The Rewards Of A Mountain Life ~
Single mother Martha Hunt learned at a young age the rewards of a mountain life. Born in England, Martha finished school at the age of 16 and set out to travel the Alps in search of great skiing. A certified ski instructor, Martha worked in kitchens and bars and essentially took any work she could find that would allow her to afford her ski addiction. Martha even worked toward her certification as an instructor for the British Association of Snowsports.
When Martha became pregnant with her daughter Pip, she and Pip’s father picked up and moved to Scotland. They bought a house and turned it into a successful ski lodge. However, after two years of terrible weather and even worse skiing, Martha and her then toddler daughter moved to the United States. Over the next year or so they toured some of the best ski towns in North America eventually landing them in Crested Butte, Colorado.
Martha was looking for the perfect place to raise her daughter to be a skier. She couldn’t have found a better place than Crested Butte. Martha has built her life, and that of her daughter’s around the mountains. “It was so fun to think that we could go skiing together [when Pip was younger]. The more you have in common, the better it is to do things together,” says Martha. “You can relate much more easily to your child when you share that, and I think that’s why we’re really lucky to have a really good relationship.”
Up until 2005, Martha owned and operated a wonderful little aprés restaurant called the Swiss Chalet. They didn’t open until after 3pm so that Martha could ski before work each day. They offered six beers on tap and regulars would hang their ceramic steins on the wall. In fact, I still have four steins from the Swiss Chalet in my cupboard! Martha was now a single mother. She and Pip lived upstairs, a mere 500 feet from the lifts. For Pip, that meant a lot of first chairs on powder days.
The rewards of a mountain life have been good. Pip went on to be a competitive skier for 8 years. Martha now runs a catering business in Whitefish, Montana. It wasn’t easy to leave behind Crested Butte and the friends she made there but as Martha would say: If the skiing is good, everything will be fine.
Inspired by, Every Powder Day Is A Reward. Read more from the original article Here.
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