I’m back again – just in time for another snowstorm! Yep, that’ll make it 4 storms for 4 weeks. Lucky us in Colorado!
Okay, again, not planning on writing all that much but I did want to catch you up with what I’ve been up to. Like I mentioned, we had another snow storm (not a blizzard, though…) at the end of last week. I’m actually getting quite used to these, although driving in them has yet to become fun. I can survive and not crash my car (knock on wood!), but navigating your car on a road of ice has yet to increase its appeal for me. But I digress. On Friday night, I got all bummed out and mopey after dinner. Enough about that! But on Saturday, I hung out with Jeff and Susan and Jeremy (Jeff’s roommate) and we went to dinner and hung out at Jeff’s place, playing Guitar Hero II. Good times. Before going to hang out with them though, I had come to the conclusion that I wanted to do a two-day trip up to a ski resort. Having the Colorado Ski Pass has quite a few perks, in addition to the obvious unlimited use of Breckenridge, Keystone, and A-Basin skilifts. Namely, you get some serious discounts on lodging. I finally decided to take advantage of this perk – so off to Breckenridge I went, as while I toyed with the idea of going to Keystone instead, I ruled that out because later this month is SnoFest, the huge military snow weekend up at Keystone. I found out I could get a room at the Great Divide Lodge on Sunday night, so I took it. I also used a pass on Monday, so I was set to not have to go to work then.
So on Sunday morning, I drove up the back way to Breckenridge, via Highway 24 and Highway 9. It had just snowed on Thursday and Friday, but I figured that the roads would be somewhat clear. Well, I was mostly right, all the way up to Fairplay, Colorado (which is what most people here think South Park is based on, btw). At that point (which is about 20 miles away from Breck), the conditions turned quite ridiculous. First off, the roads were covered in packed snow and ice, which makes a drive very interesting. But to make it more interesting, the wind picked up quite a bit, and kicked up all the snow, causing what the local news here calls “Ground Blizzards”. They ain’t kidding, folks. There were times when the kicked-up snow completely enveloped the car, reducing the visibility to nothing. I was not even sure I was staying straight on the road. Freaky. Then the road heads to Hoosier Pass, and it’s all uphill – fortunately that stressful drive went without a hitch, but it was a bit scary. Then you reach the pass and head down the other side, and it’s all switchbacks and slow-going. Anyways, I made it to Breckenridge, with quite a bit of adrenaline used but fortunately completely safe.
As for my skiing adventures, it was pretty fun – it was nice to be able to take it easy and not feel I need to rush it all into one day. The first day I had a few misadventures though – namely my skis got caught in weird angles at the top of the skilifts, with the first time being because a snowboarder’s board lodged on top of my skis – I got stuck with my skis making an obscene V with my legs – meanwhile I stopped moving forward, and sure enough, the lift chair I had just pushed off of came from behind and slammed me right in the back, knocking me flat onto my face. Ow. I’m still surprised I don’t have a giant bruise there. I got up, a little ego-bruised, but whatever, I didn’t get seriously hurt or killed, so yay for me! The next time that happened, I didn’t end up falling over or getting knocked over, but I ended up with my arm hooked around the lift chair bar and having it drag me a bit until I could get myself on proper footing. The rest of that first day though, I enjoyed skiing the Blue runs, and being pretty confident on them. I even skied a Blue-Black run, my closest run-in yet with a true Black Diamond run. I will ski one of those this season, perhaps this month. That night at the hotel was uneventful, except getting upgraded to a pretty large room because they had oversold and also locking myself out of my room, with no ID and no shoes on, after putting the room service tray outside. Lame. On Monday, I had another good day of skiing, although near the beginning of my day, I almost got killed by a snowboarder who was going super fast in the slow base zone – and she claimed I cut her off. Bitch. I didn’t get knocked down though – that would have been her. Heh heh. After that though, I seemed to forget how to ski, which was very annoying. I think I just got a little freaked out by the nearmiss, and after a few runs, I was good again. So with that long winded story over, finally, I wrap up my entry tonight with some pictures and some hopes for a decent snow storm that I will get home before. And if I don’t update before Sunday night, remember 24 is back on – and word is, the end of the first 4 hours has allegedly one of the most mind-blowing moments in 24 ever. I have resisted reading spoilers, but my mind is definitely racing trying to determine just what is so shocking. Can’t wait!
Pics from Breckenridge Overnighter, 7-8 Jan 07
The view from my hotel room at the Great Divide Lodge
A closer view of the Mountain
looking at Village Road
The room
Looking off to the Rockies from one of Breck's many runs
Closer view of the
Closer view of the mountains
Looking back up one of the Breck runs
Looking back up one of the Breck runs
And there's bundled up me - it was COLD!
A panoramic pic of Park County from the Nat'l Forest Visitor's Center - talk about a Winter Wonderland!