While we typically start our ski season in California/Nevada at Heavenly in Lake Tahoe, this year we kicked ski season off with a visit to one of our sons in Denver. We spent the next four weeks in Colorado, two of which were in the Frisco, Silverthorne, and Breckenridge area.
Visiting Our Son’s Home
Our son and his girlfriend have lived in Denver for about a year, and we had never visited, so he wanted us to see his place and meet their new puppy, Ruby. We were also able to unpack some of our stuff and leave it in our son’s storage unit, so we didn’t have to lug everything all over Colorado. Along with our family visit, we managed two meals out in the downtown area where they live. Our first meal out was brunch at a popular local place called Linger, and it was excellent, especially the Korean Fried Chicken, Pork Bao Buns, and the Churro French Toast.
Since we really can’t get decent Chinese food in Playa, we were anxious to have Chinese food while in the US, maybe more than once. So, we found a Chinese restaurant. I thought the food was so good that I just remember eating, and not exactly what I ate. We always try to take pictures of the food, but we are missing pictures of the Pad Se Ew, Chicken Eggplant, Fried Rice, and the potstickers. The food was gone by the time we remembered about the pictures, yum.
Staying with Friends in Frisco
After our short visit in Denver, we headed up to Frisco, Colorado, to stay with friends. Last year, we stayed at their home while they were gone, but this year, they were home, so plenty of visiting was involved. During that first week, a big storm made for awesome snow conditions. We tried to take advantage of it, but we decided to pace ourselves and ski only two out of every three days. Of course, we tried to get out on the good snow days, but still had plenty of free time.
Our friends were also able to join us for a day on the slopes at Breckenridge. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Tavern West in Frisco together. We enjoyed it enough to return another day.
How We Spent Our Free Time
Having not skied for three years and losing 40+ pounds plays havoc with your ski gear. My helmet and goggles were broken, my gloves were peeling, and none of my ski clothes fit. In addition, once I remembered how to ski, I was struck by how heavy and stiff my skis felt. That meant new helmet and goggles immediately, then new clothes, and finally new skis, but that required demoing first.
Mike also agreed to get new skis this year, so we both managed to find a time and a convenient place to demo skis. I wound up choosing the latest version of what I bought 10 years ago, Blizzard Black Pearls, one of the most popular women’s skis. The new one is much lighter and springier. Mike demoed for two days and chose a Head Kore ski that turned out to be pretty hard to find for sale, but I managed to wrangle up a pair.
For the helmet and goggles, we headed to Christy Sports, a large chain of ski shops in Colorado. For clothes, we headed to two Columbia outlets in Silverthorne, 10 minutes from where we were staying. I should mention we visited the Columbia outlet stores at least twice each because they had so much cool stuff for great prices. I actually got three new jackets, ski pants, and thermal underclothes that match the new jacket.
My Return to the Slopes
I know we talked about my return to the slopes in another article, but I’ve included some pictures of me conquering the bunny slope and then heading to bigger/better blue runs. I will admit that our first day at Breckenridge was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. We arrived at Peak 7, where the ski school is, and I surveyed the hill. I pointed to a hill that looked kind of steep and asked Mike if that was the bunny hill. He said yes. Ok, I got on the lift. Once at the top, I tried to refresh my memory about the fundamentals of skiing.
To my great relief and pleasure, by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, I had remembered how to ski. Then I realized that over the last 33 years, I’ve spent a lot of time on the slopes, and my muscle memory was still intact. Next came the bigger bunny slope, after one run there, I was ready for a big girl blue run. Off we went to Peak 8. Over the coming days, as I gained confidence, I graduated to more and more difficult slopes. I did, however, limit myself to groomed runs except on the two or three days we got heavy powder.
About Keystone and the Vail Resorts
We also avoided Keystone until our last week in Colorado because I had previously had two major injuries there. All went well this time, and they have a new lift going up to a powder-filled bowl that was just awesome.
I really want to say a few words about the food service at Vail resorts. Years ago, the food was excellent in all of the lodges, particularly at their flagship resort of Vail. Our experience on this visit was quite different. In one lodge, there were no cups for drinks, hot or cold, no coffee, no trays, and they didn’t even have any dessert offerings at all. I think there were only three entrée offerings, it was abysmal. I did send a note complaining, but I’m sure it is all about economics, and since Covid, staffing has been an issue. While we aren’t going to stop going, the food situation is disappointing. Maybe we will start with BYOL (lunch).
One other note, it seems in every picture of me on the slopes, I was smiling. I really do like skiing tremendously.
Timeshare in Breckenridge
For our second week in Breckenridge, we had gotten a timeshare trade into the Marriott, where we had stayed before. My perspective was a little unusual this time because when we had visited before, I wasn’t able to ski, so this visit was different: a short walk out and pretty much ski in, which was fun. Also, since we were totally on our own, we decided to visit a few of our favorite restaurants and a few new ones.
Our first night, we went back to Hearthstone, always good. Then we returned to the Blue River Bistro, they have a really interesting menu. Unfortunately, the other places we tried aren’t worth mentioning. But there is always next year.
Would you want to spend a month in Colorado skiing?
