Dan Skate Skiing at Eldora

On Saturday morning Katie and I went to the Nordic Center at Eldora Mountain Resort to try skate skiing.  Seeing as we had no idea how to skate, we signed up for a beginner lesson (it did not hurt that the cost of a lesson was only $9).  A lesson is apparently a great place to pick up girls, or at lease the odds appear to be in your favor; our class was eight girls to two guys.  Seeing as I had no need to pick up a girl, I proceed on with the falling (I had assumed that all my hockey and speed skating would have set me up for this sport but all the falling would indicate otherwise).

We had two great instructors, Anna and Jack.  Anna had skiing competitively in college at Colby and Jack had been skiing for 35 years; theoretically there should be enough skill and knowledge to get us skiing.  Being a little late to the lesson, Katie and I must have missed the short introduction where the instructors said do not lean back.  Or maybe I just didn’t hear it.  In any case, on our ski over to “the stadium” for the actual learning, I discovered that leaning backwards is a very bad idea.  In fact, I must have learned this at least six times.

When we got to the stadium, Jack and Anna took us over balance, edges, and body position before setting us loose to try for a few laps.  I was undoubtedly the fastest person in the class, though my advantage would almost always be tempered by my failed attempts to go faster.  I believe Jack thought this was mildly amusing; he told me that I was really close to getting the form down and that I just needed to learn forward a bit more.  While leaning forward did have a positive effect on my speed, inversely it near destroyed my already pathetic balance.

After a while I became fairly comfortable with the V2 skate on the right foot, somewhat less so on the left foot.  I was able to unintentionally switch without thinking about it on our way back to the Nordic Center; when Anna commented on it I immediately fell.  As for the V1 stride, I understood the concept but was disastrously off balance.  Alas, something to strive for.

After the lesson Katie and I decided to try some of the trails.  Anna recommended that we take 17th Avenue to the Meadows Loop, though she warned us that there is a “little bit of hills” on 17th Avenue.  I had assumed this definition was similar to the hills we had seen during the lesson; I was wrong.  17th Avenue was essentially one long hill all the way up.  By the time we got to the top, neither of us had any energy to attempt Meadows Loop.  Apparently really skiing is a lot more tiring than taking a few laps before pausing to learn the next drill.  Seeing as we were all but dead, we took Cheater Corner back down.  Which was great, except when I caught my ski in a classic track and went down by the top of the Little Hawk lift to the great amusement of all the snowboarders.  Again, alas.

While I fell a lot and felt painfully out of shape, I really enjoyed the day.  I will definitely try it again and maybe, just maybe, will find the water bottle I lost on one of my many falls.

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Katie Snowboarding at Vail

While we still have not found a ski house, Katie and I could no longer ignore the mountains.  A few weeks back we rented a condo for the weekend in Frisco and went for our first outing of the year to Vail; it was the only mountain that had decent snow.  The back bowls were not open, but it was a decent start to the season.  We followed up the next morning with a few runs at Keystone, which was easy seeing as there were only a few runs open…

View from Ski Santa Fe

Over Christmas we headed to Santa Fe with the misguided conception that it would be warm there.  It was not.  At all.  The temperatures had highs in the teens and twenties.  In any case, we went to Ski Santa Fe on Christmas Day.  It was really nice with a the short drive; the ski hill was about 30 minutes outside of town.  It was a reminder that we should ski Eldora sometimes instead of driving to Summit county.  As for the skiing, it was similar to Keystone; there were a very limited number of runs open.  We skied every single one of them.  And then skied them again, because what else was there to do but ski on Christmas Day!  It was nice exploring some new terrain, though I would really to try some of the more challenging upper runs if I go back.  I did take this very odd picture with my iPhone; I have no idea what happened to it.  If you know, send me an email!

Odd iPhone Picture - Ski Santa Fe

Finally over the last week I went up twice again, once on Tuesday to Breckenridge and then again to Keystone on Thursday.  Breckenridge was absolutely packed with 30-45 minute lift lines; it was not an entirely enjoyable day.  Keystone was much better, both in terms of lift lines and terrain from the previous visit.  The snow was fairly soft, the Outpost was completely empty in the morning, and my friends were moving fast.  It was the best day of skiing so far.  Hopefully the season will just get better, particularly so I can stop taking core shots on !

A Very Barren Keystone

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Take Us Back Summit County!

Last winter Katie and I joined a Ski House in Dillon, CO.  It was great.  We had a bed every other weekend (along with any time during the week we wanted) and could take our dog with us.

This year, not so much.  The group from last year fell apart.  The group I tried to put together at work bailed as soon as I started asking for cash.  Then the guy renting his room on Craigslist reneged.

We have not given up yet.  If you need two more for your ski house, and a lazy bulldog, let us know!  We really do not want to do the drive constantly.  Alas.

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Some of my freelance (Tim) and unemployed (Laurentia) friends were planning on skiing Breckenridge on Friday at 10, however I woke up a few minutes before 7 and decided to chase the few inches of fresh powder at Arapahoe Basin before meeting up with them. When I got to the Basin, there were about 10 cars in the parking lot. Again, sweet. I took a few runs on the front side and then headed to Montezuma. Evidently I was the only person to do so as I was riding the chair up after my third run in Zuma before I saw anyone, or even any other tracks (though I wonder how the lift operators got down). The runs had been groomed the night before and with the 3 inches of fresh, the only comparison is a hot knife through butter. I kept chasing the powder until it had all but disappeared; then dropped back to the base via the East Wall (the ice reminded me of east coast skiing).

I was painfully late getting over to meet my friends at Breckenridge, but I got no friends on a powder day. Laurentia and I hit most of Peak 10 before her first ever ride on the T-Bar. Apparently I did a poor job of explaining how it works as Laurentia tried to sit on it; after she fell we gave another go and took a run down Pika to the base of Peak 7. Subsequently Laurentia left for the drive back to Denver and I took to skiing with Tim. Tim, new to the sport, has exiled himself to the bunny slopes. After a brief bit on conjouling Tim and I headed down a blue run on Peak 8. Like many beginners Tim prefers to snowplow his way down; unlikely many beginners Tim actually had the balance and weight transfer down. It was rather amusing to watch. We finished up by taking green Skyway Skiway trail to the parking lot; I was run over by an out of control snow boarder.

Now, if you are not familiar with the mountain, this trail is more of a catwalk. Obviously at 4:00 it is rather crowded. I was making small turns to keep my speed down when the boarder slammed into me from behind, launching both of us into the ground. He proceeded to ask if I was alright and immediately followed by chastising me for “cutting” him off. I am uncertain how staying in a tight 5 foot wide area is cutting someone off or how bombing down a crowded green catwalk is staying in control, but hey, maybe I am just slow on mountain etiquette. Thankfully I was not injured.

Tim headed back to Boulder while I briefly returned to the ski house to say hi to the bulldog, and then back out to Keystone for night skiing. My legs were near shot but I could not pass up the opportunity to ski three different resorts in one day. I took a few uneventful runs before retiring for the night, and the season.

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