Another visitor and more snow!

Hey everyone,
I am currently sitting here in our Breck condo and it is currently dumping outside - Hooray! More snow on the way - according to the weather forecast we are supposed to be hit with 12 inches by the morning. Of course weather can be a fickle thing - it was forecast for 10 inches last night and we only got 2.5 inches. So I take whatever they say with a grain of salt!

My uni mate Sean is here for a week and it seems he has come at a good time - on his first day, we got 4 inches of fresh snow - Sean loves his freshies so he got a powder fix on day one!
A few pics of the day below:


Josie seems to be addicted to another reality TV show - she has found some show called "Rock of Love" - basically its just about a guy looking for his "soulmate" -however to add more spice, the guy is Bret Michaels, the lead singer of the rock band Poison, and the girls are the biggest bunch of dirty slappers around. They include strippers, women who are currently still married but "separated" from their partners - most of them seem to be walking STD's. As you can see, its a pretty classy show! As I write this, the episode has just ended (thank god ;-))

Perhaps next week, we might have a blackout so Josie can't watch it ;-). I might have to ring up the cable TV people and arrange some outage ;-)

hope all is well!
CLS & JS

5:30am start!

Hey everyone,
Well its 7pm and I am almost ready to head to bed! We woke up at 5:30am to do a morning hike up Breckenridge. Our friend Jeff used to do it occasionally and we figured it would be a nice variation to our usual exercise routine. We managed to talk Jeff into doing it again (given we had no idea which was the best route to take!). Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not exactly a morning person, so a 5:30am start is really pushing my limits! Add that it was -10 outside and it was not an inviting prospect!

We started our hike at about 6:30am - at this stage it was still pitch black. We also had to sidestep the grooming machines - its fair to say we would come off second best if we ran into one! A pic of Jeff and Josie in the gloom with a grooming machine a few metres away....







Whilst it was hard work walking up the hill, we did manage to see some incredible views of the sun rising. I only had a small compact camera to take some pics (wish I had an SLR!), so these pictures don't really do it justice, but seeing the sun rising against the mountains is truly an amazing experience.....



We hiked from the base to the Peak 9 Restaurant which took us about 90 minutes. Sure it was tiring but also immensly satisfying! Another picture of us almost at the top.....

We reached the our destination at about 7:50am which meant we were the only soles on the mountain (the mountain doesn't officially open until 8:30am). No other skiers or boarders were around - ahhh the serenity! Knowing we had the mountain to ourselves we took our time to get ready and it was worth the hike! Fresh tracks all the way down! :-)

We didn't realise how good it was going to be today - it snowed overnight, but Breck only reported 1 inch. After our hike I think I was in a pretty good position to confirm there was more then 1 inch! (not sure why I always have to keep saying that to the girls ;-) ). In the end we caught the chairlifts up for a few more powder runs before calling it a day by 9:45am. At this stage we were starving so we all headed some very satisfied! Its a funny feeling seeing people getting ready just as you are going home....still as long as everyone is happy! ;-)

Hope all is well back home - the Winter X Games is on for the next few days - AWESOME! Now its my turn to dominite the TV :-)

CLS & JS

Ahh Vail...

Hey everyone,
After a few days of R&R, we woke up to a snow report of 3 inches at Breck and 5 inches at Vail - hmm no guesses where we decided to go today. Vail has a reputation for being the best resort in the USA and after today we can't argue with that - you know its going to be a good day when you see signs saying "Groomed runs will have at least 5 inches of fresh powder on them". Excellent!
A few shots from the day:



And a couple of "posed" shots - hmmm what can I say!



We'd taken off the last 2 days off prior to today - it hadn't snowed enough to get us motivated - yup are snobby aren't we? We didn't actually know there was a movie cinema around until a few days ago, so we decided to check out what movies were playing - we never go to the movies at home so it was a bit of a novelty! Seeing a film here is so cheap - tickets were like $7!! Thats even better then tightass Tuesday! Even better they had a little video arcade area where all the games were 25 cents! I reckon we will be back to watch more movies if we need a break from the mountain! BTW we ended up seeing "27 Dresses" - more of a chick flick then anything but Katherine Heigl is hilarious in it - definately worth the watch if you don't want to see anything too intellectual!

Hope everyone is well!
CLS & JS

PS Congrats on the engagement Kristin!

Ritas and more cold!

Hey everyone! Well we all know that Breck is cold but god when will these -20 degrees days end? We were riding at Breck today (Day #29 on the mountain!) and after about 30 minutes my feet went numb. By this stage Sonia & Josie had already given up on the day (Josie kindly gave me her handwarmers), so it was just Matt and I left. (Jeff & Layla took the day off - perhaps wisely). For some reason I decided not to wear my balaclava - after 2 runs I decided I was an idiot and put it on - my frozen cheeks were pretty happy with the decision!

