Colorado Cruiser: February 2008

During the last week of January 2008, I took a week of vaccation and went up to North Central Colorado for a week long ski trip with family and friends.

The trip started early in the morning on Saturday January 26th. My good friend Zane Miller came to pick my son Kyle and I up at 6:30 am. We loaded my skis and Kyle's Snow Boarding gear which included a snow board borrowed from my son in law Rex. Rex was really nice in letting Kyle borrow his brand new snow board to learn on.

Kyle had to drive his own car because he had to get back for college on Monday. We drove up I-25 to Denver, then turned West on E-470 to skirt around to I-70. As we turned West on I-70 we saw some signs indicating that it would take 2 hours to reach the Eisenhower tunnel. We knew we were in trouble because Kyle was supposed to be at Keystone by 9:30 and it was already 7:50.

The traffic from Denver to the ski slopes is always really bad on Saturday mornings in the winter. We should have left at least half an hour earlier, but it had been a year since we'd driven that way and just forgot about the traffic.

We kept going through stop and go traffic all the way past Idaho Springs. Finally the traffic eased up when allot of the card turned off to head for Winter Park and the slopes North of I-70.

We got to the Keystone parking lot by 9:45, but the free lot was already full. We pulled around to one of the pay lots ($15.00 per car). When we got geared up and over to the meeting place it was already 10:30 and we figured we'd missed the lesson. But the instructor was there and waiting for us (we'd called to tell them we were late). His instructor was a blond Portorecan that had been teaching for 4 years.

Kyle headed off with his instructor while Zane and I headed for the Gondola to the top of the mountain. The day was sunny and very warm, but with allot of nice packed powder from the previous night's snow.

This was my first ski trip of the year, and I hadn't done much exercise to prepare for the trip. We stared by heading out the Mozart trail down the back side of the mountain. Within minutes my legs and feet were complaining loudly of my lack of attention to exercise, and by the time I was half way down, I had to stop. I didn't have any trouble with ski technique (which was a blessing) but I just wasn't ready for the aches.

I think the first run of the day is always hard for me. Almost every trip I take my feet, legs, or back hurts horribly during the first run. Then I get on the ski lift and rest for a few minutes and the 2nd run is much better. This was the same. After struggling down the steep hill to the valley and getting on the lift, my 2nd run was much easier. I still felt stiff and sore, but it was manageable.

We tried a couple of other lifts and runs that were all blue (medium difficulty), then decided to go back up the main mountain and check on Kyle. We found him working with his instructor and got glowing reports on his progress.

I decided I was in good enough shape to try a groomed black run to the back bowls, but as we started down, I got confused and turned left rather than proceeding straight. We wound up on a steep black with huge (to me) moguls all over it. Sometimes black runs are half smooth and half bumpy, but this was was all bumpy from side to side and top to bottom and I just don't do moguls well.

I started trying to work my way down, and Zane kept trying to show me the easiest ways, but I just couldn't seem to get it. I have a real mental problem with bumps and with getting my turns fast enough. I start going and get 1 or 2 turns in ok, then my brain goes into panic mode and I want to turn uphill and stop, but I can't so I wind up either doing the splits, going backwards, or just falling over.

It took me over 20 minutes to work my way off of that slope, and I probably wasted half my strength doing it. Zane as a saint to stand there the whole time and encourage me rather than pummel me with his poles.

We met Kyle and his instructor for lunch after that. Kyle was doing well so we decided to continue the instructions into the afternoon.

Zane and I headed off again, but this time avoiding blacks of all varieties. I worked hard on looking down slope rather than over controlling my skiis and tiring myself out too much.

By 4:00 we headed back up and found Kyle on his last run of the day. He was already linking turns and switching from heel to toe and could make full runs down the beginner hill. Zane and I decided to ski the 3 miles down the front of the mountain, but Kyle was exhausted and took the Gondola back down. I hit a patch of ice just 50 foot from the bottom and was just too tired to fight out of it, so I just laid down and skidded out.

My wife Nannette and Zane's wife Gae had gotton together about noon and started their own drive up from Colorado Springs. They'd already checked into the Swan Mountain Resort by the time we got there, and had carried most of the food, gear, and clothes up to our 3rd floor room. Zane and Kyle carried most of the rest up, and I supervised. I was flat exhausted and grateful when they told me to sit down.

After a little rest, the 4 adults put on swim suits and headed for the hot tub in the club house. They keep the water very hot and it felt great. Nan and I sat in the tub for about 40 minutes then went back to the room. But Zane and Gae sit for another hour. They have allot more tollerance for that heat than we did.

We were all so tired when we got back that we ordered pizza rather than trying to cook anything. We helped Kyle with some of his math homework, then I headed to bed by 8:30 and have no idea what the rest of them did or when they went to bed.

SUNDAY - January 27th

I woke up at 7:30 and started cooking breakfast. I always find that cooking bacon is a very good alarm clock. Sure enough, by 8:15 Zane was up and offered to cook waffles for everyone. He had fresh fruit and whipped cream to top off his home made waffles.

Church started at 10:00 and we were only a few minutes late getting there. The parking lot was packed and we wound up parking down the fire lane. It was their ward conference so we listened to the Bishop and the Stake President speak.

After church we had thought to go out for lunch, but decided to go back to the room and have sandwiches. Kyle needed to get home and do more homework, so he left about 1:30. He called at 2:30 to say he hadn't gotten far and that the freeway was as packed as when we came up. It took him over 3 hours to get home.

The Millers and us went into Breckenridge after lunch to look at the Snow Sculptures. The annual competition had just ended the day before so we got to see the completed sculptures. I especially loved one showing a grandfather helping a grandchild in the snow. The winning sculpture was done by 2 guys from China and depicted a Samurai on horseback. It was incredibly detailed.

That evening, Zane grilled some salmon and topped it with a Mango and Pineapple salsa. It was very delicious and probably the best meal I had up there. I was asleep again by 9:00.

Monday - January 28th

Zane and I got up by 8:30, made bacon and omelettes and headed for Breckenridge. We parked in the pay lot ($10.00) next to the Gondola, geared up and rode the Gondola to peak 8. Zane had purchased lift tickets in town and paid about $75 each for his 3 days. I had a season pass that I paid $350 for.

As we were riding up, we saw allot of people already heading back down and wondered why that was. When we got off the lift we realized why. The entire top of the mountain was blurred out from snow, but not from falling snow. There was so much wind that it was picking the powder up and swirling it all around the mountain. We decided to ski on anyway.

We skiid a few blues on peak 8, and just like Saturday, my first run down hurt like a son of a gun. This time is was my feet. They bottoms just ached and I had to stop several times to ease the pressure. But after the rest during the chair lift back up, I felt allot better.

We took Frosty's Freeway over to towards peak 9, then rode a connecter up to the top of 9. We took Upper Lehman down to the Maverick lift a few times, then headed for the Falcon lift up to Peak 10.

Peak 10 is about as hard of skiing as I'm able to do. Everything is blue/black or harder off the top, and the wind was blowing very hard. My first run down 10 I did fairly cautiously while working on my quick turn techniques. My second and third runs were allot better but very tiring. Zane tried a few of the harder trails down, and had a huge grin on his face as he met me at the bottom. I told him this would be my last run down 10 and that I would go very slowly, then meet him in the lodge. He could easily get in 2 runs to my 1 so he did.

I always struggle with buying lunch on the mountains. I figure I'll make something to take, but I never do. Then I think I'll just hold out and eat later, but that much work leaves me famished. So I always break down and wind up buying some way over priced lunch which I did this day.

After lunch we skiid the Maverick chair lift and some of the blue/blacks on peak 9. Then we slowly worked out way back to peak 8 and headed back for the timeshare at 4:00.

We had another long session in the hot tub and decided to try the outdoor hot tub. As we were sitting there, a wind suddenly blew up and swirled snow all around us. Nan and I were in trouble because the tub was so hot we were burning up, but if we stood up to cool off, the snow and wind froze us. We were quite a funny sight trying to figure out whether to be too hot or too cold at the same time. Finally we just grabbed our towels and dashed for the main lodge. Zane and Gae stayed and said they loved it.

We changed and got ready to walk back to our room, and when we peaked out the front doors, there was a full on Blizzard blowing. Nan bundled a towel around her head, took my hand and we stumbled through the snow squinting to see our way. It was only 30 yards or so, but we were frozen by the time we got there.

Gae is from Idaho, but she hates the cold, so we knew she'd be in trouble coming back because she'd only worn a light jacket and sandals over. So I grabbed our heavy coats, some socks, and scarves and headed back to the clubhouse. By the time I got there, Zane and Gae had come back in from the outside Hot Tub and were sitting in the inside one. They both had huge chunks of ice in their hair and said they'd finally come in when they couldn't see the door anymore. I dropped off the warm clothes and headed back.

Tuesday January 29th

Zane and I decided to go to Keystone again since they were going to leave shortly after noon. We parked in the free lot and walked the 300 yards to the slopes. It was a beautiful day and the sky was so blue and bright that it hurt to look at it. The wind blew a bit but wasn't much trouble.

We quickly worked our way back to the outback and skiid several of the blues on the back side. We skiid until about 12:30 then headed for the car and back to the timeshare.

