Four Words for Monday

December 12, 2006

Powder Day at Vail.

My tele-skiing friends Chris and Renee hauled me around Blue Sky Basin at Vail on Monday and treated me to bowls full of fresh powder, trees and one small cliff. I stuck my landing off the cliff but a few yards after that, my board nosed under a rock and speared what appeared to be some dung. That’s right, poo. I suppose it could have been some mud, but it stuck to the base and nose of the board and when I scraped it off, it had a texture more akin to droppings than soil. I guess if we’re going to share the terrain with Elk, they’re going to share with us, too.

The only thing that makes Vail a little uncomfortable is the stank of the rich. The sidewalks are heated in the village to eliminate plowing and shoveling, parking is $17 for the day (but it is in a multilevel garage), my lunch (a bowl of chowder, cheeseburger and gatorade) cost $23 and many of the trail and peak names are trademarked. We didn’t have any fur coat sitings, but money was still in the air. At the Two Elk lodge (which sits at 11,200 feet), there were scented candles burning in the men’s room and the music pumped through the lodge was big band jazz, more akin to Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald. It was a stunning timber and beam lodge, but walking through, I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t a member of Vail’s target demographic.

But, doing laps in Pete’s Bowl™ on my snowboard, I could not have felt more at home.

Rocky Mountain High

December 5, 2006

Ah, Colorado. This Friday I’m flying out to Denver and then driving to Breckenridge for my first turns of this season. The plan so far is to spend Saturday trying to keep up with some local tele skiers at Vail. Even though my board is tuned, it’s been over 6 months since I last stood on it, and I know the altitude is going to wreak havoc on my sea level lungs. So there’s a good chance my ass will be dragging along with my knuckles.

The impending trip is making me more than a little restless, so instead of sleeping, I decided to check out the webcams at Keystone. Turns out they’re open for night skiing the Friday I arrive. My question is this: Will a mellow session of night boarding be a great way to loosen up the legs and get my sea level lungs working or will that be more akin to a dog breaking its leash and running headlong into a car?

Just seeing the snow at Keystone and Breckenridge has me fired up. From what I can see on the mountain cams and snow reports, the conditions there look like mid-winter in Maine. That’s even harder to take after a week-long bout with warm air crushed any hopes of hitting Sunday River this past weekend. Even though Portland picked up a wet dusting on Monday, this is the best we’ve got right now. But, credit must be given. The hard-nosed Yankee work ethic (and some massive infrastructure) can go a long way when Mother Nature leaves all the snow in the west.