This is what I do, I ski on you

Guess what I did today.... correct! I skied! It was perfectly clear out and the snow was pretty good. Most of the front side was groomed and great for skiing. Some areas, like Game Creek, that weren't groomed were pretty chunky. We got about 10 inches the last 2 days and then it got sunny. So it gets skied out during the day, freezes like that at night, and is chunky in the morning. I got some good pics while moving around today.

This is overlooking Game Creek. In the valley just to the right of the trees is close to where I live.

I signed up for a week long trial membership at the Vail Athletic Club. I did a yoga class for the first time in too long yesterday. It pretty much kicked my butt, in a good way. This is the only gym in the valley with a rock climbing wall, but it's not that great. And they don't have some of the equipment that I like to use. I'll probably try some of the other gyms before deciding that they are all too expensive and I can't afford them. At least I'll get about a month of free trials out of it.

Blah blah blog

Been a little while since I've blogged, so I'll give a brief synopsis. Weekend before last I went to Denver because it was President's day weekend. The slopes get stupid busy and I didn't feel like messing with the crowds. Plus I needed to go in for some shopping. Got a bunch of clothes and stuff for my place, spent way too much money, then got sick. Laid in bed all day Sunday and Monday and didn't feel that great until later in the week.

Last Saturday I took some ski lessons and they helped SOOO much. I have started to learn how to ski bumps and I can connect a few turns on blacks with bumps now. Sunday I went out all day by myself to practice what I learned. Fell alot, had a great time. I was going to take a bunch of pictures on Sunday but my battery died on my camera. For some reason the memory card in my brain isn't compatible with my PC, so I got nothing. This pic is from the class that I took on Saturday.

My dad is coming in town this weekend and I'm stoked to show him around the slopes and hang out. We'll have a great time.

Not much else going on. I've got to take a few days off skiing because my legs are exhausted from this weekend. I tried to go out on Monday, got about 2 runs in, felt like my legs were going to solidify and came back down. I'm hoping to do some night sleding later this week with my roommate. I'll do my best to take pics.

A little skiing...

This past weekend was all about skiing all day, drinking a bit, and spending time with good friends. Saturday I went to Vail with my roommates and we covered the whole mountain. I tried to learn how to jump, and it kinda worked for me. I tried one jump a few times. The first time I was way off balance and both skis flew off upon impact, I slid about 50 yards on the slope, and loved it. The second time my right ski fell off immediately after leaving the ground... bad news. This fall was not quite as fun, but the slide was just as great. I also spent alot of the day going as fast as possible straight down the slope, with as few turns as possible. It gets pretty freaky once you hit the moguls. I managed to glide over them somehow... thank God.

After a long day of skiing we headed to our favorite bar for a few drinks and some food. I forgot how quickly jack and coke can hit you when you're 1) tired/worn out 2) dehydrated a little 3) have an empty stomach and 4) live at 8000 ft. Came home and sat in the hot tub to relieve my sore body then drove to Breckenridge to meet Leslie, Ethan, and Robin. We had a good dinner then passed out early so we could ski all day on Sunday.

We got on the slope around 9 or 9:30 and skiied until 4. There were several breaks for mochas and booze. Breck was alot different and REALLY windy. Most of the runs seemed to have big moguls (which I don't like yet) and were wind blown and skiied out. We still had a great time. Went back to their condo for a little bit in the hot tub then some dinner. Headed home and crashed out.

This week at work has been pretty busy. I'm going over our data base to make sure all of our claims are current. That's about 200 claims and lots of details spread over lots of places. I went for a few runs on Tuesday and as I got on the lift I started asking myself what I was doing here. All my friends are in TX, and I was starting to feel a little home sick. I didn't think that would happen if I kept active enough and had fun. As I was riding the lift, I thought "what would I be doing if I was in Austin? Probably making more money, paying less for EVERYTHING, and not skiing 4 times a week." Maybe life here isn't so bad.

I can't wait for summer so I can start climbing and riding my road bike. I really came here for the summer, and the skiing is just a bonus.

Blogging

I haven't blogged in about a week. If you remember, last Wednesday I said I came home and went nearly right to bed. Turns out I got a cold. Bleh! I haven't really let it slow me down though. Once you have it, you have it, and there isn't too much you can do for it. I know there are all kinds of studies and such, but I figure if I just take some Thera-Flu and drink lots of liquids, I'll get better. Guess what... it worked!

Friday night Robin and his friend Alex came in to spend the night. They were driving from CA where they picked up a car for Robin to go back to Denver. They got in around 1 or 2 and pretty much went right to bed. Saturday we got up and went skiing for most of the afternoon. The parking lots and frontage roads were packed for parking, but my roommate Chris has a secret place to park up on the mountain. So I parked out in the boondocks and he gave me a lift in. It's a ski-in, ski-out type of place. Super sweet!

I met up with Robin and Alex at the top of the lift and we skied around for a few hours. They were pretty good snowboarders, so i was struggling to keep up the pace. Once we got home we spent awhile in the hot tub relaxing before they took off to Denver.

Sunday we got out to the mountain around noon and spent the day in the back bowls and Blue Sky Basin. It was super cold and really windy, but there was amazing amounts of powder. The back side is awesome. We took on a few blacks... well... they took me on. I basically fell most of the way down. I need to remember to do my hard runs earlier in the day before I'm tired.

Monday came around and it was back to work. I'm still learning alot and it's slowly coming together. I was greated by some elk on my way to work. They were chilling right at the end of my block.


I haven't done much outside this week because I've been trying to make sure to get better. I went for a few runs today, but it was cold so I didn't stay. Plus I needed to get back in to work. A big storm is supposed to be blowing through today and we should get about 12 inches in the next 24 hours. Guess I'll have to hit some powder up at lunch tomorrow.

Leslie and Ethan are coming in this weekend, so they will get to enjoy mounds of fresh powder. I plan to drive to Breck to join them for a day or two of skiing.

I took this last week at the top of one of the lifts and forgot to post it. I've been pretty bad about taking pictures while on the slopes because my gloves are bulky and I don't want to get frostbite if I take them off. maybe when it warms up I'll get some more.