SkiChicken.com

There is a new study in showing Guinness protects as well as Aspirin against blood clots. So let me ask – why are we wasting our money on Aspirin? Let’s do a quick comparison:
Aspirin: Prevents Blood Clots
Guinness: Prevents Blood Clots, is tasty.

Aspirin: Stops headaches
Guinness: Probably also stops headaches, provides refreshment.

Aspirin: White in color, devoid of pigment and liveliness
Guinness: Rich in pigment, rich in frothy goodness

Aspirin: Probably makes your stomach bleed and gives you rheumatic fever
Guinness: Coats your stomach lining, protecting you against even the hottest chicken wings.

As you leave the mountain and prepare to board that long plane ride home, know that last pint of guinness is coursing through your veins, lovingly protecting your arteries against a clot!

              

I was just explaining to my son what snow was. Often times we plan out what we are going to say, thinking rationally about it, examining it factually, emotionally, logically, and in other ways. But I’ve found when explaining things to my toddler, these truths just come out. And so, I present a new feature on SkiChicken.com: The SkiChicken Truths. The first of which is: “Snow is like a friend that you ski on.”

              

According to theseEnvironmental watchdogs, Colorado’s Skiing could one day be in jeopardy:

Along with the loss of America’s most popular way to court death, peak melt will also endanger the habitat of several rare species, including the airdog, artic cougar, flamboyant weezy, and most notably, the ski bunny. Ski bunnies have populated the Colorado slopes for over half a century, foraging for Red Bull and vodka and hunted by male skiers for their attractive, pink spandex pelts.

              

It wasn’t me. I have witnesses that can place me in the USA at the time. Apparently, someone stole more than $200,000 worth of Guinness. It sounds like they just pulled up and collected kegs. I didn’t know you could just pull up in a truck and get beer. It’s a good idea.
All in all, 39,600 pints of beer are missing. No one got a good look at the man who took it either. The retail value of the beer was over $235,000!
I bet it was my ski buddy Mike.

              

Ever need a lift up to the mountains from Denver or D.I.A.? A small company is challenging the monopoly in Airport Shuttles transporting folks from Denver to Vail, Aspen, and other Colorado Ski Resorts. I’ve known the company owners of Rocky Mountain Transportation for years, and they love to ski as much as the rest of us ski freaks. They snowboard, too. Next time you need transportation up to one of the ski resorts, I recommend you give them a try.

              

I made my daily visit to Copper Mountain’s website this morning, and saw they had a few more trails open. They had a buttload of snow last weekend, so I thought more of the mountain would be open. I do see my sweet “Upper Collage” run is open, so I might just venture up this afternoon. I also saw loverly is open, which made me ask “What the heck is a loverly, and where is it?” The Copper Mountain Trail Map is NO HELP:
http://www.coppercolorado.com/mountain/trail_map/statictrailmap.htm

Jeez, guys – do I have to roll my own?

              

Well, I didn’t get up to copper until 2pm on Saturday. I missed opening day but made it for opening weekend, and it was sweet. The mountain was emptying out and the bars were filling up. Beginners were tuckered out, leaving the mountain much less terrifying for the rest of us. Not that I’m an expert by any means- I terrified my share of people up on ptarmigan, some of which I know will never be the same. Think about that. Never the same.

I spent 4 runs on the lowest trail they had open, Main Vein. They wrapped the trail around to the east a little this year before the final descent. It seemed much more mellow than the icy frightfest it has been in previous years.

I ended the day with a plate of jalapeno poppers and a pint of guinness at Endos’s cafe. The bar staff was much more responsive compared to the end of last season. Ski season burnout runs rampant at Copper and every other resort near the end of the season, so no hard feelings.

The place next door was horrible a few years ago. We had to wait 45 minutes to be served at the bar. Luckily, we got a table and got served some nachos and beer at a table. It’s much more efficient to serve bar food and drink at the bar, and save the tables for customers wanting a full meal, but that place wasn’t exactly a bastion of efficiency.

