New Years Eve and powder :-)

Hey everyone!
I hope everyone welcomed 2008 in style! I am currently writing this blog in the comfort of our condo - we actually went into Breck tonight to see the fireworks. The idea of participating in the torch parade was abandoned because it was just SO COLD today! Once again the temperature dropped below -25. Whist the fireworks were spectacular we couldn't stay outside for more then a few minutes! In the end we watched the entertainment from the warmth of inside the restaurant.

A few pics of Jeff, Layla, Josie and myself watching the fireworks and braving the cold!



Earlier in the day, we woke to 6 inches of new snow - of course that meant up early for 1st lifts! And we were rewarded with top to bottom runs of fresh powder! Its hard to describe that feeling of "floating" down the run at top speed - needless to say it was pretty fantastic! The cold drove Jeff, Layla and Josie for an early morning tea, however I managed to stay out for the sake of more fresh snow. Foolish? Perhaps, but I think the reward was worth it!

Talk again soon!
CLS

Scary traffic!

Hey everyone,
Although we woke up to 3 inches of new snow, we also woke to 40 mile winds - the result? A sleep in and no riding today! Instead we decided to punish ourselves by putting in a huge session at the gym. I don't think we will ever run as fast up here as we do at sea level but we gave it a real go today! You know you have worked hard when you are gasping for breath after sprinting the last few minutes!

After a super hard run and a nice recovery in the hot tub, we thought we might try for a cheeky couple of runs in the afternoon - we figured that because it was so windy, it might have discouraged the Christmas holiday makers. So we headed up to check out the lift lines....it was absolutely packed! I had never seen it so busy before! I would liken it to waiting for the Blue Cow T-bar that takes you from Guthega back to Blue Cow - at peak times, that ride can be a 20 minute wait! Thus it didn't take a genius to work out our decision - back home to a warm fire! :-)

What we didn't expect was the chaos on the road back to our place. The winds were whipping up the snow on the road which lead visibility to zero. I am just glad Jeff was driving and not me! We passed a couple of cars that had skidded into the snowbanks - one truck did a complete 180 turn before hitting the side. The speedo didn't go above 15 miles on hour on the way home. What i usually a 5-10 minute drive took us about 30 mins. Of course at least we got home in one piece!

It's pretty much been dumping snow all afternoon and night so tomorrow is going to be an early rise to get first lifts! Fingers crossed todays snow is going to lead to a huge day tomorrow!!

CLS and JS

A Visitor or 2 :-)

Hey everyone - well its been a few days since I last wrote in the blog so I figure I had better update on recent happenings:

• Its been cold! With temperatures dropping to -25 its more like "its f*cking freezing!"
• Josie and I have been snow-shoeing (where our hand almost dropped off from the cold - mental note - always prepare for super cold temperatures regardless of the activity!)
• We have guests - Jeff and his equally wonderful girlfriend Layla! Well not sure if Jeff counts as a guest given he is a part owner of the place, but you get what I mean :-)
• We have a little dog which we are babysitting for a week - Her name is Carly and she is absolutely adorable!! Here is a picture - okies her eyes are little freaky in the photo but she is a so cute! Low maintenance and non-barking - that is hard to beat!

It is currently holiday season and Breckenridge is like a zoo right now - people are everywhere! We hadn't snowboarded for 2 days until today - we figured with the crowds being so heavy we didn't want to compete with the masses. However the lure of the mountain was too strong so Josie, Jeff, Layla and I hit the slopes - other then the cold it was really good day - although no new snow was reported, we did see a light dusting which gave some of the groomers a nice soft surface to carve on. We also managed to find some nice powder in the trees so I did manage something of a powder fix :-) A huge thanks to Jeff for pulling us along one of the cat tracks so Josie and I didn't have push ourselves. Once again I didn't manage to take any action shots for fear of my hands dropping off. but here is a picture of Josie, Layla and Jeff warming up at lunch.



New Years Eve is approaching and we are looking at participating in the Torch Light Parade in Breck - where we ride in formation down in the main hill with torches before a fireworks display. Riding on NYE sounds ok to me!

Talk soon!
CLS and JS!

