Ski-crazy weekend

My cousin, Viral, came to visit to go skiing from Mar 8-13. He wanted to go skiing 3, maybe 4 days and go out downtown a few nights. The problem is that the two don't mix very well since skiing requires getting up early. I had a tough time keeping up with him. Apparently they don't require sleep in NYC. Anyway, somehow we managed to do it even though I was exhausted.

Thursday, I wanted to go to Breckenridge because I really like that place, and I hadn't been in a few months. Unfortunately, when we went to bed Wednesday night, there was no new snow reported there, and it hadn't snowed anywhere for several weeks. The conditions weren't looking good. As luck would have it, when we woke up that morning to go (we were going to play it by ear to see where we were going), Breck reported 7" of new snow! I was pumped! It turned out to be one of my best days of the season. We had a great time. Unfortunately, my cousin was getting tired after just a few runs, and I was questioning how we were going to do 3 days, much less 4 days. I've only done 2 days in a row before, but I was convinced I could do 3 and maybe even 4 if I took it easy. So, we took a lot of breathers that day. I guess it turned out to just be a combination of a lack of sleep for him, not staying hydrated (like I told him to), and not being used to the altitude. He did much better after lunch.

I had to get back to Denver for the playoffs in the dodgeball league I was in. Normally, I would've skipped the game, but I couldn't bail on the team for the playoffs. So he stayed at home and rested while I went to play. I was pretty exhausted having had little sleep, drove like 4 hours and boarded all day, but when that whistle blew to start the game, I had all the energy in the world. We ended up having an amazing game with some amazing plays including Jolene making 2 great catches while she already had a ball in hand (normally, a big no-no) and Leon playing like an animal at the end of two games where he was all alone. He was dodging and diving and was on fire. In one game, he made a catch to get me in the game. They only had 1 or 2 players left, and when they were down to one, this guy was obviously about to throw it at me. I knew he was going to throw it at me, and he knew that I was going to try to catch it. He threw it, and I made the clutch catch. It was a great feeling as our team celebrated! I've kinda gained this reputation for the clutch catch at the end, but this was the 2nd time this season where it was like this where I felt this 1-on-1 showdown where I knew I was going to be the target and the thrower knew that I was going to try for the catch.

In any case, we played great and were up like 4-2, but then somehow dropped to 2 games behind. We only had a few minutes left before time would be called and Leon and I were in the game with 2 of their players. Our team on the sidelines were yelling that we need to win this game quickly so that we could try to get a quick 2nd win to tie it. Again, I made a catch in the clutch to give us 3 players to their one. We timed our throw and got the last girl out as the ref said that there was 7 seconds to go in the game. So here we were, down 1, with 7 seconds before the game is called. I was just telling my team "Reggie Miller time, Reggie Miller!" (which I found out later that no one knew what I was talking about). Of course, I was referring to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 1995 where Reggie scored 8 points in the last 16.4 seconds to beat the Knicks. So anyway, when time is called, the team with the most players gets the point. So basically we had 7 seconds to get someone on their team out (which is not easy). When the game starts everyone runs to the center line to grab dodgeballs after which you have to retreat behind a certain line before you can throw. So given the urgency, we decided to do 3 throwbacks, something that we had been doing maybe once per game throughout the season. With 6 players on our team, we decided that we'd have 3 people run to grab balls and then throw back to the other 3 players who would be behind the line. It was a longshot, but worth a try. The game started, and amazingly we managed to get one of their players out! We were so excited and knew that at this point we just had to stay back and let the rest of the 7 seconds run off. But somehow the impossible happened and my friend Shelan got out! I was speechless. I couldn't believe it. We were surely going to overtime, and suddenly the game was called a tie, so no one got the point which meant that we lost. There was a little arguing afterwards about the end result. We usually try to be good sports about everything, but we thought that time had been called before Shelan got out. Furthermore, I found out that some members of our team thought that we actually got another one of their players out before Shelan got out so it was a moot point. But apparently the ref didn't see that, and the girl in question didn't go out. We decided there was no point in arguing, and accepted the decision. It was an exciting finish, but not the result that we wanted. We went out for pizza afterwards, and my exhaustion hit me again. Everyone said that I looked spent while we were eating. The worst part was that Viral still wanted to go downtown that night! I got home and woke him up and told him that I was exhausted and couldn't go out and passed out. So yea ... that was Thursday!

