Back in the Saddle

It's been COLD. So cold that for the last week, my living room-which is directly over a carport- never gets above 60 degrees inside even when I have the heat jacked up to 80. That's when I know that there are below zero temps in the morning, so I'll check my emails, watch a little Plum TV, tell myself that I'll ski in a couple of hours when it warms up. But I don't...even though I'm a Buffalo native I just don't enjoy skiing when it's subzero. So it was probably a good week or more that I hadn't skied.

Anyway, Sunday was awesome. Sunny, warm(almost tropical at around 30 degrees) and the snow was still great. Skied with a friend from the Hamptons, Sara, who's at about the same ability I am so it was really fun to ski all over the mountain and have fun with it instead of worrying that either I was holding someone back, or they were holding me back....funny how that works. Also, I skied for most of the day instead of just a couple of hours.

We cruised the first one down Silver Bell to the Ajax lift, then over to Buckhorn which had all the bumps groomed down; kind of sad as these are my practice bumps. Did some FIS runs, then down to Ruthies lift, then Roch Run a couple of times. The thing that I love about Aspen is that the blue runs here are blacks or double blacks back on the East Coast. Roch is bumps, but over towards the left not as big but to me it's a miracle if I can get down it without wiping out at least once or smacking myself in the face with my knees.

We stopped at the top and had a hot chocolate with Bailey's...always a courage inducer...and after that headed over to the Gent's Ridge lift and did Glade #1. At this point I got confused about the trail rating system because the trail map indicates that Glade #1 is a double black, but to me it was the same degree of difficulty as Roch Run. Maybe an expert can explain this to me.

Somehow we ended up towards skier's left at the end of the day and didn't want to do a double black, Silver Rush, so we started to head over to Magnifico Road and I accidentally hit a ridge at the catwalk at medium speed and vaulted. Luckily there was no one beneath me and I'm told that for an accidental jump I went down very gracefully.

We called it a day at 2:30 and enjoyed the rest of the sun down at the Tavern- it was a great day of skiing!

How to Ski Like You're Rich

Drive 8 blocks to "private" lift at Aspen. Park car at base of lift for free. Put skis on, ski one run, decide to bail because of zero visibility, ski back down directly to car. Remove skis while chuckling about the perfect parking spot.

Ya gotta love the season's pass.

Cross Country Skiing with Jen

I don't know that I would call it skiing; exactly...but we tried. It was snowing so hard yesterday that I knew downhill would be a disaster for me, (especially after a typical Aspen Saturday night!)- I had gone the day before at Ajax and had a few good runs but by the last run of the day it was almost zero visibility, with or without goggles.

The fog in the middle of the mountain didn't help. I was trying to follow a snowboarder down but he kept stopping as well. I'm not complaining! I just don't have the skills to ski in the middle of a snowstorm like the locals do.

Although I'm not an expert skiier, I don't look nearly as bad going downhill as I do trying to do Nordic. I felt like a total clutz. I think that cross country requires much more coordination than I had originally thought- we were falling every few minutes. Fortunately there was plenty of snow to break our falls. Somehow Jen manages to look cute no matter what pose she's in.

You can see from these pics that it was a virtual whiteout. These were taken at about 2 in the afternoon at the Aspen golf course. It's definitely great exercise- I was sweating in spite of the cold and wind, and my hamstrings are sore today.

We rented from the Aspen Cross Country Center at the golf course (970.925.2145) - the price for all equipment for a full day is 22 and half day prices are 16.

Another Big Dump!

8 inches and still falling

The Community of Aspen

Betty riding at Buttermilk- we had an impromptu picture taking session in the afternoon. The snow was crispy but still fluffy on top and it was a gorgeous day- low thirties and sunny
This one was taken from the top of Tiehack trail.



I tried skiing without a helmet today. I felt naked. Helmets are good.

When I woke up this morning, I got out of bed and ran downstairs to make coffee. I don't take running down the stairs or running anywhere for granted. I've had enough broken bones and torn ligaments to be out of commission for months at a time. When you love to be outside, love playing sports and simply being active, it seems like the most difficult thing in the world to have an injury that benches you for a few months. Ironically, my injuries have happened when I've been doing something I love, but I guess that's a risk you take with skiing and windsurfing. I'm not ready to go on a cruise yet!

Tonight I met a couple of ladies that are more than benched for a few months- they're sidelined indefinitely with various serious injuries. The community of Aspen has banded together to assist them and it's a beautiful thing to see so many people come out to help.























