Well then…it looks like we have tumbled our way right into a whole new year. Hopefully you were able to kick the year off in style with a big, cheesy grin on your face. If that didn’t happen…don’t worry, the first Monday of the year doesn’t arrive for a few more days so you have time! That’s the calendar I’m living by right now so not much has changed for me. Well, except for an extra day off work and my favorite New Years Resolution ever…eat a donut, every damn day. I figured if I can survive two weeks of ice cream I can manage 365 days of donuts, right?! That’s how moderation works, I think?

But forget the new year and all of it’s silly expectations – let’s face it, you’re really just another day older and writing the wrong date on everything – and talk about more exciting things. Like snow tubing in the backcountry.

Yea, apparently that’s a thing. And yesterday I gave it a try…without dying! Logan and I headed up to the mountains to meet up with friends for a snowy escape from reality and disconnect from cell towers. We heard “backcountry snow tubing” was on the agenda so we were pumped, in that childish omg-this-is-going-to-be-so-fun-if-we-survive kind of way. I was literally bouncing off the walls all afternoon in anticipation, unfortunately for anyone stuck in a car with me for hours…sorry Logan!

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We kicked off the new year with a bout of intense how-many-people-can-you-fit-on-a-tube backyard tubing Wednesday night then took our time waking up, stuffing our faces and napping before heading up Loveland Pass on Thursday afternoon. We parked at the top, unloaded the tubes and started the short trek to our first drop in point. There were a lot of people out riding the backcountry and their reactions to our choice of backcountry transportation was comical…honestly, I think they were jealous of our awesome. Right?! That has to be it…

Backcountry snow tubing sounds…kind of stupid. But it also sounds [and is!] insanely fun! Having perfected the tuck-and-roll survival move the night before we were feeling pretty confident once we go up to Loveland Pass but we still sent down a single test dummy, just in case. Followed immediately by an embarrassingly failed attempt at squishy three people on one tube while careening down a mountain side. Even that crash was fun – you can’t really go wrong when your toppling into feet of fluffy powder!

I should mention – we did NOT go flying down the entire mountain in a single ride, we took it in segments. Having no real steering mechanism the tubes were at the mercy of gravity, which usually pulled us into a big field of fluffy powder. Turns out tubes sink in powder so we’d come to a quick, tumbling stop as soon as we got off the packed “runs” created by backcountry riders/skiers. This was our cue to drag the tubes along the mountainside to a new drop point. We did this about three times before hitting the trees that took us to “Rider’s Bend” on Highway 6. The chute through the trees was interesting on a tube but completely doable if you’re paying attention.

We did have to trek across a few flat spots to avoid rocky terrain, but it was too much fun to complain about!

Once we hit the pick up point on Highway 6 we waited about 3 minutes with a few riders before a pickup truck stopped to take us back to the top. I had high hopes for a second round but weather was rolling in and pizza was calling our name so we called it a day with just one run down Loveland Pass…but we got to say we went snow tubing in the backcountry so I’m going to go ahead and feel extra cool about that!

Of course, we avoided the extreme terrain, stayed far away from rocky sections and rode belly first once we got near the trees so we could drop our knees as brakes. Heck, the smart ones out there even wore helmets! We played hard and we had a TON of fun…but we did play it safe. GoPro footage is less exciting when you’re recording the death of a friends so we did our part to ensure that didn’t happen.

And with that – Happy Freaking New Year! May 2015 be filled with stupidly awesome adventures, crazy life choices and enough smiles to make your face hurt! And if life decides to give you a gigantic sucker punch, well, pick yourself back up and prove the world wrong…because anything less would be giving up and life is far more fun when you’re fighting back, learning about yourself and proving to everyone that you, in fact, can do it! Find happy, live happy, be happy. #becauseyoudeserveit


12 Comments

Chris · January 3, 2022 at 2:18 am

Ha, nice….and maybe dangerous, but I’ll let your mother tell you that. Sounds like you had a blast!

Chris · January 3, 2022 at 2:20 am

On another note, are you really eating a doughnut everyday this year? I honestly think that’d be pretty hard, but I certainly admire a lofty goal like that.

    Heidi Nicole · January 4, 2022 at 4:24 pm

    I’m currently 4 for 4…bring on the year! 😉

Cassie @ Rural Running Redhead · January 3, 2022 at 11:06 am

Oh my gosh, this looks like so much fun! Now that you and Logan are in the same place, I’m guessing we’ll be hearing about lots of adventures, right?

    Heidi Nicole · January 4, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    Oh yes! Now we just need to get her to blog regularly again!

Becki @ Bites 'n Brews · January 3, 2022 at 4:28 pm

I WANNA GO!

    Heidi Nicole · January 4, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    Next time I’m kidnapping you and taking you with me!

Katen · January 3, 2022 at 7:25 pm

Omg gorgeous pics and what a fun time!

    Heidi Nicole · January 4, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    It was insane! Had the weather been better on Saturday I would have whined my way into doing it again!

Heidi @BananaBuzzbomb · January 4, 2022 at 5:55 pm

Ya’ll can keep all that snowboarding and skiing stuff…I’ll take the tubing!

    Heidi Nicole · January 4, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    It’s so much more fun than skiing/boarding! There is something special about that childish glee of flying downhill then tumbling into snow! Come visit girl! 🙂

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