In one word:
Amazing.
That would just about sum up my trip out to the mountains of Colorado. I am not so sure I will ever be able to snowboard anywhere on the East Coast after experiencing the terrain, the views, the SNOW, the margaritas, and the peoples first hand. Each time I head to Massunutten, Wisp, or wherever from here on out I will shed a little tear for my trip out west. I'm finding there is just too much to say in one sitting in order to properly explain what I felt when I was out at Breck', Keystone, and, Vail for the past week - so I'll do my best instead with a photo journal of sorts.
The trip started hanging out in LoDo (Lower Downtown) Denver for a couple days while the cuz took care of some legal bidness. It snowed, and as a result...I ran. Or well, explored as much as I could in 60 minutes of excercise. I headed down towards Union Station, past the baseball stadium, and onto this great multi-use paved trail that runs along the Platte River. The pic above shows the views of the river, and as much of the metro Denver skyline in the snowstorm. As I ran...
I stumbled upon what is quite possibly THE largest REI in the whole entire universe. It was 3 floors of an endless supply of outdoor gear, and quite honestly I couldn't stop myself from drooling down my windbreaker. The also had one enormous climbing wall, but no time for distractions. Instead, I picked up a pair of sunglasses for the soon-to-be sunny days in the MTNs. I finished up the workout and then...
Ventured into the outdoor 16th Street Mall. I must say, that Denverites love their Starbucks as I saw atleast 4 stores within a 6 block stretch while I was riding the free bus shuttle that treks up and down the strip. Following that I met back up with the others, and we headed off towards Breckenridge to crash at a cabin below Peak 7 - again, in a snowstorm. Trucks proceeded to put chains on, and do all kinds of crazy stuff you would never see in around D.C. We kept on truckin'.
The next morning I woke up to see this view out of the cabin's living room window looking up onto the lower Breckenridge range, and more importantly about 5 inches of the fresh white stuff. Niiiiiice.
We headed to the slopes of Breckenridge the first day, and I was in awe of the views and the amount of slopes they had. Above is the view as you get off the lift around the middle of the mountain. We rode some groomers, some glades, and eventually the upper bowls once we were warmed up and found our snow legs.
That first day was cold, with a high of maybe 12 degrees F and as you can see above winds kicking up to 30+ mph gusts. Made for some exciting times going up the lifts, and even more so trying to traverse across the mountain to get anywhere. The picture above is at the top of the Horseshoe Bowl.
Above is looking over the edge of the Horseshoe Bowl, and beyond into the town of Breck'. Good stuff! Hard to really get an idea of how steep this terrain is from the photo, but basically think of a bowl you would eat Mac and Cheese out of and then consider trying to ski/snowboard down the sides of it. Mmm, mac and cheese.
In the afternoon the weather turned for the worse as another snow storm rolled in and threw down about 3 inches. We rolled out via gondola, and back to the cabin to warm up and rest up before heading out on the town to find some cute ski bunnies and/or drinks. Ok, in hindsight we never really saw too many females in town (so that is a small, but notable disadvantage to the rockies) but we did see many many drinks. And they were tasty!
The next day we hit the Keystone ski area across the valley from Breck. Above is the view from the top of the lift right before we went into the trees, you can make out the Breckenridge trails off to the right. Keystone was my first experience of skiing glades (thinned out woods) and woods. I loved every second of it, and it took every ounce of energy out of us. There is nothing better than cutting that first line through the powder, carving between the trees, getting stuck in the powder, and then doing it all over again. Below you'll see a little piece of heaven.
The next day we headed back to Breckenridge for a more relaxed day so we could regroup after an exhausting day at Keystone, and a push for a BIG following day at Vail. We headed over to the trails on Peak 10 looking for some good powder, found it, rode it, and moved back over for a couple more runs on Peak 7 and 8. Drinks followed at a local establishment in Frisco to watch the BCS Nat. Champs. What happened Ohio State!?
Vail was the last resort we hit, and the acres of trail they had was just sickening. Glades, looong steep groomers, bowls, drop-offs, terrain parks, whatever, they had it. Above is looking down one of the bowls on the backside, and across into a couple other bowls. The temps were in the low 40's and winds were M.I.A. Making for a superb day of rocking out.
Above is right before the drop into "Lover's Leap", and looking over to the backside bowls at Vail.
On the opposite side from "Lover's Leap", you have an incredible view into the 10 Mile Mountain Range. Take that lift you see up, and you will have your head pinned to your right shoulder staring at that view.
Thanks for reading!
Good Song:
The Delays - Hideaway
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