HoustonDominant
02-07-2006, 09:50 PM
First I want to thank all the members of SBOL for all of the information, help, and suggestions. If it wasn't for all of this our first skiboarding trip would not have been as fun. This was my first time ever in snow for pleasure. I figured skiboarding would be fun since I have quite a bit experience with inline, quad, waterskiing, and wakeboarding.
Our original plan was to go skiing in Santa Fe, NM, or Taos, NM. At the last minute we changed our flight to Denver, CO. It is a big plus when your girlfriend is a first class airline attendant for Continental :D . The snow season has been really terrible in NM this year.
DAY 1... Sunday
we flew into Denver, rented a SUV and headed down I-70 West. This is my first time to be in the mountains, and I was expecting to see lots of snow. We drove down I-70 for 40 miles and had not come across ANY snow or ice. I started to get worried, but all the snow and mountain reports said it had been snowing for 4 days at Loveland and Keystone. All of the sudden we came around the curve and were blinded with snow flying horizontally. We flew in with no reservations and figured we would do things on the fly. We get to Loveland mountain and it was covered with fresh powerd, a huge sight for me to see. We just wanted to take a look around, and were looking at what we were going to ski in the morning. After we started looking around we both got a fierce headache, sinus' went bonkers and we got very dizzy. It felt close to a hangerover for me. We learned quickly that we had gotten "Alttitude Sickness" since we did come from close to sea level here in Houston, Tx.
The people at Loveland said it would pass in 6 to 10 hours once our bodies adjust.
We asked where was the place to get a hotel in the area and the guy suggest Georgetown 10 miles back the way we came. We drove back to Georgetown which looked like a postcard perfect little town. We had a great dinner at Red Ram, and then settled for a room at "Alpine Inn"...HUGE MISTAKE!! First off the rooms are above the saloon and eatery, and they only have like 8 rooms. We got the SUV unpacked and got ready for bed. After about and hour of tossing and turning we remembered part of alttitude sickness is you can't sleep. The room started to feel real warm, and kept getting warmer. I got up and it was 89 degrees in the room, way to hot. I turned off the heat but it just kept getting hotter. I went to grab the phone and call downstairs, but it seems our room didn't have a phone. I got dressed and went downstairs, the person at the desk asked "Why don't you just open a window, it is 10 degrees outdoors". I said that would not work, as I thought I paid for a hotel room, not a loft in a barn. We were finally given the room next door and it was cooler. We finally got 3 hours sleep before it was time to head for loveland mountain.
DAY 2...Monday
We started the day feeling much better after a good breakfast, and the alttitude sickness was wearing off. Since we had never skiboarded before we hit the green run by the beginners lift at Loveland valley. We were both suprised that it was so easy to skiboard, very similar to our skates. 4 runs later we are already on the blue runs. After a few more runs we switched to the Loveland basin around the corner. The switch was great with many new green and blue runs to play with. We ended the day with going to the top of lift #2. She headed down the Firebowl (green) and I headed down Bennets bowl (blue). I ended up eating it pretty hard on a patch of ice, my first experience on ice. No bodily damage was done, just a little soreness.
We head back to get a bite to eat and hit the hotel for some much needed rest. Finally getting to bed about 9pm, then we started hearing a costant whistle sound outside. Shortly afterwards it got extremely loud. I got up and opened the door and was blown backwards a few feet. We were in a wind storm with winds topping 70mph and steady 50mph. The whistling was our room windows and door seal. Once again very little sleep for us, and this time the wind made the room temperature drop to 53 degrees. We ended up sleeping in our ski pants and jackets to stay warm. Two rooms next to our had broken windows from the wind.
DAY 3... Tuesday
I told her to pack our stuff, we are changing hotels. I went downstairs but the office was closed and there was a sign stating OPEN WED-MONDAY 9am-10pm...And this place also billed us for 4 nights in advance.
We headed back to loveland for another day of fun. We started our morning off on Lift #2 and the wind was still blowing 45mph. When we exited the lift we both found our feet in the air and our asses on the ground. The lift guy said "Watch out for the ice". The whole lift exit was frozen over from the wind blowing it so much. After we got ourselves halfway down the mountain the front our my girlfriends boot broke off and sent her tumbling into me, and we both ended up on th ground. She was not hurt, but I ended up dislocating my right shoulder. We said screw it and made a few more runs after we got her another pair of rental boots. While we were eating lunch we asked a local where was a good place to get a room, and he suggested Georgetown, and we laughed at him. Any, we figured we would bite the bullet and spend the $175 a night at keystone 16 miles away. We drove into Silverthone and found tons of good priced hotels and civilization
:D We got a room in Silverthorne at Day Inn for $55 night and it had properly working heat!!! We got our first nights full rest.
DAY 4...Wednesday
The day started with a great Italian breakfeast at Keystone, and a Gondola ride to "School Marm", a 3.5 mile green run. This run also will drop you off into the park. We skied from 9am until 3:30pm, only stopping for lunch. Keystone is an incredible mountain, actually 3 mountains in one. Back to room to pack, and sleep.
All in all this was a great first trip (except the Alpine Inn in Georgetown, and the dislocated shoulder).
Yes, we are addicted to skiboarding, and we are already going back to Loveland (13th) and Keystone (14th) this coming week (feb. 12-15)
Its snowing again, and my arm is 95% healed.