Early Finishes :-)

Hey everyone,
We were told that Dec 26 was going to be a zoo on the ski fields - and on our way home we could see it was going to be ridiculous! The cars were pouring into town today. Heeding that advice we got up early (4 inches of fresh!) to ensure we made first lifts at 8:30am. Lucky for us the punters must have slept in a few minutes. Whilst there was noone around, we looked at the runs and it didn't look like 4 inches fell overnight! Looked more like half an inch to me. Perhaps my definition of "4 inches" is different to the resorts "4 inches" - but hey that's what all the girls say ;-) I am theorising that the resort was suffering from "shrinkage" or something!

We managed to make the most of the 4 inches (or half an inch!) of fresh snow, but by about 10 we could the crowds invading - so we just decided to call it a day there and then. Yup we finished our day at 10am! Can't say I have finished that early before. As we packed up and drove off we could see other people just getting ready! The plan was to hit the gym after lunch, but we ended up having a nanna nap - the 6:30am starts were finally catching up to us!

Anyways time to log off - Josie is watching some trashy reality show "The Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency", and I have drag her away!

Christmas Day powder :-)

Ahh if only all snowboarding days were like this! We woke up to 5 inches of more fresh snow today. Does it get any better then that? Well okies 6 inches is - actually so is 7, 8 and 9 ...anyways 5 inches is still pretty awesome!

We thought that Christmas Day would be a pretty quiet day on the slopes and we were right, for a while - we got there just before 9 and the mountain was deserted! All the more powder for us! Having the mountain to ourselves meant fresh powder top to bottom runs - now it definately doesn't get better then that!

By about 11am, the crowds really turned up - I guess opening presents takes a while or there were a few hangovers! By this stage the mercury dropped to about -20. Yup it was cold! I don't know how some people can stay out all day - we have some pretty high end gear yet we were pretty frozen by lunch. No point in being cold and riding tracked out snow! We got our powder fix so we just needed to warm up! So we headed home :-) Given it was Christmas I managed to convince Josie to pose for one shot at the end of the day - it was just too cold to take my gloves off for action shots. If you look closely, Josie is pretty much forcing a smile because it was so COLD!

Given it was Christmas we figured a nice dinner was on the cards (Josie wanted a break from the kitchen, so I unchained her ;-)) - last time we were here we found a really decent Japanese place, Mountain Flying Fish, and we managed to hunt it down for an encore performance. It was still as yummy as I recall. Totally recommend the Toro sashimi! Josie and I looking satisfied after a great meal!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We sure did!
Talk to you all soon!

CLS & Josie

Snow Snobs and Frostnip.....

Hey everyone,
Happy Christmas everyone! It's Christmas Eve here but hey close enough!

A few years ago, supermodel Lynda Evangelista famously said "I don't get out of bed for less then $10,000 a day". Being here for the entire season, I kinda feel the same way - just swap the dollars for inches of snow :-). If there is less then 2 inches we don't bother ;-)

The day after our 7 inch powder day, we woke up fatigued. The snowboarding probably contributed a bit to the tiredness, but I think the main culprit was our leg weights session at the gym after it! So after reading the snow report and seeing 1 inch falling, our immediate reaction was to go back to sleep. Yup just call me a supermodel or a super snow snob :)

Our original plan was to go to the gym after our snowboarding sessions - at the moment we are finding this a struggle - if we snowboard and go to the gym in one day, the next day we are hurting! Still our aim is to maintain decent levels of fitness while we are here - We'll just soldier on!

Whilst today was rather mild (-2 today - almoast steaming!), the previous days have been really chilly - on the mountain the temperature is around -20. Its fair to say that is real "shrinkage" stuff! In fact my face seems to have copped a battering from the cold winds. I have a bit of "frostnip" on my face. I actually got it last season when I was here and it has returned in the exact same place. Check it....
The affected area is the "pink" coloured part near my ear (yes my hair is super messy - I still need to find someone to cut it!). Josie is a bit concerned by it so today I bought something like a balaclava to ensure my cheeks are covered by those wintery blasts :)

After yesterday's day off we woke to 2 inches of new snow at Keystone - we made the 15 minute drive over there and headed straight to the peaks. Finally the snowcat was operating so we handed over our hard earned $5 to get a ride to the top - a 25 minute walk or a 5 minute snowcat ride? Hmm you don't need to be genuis to work out the best option ;-) The result - some very nice powder! Of course I am still looking for deeper, drier stuff! My quest continues! We actually managed to take a picture today - thanks to Josie for taking a picture of me at Keystone - with Breckenridge in the background.....

