Breck

What a great week of skiing at one of the highest resorts in the US. We arrived on MLK weekend and as expected the crowd from the front range had arrived. We caught the early lift and had most of the mountain to ourselves until around 11:30. When the slopes started being covered by rental wearing  people lying on the ground, we called it a day.

Happy legs at this point.

We skied in the clouds at the top and could hear the crunching of the snow under our feet.

Love the corduroy.

Fresh powder on  Centennial early in the day.

This one is for Krista. Chair number 1. We were #2.

She always wanted to ride chair #1 but how do you know if you in #1 are unless you know how many chairs there are.



We were in and out of the clouds with little or no lift lines.

First tracks in the Imperial Bowl in the clouds. This is the highest lift in the US.

A good way to rest the legs at the end of the day.

 

Good thing we packed the biofreeze, ibuprofen and heating pad.

 

No people here.

Or here

Great grooming never gets old

 

A day of laundry, grocery shopping and leg resting were due after 3 days of skiing. While heading to Silverthorne, my stomach started to grumble as we arrived in Frisco. Eggs Butterhorn and a sticky bun were calling. We did share.

A person can't grocery shop on an empty stomach.

On the ceiling

Another blue bird day.

 

 

 

We met with some friends from Colorado Springs. I skied with the boys until we met Renee for lunch. The boys wanted to hit some chutes. My legs were shot so the girls headed out for a nice run of our own. My last run of a fun day with nice people.

We got out early for our last day skiing with friends and were headed to Peak 10's expert runs. We had just gotten off the lift on a green run enjoying the newly groomed snow when Mike hit a divot made by the snowcats and blew out and hit that tree with his shoulder and neck. We find you relax more on the easy runs which gives you less of a chance to recover from an unseen obstacle. I was close by and was able to get to him right away and asked our friends to call the ski patrol which is right around the corner from us.  Until I could get next to him, I wasn't sure if he was unconscious or dead. We got his skis off and released his arms that were held down by the wrist loops of his poles that were under his back and released his helmet that was choking him before the patrolman arrived. After giving Mike a good head to toe assessment, he gave Mike his options for treatment. One that was to refuse treatment. I immediately said that was not an option because of the thoracic pain he was having. He opted to take the toboggan to the clinic at the bottom of the mountain for xrays. He was released with contusions after some good quick care by all.

 

The Ibuprofen, Biofreeze and massage have helped him quite a bit. But will be a few more days before we get back out on the slopes again. Now, we are enjoying just chilling out and having some quiet time. As I always say, "Life can change in a blink of an eye".

 

 

 

 

Frenchman's Bend Hot Springs

 Skis are only good for so long before a person needs a new pair. People along Warm Springs Road leading into Ketchum from the west, seemed to have recycling down to an art.

 

 

Functional for sitting and waiting.

Fly fishermen around about every corner along the bike path as we finished our warm 30 mile bike ride with temps in the high 80s.

Just plain silly art

Base of Bald Mountain Ski  Resort, where we had skied a few years ago, looks much different in the summer.

Newberry, VT ski team training on the trails (the guy in yellow way down the path). They were pretty speedy on their cross country skates.

You can see the theme of this blog has been a lot about skiing. Half way through our bike ride, Mike stopped at a ski shop sale and found his birthday present, Kastle MX 105 with Rossi Axial 120 bindings. Just the sound of the names make him quiver.

He was looking at them with that special sparkle in his eyes and a gentle caress. He asked if I wanted to go with him to get them and I passed. He likes to visit with the sales guy and look things over. I am just ready to get in and get out and told him I had things to do. He should go alone. He seemed pretty happy about that.

Our last day in Ketchum and Sun Valley we headed 10 miles down Warm Springs Road into the national forest. The only way to find the hot springs is a turnout and a sign on the hill. We walked a short distance along the dirt road and saw the steam coming from the bubbles in the pools, thermally heated to a piping 110°—and better than any resort hot tub.

After an hour alone, people started to show up, a few at a time. We enjoyed visiting with a lady whose father was the Green Hornet in the 1960s. She has done stunt work for models that didn't want to dive into the water and boy was she fit.

 

When I would start to get too warm, I would dip over into the cold river so I could return to the warm. Idaho has too many hot springs to count. Some are commercial and many are in the national forest and BLM land to use for free and beautiful. We may have to come back and try more of them out.

 

 Our question after being here a couple of days was "why didn't we plan to stay longer?"

We fixed that by canceling some reservations and rerouted our plans to stay 10 days in the area instead of the original four.

Spring skiing in Vail, Colorado

We got a few last days of spring skiing in before the ice and slush started. It doesn't matter how many days I ski in Colorado, it is the best day.

The views always are amazing and the cold air and sunshine can't be beat.

The number of people participating in snowboarding is dropping off so Burton provided a course and snowboards for the kids during the Snowboarders World Cup. I got to take the boys for a trial run while Krista and Luke were skiing and I was being Grandma. Tyler decided skiing was better since you don't fall so much. Kyle thought he would take a pass. We were glad to spend the time with them.