View from the Cliffhouse
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later this evening I went to the Aspen Club and Spa's 30th Anniversary Party which also hosted a fundraiser event to benefit three local ladies with spinal cord injuries; Amanda Boxtel, Leah Roland and Kaisie Burtard. They need stem cell treatments to get better and this is one of the numerous events in Aspen helping the girls get to India where the stem cell treatments are performed.
http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1284/1/They-said-shed-never-walk-again/1.html


There was a silent auction, a live auction, a live band, FREE champagne and food as well as sports training demos and a live hoop demo with the lovely and talented Betty Hoop. (Check out her hoop training video and hoop products at http://www.bettyhoops.com/ )



To the left we have a future hooper















And below, an overhead shot of the benefit poker competition. It looked very serious.











After we donated some cash at the benefit, my friend and I were craving meat so we found ourselves walking downstairs to the Steak Pit.
The Double Dog Pub next door looked inviting but there was no room to sit down as there was a packed house listening to the Celtic band The Crowlin Ferlies.


At the Steak Pit we both had the Petite sirloin, with all kinds of herb butters, bearnaise, salad bar included. Why do I love The Salad Bar? Could it be the never-ending supply of blue cheese dressing? All the sunflower seeds I can eat? The sneeze shields? Who cares. I rarely eat steak but this one was worth it- cooked to a perfect medium rare, not too big, and it came with steamed vegetables as requested.

Our meal was good but the waiter was a tad surly. We'll try it again and request a different waiter.

Snow Polo

December 15, 2007

Too cold to ski today and I have a thing for horses and South American men in tight pants. What would Freud say?

Snow polo is pretty cool but it looked like some of the players were a little frustrated with trying to dig the ball out of the deep snow.

Rio Grande Park, Snow Polo Tournament

Barb and Maureen visit Aspen

December 10th, 2007

Barb looking relaxed on Midway

I warned them that they had a 50% chance of the plane not making it to Aspen from Salt Lake so they were definitely mentally prepared. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was the tenacity of two of my favorite New Yorkers. Barb, my sister-in-law, and our friend Maureen had almost cancelled their trip due to the lack of snow in Aspen the week before. Ironically, there turned out to be so much snow the weekend of the 7th that the first day of the women's World Cup was cancelled, and most of the flights into Aspen that day.

I had skied a few runs earlier at Aspen to get it under my belt, and the visibility was crap but the snow was beautiful. Met up with an acquaintance on the gondola and we did a couple of runs together before I lost her and was starting to feel the pain in my back from absorbing the hill. Skiing powder is relatively new to me since I'm from the East Coast, and skiing as it's coming down at the rate of an inch a minute is like skiing blind. I was hoping that the girls would make it on time in spite of the snow but by the time I got home, I saw that everything at Aspen was cancelled.

Barb and Mo got to Salt Lake and realized that the Aspen flight was cancelled so they took the risk of flying into Denver and tried to take CMEX(Colorado Mountain Express) but that was booked. No more flights available, so they rented a car and drove in a snowstorm to Aspen. This would have been daunting to most people, but not these girls. Determined to get to Aspen to make it in time for the chef's table dinner at DishAspen, they persevered and made it here by 7pm. They made great time- five hours! Everyone was shocked that they made it.

After freshening up, we drove into town for dinner. Matt, the chef/owner of DishAspen had designed a custom menu and paired some great wines with the meal. In attendance were Barb and Mo, Sumitra, Graham, Ivan and Jackie, and me. We were waited on by Greg, the sommelier.

I think that everyone should try the chef's table dinner at Dish at least once. It's a great experience and Matt can accomodate up to 12 at his table in the kitchen at the restaurant.

We started out with oysters and a ginger martini, (I have to say that at some point I became overserved and things became a tad blurry but that was after I had 3 servings of the oysters and vodka) and from there had six more courses consisting of striped bass w/ duck prosciutto, a scallop...ok, I give up- that's all I can remember until dessert. Ivan, an old pal of Matt's made a phyllo wrapped pear with Brie and it was great. Following dessert, the three of us said our "Irish Goodbyes" which means we snuck out without saying goodbye. I don't think anyone noticed at that point.

The next day started out with Maureen feeling the effects of the altitude so we took it easy until the late afternoon, drove around town trying to find some oxygen and then gave it up. Eventually, we headed over to Buttermilk to see if we could get a deal on skiing a half day. Or a quarter day...and the girls opted out of serious skiing in favor of trying on a few runs at the bottom. I attempted to scout out the top to see if the visibility was any better as it was still snowing, and ended up over at Tiehack on some ungroomed runs with almost three feet of heavy, wet snow and had to take my skis off at one point to get out of it.