Even though we were freezing we still managed to ride for about 4 hours - the windblown snow was really nice! On the downside, my cheeks are still pretty battered (face cheeks!), and I probably have a slight case of frostnip on the other side of my face. Ahh the things we do!

Last night we headed to Rita's for dinner - for the uninitiated, Rita's is known for 2 things - margaritas and yummy tacos! Its a tiny little place, but it has a rocking atmosphere - it even had a toilet that would speak back to you (no kidding!). A few pics from the night below:

Sonia, Josie and kort enjoying Ritas

Matt, Jeff & Layla seem pretty happy too!

Oh finally, check out this brand of fish sauce....what else can I say? Click the photo to get a clearer picture of the brand on the bottle....



Hope everyone is well!
CLS & JS

Vail and Beyond....

Hey everyone - sorry its been a few days since I have written - been rather busy of late! We currently have a few visitors staying with us which has meant for a very socialable week. Jeff and Layla are back for another few days, plus some of Jeff's friends are over from Oz, namely Matt and Sonia. Just found out that Matt went to the same high school as my best mate Dave - talk about a small world!

The past few days have been a blur of skiing/snowboarding in the bitter cold! The temperature has been hitting -25. Eeek! We did a backcountry hike up Baldy Mountain on Monday. We needed a powder fix, but we had to "earn our turns" - it took us a good hour for our first hike! But the sun was out and powder was fresh!
A few pics from the day below:
On the hike up - still a long way to go!
About to start the run down - no tracks!
Josie getting ready to head down. All smiles here!

A shot of the run - so nice!

We only did 2 runs and we were exhausted but the powder was superb!

We headed to Vail for the first time this year on Tuesday. There is only one word for Vail - HUGE! The place just seems to go forever - there is so much terrain! Plenty of steeps to challenge anyone - even on a blue run! Our first run of the day on Tuesday was a cruisy blue run - until we hit a super steep drop - without warning Matt, Sonia, Josie and I all got launched into the air a few metres - by that stage its a bit late to put the brakes on! All of us managed to land, however an out of control stranger slammed into Sonia, knocking her off her off her feet, taking one of her skis with him. In the end she slid about 20 metres down the run. Thankfully she was ok - just a little shaken up. Whilst we were helping Sonia to her feet, we saw 5 other people crash land out of control - one of them ended up wrapping himself around a tree. Vail should rename that run "Carnage", or at least put a few warning signs! A few shots of Vail below:



BTW a special hello to Josie's friend Kristin - perhaps I am immature but whenever I am watching TV and hear ads saying "decrease in semen" or "if you experience an erection lasting more then 4 hours, please see your doctor", it still makes me laugh :-) I haven't learnt to block it out yet :-). Josie and I are super excited to visit you soon though!

Talk soon!
CLS & JS

I love Breck :)

Hey everyone - after only 1 inch of snowfall last night we decided Sunday (today) would be a day of rest. After another 5 inches of powder the day before, plus a 6km run we needed a break from exercise :) I recall when I was about 25, I could ride all day, everyday - I think I once did 21 days straight. Now I think old age is catching up to me. I guess I am more after "quality, not quantity" - hmm I wonder where I have heard the before ;-)

For us overseas travellers, being in the USA is just gold - right now, the dollar is super strong (90 cents to the US Dollar) so shopping here mean bargains! I have continued my gear whore tendancies and got bought another pair of snowboarding pants - hey they were cheap(ish!) and I needed them (who am I trying to convince?!). One things for sure - they would have been double the price in Oz - if I could find them! BTW does anyone want to buy a pair of slight used snowboarding pants? I have 3 pairs here right now, so it looks like I might be ebaying some items come the Oz snow season!

On a total change of subject, everytime I turn on the TV I am seeing an ad for something calle Flowmax. In fact I have seen it so many times, I reckon I can ad-lib the "safety information disclaimer" bit at the end of the ad. Here we go....
Common side effects of Flowmax are runny nose, dizziness and decrease in semen. A sudden decrease in blood pressure may occur upon standing, rarely resulting in fainting. So when starting Flowmax, avoid situations where injury could result. If considering cataract surgery, tell your eye surgeon you have taken Flowmax capsules......

A decrease in semen? Hmmm let me get my measuring cup?! I guess these are the sacrifices I have to make so I can catch Seinfeld every night :)

Hope everyone is well! A backcountry hike tomorrow awaits!
CLS & JS

A perfect day :-)

Hey everyone - without sounding too arrogant or boastful, today was almost a perfect day! It had everything I needed to put a smile on my face - fresh powder, a gym session, an afternoon nap, some Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream and NO reality TV! Some channel here had 9 consectutive series of "America's Next Top Model" on which was something like 4 continuous days of that show. Josie obviously loved it - it's fair to say I was over it after about 10 minutes. Thankfully the marathon finished yesterday!