Tips from our trip---
1. Don't stay at the Alpine Inn in Georgetown
2. Firstimers-Learn to look for ice
3. Watch for alttitude sickness if coming from low sea levels.
4. Don't buy too many skiboards before you go on your first trip like we did :) My skiboards (http://www.naughtyornot.com/ski/skiboards.html)
JD
Our original plan was to go skiing in Santa Fe, NM, or Taos, NM. At the last minute we changed our flight to Denver, CO. It is a big plus when your girlfriend is a first class airline attendant for Continental :D . The snow season has been really terrible in NM this year.
DAY 1... Sunday
we flew into Denver, rented a SUV and headed down I-70 West. This is my first time to be in the mountains, and I was expecting to see lots of snow. We drove down I-70 for 40 miles and had not come across ANY snow or ice. I started to get worried, but all the snow and mountain reports said it had been snowing for 4 days at Loveland and Keystone. All of the sudden we came around the curve and were blinded with snow flying horizontally. We flew in with no reservations and figured we would do things on the fly. We get to Loveland mountain and it was covered with fresh powerd, a huge sight for me to see. We just wanted to take a look around, and were looking at what we were going to ski in the morning. After we started looking around we both got a fierce headache, sinus' went bonkers and we got very dizzy. It felt close to a hangerover for me. We learned quickly that we had gotten "Alttitude Sickness" since we did come from close to sea level here in Houston, Tx.
The people at Loveland said it would pass in 6 to 10 hours once our bodies adjust.
We asked where was the place to get a hotel in the area and the guy suggest Georgetown 10 miles back the way we came. We drove back to Georgetown which looked like a postcard perfect little town. We had a great dinner at Red Ram, and then settled for a room at "Alpine Inn"...HUGE MISTAKE!! First off the rooms are above the saloon and eatery, and they only have like 8 rooms. We got the SUV unpacked and got ready for bed. After about and hour of tossing and turning we remembered part of alttitude sickness is you can't sleep. The room started to feel real warm, and kept getting warmer. I got up and it was 89 degrees in the room, way to hot. I turned off the heat but it just kept getting hotter. I went to grab the phone and call downstairs, but it seems our room didn't have a phone. I got dressed and went downstairs, the person at the desk asked "Why don't you just open a window, it is 10 degrees outdoors". I said that would not work, as I thought I paid for a hotel room, not a loft in a barn. We were finally given the room next door and it was cooler. We finally got 3 hours sleep before it was time to head for loveland mountain.
DAY 2...Monday
We started the day feeling much better after a good breakfast, and the alttitude sickness was wearing off. Since we had never skiboarded before we hit the green run by the beginners lift at Loveland valley. We were both suprised that it was so easy to skiboard, very similar to our skates. 4 runs later we are already on the blue runs. After a few more runs we switched to the Loveland basin around the corner. The switch was great with many new green and blue runs to play with. We ended the day with going to the top of lift #2. She headed down the Firebowl (green) and I headed down Bennets bowl (blue). I ended up eating it pretty hard on a patch of ice, my first experience on ice. No bodily damage was done, just a little soreness.
We head back to get a bite to eat and hit the hotel for some much needed rest. Finally getting to bed about 9pm, then we started hearing a costant whistle sound outside. Shortly afterwards it got extremely loud. I got up and opened the door and was blown backwards a few feet. We were in a wind storm with winds topping 70mph and steady 50mph. The whistling was our room windows and door seal. Once again very little sleep for us, and this time the wind made the room temperature drop to 53 degrees. We ended up sleeping in our ski pants and jackets to stay warm. Two rooms next to our had broken windows from the wind.
DAY 3... Tuesday
I told her to pack our stuff, we are changing hotels. I went downstairs but the office was closed and there was a sign stating OPEN WED-MONDAY 9am-10pm...And this place also billed us for 4 nights in advance.
We headed back to loveland for another day of fun. We started our morning off on Lift #2 and the wind was still blowing 45mph. When we exited the lift we both found our feet in the air and our asses on the ground. The lift guy said "Watch out for the ice". The whole lift exit was frozen over from the wind blowing it so much. After we got ourselves halfway down the mountain the front our my girlfriends boot broke off and sent her tumbling into me, and we both ended up on th ground. She was not hurt, but I ended up dislocating my right shoulder. We said screw it and made a few more runs after we got her another pair of rental boots. While we were eating lunch we asked a local where was a good place to get a room, and he suggested Georgetown, and we laughed at him. Any, we figured we would bite the bullet and spend the $175 a night at keystone 16 miles away. We drove into Silverthone and found tons of good priced hotels and civilization
:D We got a room in Silverthorne at Day Inn for $55 night and it had properly working heat!!! We got our first nights full rest.
DAY 4...Wednesday
The day started with a great Italian breakfeast at Keystone, and a Gondola ride to "School Marm", a 3.5 mile green run. This run also will drop you off into the park. We skied from 9am until 3:30pm, only stopping for lunch. Keystone is an incredible mountain, actually 3 mountains in one. Back to room to pack, and sleep.
All in all this was a great first trip (except the Alpine Inn in Georgetown, and the dislocated shoulder).
Yes, we are addicted to skiboarding, and we are already going back to Loveland (13th) and Keystone (14th) this coming week (feb. 12-15)
Its snowing again, and my arm is 95% healed.
Tips from our trip---
1. Don't stay at the Alpine Inn in Georgetown
2. Firstimers-Learn to look for ice
3. Watch for alttitude sickness if coming from low sea levels.
4. Don't buy too many skiboards before you go on your first trip like we did :) My skiboards (http://www.naughtyornot.com/ski/skiboards.html)
JD