Ski Trip-Road Trip (Part 2)

Edwards is a modern looking place with a shopping plaza and restaurants. It is has the advantage of being very close to Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts, and accommodation is half the price of Vail. We headed out for a wander through chilly streets and eventually stumbled upon the Gore Range Brewery. It would be rude not to stop in for a beer or two! We then decided to look for dinner and we had seen some yummy looking pizza’s being cooked at the brewery we decided pizza sounded good. However, rather than staying there we looked at some of the other pizza places in town and even consulted the internet, which recommended Marko’s Pizza’s. So we went there but it wasn’t nearly as good as those we had seen at the brewery – I guess everyone has different opinions of what makes a good pizza!

Stuart had us up and out by 7:30am to get to Vail and get in the ticket line. After our initial problem of trying to find the car park – their sign posting was rubbish, we got to the ticket office to discover there was no line, although the queue for the lift had already started to form! The lift started 30 minutes earlier than we thought at 8:30am and for the first time since the holiday it wasn't cold, actually just the opposite! Eleven inches had fallen the night before so it promised to be a good day! The ski area was enormous and that was just our view from the first lift, most of the mountain we couldn’t yet see. Straight off we spotted the longest run – 4 miles and decided to do that. It was mostly ungroomed and the powder was very fluffy – even better than Wolf Creek. We went straight back up for more! Stuart and I took off into the back basins down the Straight Shot – a black that was knee deep in powder and involved one creek crossing. It was quite hard for me but even worse for Stu in his skinny long planks! By the end he was fed up of the deep stuff so at lunch we decided to rent him some wider and shorter skis – more similar to mine but not like what most people had – the seriously long wide powder skis. Anyway the afternoon was far more pleasurable for him and made transition from moguls to off-piste much, much easier. By the end of the day, even if the guy in the shop hadn’t laughed at his old Head skis, he was sold on the advantages of getting an upgrade!! We skied until the last moment and what a day!

That night we tried out the Gas House Bar & Restaurant. Unfortunately the thing Stuart really wanted to try on the menu they didn’t have – a lamb porterhouse – not a cut normally served. In the end he had a Buffalo rib-eye and I had the mixed grill including a quail, a bit of Elk and a smoke Buffalo sausage The Elk I could have done without as it was quite dry but the other two meaty products were great. That night the wind roared and I thought the roof of the hotel was going to peel off as there was certainly some loose bit of metal flapping around up there! By morning the wind subsided and there was a thin coating of snow on the car.

It was not warm today – actually unpleasantly cold. More snow had fallen overnight, so we hired Stuart some skis again, and went to see what it was like at the top of the mountain. Soon we worked out the back bowls were sheltered from the wind so all the deep snow was still on them unlike the exposed slopes, the only bad part was coming up in the chairlift that seemed to pause at the coldest point every time we went on it. When we came down at the end of the day we had a look around Vail village and in the end bought a pair of Rossignol carving skis for Stuart and new gloves for me. Completely mad you would say in one of the pricier resorts but the skis were good value since most people seemed to prefer the large wide planks in Vail.

That evening we went back to the brew pub for dinner to try out the amazing looking pizza’s we had seen the first afternoon. They were pretty good, certainly better than Marko’s pizzas!

From Edwards it was about a 5-6 hour journey to Crested Butte. We had heard about some road closures the day before over the pass but they had be ploughed and re opened by the time we left. It was beautiful blue skies and snow covered all around. We encountered our coldest temperature in the car of –2 degF in one of the valleys and of course the window screen squisher was still not working, not that it really mattered.

The last town you pass on the way up to Crested Butte is Gunnison. You then drive up to the end of valley and see the crested butte itself. There is an old town at the bottom, where we stayed, and the more modern ski resort area at the base of the runs with all the modern condos. The old town was nice to walk through with art galleries, the Crested Butte museum, restaurants & bars. Our hotel was the only hotel option down off the mountain. As you looked at it you could see it had suffered some serious subsidence in the past (well hopefully it was in the past!). It was certainly nothing fancy and you couldn’t swing a cat in the room, but fortunately we had paid to have our own bathroom which was nearly as big as the bedroom. The door to the room barely opened since the house had shifted so much and you could hear every footstep outside the room with the squeaky floorboards.