Once again I was able to convince Josie to get out of bed early and we managed to be the first people on the lift line at 2 lifts - both times the lifties saw us, they smiled and unroped the line to let us in. Awesome! It had dumped 4 inches overnight - need I say more?! I actually managed to take the camera with me but once again I didn't bother taking it out for photos - perhaps I should give it Josie to carry :-)

Our friends Dave and Tanya are also up in Breck for the weekend so we have some company in the condo. They are getting married in the area next month so I think Tanya will be here to do wedding stuff whilst Dave does the guy thing by keeping out of the way and skiing :-).

On a side note, I FINALLY got a haircut yesterday - it had been about 2-3 months since I had a chop and I think its fair to say my hair was at an "unmanageable" stage! It kinda went all "afro" on me and probably added about 5cm to my height :-) So I am now at my usual height and able to put my beanie or helmet on without any "overflow"!

With the weekend here we are going to have to fight those weekend warriors for some of the mountain - god damn it why can't they go back where they came from ;-) I mean they only keep the economy running but can't they leave the fresh powder alone?!

Hope you are all well and talk again soon!

CLS & JS

Fun at Keystone and a sleep in!

Hey all,
Well I am writing this blog today just after breakfast - its currently 11:26am and we are taking the day off! After 5 consectutive days of hard riding we needed a sleep in and rest!

The past few days have been very "satisfying" in that we really got our powder fix! We rode Keystone Resort yesterday. They reported 5 inches of snowfall whereas Breck only reported 3 - hey you might as well chase the snow when you have the chance :-)

We took off super early and got to Keystone at about 8:30am. We got to the lifts to find them deserted. It was only then we realised Keystone's lifts don't start up until 9:00am - so we had a few minutes to kill! Of course being there that early does have one eventual benefit - first lifts! As soon as 9am came around we raced to the chairs - we ended up being the 4th and 5th people on the lift - not exactly 1st but with so few people around it hardly mattered :-).

When we got off the lift we were rather happy to see that Keystone hadn't groomed their runs from last night - basically all the runs had 5 inches of powder on them YIPPEE! There was alot of hooting and cheering from us early risers thats for sure!

By some miracle I actually managed to take a few shots of our powder runs yesterday. A couple of shots below:

A picture of the "Starfire" run - unfortuantely the shade partially hides the tracks. We actually managed to get 3 runs of untracked powder of "Starfire" - god I love it when people decide to sleep in :-) Tried to get the camera out whilst Josie was riding the run but I was a bit too slow to get her in the picture.








More fresh tracks at the North Bowl. Don't you love it when the Sun is out after a powder dump?










On the chairlift to get back to the car - a very satisfying day! The people who made the tracks under this chairlift would have been pretty happy also.

Hope everyone is well and talk again soon!

CLS & JS

More snow :-)

Hi guys,

I think I am leading a blessed life - we woke to another 6 inches of snow this morning and of course it was "game on"! I managed to drag a tired Josie out of bed and we managed to get more fresh tracks! We managed to get a few fresh run of the Peak 10 Area, when I noticed that the Imperial Express lift had just opened - being the highest chairlift around it was bound to have decent snow! We raced across and lined up with the other powder hounds.

The thing about the Imperial Express is there aren't many chairs actually operating on the lift. So it actually ended up being a 20 minute wait (was I back in Australia?!). Still we managed to get to the top of the chairlift (all 12,840 feet) when we decided to hike additional 158 feet to the very top of the mountain - talk about a tough hike! At this altitude, every step was tough! We saw a few people start to hike up and after about 5 steps they had to take a rest (or they just gave up and came back down). Of course Josie and I are made of stronger stuff then that and got the top. Here's a pic of Josie just reaching the top, tired but happy...

I probably should have taken a few more photos, but hey there was powder waiting for us :). We took a nice leisurely run down and it was like sex on snow :) Gotta love that floating feeling! We passed a sign that said "Please watch out for hidden objects below the snow" - hmm not sure how we can see "hidden objects"....perhaps they should have reworded that?! I "managed" to run over a few little rocks but nothing a base grind couldn't fix :-)

All in all it was probably our best powder day of the trip - we both left the ski area absolutely elated! I was bought back to earth when Josie said we had to go to the supermarket to buy food. Damn even on holidays one can't escape the necessities of life! Then again I still managed to find some humour grocery shopping. Check out the size of the cereal boxes - they just aren't quite big enough for Josie ;-)

Hope you're all well!

CLS & JS

More Powder and 2 wheel drive experiences......

Hey everyone - After reading the Snow Reports in California and seeing their resorts getting hit with 20+ inches in a day, we were wondering if it was going to happen to us! Well we got hit with a storm and although it was 4 inches it is a start! More snow is forecast tomorrow so another powder day awaits!

