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.
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.
Sounds like it's been a great start to the tour. Looking forward to reading more.....and seeing other people. ;-)
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