Telluride Day 15 - Smoking the front side

I cooked pancakes for breakfast again. It was snowing lightly in the village as we ate breakfast so there was some hope of powder on the mountain.
Upon reaching the top it became apparent that there'd only been about 3 or 4 cms of new snow. Not enough to get excited about but it made the world of difference to the surface texture.

Exited Chair 7 at the top of Coonskin and took a run down Village Bypass, an easy groomed green. The snow was soft, the skis bit in effortlessly, it felt great. Didn't matter that the light was flat and freezing rain was clagging up the goggles making it near impossible to see the trail ahead. Skiing by feel, the only way to go.

It snowed off and on, light and hard, most of the day, but no major accumulation. However the softer snow made a world of difference to the aches and pains - the anti inflam I took last night also helped. The skiing felt awesome today. I even hit a couple of bump runs and finished the day with laps on the front side runs, Coonskin and Milk Run. Both very steep black runs beneath the village gondola.

Riding Chair 7

Jim wasn't having a great day, freezing rain messing with his equipment so he retired early. And Mason shot off to sort out his boots....having different sized feet creates problems. I skied on until 3.45pm. There's a bit of a trend emerging here. :-)

Jamie trying to dry out in front of Gorrono's fire

Chairs on terrace at Gorrono

Jim and I hit the hot tub after skiing. The Double Diamond hot tub is out the front of the condo in a little area separated from the ski slope by clear perspex. So felt a bit like being in a fish bowl as we soaked our aching joints while folks exercised their dogs and kicked footballs a stones throw from us.

Claire in a decidely more wintery looking downtown Telluride

Tomboy Tavern (named after one of Tellurides gold mines we've subsequently learned) was the venue for dinner. We enjoyed it so much the other night we decided to spend our last night in town there, and it didn't disappoint. The food was spectacular and the night time gondola ride to and from the restaurant is stunning.

We ski Telluride tomorrow and then head off to Aspen in the afternoon. Chateau Blanc is to be our home in Aspen. Close to the gondola and downtown, should be good.

Telluride Day 14 - Snowing....just

I cooked pancakes for breakfast. Chair 7 is literally right outside our door as I think I've mentioned, and with the lifts not starting until 9am it makes for a rather leisurely morning pre ski. Hence the pancakes.

There was talk of an inch or two of fresh snow on top, and as we crested the Coonskin ridge it became apparent that there was indeed some new snow. Unfortunately not in the quantities to go crazy about.
The weather had closed in, it was very cold, snowing lightly and visibility was not that great. I hadn't layered up sufficiently but my Spyder Bromont jacket still did a pretty decent job of keeping the chills at bay.

Mason and Jim weren't so fortunate and headed down after a couple of runs to get some additional layers.

I stuck with it and chanced upon a most enjoyable double blue run called Lookout. The pitch was steep but not overly so, and the slope was coated with a soft layer of fresh snow.

In the gondola with Telluride town below

Lookout was so much fun that I lapped it 3 times.
As I've mentioned Telluride is really cool. It's also very different from just about any other ski resort I've ever been to. One of the notable differences is the on mountain dining. Where Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek and Niseko are dotted with large modern or extravagant cafeteria style buildings, Telluride has a number of very small log cabins strategically placed around the mountain.

During my travels today I stopped in at one such place called Giuseppe's for a hot chocolate. The cabin perched atop a ridge was about the size of a bus.

Giuseppe's

I skied a few more runs and decided to head down to Gorrono for lunch. Gorrono is a massive log cabin with an expansive deck situated below the Village Express lift about halfway up the mountain.
It is the closest Telluride comes to the restaurants you find at other resorts. But it still has its own unique flavour. There's live music on the deck most afternoons, and terraces have been carved out of the snow slope surrounding the deck to create a natural amphitheatre. Chairs line the terraces, and as the afternoon wears on, people swap their skis for a chair on the terrace, grab a drink and enjoy the entertainment.

As I was heading down to Gorrono I bumped into Jamie. Apparently when they went back to the condo to layer up, Mason had fallen asleep on the couch and that was him done for the day.

Lunch at Gorrono was great, they were all out of the stuffed baked potato, so I had the chilli and it was pretty good, although I would've preferred the baked potato.

Jim and I skied a few more runs. The snow kept falling, at times quite heavily but no significant accumulation. We even ventured into some smallish bumps which was fun.

Started to feel a bit achey so pulled the pin at 3pm. Thought about skiing this run on the way down, but decided might wait until tomorrow when hopefully there's softer snow on it.

