I think I am officially a Coloradoan now as I finally got out and went skiing. My friend Chris Gilliam, who I met because he is married to the daughter of good friends of Erin’s parents, and I went to Vail on Saturday. I don’t have any pictures of my skiing because my big honking camera doesn’t fit in my pocket and Erin wasn’t there.

The beginning of the day was a complete catastrophe as I lost my wallet at the park and ride in Golden where I met Chris. I discovered it was missing when we stopped for Breakfast in Frisco. About 20 minutes after I discovered it was missing, I received a call from someone that had found it. He was headed up to Loveland and agreed to meet me. Fortunately I only had to back track about 15 minutes to meet him and I was reunited with my wallet. I was very lucky.

Once we finally made it to the resort we were greeted with what was an excellent day for skiing. Chris has a season pass and he as able to get me a good discount for my daily pass with his “Ski with a Friend” option. We excitedly made our way up the mountain and began skiing. It had been a few years for me and Chris was very patient as I got my legs underneath me. Chris is a good skier and with my limited experience it was very tough to keep up with him.

Here are the beginner runs I went on:

  • Lost Boy
  • Eagle’s Nest Ridge
  • Cub’s Way

Here are the intermediate runs I went on:

  • Dealer’s Choice
  • The Woods
  • Baccarat
  • Born Free
  • Lodgepole
  • Hunky Dory
  • Christmas
  • Northwoods
  • Snag Park
  • Avanti

Here is the advanced run I accidentally went on:

  • S. Look Ma

It was an accident as I was only trying to traverse across the top but instead ended up having to go down the run. It had moguls the size of Volkswagens and I am sure I looked pretty funny trying to make my way down. My one and only fall was on this run.

My favorite part of the resort was in the Game Creek Bowl as there were several intermediate runs that were quite challenging and long. Unfortunately there is only one way out of the bowl once you reach the bottom and that is by ski lift. On about our fourth run the lift broke and we were stranded at the bottom for about half of an hour. It was very frustrating but once the lift was finally repaired and we rode up we were greeted with a gift. Vail gave us each a free lift ticket for our troubles. Wow, that is great customer service and no small token given that a daily lift ticket is $92.

All in all it was a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed my first ski trip. I am sure I will be getting out much more in the future.