So, today we hit up Vail. Pretty much because I wanted to say that I had been to Vail. Of all of the ski resorts we have passes to, Vail is the only one I had actually heard of. This seems to be the case with a lot of people, because Vail was crowded. With lots and lots of skiers. And not so many snowboarders. And we found out why later on.
So this morning we got up early (going to bed at 9:30 sort of lends itself to getting up really early) and headed out to Vail.
Chris drove (thank goodness, read previous blogs about driving through Colorado...and my white knuckles) and I was in charge of the radio station. Funny note, driving to Vail there are exactly zero radio stations. And then you start to get a country music station. No more, no less. Good thing the ride is only 30 minutes.
This is on our first lift up the mountain. You can take it as the Asian peace sign, or the fact that we are on day 2 of snowboarding trip (I would lean towards the second one). Right now it's a balmy 11 degrees out.
I think this is at the top of the mountain. I imagine all of these pictures at the peaks of mountains start to look the same. But you can tell that it's a different day, because I'm wearing my offensively bright orange pants.
We had heard from Avid-Skier-Man yesterday that the Blue Sky Basin was awesome and we should check it out. So we made our way up to look for it. I'm still not completely sure how we made it there, but at some point we were at the edge of the basin (I think).
On our way to the basin there were lots and lots of flat points. For those of you who don't snowboard (probably the majority of you reading this...) for snowboarders, flat = bad. You get stuck not moving forward and since you feet are tied together by the board all you can do is crouch down and pray that you continue moving. Then you calves start to hurt. And if you're me, then you fall. So, needless to say, we ended up stopping a bunch. But then we got to take fun pictures of Chris on a bridge!Oh, and here's the basin. Can you say beautiful?
I think the bowls are in the basin or something. I'm not completely sure, so we sort of just started snowboarding down. The bowls here were more open than at Keystone, but we found some cool trees to go through.
We pretty much rode up and down the bowls all morning. Here is a sweet action shot of Chris:
Right before lunch we decided to ride down one more time. This is us before the trek down. I pretty much can't stop taking pictures because it's so gorgeous. However, you know what I didn't bring? Something that would actually be useful during this trip? My TRIPOD. Darn it. There are lots of trees and branches to hook it on and not so many people in the woods to take your picture.
We were in search for some fresh powder and we some near the bottom of the bowl. So, like kids in a candy store, we did whatever we had to get there. So this is what we went down:
See that completely vertical wall in the distance? Yeah, that's what we decided to go down. Here's me thinking that this is probably the stupidest idea we've had yet.
And here's me "boarding" down the mountain. More like just praying that I'm not going to tumble head over heels and plummet to my death. But, since you are reading this blog, I didn't die! We made it down and found the powder!
We spent the afternoon the front of the mountain. And took a bunch or ridiculous pictures. This is a picture of me in front of the map of Vail. I think I'm at an altitude of approximately 2 miles. Umm..that might be the most interesting thing I have to say about this.
They also have these hilarious plastic statue things near the peaks. I'm not entirely sure why there are there, but to me, the best use is to take a picture with them. I don't think they beat the statue things at Wall Drug, but these are animals! And they are giving thumbs up!
Our last run of the day was down a trail called "Hunky Dory". If that isn't a great way to end the day, then I'm not sure what is. For the most part it was quite hunky dory, but like many of the other trails at Vail it had lots of flat parts that were narrow and crowded. And lots of these narrow paths sort of had edges to them...where I was sure I was going to fall over. So I spent a lot of time going as slow as possible, being passed by skiers left and right and just praying I wasn't going to fly off the edge and hit a tree.
Overall, a good day though. I think I prefer Keystone over Vail. My legs are currently still working also, which is pleasantly surprising. Now I think we're going to make some delicious dinner. Breckenridge tomorrow!
Subaru Count: 52
Free Nature Valley Bars: 0 (sad)
Correction: In the previous post I mentioned that Chris had been hit by a truck his second year of grad school. It was actually during his first year, but he had surgery his second year.
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