Excellent staff here at Endo’s, though -the bartender just offered me water in addition to my beer. She’s good seed.

Oh yeah, the snow. Not melty. The snow was pretty good. I heard it was a little more icy up top yesterday. Today, a light breeze kept a dusting of snow and prevented the snow from getting too melted, then iced up. Many left the slopes early, but I rode the mountain until every lift closed. Because If you don’t ride the mountain until every lift has closed, it’s just sad.

              

It is a beautiful day over at Copper Mountain, and I’ll be joining them for the opening day festivities later today. I was only able to ski the afternoon last year, but I found the mountain empties out. It is a much better experience having the mountain entirely to yourself, and hearing the music and fun at the base in the background.

In previous years, I tried to get up there early only to get tuckered out at 2pm like everyone else. Now I am going to arrive at noon or 1pm and ski my (chicken) heart out!

              

I just got back to Thornton from Breckenridge. How Cow – there was a bunch of snow. We BARELY made it back over the continental divide. Many cars – including ours – were spinning their wheels trying deperately to get over the pass. I had better traction on the side of the road, but found our short little car could easily bottom out it I wan’t careful. Through careful twisting of the wheel back and forth, the occasional grain of sand(hey, I’ll take what I can get), and a lot of luck, we made it back over the pass and through the Eisenhower tunnel.

Even after the tunnel it was slick. It’s rare for me to see weather on both sides of the tunnel, but we saw it today. Some cars were exiting the tunnel way too fast, and one nearly went off of the road to the left! I got behind a nice dark horsetrailer with blinking lights and we made the white knuckle journey down the other side of the mountain. I was surprised to see SUVs behind me moving at the same snail’s pace. Maybe we all had a little more excitement than we needed that day. Snow is WONDERFUL to ski on, but horrible to drive through. Visibility was pretty minimal for a good part of the journey down the mountain. From Georgetown onward, it was clear sailing.

I have met the snow of the 2007 Colorado season, and I have this to say:

• It’s slick
• It’s fluffy
• It’s wonderful
• It makes me giddy
• I miss it already

              

I’m blogging LIVE from Breckendridge, or as we call it in Colorado: “Breck”. Breck isn’t open yet, but we always like to come up this time of year for a cheap nightly rate and a little fun. The whole town of Breckenridge is more “ski-in, ski-out” than other ski towns I’ve seen(not many, admittedly).

I highly recommend Wildwood Suites Breckenridge Condominiums. The rooms are clean and cozy, and ours has a full dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave, stove, oven, toaster and coffee maker! The kitchen drawers are stocked with a few common utensils. The bed is comfortable, and they have a hot tub out beside the stream. That’s right: the stream. It is a relaxing background while sitting out on the patio drinking your guinness. Oh yeah, every room seems to have a patio. They charge $10 more to be on the stream side, but I recommend it. The other side isn’t bad at all (I forget if they actually have patios), but it’s nice to sit out on the patio chairs and sip a beer. They also have a sauna and a fireplace on the property. Very nice place.

We didn’t really check the weather before coming this year, and apparently there is snow! I was hoping to get more photos of Breckenridge before the big blanket of snow that’s covering it now, but who’s complaining?! It’s a beautiful ski town, and now is displaying it’s full beauty! It’s packed with friendly locals and wonderful places to eat. They’re a little more frazzled after ski season, but right now you can feel the excitement in the air around town. Ski season is coming!

We may need to stay in Breck another night or two if the roads are rough, but we did see sand trucks out for their trial run yesterday. Breckenridge is usually very accessible, and it’s more wishful thinking that we’d be stuck here than anything. I hope to take some “core samples” of snow, and examine them carefully. I may even take a baggy or two of the stuff home to keep in the freezer. It isn’t enough to ski on, but there’s nothing like a baggy full of snow in a Hot Denver July.