This was my first trip to Colorado to ski. I've been to Utah twice. A bunch of ski instructors from Cascade and the NASTAR racers were heading out to CO to ski and it worked out that I could go.
I got there on Wednesday and the whole area, including Denver, got like 13" the night before. The airport was full of people so my plane my have been one of the first bunches that could get in. I got a car and headed out to Frisco to meet Tim and Penny. Before meeting them, I ran over to Breckenridge to just check it out. I got there too late to ski (only an hour and a half before closing) but I checked it out. Very luxurious and the runs looked nice. The town is cool - like a ski town post card or something. Little shops and very rustic looking. Very cool. A tourist trap for sure. I stayed with Tim and Penny that night.
We woke up Thursday and headed over to Arapahoe Basin ("A Basin") and did some skiing there on a nice, sunny day (bluebird!). I rented some nice Rossignol skis that day, took a few runs on the front side to get used to them and then we headed into the back bowls and did those a while. The day seemed short but we got a lot of skiing in. There wasn't a whole lot of different terrain there but it was a good warm up for Colorado skiing.
Friday I went to Erika and Mark's place, saw Arnie and John Hamaker there and picked up my skis that they brought for me. I met Tim and Penny at Beaver Creek and there was snow falling all day, which was great. The runs were amazing. I really like the layout there and I found plenty of runs that I just loved. I met Paul from Cascade there (because I noticed a Cascade jacket in the crowd) after I took a whiz at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Beaver Creek (had to see what that was like).
That night, I went back to Erika and Mark's and them and Arnie and I went out for dinner at a nice place. It was my first time eating crab cakes and I liked them a lot. I ended up staying at their place that night. Thanks for accomodating me that night - you both were very gracious hosts!
Saturday morning was kind of crazy. First, I had a headache (too much wine does that kind of thing apparently) then I could not find the key to the rental car. We looked everywhere. Finally, I found it under my suitcase. Duh. I get to Vail to ski with John and his son and try to get my boots on but they're frozen from being in the car all night. I put them under the heater in the car and they finally warm up after about 15-20 minutes. I'm at Vail, trying to get over to where John is and on the way, I go up a lift and a snowboarder locks his strap on his binding with my ski brakes as we're getting on a lift. We somehow untangle that on the chair on the way up.
I finally met up with John and his son and we did some crazy skiing in all the powder coming down. There was 8" of fresh pow when we got there and it was steadily snowing all day. Awesome conditions. The locals were calling it the best day at Vail all year. He took us through some really great powder runs and I don't think I've ever worked so hard skiing in my life. It was worth it though. You get a huge sense of accomplishment making your way through some really thick powder down a long, long run - many times. Wow, what a great day of skiing. It kicked my butt but it was great. The best day of my trip!
I drove to Winter Park that night and got a hotel. It was snowy conditions all the way up there but it's a good thing I know how to drive in that. The guy in front of me was having trouble.
On Sunday, I went to Winter Park and met up with Glenn, Todd, Bernie, Gavril and met Neil. They were all involved in the NASTAR finals. Gavril made it to the final race and ended up taking third overall! Congrats!
We then did some skiing through Winter Park. It's not as big as Vail but has very good variety, huge back bowls and nice, long runs. We had a beer on the deck afterward since it was really nice and sunny and warm out. And we got some really good pizza that night, which hit the spot.
Monday morning I checked out of my hotel and headed back to Winter Park. I met up with Glenn and Todd. On the way up, we met Lisa who was there by herself skiing. We took her on a few runs and her and I ended up skiing together the rest of the day. I gave her a few tips but we had fun making our way around the area. She seemed to like falling down and laughed a lot when she did. She did well for her first time out in Colorado skiing.
I headed back to the airport to leave but had to pick up a ski bag, which put me behind and I missed my flight. I ended up staying in Denver that night, got up at 3am on Tuesday morning and caught a 6am flight through O'Hare to Milwaukee and finally got back to Madison mid day yesterday.
Al and I took a trip up to the U.P. and it was great.
We hit Granite Peak (Rib Mountain in Wausau) on the way up. It was a great way to break up the trip and we got there right at 10am. There was fresh snow waiting for us and not many other skiers. We ended up liking what was on the right side which included some nice tree runs. I have done some tree skiing before but saw this as a small challenge, so I embraced it and we hung out there a long time. It wasn't too steep and was a nice re-introduction. And, thankfully, I didn't hit any trees!