Josie had a day off today which left me to hold the fort against the snow and of course I was more then willing to do so. Managed there early (8:20ish) and once again the resort was deserted - its a great feeling to beat the crowds! We worked out that the holiday makers don't seem to get to the hill until about 10am so I had a at least an hour and a half to grab some fresh turns, which I took full advantage of - nothing beats a few faceshots - I mean shots of snow in the face (you disgusting minded people :-) )

By 10:30ish the resort was jam packed - the chairlift to one of the peaks had about 30 minute wait. Bugger that I thought and I headed for home to pick up Josie as we had plans to hike and ride Baldy Mountain. We started our drive up the hill and lets just say we had a few issues! The car we currently have is only a front wheel drive and combine that with lots of snow on the road and a steep uphill and....well you get the picture - we weren't going anywhere up any hill! With Josie behind the wheel, a couple of guys helped me push the car up the hill for a mile or so but in the end we had to concede that this hill was just a bit too much for our little red Volkswagon! We'll have to wait for Dave & Jeff to turn up in their 4WD's to get up that hill (or wait for the snow to stop falling!).

Oh yeah, we were at the gym today and they have these new exercise bikes - they are hooked up to a computer screen which simulates a road ride - so cool! It's pretty much the same as a normal bike - you even have to change gears up hill, etc. Apparently they are going to network them together so you can race "one on one" or even against people in different locations! Its like playing a network game but you actually have to exercise - AWESOME!

Hope everyone is well and will talk again soon!
CLS & JS

Brush with Fame at Coldstone!

Hey all,

TV Ads in the USA are so frank - not only do they advertise Viagra openly (Viva Viagra!), but they also talk about other medicines that could lead to a decrease in semen amongst other things. But tonight we got a special treat - an ad that is supposed to control genital herpes. Yup, apparently "Valtrex is the only proven treatment guarenteed to reduce the spread of the herpes infection" - Awesome! What more can I say? The ad was played during "America's Next Top Model" so that might be saying something.

Breckenridge has claim to the highest chairlift in North America and with conditions pretty mild today (-5! Finally not too cold!), we took this lift which climbs to 12,840 feet (3,913 metres). At this height, the weather changes super quick! One minute, the visibility is perfect, the next you struggle to see your feet! Still the quality of the snow was great - when the sun is out it will be hard to beat!

We had a minor brush with fame tonight - after some yummy thai, we headed to Coldstone, an ice cream parlour where you can mix ice cream with other goodies like choc chips, gummy bears, hell they will even smash up a Snickers bar if you want! Anyways as were lining up for our dessert (Orange Dreamscicle with choc chips & chocolate sauce! Awesome!), this scruffy haired guy lines up behind us - it turns out to be Shaun White, who won the half pipe Gold Medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics at Turino. He might be an amazing snowboarder, but man he needs a haircut :-) In case you don't know who he is, here is a pic........

Told you he needs a haircut! Hope everyone is well!

CLS & JS

A New Years Hike....

Welcome 2008!
Hope everyone has recovered from their New Years Eve celebrations! We actually managed to snowboard on New Years Day - mind you we didn't get on the chairlift until about 10:30am - we needed the sleep in! Josie had the day off, however our friend Dave came up for day from Denver to hit the slopes. It was his first day of the season, whilst I am up to Day 16 ;-)

He was actually supposed to arrive in Breckenridge the before, but the highway into Breck was actually closed for 24 hours which stopped everything getting in! A few restaurants had to close as their food delivers failed to arrive - so whilst the ski fields were pretty empty (awesome!), there was limited food (SO NOT awesome!). Still everything seems to be back to normal now.

We woke up to no new snow this morning, so we elected for a sleep in :-) We then decided to go for a hike up Baldy Mountain, which is just outside Breckenridge. So we packed the snowshoes and started the hike. The track was pretty firmly packed so in the end we didn't need the snowshoes - we pretty much took them for a walk :-) We didn't actually reach the peak, as we were running out of time plus it was too bloody cold at 13,000 feet - but we did manage to reach one of the "false" peaks before we turned back. A few pics of the trek up are below:

We ran into this old Wood Mill on the way up. It was already at over 11,000 feet! I wouldn't want to work there ;-)




This truck was also next to the mill. I think it's fair to say it hasn't been driven in a while ;-)




Josie at the top of the "false" peak of Baldy Mountain. It was starting to get rather cold!




Josie and I together on the Baldy Mountain "peak" - We will climb the proper peak when it gets warmer!



We noticed a few people hiking up with their skis and snowboards up Baldy - I think after a huge dump it would be paradise! We're pretty keen to get more backcountry riding so looks like another place to explore!

Hope all is well and talk to you again soon!
CLS and JS