Ski the Dunes!
From the beginning of the Spring semester, the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve had been on my bucket list! And more importantly, to ski the Great Sand Dunes. After weeks of scheduling, Wilson and I finally set aside the weekend of Earth Day to go ski the dunes! Leaving Boulder around 4PM on Friday, we made a quick stop at Goodwill, hoping there might still be some ski boots and skis for sale. I was able to snag a pair of $10 ski boots and we both got some nice old skinny skis! We then hit the road and set up camp around 9PM at the Piñon Flats Campground inside the park. It was very dark. This was my first time at the dunes so I had no idea what to expect when we woke up the next morning.
When we opened the tent the next morning, to our disbelief, the dunes were covered in snow! So, with a dusting of snow we got up and had a slow morning, making breakfast and tightening the dins!
Our original plan was to hike to the top of one of the dunes and just lap that for a bit before going back to the car, dropping off our skis and boots, and then hiking up to what appeared to be the tallest dune that we could see. But, after finding some dune wax and having an absolute blast, we decided we needed to hike up that dune with our skis and boots and shred that line.
The dunes look closer than they really are. After a few hours of hiking, skiing, and playing in the giant sand box, we made it to the top! And it was snowing again…
In our shorts, we hurriedly clipped into the skis and made our descent!
Our plans were constantly changing during the weekend. We were expecting to drive closer to Boulder Saturday, but we were really enjoying the dunes and just wanted some time to chill. We found another campsite at the Piñon Flats Campground for the night and relaxed for the evening.
After the first day of overcast skies, on Sunday it was blue bird and not a cloud in the sky!
It was maybe not our best planning to go ski the dunes when we could have gone skiing on real snow… but the adventure was so worth it! And now we have all the equipment to go back next time! Hopefully soon!