Given it's just Josie and me here, we are going to go riding on Christmas Day and then go out for sushi for dinner! Very excited!

Hope everyone got some great presents and will talk to you again soon!

CLS and Josie

TV and Powder - Hooray!

Hey Everyone,
God I love America - if one gets sick of buying $200 hiking boots for $5 then there is always the ability to kill time by watching 100+ channels on TV. Ok Pay-TV is available in Oz but Josie & I only ever had free-to-air TV so having more then 5 channels is something of a novelty. Of course just because there are more channels doesn't mean the quality is any better. It dawned on us very quickly that there is alot crap on! Not sure there is a huge demand for 2 hours of "Who's the Boss", but hey I might be wrong.

Josie was trying to get her "Reality TV fix" and we came across a show called "I love New York 2" - its basically about some chick nicknamed "New York" and her quest to find a partner. I can tell you this girl is high maintenance TRASH! There was actually a "I love New York 1" but funnily enough the "winning" guy dumped her - he must have come to his senses :-)

She actually looks like a wannbe Drag Queen. In fact I am sure she on some Mardi Gras float ;-) "New York" wears more eye shadow then Mimi from the Drew Carey Show. There was one scene where she was on one of her "dates" with a potential suitor - they went to a mudbath. Anyway she started freaking out because mud got flicked in her hair?! She was taking a mudbath for gods sake! What was she expecting?! Hmmm I think its fair to say I don't like this girl :-) I feel sorry for the guy who wins this competition - you got a life of screaming, whinging general pain in the ass living - you sucker :-)

If you're interested this is the girl/drag queen/transexual I am talking about.



Of course there are some decent shows on - Boston Legal for example! We have also taken a liking to the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the History Channel - gotta love documentaries!

After a few dry days we woke up to 7 inches of new snow today - there was certainly no sleep in today! We got the lift lines early and got near the front. Once 8:20 ticked over it was on! It was here I experienced real American pushiness. This old guy with a Hitler-style moustache tried to push in front and obviously I took offence. He was telling me "there's now way you are getting in front of us" - blah blah blah. He barged in front so I lifted up my board and just happened to slam it on top of his skis - it would have made a few scratches. Obviously I lifted my board up to avoid it being stepped on - I guess it just accidently landed on his skis - what a pity :-)

Rather annoyed this stage I also made a casual remark about how he engaged in sexual activities with other men (I won't repeat my exact words, but you get my drift) - don't think he liked that as he lifted up his stock to threaten me. In the end he turned around in a huff and got on the chair. Its certainly a "take no prisoners" approach on a powder day!

Other then being super cold (-20 today!) the snow was fabulous - we went to an area which was "hard to get too" and we were rewarded with fresh snow and almost no crowds for the first hour. That meant more fresh snow for us! We called it a day by about midday tired and cold, but also exhilarated.

Also a huge thanks to Josie for putting up with my "lack of snow" whinging over the past few days. Whilst our trip is primarily a snowboard holiday, it's also a chance to get away and do whatever we want - be it snowboard, snowshoe, hike or just sit at home and read. Josie had to remind me of that! :)

Logging off for now -Discovery Channel awaits :)

CLS

More Hiking and New Boots!

Hey everyone - well it snowed last night! That was the good news - the bad news was it was only 1 inch - sheeesh! It's actually a little annoying - we've only had a few inches in the past week so I am getting withdrawl symptoms from the lack of fresh powder! Given that Mt Baker (in Washington State) has received 78 inches in the past days, it feels like Colorado missed out on a huge dump!

We were back at Keystone today and headed up to the backbowls which 20 minute out of bounds hike. It appears Keystone have found a new sub-business - called the Outback Shuttle Service, you pay $5 and rather hike up the hill a snowcat can give a ride. A snowcat is like this massive tractor/bus thing that is certanily alot quicker up a hill then walking in snowboard boots! That being said, the bloody snowcat was not operating today so we had no choice but to hike to the fresh snow. It was here Josie really worked out the value of board-carrying backpacks (I always carry one!). While some suckers had to drag/carry their boards up the hill, we simply strapped our boards to our backpacks and walked up in about half the time. Below is a pic of us just before the Ski Patrol unroped the area for us to access.

