely likes to have a plan, so he got started about midway up our first ride.
“We should go over here and check this out,” he said while pointing to the backside of the mountain. And I certainly appreciate a good backside, so what the hell.
“Okay, bud,” I said. “You lead the way.”
It didn’t take us long to get over to The Legends Express Lift, where we messed around in Paul’s Park and Poet’s Glade (that was an obvious must-do for multiple reasons) and bombed Sally’s Run and Ray’s Ridge.
As morning eased into afternoon, we started working our way back to the pre-determined rendezvous point. In doing so, however, I decided it was important to notch a few more runs in our snow belts. Not because we needed to ski a lot more that day, but, you know, just on general principle.
So we didn’t meet Michelle until we’d scorched El Diablo, Exodus to Upper Pandemonium, Styx, and Lower Hades. I mean, we were in Purgatory after all.
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