Friday, we went to Copper Mountain, another one of my favorite places. We met up with my friend Cyndi, her husband (Kevin) and some of their friends. We stuck to the green runs in the morning, and Viral was doing much better having rested and hydrated himself. I was still tired, but when I'm boarding, I alway manage to find energy so I was fine. It was a very windy and cold day, and we got separated from everyone. After lunch, we met up with Kevin and did some harder runs which was soo much fun. We did some black diamonds off of the Superbee lift, and it was great. Viral left to the easier side because he was getting tired, but I did some more runs with Kevin. It was powdery, so it made things a lot easier. We went over these small moguls (which normally are a pain), and I flew through them. I was really surprised how well I did. After I met up with Viral again, we did another 1 or 2 runs. I decided to hit the terrain park and do some jumps. The first one, I barely had enough speed to reach the top and got little to no air. The 2nd one, I was in the air for several seconds. I must've hit it pretty hard because I was surprised how long I was in the air. Unfortunately, I was horizontal after hitting the ramp, so I wasn't really happy that I was that high and was just wondering when I would get to the ground and how much it was going to hurt. I landed on my side, and surprisingly wasn't hurt. I could've easily broke my tailbone or something else. After a few seconds, I met up with Viral again and took it easy for the rest of the run. So aside from that, it turned out to be another great day. We left back for Denver because he definitely wanted to go out that night. That was the worst night. We went downtown, and he said we'd only be out till like midnight since we were going all the way to Vail the next day. No one wanted to come out with us that night because they had other plans or they were also going to Vail so they didn't want to go out (like I said, going out and skiing don't really mix). Long story short, I was a zombie, stumbling around and almost falling several times because I was so tired. I just let him do his thing, and later on, I just sat down at this table. I just wanted to go home.

While I was sitting there trying not to fall asleep, this girl came up to me and told me that her friend thought I was "absolutely gorgeous." I asked who her friend was, and she said that she ran away. Lol ... I asked if I should "chase after her." So I met this girl. I wasn't in the least bit attracted to her, but I figured it'd kill time to talk to her. I asked why she didn't just come talk to me, and she said she was very shy (which I could totally relate to, but it was cool to be on the other side so I could be more confident). She said that I had really nice teeth which I thought was interesting because that's the 2nd person in the last few weeks who's said that. And here I thought I had 'normal' teeth. I guess I better start showing more teeth when I smile. ;-) Anyway, so they left shortly after I met them and said they were going to a hookah bar. I just went back to my seat, and like 10 minutes later they come back and ask if I wanted to come with them. I thought that was kinda weird because I can picture them leaving and thinking "damn, we should've explicitly asked him to come with us ... man, we're so stupid!" And the fact that they actually came back to tell me that was kind of amusing. I told them I had to wait for my cousin, and that I just wanted to go home. So they left. At least that killed some time. So it was like 1:15 before he found me, and we finally left. He told me about what all happened with him, and I didn't really care. I just wanted to go home. So I got home and to bed at like 2. I set the alarm for like 7 something. I knew we'd get to Vail late, but I didn't care. I needed some semblance of sleep. I was more worried about staying awake enough to make it to Vail.

So here's Saturday. The tough part was hopefully over since we were spending Saturday and Sunday night in Dillon which would considerably take away driving time. We hit some traffic and didn't make it to Vail until like 11. One good thing about getting there so late, however, is that we got free parking since all the lots were full. So we got to park on the side of the road and save $16. :-) Once again, I had some friends that were going, so we met up with them. I didn't like getting there so late to Vail, so I was determined to maximize it. Viral wanted to do some easier stuff, but I was pretty annoyed already and didn't want to waste Vail doing green runs. We spent a large part of the day with my friends Marc, Beth Ann and John Martin (my other friends, Tonya, Shannon and Leon split off from us right after we met up with them), and we actually ended up doing some pretty hard stuff. We took Viral down some blacks which he had a lot of difficulty with. Afterwards, he said he was glad he did them though and said it was his biggest accomplishment on skis. I was once again amazed how easily I made my way down. It was really steep, but I was able to cruise down with ease because of the fresh snow. Viral separated from us to go to the bathroom, and I did some runs through the trees with the rest of the group. It was fun, but exhausting. I spent the rest of the day trying to find Viral and didn't find him until like an hour after the lifts closed. All in all, a pretty uneventful day, although the conditions again were great. I think it had potential to be up there with the previous two days, but I didn't have as much fun since we got there so late and I spent several hours trying to find my cousin at the end. We went to my friend Joe's condo in Dillon (it was nice not having to drive all the way back home) and soaked in the hot tub for a while before meeting up with my friends D and Shelan who went to Keystone. We went to dinner, and then they left. Of course, my cousin still wanted to go out, and we settled for Breckenridge since it was so late (instead of all the way to Vail). Breck was pretty dead, so we left after like 30 minutes. I heard the road conditions were pretty bad on the way back to Denver, so it was nice to be staying in Dillon.