The snow quality wasn't great but it sure beats riding groomers :) They just need more snow!

Slight change of subject - most people know I am a bit of a "Gear Whore" and today I certainly didn't disappoint - I bought a new pair of snowboard boots :-) Actually it was more out of necessity then want. My previous boots just "packed out" (ie. my boots expanded so my foot now moved in the boot - BAD news for snowboarding!) so I basically cracked the shits - if you have sore feet whilst snowboarding then its going to be a bloody long day! So we headed to our "local" board shop and after a few hours of trying on boots I am now the proud owner of some Salomon Malamute boots :) Exciting news? Most people would probably new boots less interesting then trimming one's toenails but hey it made my day! In fact I am so stoked here is a picture....

Oh yeah the store gave us a discount because we are "locals" - awesome! I can now officially pay out on those "bloody tourists" and "weekend warriors" who invade our town and give it a bad name ;-)

see ya!
CLS

A-Basin and a good deed :-)

Hey everyone - Today we decided to go and check out a different resort - Arapahoe Basin (or A-Basin). Its certainly alot less "touristy" then Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge! I guess you could almost call it the "poorer cousin" of the others. There is no village surrounding it so you can't stay there overnight, and no houses nearby (from what I could see anyways!). Its pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so the only way there is via car. It seems to be more a mountain for the locals to escape the glitz and glamour. The temperature was around -15 so it was cold, but the snow quality was good - you had to be pretty unlucky to hit ice there! Now all they need is more snow! The bloody weathermen got it wrong AGAIN. Less then 1 inch of snow when they were forecasting 4 inches? Sheesh - if I wake up at 6:30am tomorrow and see "No snow" in the snow report I am going be a very unhappy kort indeed. Seems the last snowstorm passed us by and the South West of the state got the 12 inches we wanted....oh well I have to learn to be more patient ;-)

Oh forgot to write in yesterdays blog - was at the gym the other day and when we got home I was emptying my bag and what do I find? An ipod shuffle! Not quite sure how it got there, but I am guessing it must have fallen in my bag as I was packing up. Anyways I ring up the Gym and tell them I found an ipod. Apparently someone reported one missing so I dropped it off at the gym today - that's gotta be good karma! Hopefully that will transform into bucketloads of powder :)

Hope everyone is well and will talk again soon!
CLS

Less oxygen and ice cream!

Hey everyone,
Here in Breckenridge we are at about 10,000 feet above sea level - thats about 3kms in metric terms. Why Americans still use imperial I will never know. It still amuses me when I see a street sign saying something like "Lane ends in 2000 feet" - just let me get my calculator to work that out, whilst driving on the wrong side of the road....sheesh! We're currently watching a documentary about Mt Everest and whilst its obviously not as high as Everest, you can certainly feel the lack of oxygen up here!

I would consider Josie and I to be above average fitness. However on the treadmills here we both feel like nuffies! What takes us 25 mins to run at sea level takes us 30 mins here. I knew it was going to hurt but when we run it feels like we only have one lung - and a smokers lung at that! I am told we will improve, but not to our "sea level" times - looks like our future treadmill sessions are going to be brutal - not something I am keen on!

Anyways back to something more enjoyable - snowboarding! After a few days away from the mountain, we headed back to Breck - the sun was shining so we took a few video shots - a couple of still images below:



Despire only trace amounts of new snow we still managed to a couple of fresh turns - nothing spectacular but some fresh snow is better then bulletproof ice (just like back in Oz!)

The weather forecasters have spun the lottery wheel and reckon it is supposed to snow tomorrow - Am running out of snow dance routines so they better be right!

Oh off the topic, you may or may be suprised but I have a sudden liking to ice cream here - in particular Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Holy crap this stuff is amazing! Yes it is super sweet so I can only handle 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time. If I had any more I would probably turn diabetic! Still if you happen to come Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra - give it a go! Here's a picture!