Caught up with the kids back at the condo, went to a local gym for a workout, and then we headed out to Floradora Saloon for dinner. Dinner was great. Awesome food, typically large servings, and reasonably priced.

Hopefully we will have some pow tomorrow.

I wanted to include a shot of down town Telluride. I snapped this on me iphone while jaywalking hence it's not very good and doesn't do the town justice. But until I snap a better one it will have to do.

Telluride Day 13 - Grey and overcast

Not the most ideal day today. It dawned grey and overcast and remained as such the whole day. There is a suggestion of snow tomorrow, and perhaps today's conditions were a precursor to that. Lets hope so.

We hit the hill usual time 9am to find the snow a little harder than it was yesterday and the light very flat. Fairly uneventful day although any day in the mountains is worth a month in the city as they say. So we'll bank it.

The kids retired early but I got my second wind after lunch and skied on until 3.45pm. On the way home I paused at the top of a black run called Bail Out to survey the scene and plan my strategy for the descent. I noted that the slope appeared quite skied off and slick, so care would be necessary.

As I stood there a Latino couple shot past. The woman in particular looked particularly wobbly and sure enough half way down she fell, lost a ski and slid 50m further down the slope. I skied down, picked up the ski and returned it to her. I'd just finished helping her put her ski back on when an elderly gentleman came hurtling past on his back with skis in the air and poles flying. He came to rest at the bottom of the run a few metres from the husband of the Latino woman, who was looking decidedly sheepish having lead his spouse down such a difficult run.

I hiked up the slope about 10m to retrieve the man's poles and brought them to him. Luckily he was OK although a little shaken from his ordeal. The Latino lady thanked me saying I was her guardian angel, and her husband offered me a shot of tequila. I graciously declined and was on my way. As I departed the woman leaned over to her husband and enquired, "Who was that masked man."

We've decided to extend our stay in Telluride by one more day in the hope that we will get some snow over the weekend. I'm keen although the downside is we'll miss the Superbowl because we'll be driving to Aspen on Sunday when it's on.

Telluride Day 12 - Jaw dropping

The day dawned sunny and clear. Another beautiful spring day in January. Excitement was running high. We breakfasted early on the meusli and toast we'd purchased at the super market the night before. Double Diamond condominiums is a short stroll from chair 7, an original fixed 2 seater chair that climbs a steep face called Coon Skin. Short stroll is a slight exaggeration. We step out our front door, walk about 10 paces, clip into our skis and slide 50m to the lift.

Chair 7 and Coon Skin run viewed from our balcony

As we rode Chair 7 over the ridge into the unloading station the stunning mountain vista that is Telluride opened up in front of us. Words can't do Telluride justice. But I'll give it my best shot. We were surrounded by steep towering peaks, rugged cliff faces, deep ravines and endless trees. Everywhere ski lifts climb up precipitous faces to seemingly impossible locations.

Resolution Bowl chair climbs to 12,580 ft

The area is massive but we managed to ride most the lifts. The plan was to familiarise ourselves with the terrain and scope out the good runs in the hope we will get some powder in the next couple of days. Off piste was quite hard snow, so the groomers were the order of the day. Telluride has some spectacularly steep groomed runs so there was no shortage of challenges.

The mountain is riddled with intense skiing opportunities. Even riding the lifts can be daunting. One triple chair called Plunge spans a ravine where for about 10 seconds you're dangling 500 ft above the ground. I was riding with a local, and as we approached this particular location he appeared quite miffed when I asked if we could lower the safety bar.

In contrast to the intensity of the mountain, the staff are all friendly and laid back. We were greeted with a 'Howdy' at the base of each lift, and everywhere all time great rock music is blasting out...Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen...all time great in my opinion. Telluride is a really cool place.

Downtown Telluride from Coon Skin run.

Mason showing how it's done

All in all an awesome day of skiing, finally pulling up outside our condo at 4pm.

We changed, freshened up and took a stroll into town. On the spur of the moment we decided to ride the gondola to the Mountain Village and have dinner at one of the many restaurants. Telluride is essentially two villages. The original mining town where we are staying. And a much new purpose build ski village in the next valley over. The gondola runs up over the mountain connecting both villages. It operates until midnight every night so we took the gondola to the mountain village, had a delicious dinner in a restaurant called Tomboy Tavern and rode the gondola home again.

Out and about in Telluride

As the subject line says, Telluride was jaw dropping in every way.

