A second day of skiing can be a tricky thing,  We kind of just did the same thing yesterday.  We know the mountain a little bit so a lot of the surpises have been revealed.   Our legs are very sore.

It’s easy to look like a champ with this backdrop.

Still, if there’s one thing the Winter Olympics have shown us, it’s that in the face of adversity like this, people can dig down deep and show tremendous character simply by sliding around on frozen stuff.  Today, almost every one of us did something of championship calibre.

Eliza skied her first black diamond — out of necessity, because the adjacent blue trail was closed — and immediately said she wanted to go back up and ski it again, on purpose this time.

Trisha skied the same green pea trail over and over again, then said she was ready for an easy blue square.  She skied it like a pro, then decided she was happy going back to the green pea trail a few more times, si vou plait.  She would end the day on one of the trickiest trails any of us has seen here, and she did it without complaint.

Lanie edges Eliza in the Get Ready After Lunch Derby.

Lanie won the “get ready after lunch” derby.  She had her ski pants on and was working on her boots before most of us had put our dishes in the dishwasher. (It should be said that all the kids — and adults — were eager to get back to the mountain after lunch today.  It was nice to see.)

Not only did Nadia go back out after lunch today, she was filled with energy all day long, encouraging several of us to try a new trail for our last run.  It turned out to be a horrible decision that had us skiing down a frozen waterfall several stories high, but she still showed good initiative.

More diamonds than a Liberace concert

Jen looked graceful on all trails, even some really tough ones, and didn’t even seem to lose her poise when the North Side Express lift was getting ready to close and several of the kids hadn’t come out of the Enchanted Forest yet.

Zoe stuck with Eliza and talked her through the steepest part of her first black diamond, snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Emma, who is nursing a knee injury, combined self-control and true Olympic grit.  She seemed to know just when to turn in for lunch, so she could make it through the afternoon until last run.  She also stuck around at the exit of the Enchanted Forest the last time until all her comrades made it out, which required quite a bit of waiting.  The Enchanted Forest is lovely, but also very bumpy.

Chris spoke clear, if urgent, French to some ski patrollers while trying to explain that some of his kids might still be out on a closed trail at the end of the day.  Although, he admits he might have said some of his children were under the trail or perhaps that some of his children lived on the trial, Chris eventually got his message across.

Yes, Halifaxians, they serve Keith’s at Mt. Ste. Anne.

I ate three big helpings of leftover burrito bowl for lunch — loads more than anyone else — and I also honored the Province of Nova Scotia by ordering an Alexander Kieth’s once our two-for one beer tickets had run out.  (FYI, the two-for-one Tuesday lift ticket special is great; the two-for-one beer special is also great, particularly if you like Corona — that’s the only beer that the special applies to.)

More snow is coming.  A lot more tomorrow night.  This may have not been our last ski day after all.