I figure we are snowboarding, hiking and going to the gym on a daily basis so I can afford 2 tablespoons of ice cream :) Don't worry I am still feasting on my fruit so my diet hasn't changed - We avoid buying food on the mountain (what the hell is clam chowder anyway?!), make sandwiches for lunch and cook at home for dinner. We are doing everything we can to avoid the "American Pound"!

later!
CLS

Backcountry Riding in Breck...

Hey everyone - well its almost 1am here and I am watching Jackass: The Movie - god knows what makes a guy want to stick a toy car up their butt and get it x-rayed. It takes all kinds I guess! Anyways we did a bit of backcountry riding today - we hiked for an hour or so near our place in Breck to an area we had scoped out a few days ago. The snow looked good, the weather was sunny and we were raring to go! We hiked up the slope and dropped in.....hmm slight anticlimax as it simply wasn't steep enough for us to pull any decent turns - you could straightline ok but that was about it. So we start to search elsewhere and managed to find a steeper slope - once again Josie & I gear up and fortunately this time we managed to get a few "noice" turns in. Of course once at the bottom of the hill we had to hike back up! The snow quality was great - super dry and you felt you were floating - ahh nothing beats powder! After 2 goes Josie called it quits, whilst I had one more go of glory......pics below:



Tired but elated, we had another 45 mins hike back to our place - There is no snow forecast until Wednesday so looks like the next 2 days mnight be a tad bare - still I am sure we can find the odd fresh stash...If not then I guess there is always the Discovery Channel to watch ;-)

later,
CLS

Silverthorne Shopping....

Hey everyone,
Well with only 1 inch of snowfall we decided it wasn't worth competing with the "weekend warriors" and decided on a well deserved sleep-in. Yup I guess we are locals now! Next thing you know I will grow a beard, buy a rifle and rename myself "Grizzly Adams". We figured that unless it dumps on the weekends (like last Saturday and Sunday!) we will try and give them a miss. We still got another 4 months here so why rush it?! So we treated today as a "day off" and headed to Silverthorne for a spot of outlet shopping - if you want a retail bargain, head over to Silverthorne!

Josie was keen to give the credit card a workout, but I was able to keep her under control :-) Of course she still managed to find a few bargains, none better then some shirts for $2.99 each! I think she got 3 of them in end. The best I could so was find a running shirt for $7 - I guess I have to look harder next time!

We plan on doing some backcountry hiking tomorrow - we will have our snowboards with us. Last time we hiked we managed to find some potential fresh powder runs. I think it's time to test them out!

Talk again soon,
CLS

Keystone!

Hey everyone :-)

What a great day! We decided to head to Keystone to ride today - Whilst we are living in Breckenridge, our season pass enables us to access 5 other resorts in the area. Keystone is an easy 15 minute drive from our place - mind you it was a tad hairy on the roads today - snowfall and ice tend to do that :)

Given Josie had never been to Keystone before and I had only had one day's experience there, we noticed that Keystone offered a complimentary "mountain guide tour". We thought it was a good way to check out the mountain, and we were glad we did! Our guide Tom was a fairly old guy (his saying was he is only 25 - years from 100!), but he certainly knew which runs to take - Keystone has been his local hill for over 20 years! He used to be a New York cop and did he have the accent - I was literally waiting for a TV cast member of Law and Order to make an appearance :) When he said "coffee", it sounded more like "corrfee". We were so impressed we tipped him - seems it was a good thing as he does this for nothing - he relies on tips from his clients, so we were glad to help him out! Below are a few shots of Josie & I on Keystone Mountain with Tom, plus a nice shot of us in Keystone Village.



Josie and I are still maintaining our gym routine - its a case of snowboard until the early afternoon, grab some lunch at home, then head to the gym........lets just say we sleep pretty well at night - by the time we get home we are knackered!

Oh BTW if you happen to be in Brckenridge, we highly recommend the restaurant "My Thai". We have only been here a week or so and we have made 3 visits there for lunch and dinner. Not only is it cheap, but it could easily complete with the Thai Restaurants on King Street in Newtown. And yes they do a killer Chicken and Cashews ;-)

BTW (again), I have changed the blog settings so anyone can make a comment (ie. no need to be register to become a member). So feel free to leave a message! :)

Until next time,
CLS

Snowshoeing and funny ads....

