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The first week of local lift skiing is a perfect example of how the mind and body are two different things. My first few days on the mountain were spent using my mind to remember how to tell my body how to get down the mountain without hurting myself, or anyone else.

It all came back eventually, but by the end of weekend, my muscles ached and I remembered I was one year older than I was last winter.

There is a lesson to be learned from waking muscles and relearning skiing and riding skills after a summer of hibernation.

While I was having my red wine muscle therapy on Sunday night, I knew of at least one person getting some more serious treatment while hanging out in the emergency room, nursing a torn knee ligament.

Another was flown to a Denver hospital for a tree-collision injury.

There is a grace period of relearning how to slide down a snow-covered mountain while strapped to wood and plastic that is dangerous, even for those who keep in good shape year-round and have seen countless opening days on the mountain.

Even if you are being conservative, one unusual twist on a knee that it isn't used to could mean trouble.

In other words, it's a long season on the mountain. A good way to ruin the winter is to get hurt.

But even after you get your ski legs, it's important to remember the complexity of skiing and riding and to nicely remind our guests on the mountain about it, too.

I think fancy ski lifts, groomed runs and a ski and snowboard industry that glorifies death-defying acts makes it easy to forget that snow-riding sports are serious activities. One wrong move while weaving through an aspen stand, for example, can have some grave consequences.

Let's have a good season in Steamboat.

Let's be friendly, let's have a good time and let's be safe and smart.