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
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