When we got there, the place was already a madhouse. Parking was a nightmare for the driver of the car, because she went up the wrong way and ended up having to back all the way down again in the dark while dodging all the darkened skiers randomly crossing the lot, all of which was made more fun by the fact that we were in a huge Suburban!
When we finally did get in to the lodge, we were immediately ushered into a line to sign waivers not holding the facility or the church responsible for any injuries. I didn't really think that was all that necessary, but progressively throughout the night my opinion on that subject modified.
Our little group of three determined to stick together so we wouldn't loose each other, especially since I had foolishly left my phone in the car. We headed straight for hill, quickly rounded up tubes, and got in line for the tow up the hill. It really was quite chilly, so I was glad that I had found a nice pair of Columbia snowpants for $10 at DI. While they are a little more snug at the moment than I prefer, I was especially glad to have snagged them after finding similar Columbia pairs on Amazon retailing for $100. I'm glad to have a good pair now as I hope to do a lot more outdoor winter sports and activities like snowshoeing in the future. I just need to loose 5 pounds or so and they will be perfect!
The tow system at Soldier Hollow is very cool. Basically, it's a little pulley-system that drags you and your tube up the mountain at a pretty good clip. It's like the fun ride before the FUN RIDE. The trip up was all the more enjoyable because it provided a good chance to admire the city lights and a bit of the reflection in the lake from afar as well. At the end of the climb where the release came, it dropped you down a little hill that then channeled you into a disembarkation area. While the conveyor belt system I experienced while tubing at Wintergreen last year was nice, I liked this way quite a bit better because it was much more fun.
We had to wait some more at the top to go down the hill, but it didn't take too long. Our wait was shorter, because I learned last year at Wintergreen that people are pretty much uniformly lazy sheep and typically just get in long lines that are the closest to where they come out. This means that simply by being willing to walk farther down, you can usually find pretty short lines. My technique worked superbly here too, so we got to take the plunge after only a couple people.
It really was a fun hill, and I think a little faster and longer than Wintergreen. By the time we got to the bottom, the crowd was getting bigger and the tube pile had disappeared. Though we all thought that giving up our tubes was the right thing to to, I wanted to wait for a new tube and go down again immediately. The other girls, though, were cold and wanted to go into the lodge for a bit, so we headed in and sat down. Because it was so crazy crowded, the only empty place available was a table right next to the speaker blasting out loud music. Unfortunately, this made conversation next to impossible. So mostly, I just sat there while the others did something or other on their phones, which was, as you can imagine, pretty boring. Some other folks from the ward eventually came and sat with us and I got to talk a little to the guy sitting next to me and intermittently with the others in between songs.
During one of these song breaks, one of the girls mentioned that she was not tubing because she had an injury, and said that when she asked her physical therapist if she could go down even once, he absolutely forbade her, mentioning that in the winter, one of the very common reasons people come to see him is because of a tubing incident. This surprised me, as I still couldn't really see how it was so dangerous. When I went down, it was certainly fast, but I never felt out of control or in danger. Soon after, the other girls were ready to go for a run again, so we headed back up to the hill.
The crowd had grown significantly, and this time we had to wait in line for 15-20 min. just to get a tube. At the top, we went down to the farthest lane, which hadn't been open when we went down the first time. Someone in the lodge had told us that this lane seemed faster and more likely to give some air time, but to us that sounded like a good thing.
We had all planned to go down together, but that lane was only allowing one person at a time, so the driver I came with went down first on her stomach. After she departed, I noticed that the lane next to the one we were standing in had no line at all, so I scooted over to that one. This lane was allowing more than one rider. It was taking extra time for them to clear the next group to go down, but I didn't really notice as I was making my line hop and also talking briefly to a group behind me. After I got settled in my lane, the other girl I came with jumped over with me, which I didn't expect, but seemed like a good idea for a different experience. Right before we went down, the employee at the top asked if my companion saw what happened, and she said she'd had, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Right after, we went down together and caught a bit of air on the way down, which was fun. I think going down with two did add some more speed, but being in a different lane also probably made some difference.
When we got to the bottom, the girl I came down with asked me to take her tube as well as mine over to the waiting tubers so that she could check to see if the driver of our vehicle was okay. That made me somewhat worried, so I ran over to drop the tubes off and then quickly returned to the end of the track to meet my friends. I could see our other companion getting on the back of a snowmobile with an employee about halfway down the farthest run while another employee was bringing a tube back on foot. I asked the girl I rode down with what had happened and she told me that she saw our driver thrown from her tube and then roll down the hill a significant distance. I was pretty surprised there hadn't been more discussion of this accident at the top as I had no inkling that something pretty dramatic had occurred.
When our friend rejoined us at the bottom, she explained that she had caught some significant air on the way down and upon landing had been bounced from her tube which caused the rolling. She seemed pretty upbeat about the affair and was up for going again, but we convinced her that she should probably go sit down for a bit to recover. We went back to the lodge, and she went to the bathroom to look herself over for damage while we waited. She reported quite a few scratches and general soreness, but otherwise seemed okay.
We settled at another table slightly farther from the booming speakers this time and had a nice conversation with a personable and openly less-active girl and her friend from another ward and were later joined by two men from Saratoga Springs. It was nice getting to know them a bit while also relating the accident, talking about our new building, the stake, and other subjects. A few of the others left, and our driver was again talking about going for another run, which I expressed an willingness for if she felt up to it, but her friend was pretty set against going again. We talked for a few more minutes, at which point the driver mentioned she had started feeling some pain in her neck. This was a pretty clear sign to me and the other girl that another run was not at all a good idea, and it would probably be wise to simply return home. This course of action was agreed upon, and we started back with the other girl in the driver's seat after getting some ice and an aspirin from the lodge-workers.
So that pretty well completed the night. I might have been able to arrange for a different car to take me home after collecting my stuff, but in the madhouse the scene presented, I wasn't all that sure I could find another ward member very easily. This, combined with the fact that I already was hoping to get back at a decent time to get a good start for Idaho in the morning and most importantly, that I was worried about my new friend and didn't want to delay getting her to a better situation ASAP, convinced me to return with them.
The major takeaways from the evening boil down to a few things: first, that tubing can indeed be quite dangerous. Second, sitting in rather than laying on the tube is much safer. While there were a number of times throughout the evening that I wished I was home reading a book or something, overall I'm glad I went and had some good experiences and got to meet some people. I really hope that the accident will not have caused my new friend any serious injury, but I suppose I won't know now until at least next week.
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