Hey everyone - well the snowgods didn't appear to like our latest offering - no snow overnight :( Next time I will remember to do the snowdance with my clothes on :) Given there was no new snow we decided to have a sleep in. We've been waking up at 6:30am for the snow..... Yup I get up earlier for the snow then I do for work!

Given the lack of snowfall we decided to go for a snowshoe hike around the mountains near our place. We hiked for about 3 hours and have actually found a few nice areas where we could potentially go backcountry riding - walking up and down the hills is tiring but the potential fresh powder is a good motive to do it! Plus it keep you fit. Hiking at this altitude is hopefully good for us :-).


Besides Breck, we are actually within 20 mins drive of 2 other resorts - Keystone and A-Basin. Depending on who gets the most snow tomorrow we'll be heading there ;)

Completely off topic, was watching TV just then (ahhhh love cable!) and they had a hilarious ad to the tune of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas"......"dont let erectile disfunction affect your sex life - Viva Viagra!". Then it has these dodgy disclaimers including "see your doctor before deciding to have sex" (what if the doctor says no?!) and "If you notice you have an erection lasting for more then 4 hours, please seek medical assistance" (4 hours?!! Wow!). Why don't we get ads like that in Australia?!

Hope everyone is well (remember the 4 hour limit guys!)

CLS

Cold weather!

Hey everyone,
Well is 3:15pm and back home after another day of riding - man it's a tough life for some ;-)
We only had 2 inches of snow last night but given there was a grand total of about 20 people on the mountain, untracked snow was the order of the day! Mind you, it has been cold - and I mean cold! Yesterday on the mountain it was around -20.....we only lasted until about 10:30am....When your hands and feet go numb you know its time to call it quits early!!

BTW thanks to Alexia, Kendi, Melissa and Ana for the farewell present - The red North Face mid-layer is being put to good use! Here's the proof!

And yes I do have 2 snowboarding outfits :-) Hey given I am here so long I don't want one outfit to wear out?!

One snow report says 4 inches of snow tomorrow and another says no snow is expected. Do they spin a wheel and just hope for the best or is there any real science to it? Fingers crossed for the 4 inches!

$5 for 2 pairs of Boots!

Hey guys - am about to go to bed but had to tell you this story about today! Basically it didn't snow last night so being snow snobs we decided "why bother snowboarding as there is no fresh powder". So we decide to go into town to try and look for hiking boots to assist us in our snowshoeing adventures. We wander into the Columbia store (for the uninitiated, Columbia is a renowned brand of outdoor gear) and find some decent hiking boots to buy. Total is about USD$180. Anyways, just before we pay, one of the staff members comes up to us and asks if we were interested in attending this 2 hour tour of this new resort. If we said yes we would be given USD$175 worth of gift vouchers towards our purchase! In effect our boots would cost us $5!! I was like "Hell yeah"! For a 2 hour tour I would have cleaned their toilet......

So we go on the tour and we get our $5 boots! God bless America - the land of the free and super bargains....I had to take a picture of our new boots. No prizes for guessing which ones are mine and which ones are Josies ;-)

33 today, more snow and a suprise hike!

Hey all,
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! Well today is my birthday - 33 years old and I am still acting like a 15 year old.......actually Josie reckons its more like 12 ;-). This was my first birthday I have celebrated in winter so what more to do then snowboard?! The snow gods were kind to us again and we woke to 7 more inches of the white stuff! We were able to lay more fresh tracks - I am certainly getting my powder fix! We rode until lunch- who needs to ride after all the powder has gone (God I am such a snow snob ;-)) then headed home for a bit of R&R.

We actually live around a number of walks, so this afternoon we decided to check out on the trails. We only hiked for around 45 mins but the view are AMAZING! Check it...


I think on the days we don't snowboard we will be wandering this area a bit more! Apparently there is a bear around the area, but geez one would have to be unlucky to run into it! Its not going to stop us from exploring! This place has so much to offer and we just want to experience all of it - Backcountry here we come!

All in all a super cool birthday! Thanks to Josie for such a great day....I hope all birthdays are like this!

CLS

Day 1 = powder and fun!