Day 11 - Destination Telluride

Breakfast early as is the norm. Loaded the jeep, checked out of the hotel and headed to Beaver Creek to get a half day in before the trek to Telluride.
(will have to make do without pics today because wifi in hotel isn't sorted yet, and hotspot from my iphone is sloooooow).

Anyway we left Vail and headed for Beaver Creek via Arrowhead. Why mess with a good solution.
It was another beautiful warm, sunny blue bird day. Maybe a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday...maybe.

Had some very enjoyable runs at BC...we all decided it is a really cool mountain. We spent a very pleasant half hour lounging in deck chairs outside the Spruce restaurant mid way up the mountain, and wound the day up at 2pm.

Quick change out of ski gear and it was time to hit the road for the 4 1/2 hour road trip to Telluride.
A beautiful day for driving, so the trip was uneventful. The drive through Glenwood canyon was most impressive. Glenwood Canyon is a deep, winding canyon forged by the Colorado river than runs for about 30km and terminates at Glenwood Springs. A town renowned for it's thermal springs.

Shortly after Glenwood Springs we encountered some very rugged terrain with towering cliffs, pinnacle like features eroded from the landscape, and massive boulders perched precariously close to the highway. The scenery was reminiscent of Monument Valley meets the Chortens of Omarama.
Monument Valley is in the general vicinity, give or take 100 miles, so I think that probably had something to do with the topography.

We left mini Monument Valley behind and drove for about an hour across plains until eventually a vast mountain range started to loom on the horizon. The light was fading as we drove up into the mountains and approached Telluride.
Telluride is located in a box canyon and as you wind your way towards the resort the canyon seems to close in on you. In the dim glow of the half moon it was quite stunning.

We pulled into Telluride at 7:20pm and checked into Double Diamond condominiums. Unloaded the car and took a stroll into town to locate a suitable place to eat and a supermarket to get supplies for breakfast. After some ducking and diving we eventually found both. The Brown Dog pub was the venue for dinner, and on what appeared to be a relatively sleepy night in Telluride, it was the busiest place in town.

The Brown Dog Pub

First impressions of Telluride is that the town is really cool. The architecture is authentic American mid west. You feel like you should be riding down the main street on a horse with a six shooter strapped to your side. The contrast to the faux European meets Hans Christian Anderson of Vail is stark. That's not to knock Vail, just an observation. And you can park anywhere unlike all the other resorts we've visited where parking is non existent or at a premium.

The terrain looks impressive so the skiing promises to be pretty exciting. In fact we were all about as excited as if it was out first day on skis as we drove into town.

Looking forward to an adventurous day tomorrow.

Vail Day 10 - Australia Day

Short blog entry today as I need to get packed for exodus to Telluride tomorrow.

Day 10 dawned a beautiful blue bird day. We breakfasted early, loaded up the car and hit the road to Breckenridge. It was the last ski day for team Breck so we decided to hang out with them.
Did lots of filming on the drive across Vail Pass, but still haven't figured out how to load video onto my Mac. :-(

The day started chilly but warmed up rapidly and became quite hot. A spring day in January. The skiing was great.

Being Australia day I was interested to see how celebrations in Colorado compare to those in Niseko. I'm happy to report that they were far more subdued. I saw one guy skiing around with an Ozzie flag draped across his shoulders. Saw a few girls skiing around in shorts and singlets, but they turned out to be Americans who were just feeling the heat. It was a very warm day.

We skied until 4pm and then enjoyed a few apres ski beers at the Maggie - a restaurant and bar at the base of Peak 9 that has a massive deck that catches the late afternoon sun.

Bid Team Breck farewell and hit the road back to Vail. Last minute souvenir shopping in Vail Village, and then dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Los Amigos.

Early start for Telluride tomorrow.

Vail Day 9 - Pepi's Surprise

Pepi is a Vail legend. An Austrian who moved to Vail in 1962 and established a gasthof, restaurant and ski shop. With a full week of skiing under the belt it was time to drop the skis off for an overnight tune up and what better place than Pepi's Ski Shop just across the covered bridge a short walk from the hotel.
Besides Mason got his skis tuned at Pepi's a couple of days ago and Jim had spent a small fortune there fixing boot problems.

The Covered Bridge with Mountain Haus beyond.

So I dropped my skis off at Pepi's last night and picked them up on the way to the gondola this morning.
Jim and I headed up the gondola alone. Mason had forgotten his lift pass and didn't realise until the gondola staff scanned him and came up blank. It looked like it might take him a while to convince them he was legit, so he told us to go on ahead.