That night, we arrived up at Al's uncle's cabin in Mercer, WI (you can see some pictures from last year's MI ski trip). We got settled in and I think I fell asleep during a bad movie we were watching.
The next morning we got up and headed over to Big Powderhorn. Somehow we left Mercer, passed into Michigan and then ended up un Ski Heaven! It apparently snowed like 13" a few nights ago and the kind snowmaking team at Big Powderhorn found it in their hearts to leave some runs with powder. Thanks, guys! We spent time there and then also found some even better tree runs way over on the right side. We skied every minute we could there. To top that night off, we hit a great pizza place in town. The best pizza. Ever. (Ok, maybe that's because I was really hungry)
Then on Saturday morning we headed over to Indianhead Mountain. It was cooler and there were more people but it was fine. We found a tree run but it was either not as good or we were too tired from skiing trees the previous two days. We also found a double black way on the left side which I had never skied before. Maybe it was closed before. There was a t-bar lift there but also very steep. We only did a few runs there. We found a supper club called the "Ding-a-Ling" and had some steak that night. Mine was Ok and Al's seemed to be better since he inhaled it.
Back on Friday, when we were at Big Powderhorn, I saw a PSIA instructor that I knew (Sheri McCabe) and she invited me to a clinic on Sunday morning. I decided to take advantage of it and join the Big Powderhorn Ski School staff for 2+ hours on a cool Sunday morning for a clinic by Sheri and Roger. It was good and I'm glad I went.
So it was a lot of trees, some powder, good pizza and a lot of laughs. Someone hit the replay button, please - let's do that again!
We had a skiing clinic last night at Cascade. He got in a little late due to traffic but I'm glad I stayed around for it. We had 2 hours with Harald Harb and there were just 5 of us in the clinic, which was nice.
He mainly went over the movements required to make short radius turns but the principles he gave could be used in any part of skiing or any kinds of turns / arcs. My assignment for the rest of the season is to stay flexed, tip the uphill ski more and finish my turns.
He was showing us some great ways to minimize upper body movements and always be ready ("right and ready") before committing to the next turn. I like how when you do this, your feet first get to neutral (the transition) and then your upper body then turns only after going into the next turn. That way, you're truly working from the feet up and there's less upper body winding up and unwinding going on.
Harald is a nice guy and great skier, of course. I plan to get some of his books and work on his system for a while since how he explains skiing really makes more sense to me than the myriad of terminology that the PSIA seems to want to throw around. I'll take the best from each system.
Ok, I wasn't skiing in India but got to teach of few people from Chennai how to ski.
Up at Cascade, we seem to get a lot of people in from the Chicago area. I ask them where they're from and they just say "Chicago" instead of what actual suburb they're in since they think I don't know any of the suburbs. Well, I do know some of them and they're impressed when that happens. What's even more impressive is when I get to teach people from India. I ask where they're from and they usually say where they're living here in the US. I then ask where they're from originally and they say "India" but that's not good enough for me. I ask which city. When they say they're from Chennai and I give an indication that I know where it is, they're usually pretty surprised. When I can mention which parts of the city I know, their jaws usually hit the ground. It creates an instant connection and helps me teach and helps them learn.
Honestly, when I teach people from India how to ski, they are the most fun lessons. We don't turn them into expert skiers but it's a riot. When one person falls, they all laugh like crazy. If I can get them stopping and starting to make turns, then that's success. They're always smiling and they have fun experiencing the snow and learning something new. So I really had fun with them and I know there will be more lessons like that to teach.
I hope to take another trip over there in April. If I can avoid going in May, that would be good - way too hot then!
It was a cooler day on Saturday but there was sun. There were 2 races going on and also a PSIA event. We were short on instructors but did just fine. I had 2 group lessons and 1 private lesson. I lost my voice after the first lesson since I've been sick this last week but somehow got it back.
This next weekend is Presidents' Day weekend and one of those where everyone from Chicago (suburbs!) come up to ski. It'll be busy but fun.
We had a skiing clinic last night at Cascade. He got in a little late due to traffic but I'm glad I stayed around for it. We had 2 hours with