The High Country

December 22, 2011
Arapahoe Basin

For many years Arapahoe Basin had the distinction of having the highest lift-served terrain in the U.S. At least until Breckenridge bested them. Still, Independence Mountain's 12,615' is nothing to scoff at.

Back when I lived in Colorado, A-Basin was the place we would go in April and May after Winter Park closed. It usually involved several vehicles and maybe a keg. We would hang out on the beach below the Pallavachini lift and watch people either shred or be shredded by the double black diamond terrain it serves.

Back to the present. Kayla's Epic Pass works at Keystone, Breck, or A-Basin. She wanted to go to A-Basin. Moreover, she has been working on Dylan to stay for the rest of winter break since we arrived last Friday. Dylan inquired about season passes at Keystone; they don't sell them to people who weren't previous passholders at this time of the season, and if they did it would be close to $2,000. Without a pass, there's no way Dylan was going to shell out $100 a day to ski.

A-Basin isn't that corporate. It still has the local ski hill vibe. Better yet, a season pass is only $309. Dylan was waffling about purchasing one and wanted to wait until we got back to Denver to work out his travel arrangements and decide. At $74 a day, I suggested that he might be better off purchasing it now and getting a day towards paying it off--which would take five trips to the hill. So he got his pass and saved me $15 on mine. He was stoked to be committed and ready to ride.

It was cold at A-Basin today. I'm guessing it was approaching 0 degrees at the top. Certainly colder than we are accustomed to in Oregon. That didn't slow Dylan down--he kept running his hot laps.

The cool thing about A-Basin is that half of the mountain is above treeline. It gives the place a very European alpine feel.

Kayla and Dylan pose in front of Black Mountain Lodge.

Stylin'

Kayla and Dylan preparing to shred at the top of Independence Mountain.

Ruthanne joined us for today's excursion.

Yes, it was cold. We didn't get too many runs in before Kayla announced she was going to the lodge because her feet were about to fall off.

Brrr, my toes are about to fall off...

Maybe if they had mittens they wouldn't.

We finally got back out. Kayla leaves contrails of snow as she shreds down Ramrod.

Ruthanne shows great form for a senior citizen--or for anyone for that matter. She did an amazing job of keeping up! I only hope that I'll still be going that strong when I'm her age.

Kayla shows off her smooth style.

Dylan got a GoPro this summer. A GoPro is a small digital video camera that you can mount just about anywhere. He's got a helmet mount (see previous post for the tubing excursion). When we were shopping for holiday gifts on Tuesday, he got a chest mount. Somehow I ended up wearing it and doing a bunch of point-of-view videos of Dylan. Here's one of me chasing him down Dercum's Gulch. It's an except from a 3 1/2 minute video of us going nonstop from top to bottom. Two-plus miles and nearly 2,000 vertical feet in just of over three minutes. Fun!

Well, Colorado was a blast. I wish I could stay with Dylan, but I have stuff to do and am ready to go home and see Diane. With any luck it will start snowing soon in Oregon; at this rate there's no way The Pass will be open by Christmas.

Happy holidays!

Holiday Magic!

December 20, 2011
Dillon, Colorado

We arrived at our accommodations at the luxurious Chateau Clarie in glorious Dillon, Colorado around 4 pm after dropping Diane off at Denver International Airport. Jay and Ruthanne were kind enough to get us lodging in Summit County within 10 minutes of the ski area.

While a little dated, the condo at Chateau Claire was just fine.

Kayla and Ruthanne inspect the ice sculpture in the park across the street from Chateau Claire.

It was a cold stroll around town.


December 21, 2011
Keystone Resort

It's been at least 25 years since I've been to Keystone. The last time I was here was at a slalom race back in 1976. My recollection was that it was a really boring resort.

That was before they added North Peak, the Outback, and gobs of cat-serviced bowl skiing. Unfortunately, most of that was off limits today. The snowpack at Keystone is a little thin. Colorado is not much better off that Oregon where we have not had any decent precipitation in a month. At this rate, it will not be a very Merry Christmas for the ski area operators.