Top of the gondola Jim clipped into his skis and took off towards MTE. I did the same but not feeling the familiar clunk of boot into binding, I glanced down to see a 2cm gap between the back of my boot and the binding heel piece.
Somehow during the tune up process Pepi had changed the binding to accommodate a ski boot about 3 sizes bigger than mine.

On closer inspection I noticed the binding torque setting had been changed from 11 to 6, and a small plastic cover which had long been missing from one of my bindings had been replaced.
So had Pepi been overly zealous and done all these things in addition to the tune, or did these skis belong to someone else? The skis were identical brand, model, length and colour to mine.
I headed back to the gondola and ran into Mason and Claire. Mason being a man of many talents was able to re-adjust the binding so my boot fit and I was away.

The day was overcast, very flat light, and the snow a little firm underfoot. Conditions called for a cruising kinda day.

China Bowl

Mason, Claire and I did the usual rounds of groomed greens and blues. Mason did a bit of filming and discovered that my skis are too stiff and I need to get softer ones. Apparently I can't bend them. We swapped skis and even he had some difficulty bending them and he's got 20kg on me. So it looks like new skis are on the agenda...not this trip though.

Mason spent a lot of time and international roaming mobile phone calls trying to locate Jim while Claire and I waited.

After lunch the sun came out and the turns started to feel a whole lot better...I still couldn't bend the ski though. Claire headed down, Mason finally caught up with Jim to blast down Blue Ox a double black diamond that was mysteriously groomed, and I did laps on Avanti until 4pm.

I took my skis back to Pepi's so they could check the bindings and make sure Mason had set them OK. Pepi's staff kinda acted like I'd made it up, certainly didn't offer an apology, but at least they double checked the bindings and made some minor adjustments. They were adamant that the skis were mine.

Jim's theory: Pepi's staff mixed my skis up with their rental equipment and cleaned them up and got them ready to rent out to a giant.

Masons theory: UFO's came down and messed with the bindings. Jumping the shark I think, even if there have been UFO sightings recently around the Vail region.

My theory: Pepi's staff are clueless.

Vail Day 8 - Down day

Not much to report today because I decided to take the day off and give the body a break.
The kids headed over to Arapahoe Basin with the Breck crew.

I had a most enjoyable sleep in. Breakfast at 9am, and then spent the day browsing the shops and visiting the Vail Ski and Snowboard Museum.

Bought some souvenirs, hit the gym, had a soak in the hot tub and did some laundry. Exciting stuff huh.

I think the rest did me some good, so hopefully will be ready to get stuck into it tomorrow.

Vail Day 7 - Beaver Creek

The plan for the day was to change it up and ski at Beaver Creek about 10kms down I70 from Vail. Beaver Creek is kinda like a club field for the rich. It's a gated community where day trippers have to park their car outside and catch a bus into the area.

We decided that would be too much hassle so we drove a little further along I70 to another ski area called Arrowhead. Although Arrowhead is also a gated community for some reason the guard was satisfied we fit the entry criteria - ie we were there to ski - and let us pass.

Arrowhead and Beaver Creek are connected via lifts so the plan was to leave the car at Arrowhead and ski across to Beaver Creek. A good plan. Mason sometimes comes up with good ideas.

Mason and Jim rugged up beside the fire at the base of Arrowhead

The advertising catch phrase for Beaver Creek is: Beaver Creek, not exactly roughing it. And it's the understatement of the century. BC almost makes Vail look low brow.

Beaver Creek base area

So we rode to the top of Arrowhead and hit the groomers across to BC. As is to be expected by now the groomed runs were superb, and we had them all to ourselves.

The sheer size of the ski areas takes a bit of getting used to. There are literally thousands of people on the mountain but the runs never feel crowded because the mountains are so vast.
After a couple of high speed cruisers down a groomed blue called Larkspur we rode the Birds of Prey chair to check out the downhill course.

The skiing world champs are being held in Beaver Creek at the end of January and the downhill course is being prepared in earnest. The Birds of Prey downhill course in Beaver Creek is legendary. I've watched the Beaver Creek downhill on television many times but to ride above the course gave it a truly jaw dropping perspective. The slope is incredibly steep with massive drop offs and rollers. Just imagining a skier ripping down at 120kmh sent a chill down the spine.

Beaver Creek base area

It turned into a quite relaxing day of green and blue groomers. All the bodies feeling somewhat tired after the week's exertions.