The next morning we woke early thinking we could get breakfast at the hotel but that was not the case so we walked around the corner to Izzy’s. It was a fun looking place and yet we were the only ones up so early on a Saturday. We both had various forms of egg. As we were leaving the chef came running out and gave us one of their freshly baked bagels – it was all warm in the bag. I think he was exciting to firstly have customers so early and secondly cause we had a funny accent!

There is a free shuttle bus from Crested Butte up to the hill that we caught from outside the hotel. Despite a leisurely breakfast we were still first up the mountain with skies on ready to go 40 minutes before the lifts opened! Stuart was keen to make the most of his final day of skiing (& his new skis!). It could not have been better weather – not a cloud in the sky. Crested Butte hadn’t had any fresh snow for a while but there was still plenty of coverage and it was all perfectly groomed. The people that go to Crested Butte are reasonably wealthy, at or near retirement, individuals so it was all very nice and smart but due to its remote location extremely quiet even for Saturday skiing.

We had an amazing time going up and down the steep groomed runs with barely anyone else until about 10:30am. Later in the morning the wind picked up at the top of the butte so the highest lift was closed but there was still plenty to do. Stuart and I even swapped skis to try one another's – I prefer mine though! There is a lot of backcountry skiing, however, we opted not to venture too far as the snow coverage away from the main slopes was poor and neither of us wanted to chew up our skis – maybe another time.

That night we went and tried out a Nepalese restaurant, Sherpa Cafe. It didn’t look like much from the outside but it was family owned and the reviews were good. The funny thing was we had noticed that there were a lot of pray flags through out the town. We asked at the local museum why they were here and he said they were there to stop or rather pray against them mining the mountain behind Crested Butte, and some people from Nepal had settled there because it had a similar climate to Nepal. Whatever the reason, the restaurant was good and the curry’s we had were nice but very different to Indian curry. Not spicy just very flavourful. Since they cooked the food so quickly we were done with dinner by about 6:30pm and needed to come up with something else to do. Unfortunately the local ice hockey team wasn't playing so instead we went to try the Montanaya Rum Distillery. They distil two types of rum, a dark & light rum. The current operations were elsewhere but they were soon going to be moving the stills to Crested Butte. We sat and enjoyed a number of combinations of rum based cocktails, Stuart even commissioned his own – which the bar staff loved. He wrote all about it on his blog: http://wearenotfoodies.com/rum-from-colorado.html

Crested Butte was our final stop and so we set off for the 17 hour journey back to Houston. We passed through Colorado, the corner of New Mexico before being back in Texas by lunchtime. We only stopped to change over drivers, fill up with fuel and coffee before continuing on. We passed through a plateau of extinct volcanoes which was pretty cool and listened to the second book from the Hunting Games trilogy. About 12 hours down we ended up having to stop for the night in Witchita Falls, not too far from Dallas. I don’t know how other people can go longer driving, even with the two of us taking turns we both were exhausted of the road. Witchita Falls was not an interesting place so it really was dinner then bed. Despite getting caught in Fort Worth’s morning rush hour we managed to get back to pick Gretchen up from kennels.

The whole road trip with 5 days skiing and 2,800 miles of driving was lots of fun. Until next year ….

Ski Trip-Road Trip (Part 1)

Since we could not decide on one skiing location this year, we decided to take a road trip and that way try out a few resorts while on the road.

The downside of Texas is that we knew we would have 2 days of driving before even getting our skis on.  So first stop was Taos, New Mexico, a short 1000 miles from Houston.  It is not the first time to do the route but at least this time it was in the daylight and there wasn’t a thunderstorm tracking us.  We knew we wanted to get to Amarillo, TX so we would only have 5 hours drive the next day and to be honest, with the audiobook, the 9 hours of driving passed.

After driving around Amarillo and checking out a very unimpressive Downtown area, we found a Holiday Inn on the edge of the Interstate.  The choice of food options was poor, however, we had noticed billboards advertising Free 72oz steak since Dallas, so we just had to check the place out.

