The theme of the day was the before mentioned Arbor Mystic. Today I rode it exclusively. I have to say it again, this is going to take some getting used to. I stopped at my favorite board shop in Idaho Springs and brought the board in to ask about the edges. I’d noticed that they were intentionally filed down in some place. Today I learned that this is normal for a park board so you don’t catch an edge when you don’t intend to. Interesting to say the least.
I rode Keystone in the morning. The runs were good, but the snow was packed on all the main runs. I fell once and smacked the back of my head. I’ve managed to do this several times this season, you’d think I’d wear my helmet. Anyway, after lunch, I headed down the road a little to A-Basin. I haven’t been there in a while and they have a lot more runs open now. After falling a couple of times, I was pleased to find that they’ve got enough of a base to give you some padding.
With a little less pain involved in the falling, I really started playing on the Mystic. It can be a fun board to ride, there’s no doubt. Still, I have yet to feel relaxed on it as I do on the Custom. Hopefully this will come with time.
On the way out, I shot a little bit of video of Loveland Pass and posted it to YouTube.
84 days left…
56 Days in 07/08
The weekend started off rough. I wanted to get a day in yesterday. My intent was to slip out of work around 3, be at Keystone by 5, and ride until they closed at 9. Unfortunately, work did not agree. I was trapped until after 6. It worked out ok, though. Since I didn’t leave until this morning, Joe and Christina were able to come along. It made for a great day and I can’t stress how nice it is to have someone along during the creep through i70 traffic on the way home!
It’s been snowing and there’s a pretty good base at Keystone now. It snowed almost the entire time we were there today. This made for some relatively good conditions. I even got to slide through some nice untouched powder in a few places. You still have to be careful, however. I learned this the hard way as I slid through a few trees only to hear rocks and stumps grinding against the bottom of my board. The base isn’t thick enough just yet.
An interesting side note about the day’s adventures. We met up at Starbucks at the end of the day. At the table next to us sat a family of three. They were spending “quality” family time together. (sarcasm) Dad was busy sending e-mails on the crackberry. Mom was jabbering on the cell phone. Junior was playing Gameboy. The entire time we were in Starbucks, they never engaged each other. I never even saw them acknowledge each other. It kind of made me sad. I caught a little secret pic – shhhh, don’t tell.
Tomorrow I’m off again for day 16… at least, that’s the plan!
85 days left…
56 Days in 07/08
What a crazy yet kick’n weekend. I drove out to Keystone 36 Friday after class. I arrived around 5:30 to find relatively good snow conditions, not too much of a crowd, and perfect weather. This was my first night boarding experience – and what a treat. Riding at night is a lot of fun! When I rode the first lift up into the blackness, I felt like I was on a ride at Disney Land. I expected a volcano to explode or a dragon to jump out. Around 9:00, Keystone started to get packed and the atmosphere was party central. Even though they were patting people down at the entrance, there were a lot of trashed people around. When the crowd got too thick, I took off for the night.
I thought I was going to be spending the night in the Xterra, but some friends of mine invited me up to their condo in Vail. I got to crash on their couch in front of the fire listening to the logs crackle. In the morning we woke up to huge puffy flakes slowly falling from the sky and landing on a wonderful white blanket of snow. They headed up to Vail and I headed back to Keystone. After a full night of heavy traffic, the Keystone snow was packed down hard and the fluffy powder that hit Vail hadn’t made a visit. Still, it was a good day. The party was still going strong as a couple of party girls insisted on sharing their flasks of… something… on the gondola.
I had to make it back to an engagement Saturday night, so I left Keystone around 2:00. That’s when the powder hit. I almost skipped my engagement! I managed to tear myself away and traverse home in the worst driving scene I’d seen in my life. I saw at least half a dozen pile ups totally up to dozens of smashed cars. I drove around wrecks on the shoulder and in the ditches.
I can’t fully chronicle the entire story of the super hero snow plow that saved me… but wow. He zestfully fish tailed out of the lot onto the icy roads and commenced to clearing the way for those of us brave enough to follow. Stuck on the soulder just a couple of cars behind one pile up, super plow came along blaring his horn while flying down the side of the road with the blade down – throwing snow and mud into the air and down the side of the cliff. A pick-up truck and I jumped in the ditch behind him and flung mud in every direction until we managed to clear the scene and get back up up on the ice coated roadways. For the next few miles, traffic was pretty clear!
Anyway, a couple of friends and I headed back out Sunday morning to check out the 10 inches of fresh powder that landed at Breckenridge. The traffic was horrible. The resort was crowded. However, the snow was excellent. We got in a full day of riding, giving me my 14th day of the season thus far. This morning I woke up groggy with wobbly sore legs – what bliss!
86 days left…
56 Days in 07/08