Wide open and empty groomers are par for the course

Lunch was taken at Talons, the aptly named restaurant at the bottom of the Birds of Prey. I had a delicious Turkey and vegetable soup. The best lunch thus far. The girl at the cash register enquired if I was Australian, and was relieved when I lied that I was because she'd earlier asked the same question of a man who turned out, she said, to be English. Apparently he huffed and puffed that he was most definately not Australian, in fact he was an Earl. To which she'd replied maybe you can show me your castle sometime.

We headed back to the top at 3pm and skied the 5.5km run back to Arrowhead base.

Back in Vail Mason and Claire went out for a romantic dinner and Jim and I caught the bus to Lionshead which is the base area that I worked out of when I was in Vail. It was interesting strolling around Lionshead. Almost impossible to picture it as it was when I was there because it has changed so much. Jim and I grabbed a bite at a bar called Garfinkels which was the main haunt for all the ski instructors in my time, and which ironically has changed very little.

Tomorrow the kids are heading over to Arapahoe Basin with Team Breck. I'm thinking after 7 days of full on skiing a day off might be a good idea.

This is a better shot of the statue at the base of the Vail Village gondola.

Vail Day 6 - Shades of Niseko.

The day started cold cold cold. A beautiful clear, calm, blue sky day, but -15 degrees celsius. Extra under layers and neck warmers were the order of the day. First time this trip the neck warmer has been called into action. It was a Niseko kinda day. The cold temps didn't stop the team from getting first ride up on the gondola however.

The snow was a little harder today, and quite grippy because of the extreme cold. Mason and Claire peeled off to ski some greens and Jamie and I headed into Sun Up Bowl. The sun didn't do a whole lot to counter the cold but at least it felt nice.

Some friends of Mason's from Christchurch were meeting up with us. Mike (Stickle), Lyn and Brett are staying in Breckenridge for a week and decided to come over to Vail for the day.
We teamed up with Stickle and Brett at the top of the Mountain Top Express. I recognised Stickle immediately as I'd bumped into him briefly in Breckenridge on Sunday.

Mason took off with Claire and Lyn to ski greens and blues on the front side, and Jamie, Brett, Stickle and I headed into China Bowl.
A few laps on the groomed and through the trees and then we lead the guys over to Blue Sky Basin to ski the runs we'd hit yesterday.

The snow was still remarkably good, although a little hard and less forgiving. A few runs in Blue Sky Basin and then back to China Bowl to hit a very nice off piste green run called Sourdough. The snow was so good we lapped it 3 or 4 times.

As the clock ticked past 1:30pm my stomach was growling, the legs were starting to feel like jelly and my back was tightening up. The harder snow does that.
We lunched at Buffaloes at the top of MTE. Jamie set about making friends with everybody in the place, while the rest of us tucked into our cheese burgers.

We probably left lunch a bit late because we were all a bit lethargic post lunch. We stopped for a team photo taken by the on mountain professionals. The nice young man took a couple of beaut photos of the boys with a wicked mountain range back drop. The photos which can be retrieved online at my Epic (ski pass) account include lo res versions which are allegedly free to email, post to face book etc. However I've been online and it keeps asking me for $40. So unfortunately I can't post one of the photos here.

Mason and Lyn joined us for a couple of cruisy runs on Avanti and then we headed down, calling it a day at 3:40pm.
We enjoyed a couple of apres ski beers with the Breck crew before they caught their shuttle back to Breckenridge. My back was still feeling a bit tight so I decided to book a massage while the kids headed into Lions Head for dinner.

The massage was great and hopefully the back will feel better tomorrow.

A bit light on the photos today. It was such a full on ski day with team Breck. But I snapped this picture of the cool bronze statue at the base of the Vail Village gondola.

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Vail Day 5 - The kids light up

Happy to report a full night's sleep and up at 7:00am to roll and stretch before meeting the team for breakfast at 7:30am. We finally caught up last night and took a stroll through the very picturesque Vail Village to a pleasant pizza restaurant called Pizzottoes.

Over dinner and beers we discussed plans for the impending day's skiing and it was agreed we would hit the gondola at 8:20am.

Once again it was snowing lightly as we rode the gondola up to Mid Vail at 8:30am. Exiting the gondola we took a left and rode a cruisy green to the bottom of Avanti. The trails were wide and empty and the grooming superb. At times it felt as if we had the mountain to ourselves.