Hey everyone,
Today was our 1st day of riding on the mountain and it was fantastic! We are currently in the middle of a snowstorm so it is absolutely dumping! I guess our snowdance actually worked ;-)
Got up there for 1st lifts and managed to find some fresh powder turns. One of my favourite sayings is "No friends on powder days", however this has now been slightly modified to "No friends on powder days, however there is a wife" - fortunately for me, Josie can keep up ;-) Perhaps marriage has mellowed me, as I used to have a reputation for leaving people behind if there was a hint of fresh powder. Still Josie knows I can get a bit impatient if I think she is not getting ready quick enough :-)

Unfortunately I haven't got any shots of us in the pow - who has time to take photos when powder is around?! Plus it was about -15 so I wasn't keen on taking off the gloves! Below is an action shot of Josie after our search for powder had finished.


One of these days Josie will take an action shot of me that isn't blurred, but thumbs up for the end of the day!


The forecast is saying more snow over the next 4-5 days, however this seems to change on a daily basis, so who knows :-) Josie and I will continue to perform the snow dance as well as make the odd sacrifice as an offering to keep the snowgods happy.....now where's that knife again....

talk again soon!
CLS

5-6 inches and a pass to come....

Hey all - a picture of our verandah railing indicating how much snow has fallen. Thats about 5-6 inches on the railing :-) If there is this much at our place, imagine how much has fallen on the peaks *drool*!!!


We are off to buy our season passes tomorrow. Strangely we actually have to go to Denver to buy it - we can buy a season pass in Breck, however there is some special offer going on allowing us to access more ski areas - the trick being its only available in a store in Denver this weekend only. Given its $80 for a day pass here and a season pass is under $500, you can understand why we decided to wait :-)

Ohh another thing which we found interesting - it takes a long time to cook things here! I guess because we are almost 3km above sea level, there is not as much oxygen to cook stuff - given its easier to get out of breath, its kidna makes sense!

Talk to you all soon!
CLS

In Breckenridge :-)

Hey guys - Am happy to say we arrived in Breckenridge this afternoon. Here are a couple of pics of our home for the next few months. Its super comfy with all the mod cons - Cable TV, internet, running water ;-).



Off to join the Breckenridge gym tomorrow - Josie and I haven't been to the gym in 2 weeks and its killing us! Must be withdrawal symptons or something, but I cannot wait to go for a run! Mind you with Breck's altitude being 2900m it's going to be a SLOW run. The forecast is looking good -snow is forecast for the next few days and we will be ready to ride on Saturday - cannot wait!!

Aquarium and the Zoo....

Hey everyone,
Well after a few days of bargain hunting and general retail therapy, we decided the US economy was overheating so to slow it down we decided to check out a few touristy locations - namely the Denver Downtown Aquarium and the Denver Zoo. We actually went in with pretty low expectations - the Aquarium had previously gone bankrupt before re-opening as an aquarium/restaurant/corporate entertainment function house, and given it is winter here, I didn't think there would be much animal life at the zoo. So we were pleasantly suprised when we found both places really interesting!

The Denver Aquarium has the usual areas an aquarium should have - beautiful tropical Emperor Angelfish, ugly Stonefish, Giant Grouper, Grey Nurse Sharks, etc but the one thing that really took us by suprise were the 5 tigers?! Yup the last thing we expected to see was big cats in an aquarium? No sh1t! :-) Check it out!

It was actually done rather well - plenty of space for the tigers to run about, swim and just generally laze on the rocks (which seemed to be their favourite pastime). We ended up watching them for while - its just a pity we missed them feeding or swimming - isn't it always the way - we get there when they are doing nothing :-)

We checked out the Denver Zoo today and it was really enjoyable also. Hey if you go in with low expections, they are undoubtably exceeded ;-) Plus it was a bargain! $9 entry per person! Try paying that at Taronga Zoo and they will kick you onto the first ferry back to Circular Quay - actually they would probably make you swim and give you lead weights. Call us sadistic but the most fascinating thing was watching these boa constrictor snakes devouring their meal whole. We peered into their display about saw 3 snakes all swallowing a dead mouse each. You could actually see the bulge in their bodies from the mouse. Really freaky but it was like a train wreck - you shouldn't watch but you just had to. I didn't realise how wide a snake could open its mouth. Anyways, here's a pic of what we saw today...
Told you it was freaky!

