Day 34 - Saturday 3.6.10 - Arapaho Basin:  After a long wait and a reservation made last summer A's 2009/2010 ABasin beach party was officially underway!  The invites went out...people bailed, people showed - grief was given for the early March date and let me be the first to type - it was an amazing day!  The sun represented, the keg flowed (with some pressure issues I have to say), the grill was fired up all day long with burgers and brats, and my friends and thier friends and countless other locals just had an absolute ball!  Here are a few key pictures to sum it up! 

The beach: 

Day 32 - Tuesday 3.2.10 - Squaw Valley:  I arrived in Lake Tahoe / Squaw Valley the night before ready for an great trip and I had no idea how epic it was going to turn out to be!  The fellas were there a day before me and had just finished a Sierra Nevada blue bird day of skiing - they were already at happy hour at the Resort at Squaw Valley on the back deck basking in the Sierra Nevada glory! 

Day 29 - Friday 2.19.10 - Keystone:  I played hooky today with Rory and we headed up to Keystone for some fun skiing!  Had lots of good turns and some great lunch up at the Outpost.  Snow in the Outback was good and the company was great!  We both had freshly tuned gear and at first the alpine skis were a little unstable but after three or four runs they leveled out and we got our groove on.  After skiing we headed over to the Dillon Damn Brewery in Dillon for an apres ski snack and then on to the LaQuinta (no joke) in Silverthorne to crash for the evening.  First on to the hot tubs and then off to "dinner."  There is an Old Chicago (why LaQuinta was selected) attached so we went down there for some "za" and Olympics watching.  The guys next to us were a mess and hysterical!  

Day 30 - Saturday 2.20.10 - A Basin:  Rory and I woke up early and headed out to A Basin to be a bit closer to home and hit some new terrain this year.  We started with her being patient and helping me out with my tele turns.  After some several hours of good thigh burn we moved on to our Alpine gear and flew around for an coupe of hours exploring what was open - unfortunately not much as Montezuma Bowl's 400 acres were still bare.  It was still a fun day though and we capped it off with a GREAT Carolina pulled pork BBQ sandwich mid mountain before heading back to Denver for a great French 5280 dinner!  

Day 25 - Saturday 2.6.10 - Keystone:  Funderburk, Parker, Greg the intern (I honestly don't remember his name), and I made a day trip from Denver - started at my place in Wash Park to Keystone.  We enjoyed our dose of I70 traffic and took it like men, creeping along at mach speed, everyone counting the mile markers until we made the Dillon exit (for various reasons).  Got to Keystone and the angles were shining upon us - with a truck filled with four we were ushered straight to the front row of the Montezuma lot for carpool parking - now that's class!  I'm going to start packing a few blow up dolls in the back.  We made a "b-line" straight for the Keystone Outback and after a couple of warmup laps headed straight for my favorite part about Keystone - the $5 snow cat rides!  We made a couple of runs off the cat and then cruised over for a warmup at the Outback Outpost for some Gatorade and food.  Jeff wasn't too happy about his McDonnals dollar meal size  $13 burger but I mean come on Jeff - everything has to be brought in by Gondola or chopper or something out here in the Outback!  

I've been busy - too much skiing (not really) and not enough typing!  The most recent updates - here we go!  

details to come - just getting the days down

Day 17 - Thursday 1.14.10 - Keystone:  I made a hookey from work day trip with Rory to Keystone to have a "double day!"  We started with our tele gear and I worked on my tele turn for the morning (no music in the helmet...focus dude) - slide here, link here, poles here, slide here, make a "C" here, link again here, tele turn too soon here, just right there - I'll get it soon!  OMG but I am committed 100% for sure - I'll get it down and will be gracefully linking tele turns down the  mountain in no time (I hope...OK - really I pray)!  After some tele lessons from Rory/fun (I didn't get frustrated - who could with a coach like that) - we went to the truck and strapped on our alpine gear and literally flew down the mountain playing "follow the leader" for a couple of hours (enter helmet music...Kid Rock (not the "rock" but the Kid...see earlier blogs), Beastie Boys, G&R, and some REK for the mellow - no lunch break - just some hard, fast skiing for a couple of hours.  Following each other's tracks - no bumps as the nada snow and groomers provided not much POW to push around - but it was an absolute ball - FAST skiing that went by way to fast.  I fear the day that I enter the NASTAR course with her - but bring it on.  Ended the day with a couple of slices of pepperoni pie and some pictures on Loveland Pass on the way back to Denver.  

Pitts and I headed up to Breck for a long weekend for hitting the snow and working on our turns and having epic apres times...here we go!  

Day 14 - Friday 1.8.10 - Breckenridge:  Pitts and I started the day around 11 or so and linked up with Rory (a bit more than my gal pal) and her GF and started straight up Peak 9 going for whatever powder stashes we could - it was a lot of flying fast and just enjoying the bluebird day!  We separated from the gals (Rory's friend was visiting from out of town) and Pitts and I moved over to the T-Bar at Peak 8 and really had to deal with some open terrain + exposure to the elements!  It was a few mach speed runs through some great powder stashes but I must say - A few times I thought Pitts and I were going to get blown off the T-bar - though we didn't!  A great day for sure and then linked up with the rest of the team for some time at the "Maggie" at Peak 9 + lots of foose at Ullr's afterwards!  I think John broke his epically long 198s in the terrain park - we sure TRIED to hit some kickers late in the day!  

Day 13 - Sunday 1.3.10 - Loveland Valley:  Austin and I had a leisurely drive up I-70 for a few hours of skiing at the Valley.  We had a great time on the "football field" as I affectionally call it - about 300 yards wide and 200 yards long...nothing excting for anyone other than a four year old but we did have a good time!  He is getting better and better and I even got him to make a run without the "tip ties" - go big little guy.  A hand full of runs (5 or so) and then we went inside to warm up, have some chili cheese fries, and hydrate + a potty break!  After getting our legs and souls warm daddy (me) decided that it was time to head up the big lift...my friend Rory (daddy's gal pal who linked up with us), Austin, and I moved over to the main lift at Loveland Valley and we went up...aspirations were high for a long bomb down the run as Austin truly is ready.  Well - we got to the top and enter "meltdown" so I picked up all 50 pounds of four year old + 10 or so pounds of ski gear on him and carved all the way down!  That's OK lil guy - we will hit it next time!  Love you man!  :)

I hoped in the truck and headed south on I-25 past Colorado Springs and Pueblo, turned off in Wallensburg, CO and headed straight for Taos to meet up with David, Kent, and Henley.  Kent graciously put us up at his place - Thanks Kent!  

I arrived in Taos on 12.28.09 and linked up with Kent...we met up at Martini Tree and hung out until David met up with us at Tim's Stray Dog Cantina - Good times!  

I thought I'd start a blog to keep track of the 2009/2010 ski season - nothing overly exciting but so many different experiences that if I don't jot them down they will be lost to the recesses of my puny brain.  Some is skiing with my crew and new people, some is skiing with my son, and some is about the fun of mountain life.  Without further adieu - the truck is all geared up and we are ready to roll!