It was wonderful to be skiing with these guys again. It's been a long time. I was savouring every minute. Just skiing with Mason and Jamie has a positive influence on my skiing and the turns were feeling fantastic. The fact that the snow was sublime helped.

Avanti Chair: Power, Claire, Mason, Jim

Mason having worked at Vail for a few years acted as tour guide and took responsibility for run selection. He handled the task impeccably so it was agreed a tip might be in order. He even passed on a couple of pointers...lead with the hip and relax. So there's some food for thought for the Niseko contingent.

Avanti

Claire headed down around 12:30pm and Mason decided that we should head over to Blue Sky Basin. He told us to follow him and took off across China Bowl ridge before dropping into China Bowl proper. Jamie and I duly followed and found ourselves in some wet heavy rubbly snow that had been messed up by ski patrol's avalanche control blasting. Mason was most apologetic, however I think Jamie and I might have to reconsider the size of the tip.

Blue Sky Basin

Blue Sky Basin is a new development to Vail. In keeping with the whole Vail experience the area is massive. We skied a mix of groomed and off piste blues and blacks. The cold overnight temperatures had dried out the powder off piste so it was arguably better than yesterday.

Mason switched on the afterburners and we skied hard and fast, top to bottom for a number of runs in Blue Sky. We lunched at the top of the lift, happy to give the thighs a welcome break and enjoyed a ham roll and coffee while Jamie set about making friends with everybody in the lodge.

Blue Sky Lodge: Jamie, Power, Mason

The rest of the afternoon was consumed in making our way back from Blue Sky Basin and laying rail tracks on the groomers, finally bringing an awesome ski day to an end at 3.15pm at the base of the Vail Village gondola.

Hot tub, dinner and a short stroll through Vail Village and the team was ready to retire at 8.30pm to do it all again tomorrow.

Vail Day 4 - Powder Day

Guess what? I awoke early...beginning to think a full night's sleep is not gonna happen. Once again heavy machinery was doing its thing outside my bedroom window at 5am.
Went down to breakfast at 7:45am. Breakfast was a good variety of hot and cold food and plenty of coffee. However it was served on paper plates and consumed with plastic knives and forks. Interestingly I had no trouble cutting my toast today. Perhaps Homeland Security should investigate.

Quick roll and stretch in the gym after brekky and I was ready for the short 5 minute stroll across the iconic Covered Bridge to the gondola. It was snowing lightly as I rode the gondola to Mid Vail at 9:30am. The forecast had been calling for 1 to 4 inches (2 - 10cm) of snow overnight, but glancing out the gondola window it became apparent that there had been significantly more.

In the gondola anticipating freshies.

I exited the gondola at Mid Vail and cut across to the Mountain Top Express which transports skiers and boarders to, you guessed it, the top of the mountain. Vail is only marginally more creative than Breckenridge in its choice of names. A quick warm up down a blue run back to Mid Vail and it was time to hit the back bowls. First stop Sun Up Bowl. No particular reason, it was the easiest one to get to from the top of MTE. The snow was boot top light n dry powder. So the predicted 10cm was more like 20cm.

Vail is about 1000 feet lower in altitude than Breckenridge and unlike Breck, has no above tree line skiing. However the back bowls of Vail which are massive have a mix of treeless terrain and gladed areas. The tree skiing in the back bowls is epic and after a couple of runs in the open bowls I decided to hit the trees...not literally of course.

Skiing the trees was so much fun. The trees are nicely spaced so you don't feel intimidated and you can easily cut out to more open gladed areas if you have to. In addition the snow being so deep made it easy to control speed.

As you may have noticed from the pics the sun also had made an appearance, so it was turning into quite a day. After a couple of tree runs in Sun Up Bowl I headed across to China Bowl for the best tree run of the day. Best run because I got lucky with my choice of line and found untracked powder from top to bottom.
The clock ticked past noon as I banged in a cruiser down Chopstix, a blue run down the middle of China Bowl which was surprisingly untracked for this time of the day. Perhaps because the powder hounds were hitting all the black runs.
The thighs were starting to get heavy, so I cruised down a couple of blue and green runs to Mid Vail for lunch.

I was still feeling pretty knackered after lunch, so in keeping with the strategy of this trip, ie treat it like a marathon not a sprint, I decided to wimp out and ski blues and greens for the rest of the day.

Greens aren't so bad - Vail Village and I70 below.

