Guest TR: Girls Git R Done!, By Deborah Yarington

Note: This trip report is part of the TetonAT Trip Report Contest. Deborah is now in the running to win a FREE pair of Black Diamond skis based on viewer response and the TetonAT panel of judges! Good luck Deborah!!

Girls ski weekend on Beartooth Pass.

The Girls Only ski weekend on the Beartooth Highway in Montana had a purpose this July: Dawn’s Bachelorette Party. Dawn was finally “gittin r done” with Dave at the Bridger Bowl Chalet in September. On the last skin of Valentine’s Day, Dave proposed. He forgot the ring, but Dawn glowed as she told us. We all skied back to Ice Creek Lodge at dusk. Earlier that day skinning, Dawn, who had been patiently waiting for The Question for over six years, and I schemed we should become lesbians if our ski men could not get it together enough to marry us. Luckily, both of us got hitched this year.

During the season, we try to make time for girl only skis. But how can you ditch the boys when they sleep in their ski clothes and do not have jobs? Anyway, they break trail, dig snow pits, and carry skis. Of course, we do love being with them, though I have noticed ski carrying happens less once you are married.

A girls pace.

We were not interested in bagging a peak this weekend. Check the archives for the husbands’ report about The Grand if you need “hardcore”. We were not interested in hours of skinning, optimizing our vertical, powder or corn. We were excited about being together in the mountains on skis sharing Dawn’s happiness.

The logical choice for us in Bozeman was the Beartooth Highway- accessible and fun. We certainly were not going to carry fifty-pound packs into The Blaze in the Spanish Peaks. We’ve had enough “type-two fun” with our men, but that’s another story.

Dawn had a lovely veil to wear all weekend. She wore it skiing, drinking, and sleeping.

Dawn and the veil.

We got skiing around noon on Saturday. This is not how it works during the season. Did I mention I married the King of the Ridge and Dave ski patrols at Big Sky? Don’t get me wrong, I love skiing and all the excursions we venture on. Well, except the days we begin skinning at daybreak and START skiing at 5:30pm. But every once in a while, it is refreshing to not be concerned about the plan. Our only objective was to have a good time.

So, five girls skied the Gardner Headwall.

The five girls.

Something about Dawn wearing the veil made us feel like we owned the highway that day. We acted like little kids talking to everyone. All heard our story. Our tale of Dawn and Dave falling in love, staying in love through out it all. The girls skied four or five leisurely runs that sunny July day. We made time to talk and sing Bon Jovi at the top of our lungs. We could not help but be in the best of moods. A rare day in life where all the girls came together, truly living in the moment to just have a good time, to be happy.

Girls love skiing too.

After skiing, we had all the makings for a bacherlotte party/car camping scene. An exceptional salesperson had sold us all the penis paraphernalia we needed from silly string shooters to straws. The girl talk ranged from vasectomies to proper buzz micro management.

On Sunday, Dawn and I had our special ski day together back on the pass. I had just married one month before in Peru and we felt we needed a little time together to bond about the marriage stuff. Well, actually the other girls wanted to go mountain biking. I got to wear the veil as a new bride, which really made me feel like a child, like a teenager, like a person madly in love with my new husband turning down the slope. At the end of the run, I hitchhiked back to the car. A motorcycle gave me a ride! I mean, how incredibly cool is that?

Deborah catches a motorcycle ride back to the top.

Last week I skied Sacajawea in the Bridgers. I saw over twenty people skiing, and I was the only girl that day. I understand many women ski, but in my experience, it does seem to include a lot of time with the boys. The girl’s weekend was an extraordinary event. Our enthusiasm that Dawn and Dave were “gittin r done” could be sensed from Red Lodge to Cooke City. And we skied.

Deborah Yarington.