Right before I took the above photo, a woman accused Kayla of hitting her and then leaving the scene. Her evidence was that someone on the lift claimed it was Kayla. Well, I was behind Kayla the entire way down the previous run, and it was definitely not her. It took me a while to catch on to what the woman was saying; I was more focused on what run to take. Eventually, Dylan and I both told the lady it was not Kayla. I don't think she believed any of us when we told her (1) Kayla did not do it, and (2) Kayla would never hit and run. The lady finally dropped it and let us go--which was a good thing because it would have ruined our day if she had pressed it.

Dylan was most excited about hitting Area 51, the terrain park at Keystone. It was huge, but most of the features were either closed or still under construction. That was fine, most of the closed stuff was too big for Dylan's skills. A-51 was incredibly crowded. Dylan had a good time anyway.

Kayla shows off her form just below the snow castle at Adventure Point. A little later on this run Kayla took a nasty spill at relatively high speed. Good thing she had her helmet on because she smacked her head and got her bell rung. Fortunately, she was ok, but that was the end of here day of riding.

A big part of our day was our trip to the tubing hill at Adventure Point. Kayla said it was the only thing she wanted to do for her graduation and insisted that we make reservations. So we did. We started by having a beer with Jay and Ruthanne at Kickapoo's.

Jay held down the table at Kickapoo's while we rode the gondola up to the top of Mt. Dercum.

Adventure Point is conveniently located at an elevation of 11,640' at the top of Mt. Dercum. You take a left off the gondola, past the snow castle and into a yurt. I changed out of my ski boots (no ski boots allowed on the tubing hill), paid up, and then we went into an adjoining room for the 90-second training video. As if we needed instruction on how to slide down a hill on an inner tube.

Kayla and Dylan get their stoke on.

And off we go!

Here's a video from Dylan's GoPro helmet cam of the same ride.

We started tubing at 4:30 pm. I made the reservation at that time intentionally; it was after the day of skiing and it would get dark while we were tubing. Moreover, Keystone has night skiing so we would get the added bonus of night skiing down after we finished.

As light turned to night it started snowing gently and the snowflakes glistened under the lights like a scene from a Christmas Card. It was absolutely magical taking the 2+ mile run from Adventure Point back to meet the folks at Kickapoo's.

This was the first time this holiday season that it really felt like Christmas to me. After meeting Kayla at the bottom of the Gondola, we walked across the bridge to Kickapoo's to meet Jay and Ruthanne and then took a festive stroll through the Keystone town center which was appropriately adorned with holiday decorations and lights. Unfortunately, the batteries died on my camera so I did not get any photos. The scene, however, will live on in my memory for a long time.

After the 15-minute drive back to Chateau Clarie, Jay and Ruthanne treated us to dinner at Pug Ryan's, a brew pub that was a very cold 5-minute walk from the condo. It was worth it.

This is why I have such a passion for skiing--a magical day with family in a magical setting.

Tomorrow: Arapahoe Basin

2011-12 Season: Winter Park Day 1

First day of the 2011-12 season and it was at Winter Park, Colorado. Conditions in Oregon are such that our local ski area has yet to open. Six months to the day since our Father's Day Skitackular at The Pass. We'll be lucky if The Pass opens by Christmas given the weather patterns.

We came out to Colorado for Kayla's graduation ceremony. After three different colleges, a two-year detour through Steamboat, and lots of hard work, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Way to go Kayla!


We were fortunate that long-time pal and ski buddy Dave was able to take the day off and willing to pick us up in downtown Denver. And a big thanks to Dan for hooking us up with a couple of free passes. That's the way to do it!

Conditions at WP were marginal at best, but we made the best of it. Big portions of the mountain were closed and we spent the day cruising the groomers.

Dave tears up the corduroy on Cramner.

I.


II.

Dave finds out that he's about to be a proud father!

Dave and his wife Kris found out today that after five years of waiting they'll be adopting a little girl from China. Congratulations Dave and Kris!

Dylan jumps Dave.

Dylan spent most of the day playing in the Railyard. Some things don't change much.

Not bad for the first day of the season. We'll be getting a couple more in while we're in Colorado.

Even though conditions were less than ideal, it's always fun to go back to Winter Park. WP is where I spent my formative years skiing (I actually started at Hidden Valley, a now decommissioned ski area in Rocky Mountain National Park). I was fortunate enough to have neighbors that were into ski racing and parents that were kind enough to sign me up. I raced on the WP team from 72-72 through 76-77. That was the year Mary Jane opened and I got a lot more interested in skiing with my crew than racing.

Next up: Keystone Resort.