While I was waiting to load on a chair a little guy in a black ski suit came zipping past and jumped on with me. We got chatting and he said he'd had a great time in the powder but was about to call it a day because he was 83 years old and his legs were starting to feel tired. We had a delightful chat on the ride up. When we got to the top he wished me a great holiday in Colorado and was off the lift and away before I'd barely stood up. Not bad for 83.

Didn't bump into the kids at all. I phoned the front desk at 8:30am and Klaus (not his real name) the very stern, unfriendly concierge with a German accent couldn't confirm or deny if they'd checked in yet. He wouldn't give me their room number (so I could leave them a note) but said he would connect me through to their room. I declined because I figured after a long day traveling they might like to sleep in. Although Mason is usually pretty switched on when it comes to powder days unlike myself.

Got back to my room this afternoon and there's a note from Mason on my door, so either Klaus relented or more likely Cindy (not her real name) the nice, friendly and cute assistant concierge gave him my room number.

Looking forward to catching up with the kids, as I'm sure you all are, because all these selfies are starting to make me uncomfortable and you're probably getting tired of looking at pictures like this.

Breckenridge Day 3 - Double Black Diamond Day

I awoke early again not because of jet lag but because some council guy in a front end loader was scraping the ice off the road at 5am. Got up at 7.30am and hit Columbine again for breakfast. Hit the slopes a little late because I had to pack my stuff and get out of the room. The process was elongated because while ferrying items to the hallway the door shut with both key cards inside.

I was feeling good after a roll and a stretch so I decided as it was going to be a short day skiing wise I would head straight for Horseshoe Bowl and do laps until 2pm.

The day was a little overcast and grey but the sun peeked through from time to time. Horseshoe was as spectacular as yesterday. I skied one pitch that is so steep that you can see where your first 2 turns will be but that's it. The slope just drops away. Because the snow was so beautiful and grippy I decided to give it a go and it was a blast.

I took a run on the Imperial Express which goes almost all the way to the top of Peak 8. In my day we had a 30 minute hike to get to where the Imperial Express unload ramp is situated. The snow in the bowl was almost as good as Horseshoe but by now the light was getting flat, so I decided to call it a day,

Headed down to RML changed and waited for the shuttle to Vail.

The shuttle arrived 5 minutes early and was driven by and extremely pleasant Mexican guy called Carlos. I was the only passenger so I sat in the front. The drive over Vail Pass was uneventful and we made good time. Carlos being the great guy that he is dropped me off right outside the Mountain Haus. I tipped him $20.

And to the Mountain Haus. I have to say it has totally exceeded my expectations. The place is awesome.

MH lounge room

MH bedroom

Time to settle in and then go for a stroll before the kids get here.

As it turned out settling in involved having a workout in the MH's very well appointed gym. Post work out I went for a stroll through the village, chanced upon a convenience store and made a snap decision to purchase some pasta and wine and have a cook up at 'home'. After dinner I cranked up the log fire (gas), stretched out on the couch and watched a very interesting skiing documentary on the plasma TV. Skiing holidays are supposed to be way more spartan than this.

Symo just emailed me this pic from Eric's bar cam just to prove that I was there.

Breckenridge Day 2 - Peak hopping

I awoke this morning at 4.50am. This jet lag is beginning to be a drag, although I suppose things are on the improve I did get one hour more sleep than the night before.
Was still awake at 7am so decided to get up and have an early breakfast. Went to Columbine Cafe and ordered eggs, toast, bacon, hash browns and bottomless coffee for $11!

With breakfast out of the way I returned to RML to get changed and stretch, and was on the bus to the gondola by 9:15am. I exited the gondola at Peak 7 and headed across to Peak 6. It was a much greyer day than yesterday and quite windy but the snow was still excellent and the sun came out as the morning wore on.

Breckenridge lies on a mountain range called the 10 mile range which comprises 10 peaks. And in a feat of creativity the local forbears decided to name the peaks 1 to 10. There is a similar range in Austria and the Austrians not being possessed of American practicality named their range the Wilder Kaiser and one notable peak is called the Kaiser Gebirge.

During my time in Breckenridge in the 90's the ski resort spanned Peaks 8, 9 and 10 with hiking access (but no lifts) on Peak 7. Today the development has spread to include lifts and base lodge facilities on Peaks 6 and 7.

My quest for the day was to tag all 5 peaks. My first run took me to the top of Peak 6. I was feeling more aclimated, less short of breath so I figured it was a pretty safe quest for day 2.

