Last week we made the very spur of the moment decision to take an extra day off work and go skiing at Marble Mountain for a long weekend. The drive from St. John's to Marble Mountain on the west coast of Newfoundland is about 7 hours (with only quick minimum stops - I'm talking coffee, gas and pee breaks).
Now, while most people would probably want a week to do a little getaway like this, I'd like to think a lot of Newfoundlanders tackle long distance drives in short amounts of time like this quite often. Since we're on an island and everything is so spread out, it's really the only way we get to do anything! Obviously that's just my way of justifying we're not completely crazy!
Going to Marble Mountain for only 2 nights was definitely a little rushed and busy, but I'm so glad we were a little crazy went, regardless of how much time we had - it was exactly the little getaway we needed! I guess since I wasn't the driver and just the passenger on music duty, it's very easy for me to say that, right?
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| The lodge at Marble Mountain |
The last few times we went
to Marble Mountain, we stayed at the Humber Valley Resort in Humber Valley, which is about a 15 minute drive from the ski hill. This year, with the luck of a last minute cancellation, we were able to book a one bedroom at the Marble Villa, which is located literally right at the bottom of the mountain. Well, the accommodations gods were definitely in our favour this weekend, because you could not beat the location of this place - you could actually ski right up to the hotel!
The number one reason for staying here is convivence. The Marble Villa has lockers for each room located on the bottom floor where you can store all your skiing and snowboarding equipment. We were able to wake up, go downstairs and grab our equipment, and jump right on the chair lift, all within a few minutes. As someone who hates lugging equipment around and who likes to take breaks during their ski days, it was so easy to come and go as much as we wanted. It was also great at night because the ski lodge was right next door. There was no need to drive anywhere for dinner, drinks or entertainment if you didn't want to.
With regards to the inside of the rooms, I'm torn between wondering if they felt outdated or just cozy, because they did feel extremely cozy!! I think it was a bit of both. The rooms felt clean, which was definitely the most important thing, but some updates are also needed.
After a long day of driving on Friday, we arrived at the villa around 3:30. There was no check in needed because we received an email earlier that day with the codes for the main building, room and locker. Again, convenience I tell you. Night skiing started at 5:00, so we had just enough time to get settled into our room, relax for a few minutes, and buy our ski passes for the entire weekend beforehand. It's been years since I've went night skiing and I still love it just as much as I remembered. While there weren't as many runs open for that night, it was still so fun to get some skiing in, especially since we were so pressed for time.
After skiing was over, we headed back to our room to change and then went to the lodge for nachos and some drinks (not having to walk around the lodge in those big clunker of ski boots sure was luxury). After that, it was right to bed because we were exhausted. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for the delicious nachos at the lodge I would have fallen asleep there.
The next day was a very busy one...are you surprised? It went a little something like this - wake up, make breakfast with some local coffee provided by the villa, start skiing by 9:30am, ski until about 12:30, run back to the villa to get changed, drive to Corner Brook to watch our niece in her volleyball provincials until about 2:00pm, drive back to the mountain to go skiing until it closed at 5:00 (I forgot the part where we scarfed down old donuts and called it lunch), head into the lodge to grab some dinner and meet a friend for a drink, go back to the villa again to change and drive back to Corner Brook to watch our niece play again since they made it to the semi-finals. *Stops for breath*. And....get back to the villa after 9:00pm, play a few rounds of a board game, and then fall asleep before you even have time to turn the lights off. Phew. Gosh, I'm tired just writing that out.
Before we knew it, it was time to tackle the 7 hour drive again back home. Oh, did I mention that last year we did this exact same trip and didn't get to do any skiing because the mountain was closed (the lift actually broke the same day we were driving out). So even though this trip felt short, I'd say it worked out a lot better than last years. We did both agree that next time 1) we'd add on at least an extra day so we'd have more time and do other things in the area if we wanted and 2) we'd definitely stay on or near the mountain again...game changer!
Until next time.
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