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February 19 - 28, 2002
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 Breckenridge, CO
It snowed on and off all day today. It made it difficult to take today off, but I had several things to do to prep the RV for a week of cold storage. We hadn’t found a place to plug in the RV in Vail so we knew that we would have to prepare it for freeze conditions. First on the list was an appointment I made for service on the RV. I had noticed a leak in the transmission lines where they go in and out of the transmission cooler. The leaks left a couple red stains on the cement at our campsite. I was fortunate to get in and out of the repair in less than two hours.
I was left with plenty of time to flush the black water tank, drain the fresh water tank, drain all the lines and pump RV antifreeze into the water lines. I managed to do all of this as the snow blew in. Christine busied herself getting her lessons out of the way for the week. We both felt very satisfied with our preparations and looked forward to meeting our friends tomorrow.
Christine: As we couldn't use any water in the RV, we enjoyed dinner and beers at one of the remaining breweries in Summit county this evening, The Backcountry Brewery in Frisco. Of the five Summit county breweries we only have one left to enjoy.
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 Vail, CO
We woke early to discover a heavy overnight accumulation and massive snowflakes still falling. This inspired us to get an early start over Vail pass on I-70. This is the most snow we’ve seen since we’ve been out here. We picked up some Starbucks Coffee in Frisco and slowly made our way up and over Vail pass without any problems.
We had enough time to stop on our way to the Eagle County Airport and wash the front of the RV. We picked up our close friends at the airport and made our way back to Vail. Christine and I had been skiing with Nancy, Harlan and Jackie for years. Nancy invited two of her friends to join us, Carolyn and Vince. We stopped for an early lunch at the Gore Range Brewery in Edwards to feed our eastern friends and then moved into our Vail condo. Everyone arranged their ski rentals while Christine and I took care of the grocery shopping. Everything was coming together nicely. I finally parked the RV for the week. I disconnected the batteries and locked it up.
We all stayed in the condo this evening and enjoyed several of Christine’s Boboli pizzas. It was very relaxing as we all got acquainted and watched the Olympics broadcast.
Thursday, February 21, 2002 Vail, CO
We were all pretty eager to hit the slopes this morning and take advantage of all the new snow. Harlan, Jackie and I made our way back to China Bowl to ski the freshies. The snow was wet and dense powder, making it very demanding to ski through. After tiring ourselves in the freshies we hooked up with the rest of the gang at a very crowded Two Elk lodge at the summit for lunch. Two Elk lodge is an impressive timber frame building with a massive amount of space inside. The lodge reached national news several years ago when ELF (Earth Liberation Front) burned it to the ground in protest of Vail’s ongoing development of its ski resorts. Vail rebuilt Two Elk lodge to its original grandeur and completed its development plans of the ski resort. So I’m left wondering what ELF accomplished by such criminal destruction.
Carolyn had recently caught the flu and chose not to ski today because of her raw throat. The rest of us skied together this afternoon and enjoyed some après ski beers at Golden Peak and some margaritas in Vail Village. Later we all returned to the condo for a soak in the hot tub before cleaning up and going out for dinner at the Hub Cap Brewery in the village. It had been a good day all around.
The necessary bus picture. We took advantage of the free shuttle system in Vail many times a day.
Friday, February 22, 2002 Vail, CO
It was a beautifully clear day and we all made our way to the slopes together. We took some group photos and spent the morning skiing as a group together. It was a lot of fun to manage to remain a group. Carolyn was finally overwhelmed by her flu and went to the medical center for proper diagnosis. Jackie went along to keep her company. The rest of us skied through the afternoon and ended up at Garfinkels in Lionshead for après ski.
We returned to the condo for our prescribed soak in the hot tub and awaited the arrival of an eighth member to the group. Vince had invited a friend of his over from Boulder to join us for the weekend. Tom arrived in time to go out for a late dinner. Several of us headed into Vail for a fine Mexican meal.
By Christine: I
1) Nancy, Christine, Jackie, Carolyn, Vince, and Harlan. 2) Christine and Nancy enjoy lunch and the great live music behind them.
Saturday, February 23, 2002 Vail, CO
The flu took hold and Christine was really in bad shape and clearly could not ski today. Christine and Carolyn spent the day together while the rest of us skied. It was a clear warm day and we all had a great time. We returned to the condo to eat in for the evening. Christine baked up the lasagna that she had prepared last week, and followed it with her bread pudding covered with Irish whisky sauce. It was a great way to spend the evening as we sat around sharing stories.
Our lasagna dinner: Christine, Tom, Nancy, Vince, Carolyn, Jackie, and Harlan.
Sunday, February 24, 2002 Vail, CO
Christine showed little improvement this morning and again stayed off the mountain with Carolyn. Nancy signed up for an all day ski lesson. This left the five of us guys to rip it up together on the slopes. This morning we played in the few inches of powder that had fallen overnight. The sun came out later and we just crisscrossed the mountain having fun. After a few après ski beers at Golden Peak we returned to the condo for a dinner of pork tenderloins done on the grill by Jackie. Christine had busied herself preparing another fine dinner. Tom had to get back to Boulder, so he ducked out before dinner. He had been a lot of fun to have around, in spite of his short stay.
