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January 05, 2005
ski colorado
What a trip. This was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. It even beats the RV trip this summer. I’ve always though Colorado was a beautiful state, but this time it raised the bar even higher. All I’m saying is that I’m kicking myself for not learning to ski earlier. And if you think that I was slacking on my training, then you’re in for a surprise. I don’t think I’ve ever been so physically exhausted after four days of anything.
Here’s a quick run down of the past five days or so.
Thursday
A travel day for all. I don’t think anyone made it in when they were supposed to. Some foggy weather fouled everything up. But it all worked out in the end with all 16 people arriving within about four hours of each other. Didn’t get to out house until 9:30 that night. Partied like rock stars ‘till 4am, some until 6.
Friday
Up at 8 am to catch the first day on the slopes. Hit nearby Brekenridge for the entire day. This was my first time skiing ever. Luckily Batta was in the same position, and there were a few folks willing to hang back and lend a helping hand. By the end of the day we had done a couple blues without falling to much. Topping it all off was a soak in the hot tub afterward, and some more partying.
Saturday
The plan was to ski three of the four whole days we were out there with one day of R&R thrown in. Well today was the off day, sort of. Half of us didn’t want to come down with cabin fever and decided to try some easy cross-country skiing. Easy, yeah right. Nordic skiing is a heck of a ‘total body’ workout. After close to five hours on the trails, my energy was zapped, especially my arms. Kiefer and I did do a black diamond trail, which pretty much means some steep hills to climb along with their respective docents. Climbing in skis is tough work with them sliding all around. Going down hill on cc skis is just as bad. They’re made for flat land cruising, not downhill bombing. Only took a spill twice though.
The most entertaining part of the day was when we found this double hill. You could ski down the first hill and have enough speed to carry you over the second hill, which had a good sized drop off. Perfect for getting some air….in nordic skis? I had the crash of the day. You’ll just have to watch the video for yourself. I swear it wasn’t as painful as it looked. The only thing bruised was my pride. That series of evens made be the butt of several jokes during the trip. But I have to admit, it’s pretty funny. Check it out here.
Sunday
So much for an off day yesterday. We were back out on the Breckenridge slopes by mid morning again. This time I figured I’d give snowboarding another try. It took me a while to find my feet again, but I was able to make it down some blue runs alright after lunch. As the day wound down, so did I. I fell a lot more because I didn’t have the energy to move as forcefully as I should have.
One thing I’ve noticed is that when you loose control on skis, it happens gradually. Most of the time you skid out and don’t get hurt to bad. Snowboarding on the other hand is entirely different. Sure you might start to feel the board get a little loose under your feet, but once it catches an edge you weren’t looking for, watch out. It’ll throw you against ground hard. I jacked up my elbow and tailbone that day by crashing down on some ice. By the end of the day I was ready to swear off snowboarding., but looking back it wasn’t too bad except for the last couple runs.
Monday
Didn’t feel too good the night before. I was totally exhausted and sore beyond belief. I hadn’t felt that drained since Dances with Dirt this fall. I barely had the energy to go up stairs. Ten hours of sleep helped recharge the batteries, but did nothing for the aching muscles.
Woke up at eight so I could ride with everybody over to Vail for the last day. If I hadn’t already spent $70 on the lift ticket and $20 on the skis for today, there’s no way I would have gone. I felt like total crap still. But why waste money, I decided to go for it anyway, and boy am I glad I did.
Vail was absolutely beautiful. Breckenridge blew the crap out of the local slopes here, but Vail easily trumped it. It was so open with tons of great runs despite the fact that it’s half the size of Breck. After getting my butt handed to be the day before on a snow board, I decided to give sking another whirl.
It’s tough to go back and forth between skiing and snowboarding. It’s a very different feeling. Because of that, it took me two green runs to get things figured out again and loosen up from the soreness. From there it was a nice string of blues with a few friends. We were having so much fun we skipped out on lunch. There at the end, I nailed the last five or six blue runs without taking one spill. I felt like I was starting to get the hang of it. I really liked this longer Northwood run we did, plenty of speed and some excellent views.
For the final run of the day, we headed from the top of the peak down to the village at the bottom. Most of the run was blue-rated, but there was about a 200 yard section where you could stay blue if you wanted or take a black diamond rout that was littered with moguls. Feeling confident and not wanting to pass up the opportunity, Dave and I decided to go for the black. I lost it while trying to make the first turn, but made it down the rest of the run cleanly with the exception of a bone-headed skid-out at the end. I wasn’t exactly the best example of grace. However, I didn’t manage it better than I thought.
Crazy how quick I picked skiing up. I think I’m addicted now. I’m having some serious thoughts about going out to the local hill this weekend. I know it’ll look pathetic compared to Colorado, but I still have a few more runs left in me.
Again, what a blast. I’m hoping that we can do it again next year. Look for some more pictures soon.
Posted by ksmith at January 5, 2005 10:02 PM