We get to the resort shortly after 8am, and sign our waivers, strap on the beacons, and get a safety talk from our guide, Bill. I think he senses our excitement and tries to imply that today is not well-suited for hard charging. This falls on deaf ears; we are raring to go.
The "resort" is awesome, with lots of high-altitude, hikable terrain, and some truly awesome views of the surrounding peaks. We do a few short hikes for some very long runs -- but the snow is not the deep, dry, epic stuff that we were expecting. Still a very good time, though.
Throughout the morning, we learn how Bill would like us to ski the terrain: he wants to reduce avalanche risk, but he's also "managing" the mountain, i.e. he doesn't want us to hog all of the fresh snow on an entire aspect. We tighten up our lines, following his lines, and crossing each other's lines and some lines from other groups from hours and days earlier.
Pete gets hurt on the first morning with a bad back which is a bummer, because the dude can rip and was just starting to show it. Jay skipped a run or two in the afternoon to preserve some strength (he wouldn't want to blow his load on the first day). Burg knifed a pretty sweet line, showing his cat-like agility and nimble-ness (if that's even a word).
We conclude the first day with this thought in mind: Bill didn't deliver the goods. We saw some of the terrain that we could have riden, but he wouldn't take us there. We tipped him nicely nonetheless; partly because he was patient with us, partly because we wanted to grease the skids for the next two days.
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