Page 63 of Offsides

Nodding, I follow him in. We find a smiling twenty-something woman behind an information desk, and she gives us directions to the tubing yurt.

Back outside, we have to make our way across the area between the ski lifts, dodging skiers and snowboarders zipping past us on either side, but eventually make it unscathed.

After a brief orientation, we get our tubes and make it to the top of the run. We wait behind a mom and her two kids who are lashing their tubes together with the help of the resort employee who’s managing the run.

Eli grins at me. “Wanna go down together like that? Or do you want to go by yourself?”

“Let’s go down together the first time at least.”

We watch the mom and her kids slide down the hill, the kids’ gasps and cries of excitement reaching us. We step up to the top of the run, and Eli threads the leash from his tube through the handle of mine, then takes mine and does the same. He holds them in place while I sit down, and a smiling employee steps up and holds the tubes in place with his shins while Eli climbs into his tube.

“Do you guys want a push? Or do you want me to just let gravity take you?”

Eli glances at me.

“Give us a push, please,” I say confidently. “A hard push.”

Eli lets out a whoop of excitement as the guy moves behind us and grabs ahold of our tubes. “Hang onto your hats,” he says as he begins pushing us forward, getting up to a run before giving a big shove to send us down the hill.

Despite our running push start, it takes a moment before we really begin to pick up speed. The cold air bites at our cheeks as we slide laughing down the hill.

When we reach the bottom, I roll ungracefully out of the tube. Eli laughs as he does the same, and we both scramble to untie our tubes and drag them to the bottom of the tow rope off to the side. Eli gestures for me to go first. After I hand the leash to the attendant, she gestures for me to sit down in the tube.

“Ready?” she asks once I’ve settled in place. At my nod, she attaches the plastic end of the leash to the tow rope, and with a jerk, I head back up the mountain. When I get to the top, I scramble out of the tube again and wait for Eli, who’s coming up behind me.

We watch a few other people go down, one very large group all holding onto each other’s tubes and a few individuals, including one guy who runs and dives onto his tube, heading down the run face first. Next up is a kid, probably about twelve or thirteen, who asks for the attendant to spin him around as he goes down the hill.

Another smaller kid wants the same thing, but when he gets spun, he goes flying out of the tube and lands in the pile of snow between the runs. I stifle a laugh behind my hand, feeling kind of bad for the kid. He doesn’t seem to be hurt though. He stands on wobbly legs and makes his way back to the top, having only gone a couple of feet.

His mom calls to him and asks if he’s okay, and the attendant checks on him as well saying, “Let’s try a bigger tube this time. You’ll have an easier time staying in.”

The mom gives her tube to the little boy, and this time he successfully stays in as he goes spinning down the hill.

Raising my eyebrows, I glance at Eli. “Are you going to do that?”

“Go spinning down the hill?” At my nod, he laughs and shakes his head. “Nah. I might do the run and jump headfirst one though.”

I gesture for him to go in front of me. “Have fun.”

He tells the attendant what he wants to do, and we all move to the side to give him room for his running start. He makes it seem effortless and goes flying down the hill, his laughter floating up behind him.

It’s my turn next, but I’m not up for spinning or jumping. “Just a hard push, please,” I say to the attendant.

We spend our two-hour time slot getting dragged up the hill and sliding back down, sometimes together and sometimes separately.

At the end of our time, we stack our tubes in the corral and head back toward the lodge, the light getting that wintry purple tinge as the sun heads toward the horizon.

“Do you want to grab something to eat here?” Eli asks. “Or wait until we get back down the mountain?”

We saw several fast food places along the highway as we passed the town at the base of the mountain on our way to the parking area. I’m not sure I want fast food, though.

“Let’s see what they have here. If nothing looks good, we can get something when we get back to the bottom.”

Eli nods and reaches for my hand. Our snow gloves prevent us from threading our fingers together, but it’s sweet all the same. He leads the way across the gauntlet of skiers and snowboarders, most of whom barely seem to register our presence.

We enter the lodge, stomping the snow off our boots and removing our hats and gloves. It feels so warm in here after being active outside in the cold for hours. Eli looks around, then confidently leads us in the direction of the restaurant.

My eyes widen when I catch sight of the prices on the menu. I didn’t think about the fact that we’re essentially captive clientele. It’s like in airports or movie theaters where they can charge an arm and a leg for the most basic food and drinks.

---