482 miles. 30 cans of Coors. Two resorts. One bottle of Schnapps. These are the numbers reflect the first weekend ski trip since April.

Dave and I packed up late Friday night to head down to Wild Mountain for the first turns of the 2007/2008 season. We awoke at 7am after a night of White Russians at the Belknap and warm Beefeater/Tonics at home to drive the two hours to Taylors Falls, MN, where one run (as opposed to the “4 to 6 runs” they said they would have open) awaited the poaching. It was the real White Ribbon of Death: 500-600 feet of super-soft man-made snow. On top of it, only one lift tended to the crowd of 300 who hoped to get early-season turns in.

Dave and I met one other guy from the shop and Josh, who amazingly came out to play. We skied through the throng of people all day, stopping only to swap out skis at the demo tents they had setup. Fortunately, we got comp’ed the lift ticket and the demo fee (read: free) so even though it was busy as balls and the snow was shit, it was free, and hey—turns are turns.

Throughout the day, we waited anxiously for word to come in if Lutsen Mountains would be open on Sunday. Lutsen had missed their opening day that day (Saturday, the 18th) due to poor weather for snow-making. Finally, at 3:30pm we called and they said they’d be open. We were relieved: no more skiing the gnar at Wild and dealing with the gapers and wanna-be gangsta park rats. Although we were going to miss what surely would have been a drunken night in Taylors Falls, we were happy to go back to our Alma Mater and make turns in the much longer and less-busy Lutsen. We had been anxiously awaiting the day Lutsen would open for months: checking their snow report, calling the resort, and praying to whatever Gods we wanted for optimal weather for snow making (wishing for snow at this point in the season would just be a waste of a good prayer).

At the end of the day at Wild Mountain, we met up with a rep and went to dinner at the Border Bar in Taylors Falls, MN. The burgers were delicious and the beer was cold. It was the perfect end to a decent enough day. We piled back in the car, gassed up—forgetting to pay for the gas on the way out of North Branch (which I did call them up and pay for over the phone with a credit card later)—and headed back to Superior. We crashed out early—9pm—and awoke the next day for the turns that we felt were now owed to us.

We got a hold of Kelly—who hasn’t skied with us for over a year—and headed out around 8am. We got to Lutsen at 9:30am, got our season passes, and waited for the lift to open. As it turned out, the lift wasn’t going anywhere that morning. Apparently the snow-making crew left a snow gun under a lift tower which froze up a cable and the fly wheels. So we sat around the trunk of my car, listening to music and drinking Coors Light. I lost a bet for $5 to Dave about if Ryan Phillpe was in “Hackers” (he wasn’t). Finally, after an hour of arduous work by the staff at Lutsen, the chairs were spinning and we were making lightening fast turns down Ullr mountain. There was only one run open, but that didn’t matter: it was dead, with maybe 25 or so other people there. The snow was the best man-made I’ve been on in a long time: firm and well groomed. My new Elan Speedwave 14s edged so well I wanted to cry. The turns were almost automatic, instead of the super-forced turns from the day before in the slushy snow of Wild Mountain. We skied as many runs as the slow-ass lift at Lutsen would allow, then would take short breaks to drink some beers. We had lunch at Rosie’s Café, then went back out and made more turns. Kelly skied my Speedwaves (she loved them), and then she skied the longest skis she’s ever been on—181s. I skied my favorite skis ever (the Elizabeths) and we just enjoyed the waning hours of the day.

When it was all over for the day, we sat around the back of my car again, drinking Coors and talking about skiing trips. We stayed there for a couple hours, enjoying the setting I’d missed for so many months: surrounded by ski hills and snow. We hopped in the car after we felt we’d had enough enjoyment, and headed back to Superior.

Today—nearly two days later—my shins are bruised as hell, and my calves and thighs are sore. It’s OK, though. I got my first-season turns in. I know I’m out of shape in the legs area and that’s OK too. The only thing I can hope for now is colder weather so Spirit and Lutsen can make more snow, and I can get more turns in and get in better shape before the main ski trips for the season.

So it wasn’t a glorious ski trip. The snow was man-made and it was busy. The weather was warm and the runs limited. But, like someone once said, “turns are turns,” and I got ‘em.