The girls had packed everything they were taking and we carried it all down to Zane's truck. For lunch we went into town, then I kissed Nannette good bye, said goodbye to Zane and Gae, and the 3 of them headed back to Colorado Springs because I was staying the rest of the week.

I finished off some left over stew and salmon for dinner, then went to the hot tub.

Wednesday January 30th I got up by 7:00 but the snow was falling and the wind was howling so I took my time getting breakfast. I got to keystone by 10:00 and decided to explore the face of the mountain rather than heading to the back bowls. This gave me the advantage of riding the gondola back up to warm and rest between runs.

I got in about 8 runs through the morning and early afternoon and decided to skip lunch. I did get a cup of hot chocolate and rest in the lodge for 30 minutes. The front side of the mountain has very long runs compared to the back so I was very tired by the time I left.

As I headed back, I decided to reward myself with lunch in town, but to try somewhere new. I hadn't ever been into downtown Dillon, so I turned left there and slowly drove around town. I hadn't gone far when I detected the wonderful smell of a real wood BBQ and followed the aroma to the Arapahoe Cafe. Its small but cozy and nice. I had a great pulled pork sandwich that only cost $9.00.

At 4:00 my son in law Rex arrived at the timeshare. He put some things away, then I drove him back to Keystone because he was going to night ski there. I dropped him off then went back to the timeshare and went to the hot tub. The club house was completely empty so I took advantage of the warmth and napped on one of the lounges by the heated pool. With some Hawaiian slack key guitar music playing from my cell phone, I slept about 45 minutes.

Rex called at 8:00 to ask for a ride back. He'd had a great night skiing, but the cold was finally getting to him.

Thursday January 31st

Thursday Morning was a very slow morning. Rex was sore and tired from his first ski of the season, and from night skiing to boot. Rex decided to ski today rather than snow board to give himself a break. We headed for Breckenridge and for peak 9 via Frosty's Freeway. We skiid the Maverick lift, but we avoided peak 10 because the wind was really blowing. We skiid about every varyation you can off of maverick, including Rex turning down into a terrain park by mistake once. I didn't follow and it took us 30 minutes to get back together.

We grabbed hot chocolate at the top of peak 9 and rested, then continued the same follow the leader routine for the afternoon.

We knocked off at about 2:30 and decided to go to another BBQ place in Frisco for lunch called Q4U. They have a great Brunswick stew. Another hot tub session followed after that, but we skipped dinner because of how much BBQ we ate.

Kyle was coming back up tonight with another friend named Brett. They arrived at 10:00 and we sat around for a while chatting then went to bed.

Friday February 1st

Allot of guys had talked about coming up to ski with us on Friday, but between weather, sickness, and other thing we wound up only having 5 of us. Brett was with us, and another friend Brad drove up to meet us. Brad arrived at Breckenridge right at 8:30 as we had planned, but because of how late Kyle and Brett got there, we were running late and didn't get to the gondola until 9:30.

This was only Kyle's 2nd time snow boarding so he was just going to ski the green slopes. Rex decided to hang out with us, so Brett and Brad headed for the top bowls.

Kyle did great. He was linking turns, controlling speed, and doing a great job of getting from the top to the bottom with only a few tumbles as he tried to perfect his skills. We got in about 6 runs before we figured we should look for the other guys for lunch. Rex opted to keep skiing since he was heading home by 2:00 and just skipped lunch.

I called Brad and found he was already waiting for us in the lodge. We found him then started the real task of finding an empty table. When we finally got a table and I'd gotten Kyle and I a burger to split. Brad told us that Brett had come down with altitude sickness and had stayed in a lodge at the top to rest. Brett finally worked his way down and found us in the lodge but was still feeling terrible. We got him some water (which is was you need lots of to prevent altitude sickness).

Brad also taught me something new. He didn't buy any food, he just bought 2 cups of hot water for about 10 cents each. Then he pulled out his own pouch of hot chocolate and a pack of ramen noodles. He had a great simple lunch for almost nothing. What a great idea. I didnt even know you could just buy hot water but I'll be doing that from now on.

Brett told us to go on skiing, and that he would rest and work his way back to the truck and for us to come when we were ready.

Kyle got a few more runs in, but was quickly loosing energy. So after a last run, I told him to go on and went to do a couple quick runs from the top.

We got back to the timeshare and Brett went upstairs to sleep with instructions not to wake him for anything. Kyle and I went to the hot tub and by the time we were back, Brett was awake and feeling much better. I went back to the hot tub with him and he continued to improve.

Brett headed home by 5:30 and Kyle and I went to Old Chicago for dinner. As we ate, the wind picked up, the snow started falling, and a real storm blew in. We got back to the timeshare by 9:00 and went to sleep.

Me standing at the top of Keystone