The Texas Steak House is garrulously decorated and has a huge Aberdeen Angus Bull outside, and inside the waiting staff are wearing cowboy hats and boots and there are lots of dead animal heads surrounding the large open dinning area.  It is just like every other steak place except the table elevated in the centre of the room with a camera pointed at it.  This table is for anyone mad enough to try and eat a 72oz steak (and sides) in less than 60 minutes!  If you manage it then the $72 steak is free!   The record was set a few years back – 8 mins 54 secs to consume the 72oz steak, 2 bread rolls, shrimp cocktail and coleslaw.  All this seems quite dull until someone sat up at the table while we were there to take on the challenge.  The funnier thing was, it was a Scotsman, living in Dallas, but from East Kilbride as Stuart found out.  He was a reasonably large chap but he wasn't going at a fast enough pace when we left so I doubt he managed it within the hour!

The Scotsman attempting 72oz of cow!

The next morning we woke early as we planned to go to Palo Duro Canyon for a hike – it is on par with the Grand Canyon apparently and just south of Amarillo.  Anyway, that planned was scuppered when we saw the snow storm that engulfed Amarillo – we decided we should move on towards Taos.  We ended up on the Interstate from Amarillo to New Mexico, and it goes over a high plateau and there was a fair covering of snow on the road not to mention it was no more than 28F.  There was one accident with a lorry & car on the other carriageway but other than that uneventful.  By the time we got to Santa Fe there was only snow on the mountains and the rest of the landscape still looked like a desert.  Actually even in Taos it still looked like desert and difficult to imagine we would be skiing the next day.

Taos is small and all the buildings, including MacDonald's, are built in an adobe style. Stuart managed to find us a well priced motel within walking distance of the central plaza.  That night I wanted Mexican so we booked a table at Antonio’s and went to Eske Brew Pub for a couple of pre dinner drinks.  One of the things we notice very early on was the altitude.  Taos is at 7,500ft and Stuart started to feel nauseas in the afternoon but recovered after a cup of tea, while I just had bad headache. Dinner was great with a waka –mole (guacamole made at your table) – we have only ever seen it done in New Mexico but love it.

Stuart insisted we didn’t miss the first lift so even though there was 1 hour between the ticket office opening and the first chair we had to be there for 8am sharp!  It was less than a 30 minute drive to the slopes and it was freezing!  Putting on boots was so painful on the hands.  There was a man pulling a cattle trailer that came around the car park to give us a lift to the ticket office which was nice.  We arrived at the ticket office and a guy said do you want to buy a ticket – well yes!  So we managed to pick up our passes for $30 off. After questioning how these two old guys came by the extra tickets we found it was all above board, and one of the guys was married to a Glaswegian, from East Kilbride (again!)!  As I said it was cold but already the sun was up in the blue, blue skies.  Everything was great until lunch when my headache came back with a vengeance and towards the end of the day we had a mid afternoon stop to have a cup of tea but even that didn’t help.  In the end we came off the mountain by 3:30pm, after an otherwise wonderful day. 

We jumped back in the car to drive to South Fork, Colorado.  It was just a three hour journey and Stuart took the first stint until we could grab dinner in another brew pub in Amarosa.  However, about 30 minutes from the slopes we crossed a spectacular bridge with views down to the Rio Grande below.  Of course as we crossed it, there was a snow storm going through but that didn't stop pedestrians getting out of there cars to take photos.  We did a similar thing – parked up Iggy and braved the snow with our cameras. 

The pictures don’t really capture the views unfortunately.  We started talking to another guy there, an American, but he said his friend he was travelling with was from Scotland. Anyway his friend drove passed to pick him up, and as he jumped in the car he shouted out – he is from Aberdeen!  What is it with Scotsman getting around!

From Amarosa to South Fork the snow begin to fall.  It was lying on the road and due to lack of fluorescence lines and cat's-eyes it made following the lane very difficult.  In the end Stuart was guiding me via GPS!!!  Very safe I know but at least I could stay on the road.  We arrived at Spruce Lodge by 7pm. It was an old wooden house next door to a pub (perfect!) and to top it we got upgraded to a spacious room with a fire in every room.

