We spent the majority of the weekend up in the mountains. We started off with an early morning drive to Vail on Saturday, where we did some snowboarding. I was hoping to find lots of fluffy powder, but I think the melting and freezing cycles got the best of the week’s snow. We found the snow to be heavy and mostly packed, even all the way out in Blue Sky Basin. I did okay, but probably should have stayed on the groomed runs since I hadn’t been out in weeks. I ended up tweaking my bad ankle just enough to convince me to stop for the day, so we headed back to the car and drove over to our hotel in Keystone.

With the misadventures of our day, we decided to find other entertainment for Sunday. We decided on a snowmobiling tour with Goodtimes Adventures, out near Breckenridge. Having never tried snowmobiling before, we went with their “classic” tour which included guides to show us the ropes and lead us all the way up to Georgia Pass at 11,585 ft. Our group included about ten other snowmobiles and two guides. After a quick instructional demo, we were given the keys and led out to the practice track.

I started off driving, with Kim as the passenger, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. Before leaving the practice area, we switched so Kim could give driving a try. After that, we switched again and followed in a single line with one guide in front and one at the rear all the way up to Georgia Pass. Once at the top of the continental divide, the area was wide open and we were allowed to play around on the snowmobiles, even hitting a couple of small bumps. After a quick break there, we switched again so Kim could drive on the trails and once again followed one of the guides to another meadow for more riding.

At one point, we flew up a steep incline and then had to make a quick right turn. When doing this, our snowmobile nearly flipped onto it’s side, and we were very close to falling completely off. I guess we weren’t leaning hard enough to the inside. Afterward, Kim was a little more cautious driving through the trails. Before the two hour tour was over we encountered yet another open area with a large track. Kim took a few laps driving and then we switched it up again so I could get a few more turns in before it was all over. On the straightaways I was able to get it up to 50 mph or so. It was really thrilling to be flying on top of the snow at such speeds. I loved every minute of it and hope to do it again soon, though it will likely have to wait until next year.

We forgot to bring a camera along for our mini vacation, but we were able to purchase a photo of us with a snowmobile before taking off on our adventure.