Susan and I just got back from a great, though somewhat chilly, ski trip to Copper Mountain with the Clear Lake Area Ski Club.

We flew into Denver on Saturday and arrived to sunny skies and 70 degree air. After loading up the bus, we headed off for the King Soopers grocery store to stock up on food and buy our Keystone/Breckenridge lift tickets. Then it was back on the road to our condos at Copper Mountain. The air temperature gradually got cooler as we got closer to the resort. After getting checked in, Susan and others rented their skis for the week.

On Sunday morning, we got in the lift line before it opened. The snow was in fairly decent shape all over the mountain. Susan and I skied mostly on the upper sections, getting in several long bump runs under the Resolution chair, as well as a few tree runs here and there. In the afternoon, we took the Storm King Poma surface lift to the top. Susan missed grabbing the pole the first time and had to come back and try again. Evidently the lift operator confused her by giving her too many last-second instructions on when to go. By the time she left the gate, the pole was already out of reach. Several snowboarders then followed her lead and missed it as well. Once we got to the top, we decided to stay on the front side rather than going around to the back bowls. The top part of Upper Enchanted Forest was wind-packed and rocky. However, once we got to the tree line the snow was nice and soft. After that we played around on the west side of the mountain, alternating between tree and bump runs.

Monday morning started out cold with three to four inches of fresh snow. It never did warm up, as the wind picked up as the day went on. The Storm King lift was closed for the day due to excessive wind. The other lifts were also occasionally slowed or halted due to wind. I picked up some frostbite on my cheeks. My 2-week-old beard was shaved off that night, as it was causing ice to build up next to my skin. Maybe next year I'll be smart enough to buy one of those nice warm face masks to wear. I may also have to work on my glove system, as my fingers got pretty cold at times. Needless to say, I didn't mind stopping to take a lunch break, even if I only ate what I was carrying in my pockets. Had to go inside to get my energy bar to thaw out.

As of 5:00AM on Tuesday morning, the temperature at the base of Copper was reported to be -22F. Naturally, this was the day that Susan, Barry, Val, and I decided to go over to Breckenridge. It took about an hour for us to get there riding the Summit Stage free shuttle buses. Once we got on the slopes, I talked everyone into heading over to the Peak 10 lift to start the day. Oops. It was not working yet. That means we got to pole/skate "down" one of the flattest runs around to get back to the base. Unfortunately, we ended up repeating this pattern for much of the day. The wind was causing most of the lifts to shut down for periods throughout the day. Needless to say, it was pretty chilly at the top with the wind in your face. We lost Barry when we decided to go down a double-diamond bump run after doing a couple of frigid "warm-up" runs down cruisers.

After getting stuck on a lift or two, the three of us headed back over to Peak 10. We started off with a fairly icy/rocky black run, then went back up to try Mustang, a nice and steep double diamond run at the edge of the resort. It was in great shape with plenty of soft snow. Unfortunately, the run-out was another flat trail. It probably took us 15 minutes to pole/skate/walk out of there. We decided to take a lunch break to recover from all of our cross-country skiing. By then the temperature was a balmy 10 degrees or so. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing lift roulette, trying to guess which ones were going to shut down next. The upper lifts on Peak 8, where some of my favorite runs are, never opened. We did several tree runs, where Susan kindly demonstrated how to untangle yourself from tree branches, etc. We also mixed in a few steep bump runs, as well as a couple trips down double diamond runs in the Devil's Crotch area. Susan quit a little early and ran into Barry as he was leaving to catch the bus. Val and I finished the day with a few last speed runs in the wind. We missed catching our shuttle bus by about 10 seconds, so the three of us got to enjoy the fading sunshine for an extra 30 minutes while waiting for the next bus.