We are off to Breckenridge tomorrow morning so will be saying a fond farewell to Denver - Also a HUGE thanks to our friends Dave, Tanya and Jeff (sorry girls, "hot" Jeff is off the market!) for letting us stay. We look forward to some snow time with you all in Breck! Hope all is well and another entry coming soon!

CLS

More shopping, friendly strangers & 11 inches!

Hey everyone! Thanks to all your well-wishes and the positive response about the blog - it encourages me to continue with it! Also am glad the females approved of the ring! Had another "tough day at the office" - did a bit of outlet shopping - ahh its hard to beat USA prices let me tell you! Skechers (a shoe brand) had sale of "buy one get the 2nd for half price" so of course Josie and I bought 2 pairs each. Given these shoes retail for AUD$150+ and we scored them for around USD$50, you will understand why! God it amazes me how much us Aussies get ripped off. After today, it just reinforces why I find it so hard to pay full retail price for anything in Australia!

Anyways enough of that rant - besides the fun shopping, of course there is the boring stuff - grocery shopping - yup just because you're on holidays doesn't mean you're exempt from the trip down the Safeway/Woolworths! So Josie managed to drag me kicking and screaming down to the local supermarket for some much needed supplies. Apparently I am almost getting stubble so need a razor or something - come to think of it, it has been about 3 weeks since I last shaved - those 10 hairs on my chin are at last 0.2 cms long ;-) Anyways we were just going about our business when an elderly lady overheard us talking and asked us where we were from. When she found out we were from Australia she was fascinated why we would come to Denver as it was so cold - hmmmm I guess she isn't a skier/snowboarder. Then again half her teeth were missing and she was about 150 kg so I guess it was obvious :) Still it was rather friendly of her to have a chat - you certainly wouldn't find that in Sydney! There it's more like "Get out of my f***en way b1tches".....ahhh there are certainly some things I miss about Sydney (ie. the mountain biking) and other things I don't!

We are planning on heading over to Breckenridge on Tuesday morning. Tomorrow we have the Denver Aquarium to check out. Haven't actually managed to take a single photo yet, but will promise to change that tomorrow :-) Ohh it dumped 11 inches in Breck last night, so here's hoping the trend will continue!

Talk again soon!
CLS

In the USA and Tiffany jewellery...

Hey All!

Well after a manic 2 weeks of packing, moving and general "how the hell am I going to get all this stuff done", we are finally in the USA ! Our little American odyssey is now a reality! For those you don't know, Josie and I are planning on staying in the USA until the end of April to primarly spend the snow season here. We will be based in Breckenridge (about 2 hours from Denver) however are within 30 mins of 6 resorts (Breckenridge, A-Basin, Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain) so hopefully we will be spoilt for choice!

Before I continue, apologies to Anna & Anthony, Dave & Nat and Mel & Phil for not being able to attend your weddings. Josie and I were both honoured to be invited and we hope that you all had the most amazing day. I know how much Josie and I loved our wedding and am sure it is something you will remember for a long time :-)

We landed in Denver on Thursday (after 24 hours of travelling) to spend a few days here before driving down to Breckenridge. Of course being in the USA means one has to go SHOPPING! Well we have done that by the bucketload! Jackets, bindings, snowboards, thermals, mid-layers - you name it, we pretty much bought it! No matter how many times one comes to the USA, you can always find a bargain here, of course some bargains are more "expensive" then others.

Being a guy, I am not quite sure what the lure of diamonds is - I just know that girls really like them. Personally that money could be used to buy more sports gear, go heli-boarding or something, but Josie reckons thats a dumb idea :-). Diamonds and females are just attracted to each other. So as a present to Josie, I got her this lovely little number from Tiffany and Co. Alexia, Kendi, Ana, Melissa - I hope that bought a smile to your face :-)

Once again I learnt something more about females - they really love Tiffany and Co. That little blue box has some strange mystique. I think its fair to say Josie was pretty happy. So now that Josie has a Tiffany ring, does that mean I should be expecting a nice Icebreaker top or another Arc'teryx jacket? It is my birthday next week ;-)

Anyways we are planning on doing a few touristy things in Denver over the next few days - the zoo, aquarium, etc. Only about 10% of the ski resorts are open so we have plenty of time to get there. Hope all is well over your way and will update again soon!