Skiing Update

Well I made it back from my trip to Colorado in one piece. It was a great vacation. The weather was just beautiful and everything went pretty much as planned. I got into Denver on Wednesday and on Thursday we headed out for some skiing. We (Russ, Pivovar, Rob and myself) went to Beaver Creek for some skiing. It was actually the best day of skiing. At the bottom of the mountain it was close to 50 degrees and sunny all day. Colorado hadn't gotten any snow lately which didn't make for the best snow. We showed up on the mountain around 11:00 a.m. just as the sun was baking the mountain and the snow was softening up. Perfect conditions. Here is a view from Beaver Creek.We went down the run that they used for the 1999 World Cup Championships. It was ridiculous, just a huge block of ice. I have always told myself that I could bomb a competition downhill course. But after being on one, no way. It was ridiculously steep and all ice.
Thursday after skiing we headed back to Denver. I stopped by my friend, Marty, and got to meet his new daughter, at least new to me, Nicolette. And I got to hang out with his other daughter, Chloe, who I met last year. Chloe is just an adorable little girl with a ton of energy. Here is Chloe. Friday and Saturday we stayed in Denver. It was a lot of couch time and watching basketball which was fine with me. Saturday night Russ and I drove to Glenwood Springs and stayed the night there. Then Sunday morning we drove to Aspen. This was on the drive to Aspen.

We got to Aspen and walked around town for a while to check things out and then got ready for some skiing. Here is the view looking up at Aspen.

I talked Russ into wearing the gorilla suit while I wore the chicken suit. I think Russ actually had a lot of fun as a gorilla. I doubt Russ and I will ski together again without both of us in costume. I have since also talked to Tree, who is also very receptive to dressing up for some skiing in the future. Here Russ and I are at the top of Aspen. As you can see just a beautiful day and a great view from the top of the mountain.

Here is another shot off of the back of Aspen.

While we were skiing, Russ and I took a run that went by a warming hut. There were a couple people outside that were yelling and cheering for us. Later we took a gondola and met this girl who asked us "Are you guys part of the costume party?" We said no, and then she explained that she was part of that group that was cheering for us and she invited us to stop by. I got this picture with a guy who was wearing this sweet circa 1985 body glove ski suit. Plus, they had Pabst, how great is that.

A view looking down on the town of Aspen.

After skiing Russ and I went to the bar at the base of the mountain. We came strolling in and everyone on the patio turned to check us out. For the first 15-20 minutes that we were at the bar we were getting our pictures taken. I would say that we were probably more of an annoyance, at least to the people working there, than anything else. But we got some free drinks out of it. I was talking to one lady who claimed to be the producer for the TV show The Simpsons. Here we are with a pride of cougars.

On Monday we skied at Snowmass which is also in Apsen. It was another great day of skiing. This is a picture we took at the entrance to one of the runs, the Long Shot. You actually had to take off your skis and hike a good 100 yards to the start of the run. Please note that the sign says "Back Country Risks Include Death".

I actually like the run quite a bit, it had quite a bit of trees to maneuver around on the top. Moguls through the mid section. But the bottom was pretty flat. The run was 3.5 miles long. It took us 20 minutes to ski it, with 2 breaks that were 3 minutes long. A good leg burn.

By the end of the day, I was having a lot of fun skiing through the trees. Here is a shot from the middle of the Long Shot Run while we were taking a break.

Here is one of the many unreal houses around the resort. We talked to one person on the chair lift that worked for a real estate company. She said that for a while, the houses in the Aspen area were going for $2000 a square foot.

Monday's drive home was a little rough. A snow storm was coming in and as we hit the Vail Pass they shut down I-70. So we took a detour around up through Leadville. All I can say about Leadville is that if you are in the area, stop at Doc Holiday's for a sandwich. Great grub. Now I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there, but like I said if you are in the area it is a must stop.

I want to thank Russ for inviting me out. I really appreciate Russ for always fitting me into his schedule for some skiing every year. And Russ is a great person to ski with. He is a very good snowboarder and he makes me a better skier by talking me into taking some more challenging runs.