Full Speed Ahead

Skiing.  It's what we do in Breckenridge in the winter.  The conditions were ideal our first day out, and then the weather and visibility tanked for almost a week.  I mean, temps that never made it to the double digits (in Celcius, they never made it above -12, as the high), the wind that blew, and almost no visibility.  All conditions that kept us home.  And then we sucked it up when it hit anywhere above 15 degrees.  No matter - it was fun.  A blast, really.  And I only have a few snaps and videos to prove we were there at all because we were too busy running the slopes.

First lift, the first day.

Before really heading down the first run.

Holiday's always mean a line at the bottom.  So we try not to hit bottom.

Instead, we stay mid-mountain and keep riding up.  But then the lifts are slower.  This gives me time to take great snapshots when sitting, but I am not sure it saves us any time.

She posed for me so I could show how bad the visibility was.  We are pretty close to the bottom.  We should be able to see the runs of Keystone in the background...

This is what it was like on the way up.

Final Run.  Final Day.

Hot chocolate for the gondola ride home.

And of course the many entertaining faces of MadHatter.

Until next time Breck.

Snowmobiling Fun

Some of you may remember our snowmobiling fun last year.  It was our first time, it was at sunset, and it was also when I gave myself a black eye.  You don't remember?  You can refresh your memory by clicking here.  This time we were seasoned.  And we weren't going to the top of the peaks to catch the sunset.  I was pretty confident I could get out of this unscathed.  And thankfully, I was correct.  The only thing I might have changed about the whole thing was the girl that was handing out our snowsuits erred on the side of too big for each and every one of us.  Like 3 sizes too big.  I could have fit both kids in my suit!  And that left me a bit chilly at times as too much wind could get in through the gaps in the neck.  But all in all - a fantastic afternoon spent with family.  I can't wait to do it again when the girls are old enough to drive their own sleds (only 3 years for MadHatter as you only need to be 15!).

Ready to go!

My sidekick.

Sam and I at the top.

Splitting the continental divide.

Snowshoe Paradise

Christmas afternoon and MadHatter and I were getting a bit claustrophobic.  We decided the way to cure that was get outside and do some snowshoeing around the neighborhood.  Luckily for us, the neighborhood is part of the Nordic Center's trails so we have free and easy access.  Since it was a leisurely stroll, I let MadHatter lead the way and stop whenever she wanted (which was a lot).  Mostly she stopped because she saw a cute tree, or wanted to figure out where we were or needed to eat some snow.  Once she stopped to pose just like the man in the pictures on the trees telling us that we were on the right path (the wrong path is the cross country ski trail).  Mostly we just had fun being silly and getting out in the fresh air.

Getting a selfie with us is a feat...

MadHatter declared this the cutest tree in the forest.

A few days later, the temperatures and visibility dropped below zero Fahrenheit so we decided that skiing was just not an option.  MadHatter just didn't want to be out in the cold so I took a solo snowshoe, this time through the back yard and down around the city.  I could move a bit faster than I can when I have people with me, but it doesn't mean I didn't stop to enjoy the beauty that surrounded me.  And snap a few pictures...

The backyard swing.

Visibility is so poor you can hardly make out the ski slopes.

Three trees, growing up together.

About all that was visible of me that day in the cold.

Spring Skiing

Day two and we were already having to rearrange and modify plans.  Our original plans had involved various combinations of adults skiing with adults, kids skiing with adults and just generally all of us getting out there and enjoying the mountain.  What we hadn't factored in was one of the adults getting injured on day one...

After the morning of playing outside, that left the kids tired and ready for a movie, our lone adult male, G was ready to hit the slopes for an hour or two of afternoon skiing.  He and I headed up to get his rental skis, his lift tickets for the rest of the week and a quick read of the lift lines to see where he should go first.  G hopped on the gondola with me - he hopped off at Peak 7 after agreeing to meet up with the rest of us in the living room of One Ski Hill when the mountain closed and I continued on home.  Two hours later, A and I had all of the kids corralled at our waiting point when she got a call from G.  He had fallen and hurt himself and didn't know how he would get back down.  After a few back and forths, G made his way down and we got him back onto the gondola, into his truck and down the mountain to the urgent care facility.  Thankfully, his calf was just sprained and not torn, but sadly it still meant an end to his skiing while on this vacation. 

It also meant that the next morning A and I took her oldest 3 to ski school and then she headed back home to take care of her baby and sick man.  I stayed on the mountain with the girls and we got our fill of the fresh air.  The mountain was close to empty (check out the pics, there is hardly another soul in them and that isn't camera trickery) and the lift lines were non-existent so we were up and down and crossed from peak to peak and back again and still made it back home by noon.  Add the sunshine and warm day and you can see why I love Breck best in spring!

Ready to go...

But first a selfie...

Not a soul in sight.

So. Much. Snow. (and it continued to fall)

This video is mostly to show you the snow!  And the empty runs! (The skiing is the usual)

We grabbed some hot chocolate, hopped back on the gondola and took in the view of the runs we had just conquered and couldn't help but smile...