I couldn't believe it, but we had made it to day 4 of skiing. Sunday we decided to go to Beaver Creek because I had never been, and I had heard good things. And it was definitely a good opportunity since it's further than Vail and we were staying in Dillon again so both legs of the journey would be considerably shorter than going to/coming from Denver. I was impressed with their main village, and I had heard stories about these fresh-baked cookies they give out at the end of the day. We inquired about that, and they said it's usually around 3pm. So we made a mental note to hit up the village around then. :) We met up with John Martin again who was riding his snowboard today (he's a really good skier, but I had never seen him on a board). He was better than I expected, and could definitely hold his own. It was snowing pretty hard that day, so visibility was pretty bad, but we didn't let that bother us. One of the things I had heard about Beaver Creek is that the conditions are always good and the lines are short. The snow was definitely good (but then again, it was powdery everywhere that weekend), but the lines didn't seem particularly short. They definitely weren't bad though. I got really cold that day, though. We had a great time there, despite the poor visibility. Viral tried to get a video of me doing this jump in the terrain park. The first time, I didn't get enough speed because I had to stop on the hill for my cousin to get the camera ready. So yea, I barely got to the top of the ramp and got a few inches of air. It was kinda pathetic. We took the lift up again, and this time he went ahead and got set up. I came down, and still couldn't get a lot of speed. I got about a foot of air. We got it on video, but I was still disappointed. At the same time, I was ready to go to a different part of the mountain so we gave up on that. We did some more runs and then went for the cookies. It was everything I thought it'd be! These people walking around with trays upon trays of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. It seemed silly, but it made our day. We got our fill, took some pictures of us eating cookies and left to make our way to the parking lot. We were on this catwalk and Viral and John were ahead of me. I had to unbind to skate a little ways, and when I went to bind in again, my bottom strap just snapped. Wonderful. Luckily, I was able to still control the board with just the one strap on that boot. I just took it easy and made my way down the mountain otherwise I'd have had to contact the ski patrol for a ride down. Fortunately, it was our last run of the day ... and the last day of our little skiing spree. If it'd happened earlier, I would've put a damper on the whole trip. While I was still on the catwalk, this skier came by and gave me a boost with his ski pole. Then he passed me up and said, "Y'know what's the hardest thing about snowboarding?". I said "catwalks?", and he replied, "Telling your parents that you're gay." I had to admit that that he got me good. I couldn't be mad. I just laughed. Even though the joke could be applied to just about anything, he definitely got me good. So we were headed towards my car, and one of those gate crossing things (like the ones at railroad crossings) closed onto my head. I didn't know wtf was going on until I saw it. Luckily I had my helmet on, otherwise that could've been ugly. We laughed and took a picture of the gate. We went back to the condo and just took it easy. It was great. We hit up the hot tub again, grabbed a pizza and a movie from Blockbuster. Unfortunately Joe's DVD player was not working, so we couldn't watch the movie, so we just watched TV for a while, and I hit the sack pretty early.

We woke up Monday and hit up the hot tub again before we cleaned up and left. Sunday night was apparently another bad day to be driving home as I heard from John, so again we were happy that we stayed in Dillon. We saw the car from Ghostbusters (AKA the ectomobile) being hauled behind a U-Haul on the way home, so we took some pictures and video of that. That was pretty cool. It had to have been a replica because who in their right mind would transport the original with all the snow and dirt on the roads. We got home and returned his skis to Gart, grabbed some Quizno's and just chilled until his flight that evening.

What a week! Four days of great Colorado powdery skiing/boarding!