Although the snow had stopped shortly after us arriving the top of the mountain had received a staggering 14” of fresh snow and so that meant a powder day!  It was not exceptionally busy although busier than a normal Monday since it was President’s Day.  The mountain was split in three, serviced by three main lifts and we spent the day going back and forth chopping between a few groomed runs and off piste.  I followed tracks through the trees and off the side of runs where I could and it was fun.  I stayed for one final run while Stuart headed for the bathroom and from top to bottom I went through the deep stuff and by the bottom I was finally ready for home – well at least my legs were!  Wolf Creek was good and would recommend it, however it is not big and after a couple of days it could become boring depending on your appetite for adventure.  It was cold but it is known as one of these places you can depend on for snow, since it is renowned for getting the most snow in Colorado.

Après ski was spent in the bar, The Shaft, next door to the hotel.  Although nothing special it served alcohol and food, and we managed to chat to some of the other folk at the bar – some more interesting (or rather normal) than others!  So far we hadn't managed a night past 9pm and this was no exception!

Both of us discovered we were having some really strange dreams that must be altitude related and as normal I woke with a headache.  I was beginning to think this was going to be 10 days of a headache holiday thanks to the altitude!

Stuart had read about the Great Dunes National Park, which was near by, although not quite on the route (only 100 mile detour!) to see on our way to Edward’s (nr Vail).  We set off back towards Amarosa and before long we were heading towards the mountains.  These sand dunes were at the base of the mountains and are the highest in North America at some 750ft high from the valley floor.  We could see the dunes from far off since they were golden in colour compared to the snow covered/green mountains behind.  We arrived at 9:30am, just thirty minutes after the park opened and first of all since no one else in their right mind would go at this time of year the park was free to get in.  We headed for the visitor centre and although open, it was dead with not even a ranger manning the shop!  We decided on a route where we could drive and then walk into the dunes.  I must mention it was about 18F so pretty chilly at this time in the morning, and the sun was only just starting to break through the snow clouds.  We set off down a dirt, snow covered track.  The icy puddles were so thick the car didn't even break the surface as we drove over them.  We reached the car park called ‘No return car park’ and as I drove forward to the crest of an icy incline we both got out to make the call – would we be able to return up the slippery slope in Iggy the Tiguan or was it better to park?!  We decided to park up and walk!  Fortunately someone must have been there a few days ago as we followed tracks in the snow towards the dunes and used them to cross the frozen creek (don’t worry at the point we crossed it would have only got our toes damp if the ice had given way!).  Stuart had great plans of us reaching the top of the largest dune, but as we started to climb, not only was it cold but it was also a very long way!  The dunes were so smooth with wind ripples and the black manganite picks out each ripple on the surface.  Even as we walked our footprints were beginning to be hidden by the wind that whipped over the face of the dune.  So how are these dunes formed?  Well it seems to be the interaction between the creek that marks the boundary of the dunes to the nearest mountains and therefore a backstop. The sand/sediment is sourced from the mountains on the far side of an open plain.   The wind circulates and it keeps the sand/sediment where it is and allows it to build up forming these large dunes.  The National Park was formed relatively recently which seems amazing for something this beautiful. By the time we left I think there was only two other cars but we went back to the visitors centre since I wanted a fridge magnet.  Fortunately the Ranger, a very, very cheery lady, was there to take our money!

We drove on to Edwards not seeing many cars.  We crossed the mountain pass between the Rio Grande watershed and the Arkansas watershed.  Amazingly there was significantly less snow on the Arkansas side!  At one spot while crossing a high plateau the wind was whipping the snow up into mini twisters, and then formed a blanket of snow across the road.  When I say a blanket – I mean white out!    I knew there were cars behind us but when we went into the snow I lost all visibility – I hit the breaks to slow down put on the fogs lights and the hazards – anything to make us visible – as I was coming to the end of the white out I saw the car from 1/2 mile back on my tail – big and black – he didn’t even have lights on!  See the as we approach the white out, drive through it and then exit it!

There was no more excitement and we arrived in Edward, just around the corner from Vail but half the price, in the afternoon, having driven through Leadville – the highest cooperative town in North American at 10,152ft.