Dominating the Sierra Nevada

So I have to start this blog post off with a very special "Thank You." My awesome day of skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain would not have been such a smashing success without all of the help and guidance of the Gietzen family. I went with them when I was 18 to ski in Utah and it was there that I had a private lesson (only after they saw how terrible I was) and then got much instruction from John and Mr. Gietzen. Being on the mountain again brought back many fond memories of that trip.
Anywho, the roomies, our friend Javier and I decided to go skiing yesterday in the Sierra Nevada mountains. They are always visible from Granada and even from Motril but I had yet to go there. It had been 5+ years since I had gone skiing (and really have only been 2-3 times in my life). I was nervous but knew it was something I wanted to do. We set out bright and early (I had to be up at 6.....yeah, that wasn't fun seeing as how I am used to waking up at 9-9:30 every day). The drive up was windy but beautiful and the views kept getting better and better.....especially when we started seeing SNOW! I didn't think I missed it but I must admit it was nice to be around (gave me a little taste of home - only with much better views!!)
Here are some of the surrounding mountains on our drive up

Here is the ski resort as we were approaching...the lights are still on because the sun hadn't reached this side of the mountain yet. The nerves really started to sink in at this point!

We parked and made our way to a rental shop. We chose the first one and in retrospect probably should have looked around as we paid a little more than some of our other friends but the people were nice and helpful so it all worked out.
Here are Tad and Javier all decked out and ready to ski/snowboard

We had to take a gondola ride up to the part of the mountain where we were going to be skiing. It was beautiful. As you can see from the pictures, we had a blue-sky, cloudless, windless and overall amazing day. It could not have been any better of a day. We got to the top and put our skis on
Here I am...ready to go

Upon my request and after a bit of laughter, we went up what they call "the rug." It's this tiny little conveyor belt that climbs up to the bunny hill....I might not even call it a hill. Still, I hadn't skied in a while and wanted to see if I still remembered anything from my lesson 6 years ago. I made a few cuts back and forth and felt pretty good. Tad, Michael Lynn and I went up on a lift with runs that were green (very easy). Normally, in the US, your lift ticket is on your jacket and it's impossible to lose. Here, in Spain, you get a card and you have to scan it and then go through a turn-style to get onto every lift. It was so annoying because you had to take off your glove and get it out every time you wanted to go up a lift and I was always so afraid I was going to lose it. I wanted to keep it but you pay a 3 euro deposit for the card and I wanted my money back so I returned it....the pictures will have to do as a souvenir :-)


Anyway, back to the first run we went down....it felt amazing!! I fell right back into the groove of skiing and felt pretty comfortable. Tad did really well too and from that point on, we went off to explore other lifts. We stuck to another lift with easy runs and then made it to the blue runs (still considered "easy" but just challenging enough for my beginner level!)
Here we are at the top of one of the lifts...partners in crime for the day!

We found one lift that had a run that we loved and managed to take some pictures with Granada and the surrounding mountains in the background.

We skied for a solid 3 1/2 hours in the morning and then it was time for lunch - of course, bocadillos (Spanish sandwiches)

Javier and me at lunch (yes, my cheeks are red....the sun was bright and I have fair skin!)

After lunch, Tad and I were ready to hit the slopes. We climbed our favorite lift again and decided to ski all the way down the mountain. This required going past the point where we were normally catching lifts and then having to take the gondola back up. It was amazing but we were so tired after that!
Just because I am a super-nerd (and because it's Saturday and I have nothing better to do with my time), I have mapped out the route we took down the mountain :-)
It's the turquoise line that goes from the top red star to the bottom one - hope you can see it - might have to click on the picture for a better view ;-)
When we got back up, we ran into Javier and Michael Lynn and took a picture post-mountain domination :-) Can you tell we were proud of ourselves?! haha

Then we got one of all three roomies~

Tad and I did a few more runs and eventually ended up going all the way down the mountain again to finish our day.
Again, I've mapped out our route - it's pink this time. This was the way down through the "rio" or river. It's the main way to get all the way down the mountain.

Here is a shot of a cool rock formation on the way down the mountain - it was just as the sun was about to go behind the mountain.

We called it quits around 5:00pm and boy, we were tired. We returned all of our equipment. A couple of friends that I had met in Granada were also skiing yesterday and we met up with them (unfortunately, we never caught each other on the mountain).
Em, Diego (from Argentina) and Julie (from France) - yum, hat hair!!

We followed them in our car to a neat cafe about half-way down the mountain for some much-needed refreshments.

On our way down the mountain - just look at how beautiful the sky was

We got home just in time to catch a full, gorgeous moon over Motril :-)

Overall, it was an awesome day and Tad and I want to go back again soon (though not too soon...I have to save my money as it was not a cheap day!!!)