First Snow Daze

Well, with the coming of winter comes snow. Some people get very upset by this... not us! We love it! (okay, I love it. Josh has a love-hate relationship with it) Snow means snowboarding to us, and we have a whole slew of new resorts to try this year. We got the 5-mountain Peaks Pass which gives us season passes to three resorts and a 10-pack to two more - its a steal!

Our first trip up was to Breckenridge. We'd had friends in California who lived there for a season and had just wonderful things to say about it. Another snowboarding buddy from Cali just happened to be flying through Denver and upon hearing we'd be riding that weekend changed her plans to include two days on the mountain with us.

Our first trip up the lifts explained just why the nick-name for this resort is "Brecken-fridge" - it was coooooold!! Our neck gaiters were frozen by the time we reached the top, but they still were warmer than not having them at all. We had a nice, light dusting of snow going all day over the packed powder and we were able to hit a lot of the runs on the front face of Peak 9 and Peak 10.

Josh had just gotten a new board from All-Boards Sports in Boulder - a Volkl Spirit, 165. He worked with our friend (the owner) to determine just what board he needed based on his riding skills and style. What a difference! Josh was carving through the runs like butter - not fighting turns and catching edges all day. He was beating me down the mountain!

That night we headed to downtown Breckenridge for dinner and a drink or two. We had a recommendation from a number of people for a place called Rasta Pasta. Yup, a Rastafarian pasta restaurant. We agreed, it was yummy! Jerked chicken in a tomato-based sauce with lots of spices over pasta - Mmmmmm. Oh, and what Rastafarian meal would be complete without a Red Stripe or two?

Sunday we decided to try a different resort and hit Keystone. Steeper runs, bigger mountain and younger crowd. Totally diggin' it! The snow wasn't as nice (nothing fresh), but for being so early in the season it was pretty good. Josh and I were a little sore from the previous day (hey, we hadn't ridden in two years!) so we only did a half-day on the front face. Our guest had a few more runs in and then we headed down the mountain so she could catch her flight back to the west coast.

We head up to Vail this weekend, but not to hit the slopes. We are going to see Counting Crows! The snow just isn't good enough after the warm streak we had this week to warrant the effort of taking boards, gear, etc. So we're going to head up for the show and do a little exploring of Vail Village and the area.

Our next trip up to ride won't be until after the holiday, and by then I'll have my new board (a Head Intelligence, 149) and we'll see who beats who down the mountain!