Peak 6 is exposed and it was quite windy so one run sufficed. Likewise one run on Peak 7 was enough. Next on the agenda was Peak 8 and a ride up the T-Bar to the Horse Shoe Bowl. Horse Shoe Bowl is so named because it's shaped like a horse shoe. Although quite a short run it's very steep and rivals anything at Mt Hutt for technical difficulty. Accessing the bowl proper necessitates navigating through a field of large bumps with hidden rocks waiting to tear out an edge. Once in the snow was sublime. The windy conditions had blown in snow and the steep walls of the bowl were coated in a soft layer that the skis sunk into like soft butter.

After three exhilirating runs down horse shoe bowl the steep slope turns were starting to feel good, and it was time to head in for lunch.

At the bottom of Horse Shoe...you'll have to trust me on that.

I'll try not to go into too much detail about lunch but it can't go without comment. I ordered a chicken somosa burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and caramelised apple. The burger was served up on wrapping paper in a plastic basket. The bun was open and closing it proved too difficult so I decided to attack it with a knife and fork. There's probably some post 911 federal law that restaurants must dull their cutlery because I am yet to find a knife that can cut. In fact the bread seems to always come out on top. Today was no exception, my first attempt to slice (quite forcibly because I have experience with US knives) through the bread resulted in the basket (oval shaped) jerking over and almost spilling the contents on the floor. The guy who decided an oval shaped basket would be a better option than a dinner plate is probably the great-grandson of the guy who named the peaks. In the end I discovered the best approach to dismantling the bun was to pin it down with the knife and tear it with my fingers.

After lunch I bought a coffee and cookie...$11!

The rest of the afternoon saw me complete my quest and put in a couple of runs on Peak 9, and one on Peak 10 before returning to Peak 8 to close out the day. I skied down 4 O'Clock and pulled up outside the RML at 4:10pm so all in all a pretty full day.

A quick trip into town to purchase the Spyder Bromont jacket I've had my eye on.

And then a leisurely stroll back to the hotel taking in the alpenglow scenery.

It's been great to spend a couple of days in Breckenridge. It was nice to go back after almost 20 years and take in the changes while enjoying the things that have remained the same.

Mason, Claire and Jim arrive tomorrow, so the intensity is gonna go up a notch or 20.

Breckenridge Day 1 - breath taking quite literally

I awoke at 4am....not exactly planned but jet lag doesn't care about plans and timetables. I got out of bed to get a drink and was greeted by this sight out my balcony door.

The snow was coming down hard. Carl who drove the shuttle from Denver to Breck had predicted a 50/50 chance of snow. The anticipation of a potential powder day kept me awake for the next hour and a half. And then once asleep again there was no stirring me until 10,30am. By this time the balcony pictured had changed...

Yes indeed a blue bird day. Although the pull of the mountain was strong I decided it would be in my better interests to postpone my departure for the slopes until after I'd partaken of a decent breakfast. The egg n bacon bagel and coffee at Clint's diner across the creek from the hotel fitted the bill. If not decent it was breakfast at least...no actually it was pretty good. And I have to say I love sitting and listening to Americans chit chat. They're so loud and effusive. And the variety of accents on offer in Breckenridge is classic.

With a happy belly I strolled back to the hotel. Pausing to take a couple of snaps on the way...to say it was a stunning day is an understatement.

The aptly named River Mountain Lodge, from the river side.

A quick change and i was at the bus stop outside the RML by 12 noon. The bus arrived on time...this is Breckenridge....and whisked me to the brand new Peak 8 Gondola station. A massive new development since my time in Breckenridge, the gondola runs from town up to the Peak 7 base area (also new development) and across to Peak 8 base. 

I intended to spend the day skiing Peak 8, where I worked, to check out all the cool runs that I used to know so well. 

First stop was Claim Jumper. A cruisy green with fun undulating rollers. It's quite a long run but being a green not overly demanding, so i skied it top to bottom without stopping.

By the time a pulled into the base area the heart was pounding and I was very short of breath.

Breckenridge base is at 10000ft above sea level and I was feeling every inch of it. I decided to take it a little easier for the rest of the day to give myself a chance to aclimate. 

That proved a good call, as the heart rate remained normal for the rest of the day, and only the day itself was breath taking.

Spent the afternoon skiing a variety of blues and blacks, mostly groomed on Peak 8. The snow was fabulous, and the weather superb. Not a cloud in the ski and only the hint of a breeze.

Last run of the day a cruiser down 4 0'Clock which conveniently terminates across the road from RML.

Hit the balcony for a happy snap and then off to town to check out ski jackets.