11/30/08

Day 7

Conditions: 4+ inches of fresh on man made
Location: Keystone, CO

It just kept snowing. It was too windy for the gondola to run, so we hauled ourselves to the lift line at 8:15 a.m. so we would be ready for the 8:30 opening (the lifts opened at that time all weekend. Either the lifties were too hung over to start on time, or the website was wrong, because we stood there with more than 50 other people for over forty five minutes until the chair finally started running at 9:00.

Highlights:

- Powder runs where there is no board, boots, bindings, legs, hips, or shoulders; there is just one fluid, esoteric motion. It’s a flow thing, and it doesn’t happen often to us Midwest riders. It felt good to make turns like that.

Lowlights:

- By 10:20 a.m. we had to book out of there. It had been snowing for 3 days and we needed to take I-70 to Denver to catch a 7:00 p.m. flight. We gave ourselves 5 hours to get to the airport, and we barely made it. Many people didn’t make it through I-70. We were lucky that our drive and flight had no major glitches.

Après Ski:

The travel day continued with our flight out of town and a drive from Metro Airport back to Lansing. We got home just in time for Steph to catch 3 hours of sleep before waking up to find out that there was no snow day (despite pretty dismal road conditions) and she had to get ready for work. Two words: worth it.

Days to go: 43

11/29/08

Day 6

Conditions: 4+ inches of fresh on man made
Location: Keystone, CO

It didn’t stop snowing all day or night, and we woke up to find snow everywhere. It was a little disappointing that every resort around us reported more snow, but we stayed at Keystone anyway. While waiting in the Gondola line, Dirk struck up a conversation with a guy who had the same snowboard. Ian, as it turned out, played football for U of M and the Denver Broncos. We had a nice chat while waiting over 20 minutes for the gondola to get going and take us to the top.

Highlights:

- Soft snow all day
- The first powder runs of the season

Lowlights:

- More crowds. We quit before 1 p.m. because there were just too many little kids trying to pizza wedge competing with freestyle skiers with extra long T-shirts hucking every ledge or push pile in sight. It was madness and people were getting taken out like republicans in the senate.

Après Ski:

We made tacos and watched The Devil Wears Prada.

Days to go: 44

11/28/08

Day 5

Conditions: 2 inches of fresh on man made
Location: Keystone, CO

We woke up to some fresh snow blanketing the ground; it was a welcome change from the pavement and dirt we saw over the past few days

Highlights:

- Finding soft snow all day
- Hucking push-piles in the afternoon

Lowlights:

- Crowds, crowds, crowds. It was a game of bumper cars on every slope, and there were plenty of yellow-coated patrollers with whistles telling people to slow down. In general, that didn’t slow most people down. Dirk did have an accident with another snowboarder, who stayed on the ground and was hit again amongst the chaos.

Après Ski:

We watched some football and went out to dinner. We also tried to go to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory. To Dirk’s great disappointment, it was closed.

Days to go: 45

11/27/08

Day 4

Conditions: Man Made
Location: Keystone, CO

We spent the day at Keystone, where our condo was located. Dirk insisted on driving to the parking lot, because it was free. To get to the parking lot, we actually drove past the ski hill and around the resort. As a result, we walked just as far from the parking lot to the lift as we would have walked from our condo to the lift. At least Dirk felt good about it.

Highlights:

- Long, smooth runs
- Riding switch and getting better at it.

Lowlights:

- None, it was a good day.

Après Ski:

Weeks ago, we looked at several options for our Thanksgiving Day feast. Ultimately, we chose the Big Horn Steakhouse because it had some good fish and vegetarian options. It was going to be our nice dinner out for the trip. We double checked the menu and made our reservation. When we arrived, we found out the four star restaurant was converted to an upscale old country buffet for the night. Regrettably, there was no mention of this on the website or when we got a reservation confirmation online. No ordering, no serving, just drag yourself to the buffet and pile up your plate. After much discussion, we went home and made pasta. We just couldn’t justify dropping a lot of cash on a buffet.

Days to go: 46

11/26/08

Conditions: Man-made
Location: Breckenridge, CO

We woke up at 4:15 a.m. to take the shuttle to the airport for a direct flight to Denver. By 8:00 a.m. we were in Denver, and by 10:00 a.m. we were on the slopes. The only downside was that everyone else was hitting the slopes too. There were two main categories of riders: People who were incredibly slow, and people who wanted to go as fast as possible. And, both these groups had to share the same three runs.

Highlights:

- We were making turns on long runs and riding high-speed chairs, which is more than we could say of Boyne.

Lowlights:

- By 2:00 Colorado time, we had been up for 12 hours. So everything seemed a bit foggy by the afternoon

Après Ski: We checked into our condo, went to dinner, and went grocery shopping. By 7:30 Colorado time, we were in bed.

Days to go: 47

11/23/08

Day 2

Conditions: Packed fresh and man-made
Location: Boyne Mountain, MI

We woke up with a football hangover from the MSU loss to Penn State. Luckily, nothing cures a football loss like a little snowboarding.

Highlights:

- Hiking Superbowl and finding some untouched snow on the way down.
- Getting our legs for the upcoming trip out west.

Lowlights:

- The crowds. At times, Victor looked like a traffic jam.

Après Ski: We checked out of our hotel and hit the road around 1:00 in the afternoon. We drove back to Lansing. Unfortunately, we missed the part of the Lions game when they were actually winning, and we only saw the final minutes of another humiliating loss.

Days to go: 48

11/22/08

Day 1

Conditions: 10 inches of fresh and man-made
Location: Boyne Mountain, MI

We left Williamston at 5:00a.m. and made our way North to Boyne Mountain. The snow was decent, but the crowds were significant. In a flash back to the 50’s, only Hemlock and Victor chairs were open. As a result, we only clocked 7-8 runs per hour, in contrast to the 15+ we get when the high-speed chair is open. It was nice to see the regulars and get our legs.

At noon, we quit to eat lunch and watch the UM/OSU game. Unfortunately, the bar was filled with MI fans. Sure, we were cheering for U of M, like and self-respecting MSU fan did that day. But these guys were alpha males, and racists based on some of their comments. It was disturbing, and confirmed that all U of M fans are assholes.

Highlights:

- Poaching Meadows and Victor, even though we hit dirt.

Lowlights:

- The crowds. At times, Victor looked like a traffic jam.

Après Ski: We spent the night in the new Boyne Hotel, where we watched MSU end their regular season with a tough loss. But, 9-3 isn’t bad at all.

Days to go: 49

Season Preview

50 Days, Volume 2 - The Entire Video

Countdown to the 08/09 season 11/19/08

Boyne Highlands and Mountain opened today and the season is right around the corner. We got out all our stuff and started packing for the weekend. It can't come soon enough. The only downside is that we will miss the UM/OSU game. We will be able to catch the Spartens, however.