First time out west skiing. Took the family, skiied breck, vail and beaver creek.

1) Fisherman, who were born and raised and spend their entire life within a few feet of sea level CAN NOT breath up there! THe first day i could hardly walk a flight a stairs without being winded...I mean really winded. (and I am not in ***that*** bad a shape) To get to the top of breck, (after taking a boat, car, two planes and another car) you need to take a 2 chairlifts, a t-bar, then walk a mile (steep up hill with not much O2 @ 13800' to get to the very top. ) For me, if I could not ride a chair or take a gondola, I didn't ski it. I could not climb to the top of my condo, no less the top of a friggin mountain. But even the trails that were reached by chairlifts were great.

2) views were amazing.

3) snow was perfect

4) vail back bowls make you feel like your on the planet mars, they are so wide and deep no camera has a wide enough lens to capture it. An amazing place.

5) If I win powerball, I may buy one of those $7mil "log cabin" ski home on beaver creek. Place is like a pristeeeene ski country club.

vail1

half way down "Poppyfields" (vail) looking back up

Normally we avoid green runs, we mostly ski blue and black runs but my kids must have skiied this little green-glade at beaver creek called "jack rabbit alley" 5x... I tell you it was a lot of fun. Knee deep snow in the woods with lots of dips and turns, all you heard were hoots and screams as they disappeared in the tall pines. At one point I stoped and was hip-deep in snow....it was really fun.

Awesome! Glad to hear you and your family had a good time. And I can absolutely verify the altitude effect on us "sea level" people. Did you go to any of the Oxygen Bars?

Great pictures!

one more heading to the main mtn at beaver creek...

O2 bars? no, wish I had, the first couple days were pretty rough for me. The first night I actaully got lost in the hotel and was like is a daze with a splitting headache. I drank a ton of water and gatorade but I thought I was going to pass out on the first day and actually quit skiing by 1:30pm and sat in the hot tub with a cool drink (no booze) I think if I partied hard up their I would just drop like a fly. They say you get use to it. The last day I was much better but still huffin and puffin a lot more then normally.

Good to be 13' above sea level again.

Did you eat at La Bottega??

That looks like an unbelievable time. The kids must hate beeing back at school.:laughs:

Great pics put up some more.

Wow Sandman...looks awesome! Hard not to enjoy yourself there!

I Just got back from four days at Mount Cranmore in New Hampshire where I watched (and coached) my oldest daughter in the Eastern Alpine J3 Championships. The Championships are for 13 & 14 years old ski racers that have qualified in their respective regions on the east coast. My daughter qualified out of the Tri State region (CT, RI, MA) where she was ranked 7th, earning her the right to move on to the championship. However, the competition at the Championships was top level (the best on the east coast) and drew kids from some of the best ski academies in the nation... Burke, Stratton Mountain School, Gould.

Ashley finished in the middle of the pack of 57 racers in slalom and giant slalom, and a bit further back in the super giant slalom. That's great in my mind considering the talent she was up against...some of which will surely be future olympians.

And while she may not be a future olympian, I am SO proud of her. There are not too many other sports that I know of that reguires the guts it takes to ski race. Throw in the fact that the championships were high stakes (they took the top 5 to go to junior olympics), and you're in for a day of real exitement.

She has accomplished more than I ever imagined since she first stood on skis almost 12 years ago when she was 2.

And now folks, the snow can melt...till next year!

Awesome pic's sandman!!!!!!!

Nice story Gary you must be proud:musc: