Its starting to dawn on me that I actually have a lot of time in the mountains. I think to some degree I feel like any vacation must be completely taken advantage of because it will be too short-lived.
The trip started late Friday night. I worked the whole time on the plane trying to get everything done before I started having fun. I was zoned out with my ear buds in while trying to navigate my way to baggage claim when I was approached by Vaughan and his friend at the airport; quite a pleasant surprise! We quickly got my bags and headed out for the night.
Saturday was a slow start. Vaughan biked out to the store and we cooked some breakfast tacos. Didn't head into the mountains until about noon or so and I was traveling with Ross who I'd met the night before (one of Vaughan's roommates and fellow skier). We managed to get in about 3 runs in Keystone that evening before getting a drink and heading into Breck.
It was late when we arrived in Breck at Dara's shop. It was huge, way bigger than I'd thought his workshop would be based on previous descriptions. His whole operation is really phenomenal. A completely clean, environmentally sustainable business. They take used vegetable oil and clean it to turn it into biodiesel and soap of all things! They take others waste and make really amazing things. Its quite beautiful.
By the time we got back to his place Ross and I were totally beat from the night before and the skiing. We hung out for a bit and Ross ended up staying the night with us. We crashed on the sofa and I was out like a rock.
This morning was a better start. I was well rested and ready to get skiing. Ross and I got dressed and grabbed breakfast at Park & Main before heading up to Breck. It had snowed 5 inches overnight and was still drizzling down. We started out on Peak 8 and ran a few runs. I felt really great. The snow was soft and the runs were fun.
For whatever reason, Ross doesn't really use his ski poles unless in a lift line. He holds them off in one hand and just goes. So I decided to give that a shot on a few of the blue groomed runs. It was actually quite liberating. It definitely makes you more aware of your body and how you shift your weight and position in every move. I couldn't do the mogul runs very fast but with the groomers it was nice to be more aware of your movements without the security of the poles around you.
We spent quite a few runs over on the Falcon Chair which is only black runs. I haven't skied a lot of groomed black runs, usually they're moguls. These were fun, though not as steep as I'm used to. There were several double blacks open but we didn't venture over to them since some of the regular black runs had some low cover.
Perhaps the most enjoyable runs I did that day were after we moved back over to peaks 8 and 9. On accident we managed to cut through some trees in order to find another run we were looking for. It just so happened to have quite a bit of untouched powder. So for the next 4 runs we ventured into the trees and just went all over the place. It was so much more quiet, serene and we weren't bothered by other skiers. I absolutely loved it... Those are the kind of runs that make me happy to be out in the cold, snowy weather :) The turns came so easy in the fresh untouched snow that it wasn't actually scary to be moving through the trees.
Today was a good confidence booster for me. Today I skied mostly all blacks and some blues. I managed to get through the trees and many moguls pretty efficiently and without too much effort. And quite a bit faster than I have in the past. I was happy to see how much I've improved since I first started seeing bump runs. Looking forward to trying out some bowls and double blacks.
I am and always will be on bunny slopes, glad you had a great time.
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