On Wednesday, Susan and I caught the early shuttle bus to Frisco, where we were able to get on the Vail Express shuttle for $10 a person round-trip. After some hassles getting changed into our ski boots and finding a token for the locker for our shoes, we finally hit the slopes. After several warm-up runs and one trip into the back bowls, Susan's altitude sickness was still causing problems. It probably didn't help that her husband was playing the part of the impatient instructor/jerk. The visibility also deteriorated quite a bit, as the wind started blowing the light snow and fog around. Around lunchtime, Susan sent me off to ski by myself while she went back to the front side runs. I immediately headed over to the new Blue Sky Basin area. Vail advertises it as having plenty of "intermediate" glade runs, but everything I skied was solidly of the black or double black variety. I absolutely had a blast skiing numerous tree runs with lots of fresh, soft snow. I stayed over there until they closed the lifts, then headed back to the front side for a few last runs before meeting up with Susan for the bus ride home. We both agreed that we need to go back there for more than just one day.

On Thursday, we again skied at Copper. It was still pretty cold and windy. By the time Susan sent me off to ski by myself, the Storm King lift was again closed, shutting off access to the back bowls. I found out later that you could hike up from the top of another lift, but I never did make it back there. While we were skiing together, Susan and I did lots of tree runs. She also found out how easy it is to have a pole yanked from your grasp by tree roots and branches. This resulted in my demonstration of how to crawl on soft snow with your skis off where if you try to stand up, you sink in up to your waist. Made for an fun diversion. We also had an interesting encounter with a fellow skier who had released a ski. Just after I tossed it back up the slope to him, we discovered that the brake lever was busted. It took off on its own down the hill, with me in hot pursuit. Just as I was about to catch up to it, it veered off to the side of the trail and down into a creek bed. It practically disappeared into a hole in the snow and I had to use my poles like giant chopsticks to retrieve it while straddling the creek. Fortunately, it was a fairly small creek with only a little running water. I finished the afternoon playing around on the bump runs on the west side of the mountain and cruisers on the front face while Susan headed home early.

Friday was our last ski day. Susan, Barry, and I caught the early shuttle to Frisco, then transferred to the bus to Keystone. We found out the hard way that this takes about 80+ minutes. After taking a few cruisers to get back to the Outback section of the mountain, we did a whole bunch of tree runs before stopping for lunch. Barry then went off to ski without us, while I talked Susan into doing the short hike up to the South Bowl at the top of the Outback lift. The snow was a little crustier than we'd have liked, but the run-out through the trees was fun. Keystone had not gotten nearly as much snow as Copper, Breck, and Vail. There were lots of obstacles to dodge in the trees, including a lost ski that looked like it had been there for a few months. At around 3:30, Susan decided to meet up with Barry to catch the shuttle back to the condo. I had planned on doing some night skiing, but the gondola was out of action. I offered to just ski a few more runs, then ride back on the 4:30 bus with her, but Susan still wanted to catch the 4:00 bus. I ended up going back up top and warming up inside, then skied under the lights until after 6:00. The ride up on the quad wasn't too cold, but usually by the time I finished each run my fingers felt like frozen fish sticks. I went inside a couple of times to thaw them out. The air temperature was somewhere below zero, but there wasn't too much wind. They only groomed one of the flatter runs and the others were a mixture of piles of fresh snow and big slick spots resembling ice rinks. Made it hard to stay in control at high speed. In spite of the conditions, this was still a very fun day.

Our trip leader, Jim Moncur, did a great job throughout the week. He got a lot of help from his wife, Julie. In addition to a great group dinner at the local Mexican restaurant early in the week, we went over to Club Med on Thursday evening for an all-you-could-hope-to-eat buffet. Plenty of steak, King Crab legs, salmon, mahi-mahi, wine, and other goodies to go around. Walt and Teena had been staying there the whole week. They said every meal was like that. You'd have to wheel me to the slopes on a gurney with food like that each day.

The trip home on Saturday was relatively painless, if you don't count checking in at curbside in sub-zero temperatures with a stiff breeze. Getting through security took a while as well. When we got back to Houston in the afternoon, it was even windier and still cold. At least we were used to it. Hopefully by next season, we'll have figured out how to head off Susan's altitude sickness. She had problems with it on all but the last ski day. Of course, Summit County has some of the highest resort bases in the country. Unless we come across a winning lottery ticket, we're probably through skiing for the year.

Think SNOW!!!