After we called it a day, rushed home to shower and then back into town for the Blues Traveler show at the base of Ajax. I can't name a single song by those guys but they were great. Watched the fireworks, then went down to Takah Sushi for a great meal. I think my favorites over there are the Atomic Shrimp and the mixed seaweed salad- I've never had anything less than delicious at Takah- it's a no-brainer.

Next day found us up at Buttermilk again with the girls doing some greens and then blues once they got comfortable. Last time I skied with them was at Gore in upstate NY- and they've both advanced to great intermediates. It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too cold and the snow was perfect.

View from the Cliffhouse Restaurant at Buttermilk. We stopped there for lunch- had a yummy grilled chicken sandwich. The line cooks are adorable and super friendly.

We made it back to Aspen in time(thanks, studded snow tires) for last call on the gondola. The girls wanted to see the top, have a Bailey's and take some pics. Sadly, the bar was closed but we had a great time hanging out in front of the fireplace and hamming it up for the camera.

Barb, Maureen and me

Barb and Maureen

Got home in time for some serious Bailey's and hot chocolate. Jen and Nicco dropped by for a chat and Nicco entertained everyone- then we headed out to Campo for dinner.

Campo is one of my favorite places to eat- there's usually quite the bar crowd but that evening, we were literally the only people in the bar. We had Chris all to ourselves and had some great food- my favorite is the squash and roast artichoke salad with truffle oil- yum, yum, yum. I'm still fantasizing about it. Chris said that everyone in Aspen had a "powder hangover". (Is that anything like the Nantucket Flu??)

Barb and Maureen heading back down to town on the gondola

Aspen Mountain- First big powder day

My second or third day of skiing- riding up Ajax Express with Jen's Steve midday. The lines were ridiculous that day because the mountain was not yet open top to bottom and it was the first big powder day. I only got two runs in over on Cutoff, Summit and Buckhorn while Steve stuck around for more action after the nearly half hour lift lines thinned out. My excuse was that it was my first day out after a three-day bout with a nasty stomach flu.

Halloween: Aspen's favorite holiday OR How Old We??

Here we are, starting off our Halloween at my house. Kathryn, Sumitra, Jen and Nicco, Meghan came over for drinks and food before the big night out at Belly Up. If Nicco's hair looks blue, that's because it is; it's not a wig.

Me, Sumitra, Meghan and Kathryn after several adult beverages and lots of makeup.

Kathryn was Secret Agent 69, Sumitra was the Mile High Captain With Child, Nicco was The Ocean and I really don't know what Meghan was but she looked cute. Nice abs!

First stop was the Caribou Club at around 9pm. The dining room was full of people eating dinner. (Who eats dinner out on Halloween anyway?) They were horrified as we strolled through the dining room. (It could have been my lack of pants.) I decided to park it outside of the dining room and we headed over to the bar with my back to the dining room. A few minutes later there was loud applause and the girls told me to turn around. The table of older men in the dining room was showing their appreciation for the rear view.

Anyway, Caribou wasn't tres exciting and we were just passing time before the show at Belly Up where Danger Kitty was playing....Sumitra didn't have tickets so she and Meghan went to Chelsea, while Kathryn and I headed over to the show around 10pm. I have to say that my costume was a hit, and it was a good thing that it was still fairly warm out. Seeing as how I wasn't wearing pants and all.

It was great fun....the band was awesome. If I closed my eyes they could have been.....Guns and Roses...Poison....Bon Jovi....one of those bands. Danced our butts off. I got up on stage for the costume contest and got on one of the judges' laps. I didn't win anything but I figured...what the heck, I'll be too old to do this really soon. I think I may be too old now but I'm on vacation.

Fun night...caught up with Sumitra at Eric's and left shortly therafter. Somewhere in there we were at Chelsea and I think Meghan may have stayed there. Wherever she was, I'm sure she had fun!

Cutie Pie!

Here's a pic of my friend Jen's son Niccolas. I had a lot of fun babysitting(sorry, Jen, "hanging out with")Nicco that day. We went to the Aspen farmer's market, strolled around town, had some coffee at Zele while Nicco slept peacefully. Then we went back to my condo where he proceeded to rearrange my neighbor's gourds many times.

First Aspen hike; up the Ute Trail with a friend. Mid October.