Carolyn and Jackie
Monday, February 25, 2002 Vail, CO
Everybody hit the mountain today on this, the final ski day for our friends. Christine toughed it out through her illness and forced herself to ski today. The seven of us enjoyed shorter lift lines and a relaxing day on the mountain. We all did well to ski together today. We even posed for some fun group pictures atop the mountain.
We all cleaned up for a final evening out. We had a great dinner in Lionshead and rode the RV back to our condo. I got permission to park the RV in the condo’s front circle overnight. This makes it a lot easier for us to load it and make our planned 6:45 AM departure tomorrow morning. We loaded a bunch of our stuff into the RV tonight, and then we sat around trying to kill some of the bottles of liquor that remained. The effort was much less than in previous years, but we all still enjoyed some roaring laughter. It had truly been a great gathering of friends.
By Christine: Below you will find many pictures from our Vail group. Even with being sick, I have enjoyed the laughter and friendship of this week.
Above are copies of the pictures the Vail Sharpshooters took of our group on the top of the mountain.
Joe set up and told everyone to ski past him so he could get "action" shots. First we have Carolyn who skied awesome considering she only got two days of skiing in on this trip. We look forward to her passing us all up on the next trip. Second, Jackie is the snowboarder of the group. We have to have at least one snowboarder so we can complain about all snowboarders. :) Third, Nancy is the glue that holds this group together. Fourth, we've been wearing Vince out and he needed a rest.
Nancy is our faithful trip coordinator. She has been putting these ski trips together for years and deserved recognition for that effort, as we often don't make it easy on her. This trip we all pitched in to show our Thanks.
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 Avon, CO
6:00 AM came pretty early this morning, but everyone got right at the job of packing up and moving out. We pulled out of Vail before 7:00 and easily reached the Eagle County Airport in time for everybody’s flights.
Christine and I began looking for a place to spend the next few nights as we ski Beaver Creek. We were hoping to find a spot in the Avon trailer park to camp, but there just isn’t any camping in the Avon area. We decided to splurge and get a motel room at the Comfort Inn for the next few nights. It will be nice to have this comfort as we celebrate our third wedding anniversary tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 Avon, CO
We bundled up and enjoyed our first day of skiing at Beaver Creek. The mountain was nearly empty for us and we enjoyed some good skiing. Christine’s throat was being aggravated by the cold air. She decided to quit for the day after lunch. I asked her to wait while I went up for a couple more runs. I was having a good day on the bumps and flying down the wide-open groomed runs. The snow was hard-packed and good for carving some high speed turns.
I was speeding down a groomed run near the end of my second run when it happened. I was on a run that I hadn’t yet inspected, and was skiing faster than I should have been—not knowing the conditions of the run. I had expected the hard-pack conditions of the day to be constant on this run. I was surprised to encounter a massive sheet of ice as I carved into a right-hand turn. My skis quickly lost their edge on the ice and I flew into the air coming down first on the back of my head. I saw several starbursts when my head slammed against the ice. I finally came to a moaning writhing stop as skiers rushed to my side. I’m sure that the wipeout was spectacular to those that witnessed it.
I slowly regained my composure as people brought me my goggles and ski that got away from me during the tumble. A Beaver Creek Guest Services skier offered to call Ski Patrol, but instead we agreed to just have him follow me down the mountain and make sure that my skiing looked okay. I made it down a bit shaken up and then filled Christine in on what had happened. Today had been my 27th day of skiing this season, and this had been my worst fall.
I should have inspected the run at a slower speed before taking such an aggressive run. At inspection speed I could have observed the ice patch with more time to react. I know better, and will be more deliberate in the future about inspecting my runs.
Christine and I returned to the condo and cleaned up for a celebratory anniversary dinner. We had a great evening out reflecting on our past three years of marriage. We really have a good thing going.
Thursday, February 28, 2002 Avon, CO
We got a slow start this morning. My body was still a bit shaken. My neck, in particular, has been giving me problems. My neck muscles seem to have been strained by the jarring impact, and it is hard for me to lift my head from a prone position. Christine’s throat continues to menace her, so she opted to stay in the RV and catch up on her school reading. This left me to ski alone as I climbed back on the horse that had bucked me off yesterday.
The first run I did today was back to the scene of my wipeout yesterday. The conditions were even worse today with many of the runs displaying large patches of ice. I had committed to forcing myself through five runs today in an effort to recover my confidence. The groomed runs were so icy that I transferred my attention to the bump runs. I got my five runs in despite the crazy feelings in my body. It was important for me to be back up there today.
Christine was grateful for the study time
alone and was happy that I got back on my skis today.
Yesterday’s fall had really been a serious fall.
We returned to our motel room and cleaned up for a dinner of barbecue at
Cassady’s Restaurant.