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Some cool guys from my last day in Vail a few weeks ago…

First up is Damian - he was out and about on my last night in Vail.  I always manage to meet fun people, including him!  He caught my eye with his cool beanie & Burton sweatshirt.  He is regular foot, and rides a 157 Burton x8, mostly in the parks.  He has been riding 9 seasons.  Cheers Damian, I hope your Super Bowl party was fun, thanks for the invite!

Then there’s Bill - we met him coming back from Blue Sky Basin on one of the chair lifts as we made our way back towards Lionshead.  Anyone knows I am a sucker for a full beard on a guy… so naturally I struck up a convo.  Bill was on skis and he said he has been skiing his “entire life…”  He works in the Patagonia store in Lionshead Village, so stop by and say hello to him!  It was nice meeting you Bill!

What do you think of these hotties?  Rate:  (3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Moe’s BBQ is where the Vail locals go when they get off the hill!  I think because it’s a little off the beaten path, unlike say Garfinkels which is right by where you walk into Lionshead Village from the slopes.  You have to walk a few minutes and up a flight of stairs, but Moe’s is worth it!

Moe’s was started in Vail by some transplanted Alabamians who perfected their BBQ’ing techniques in college at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.  They serve fantastic pulled pork, grilled ribs, smoked turkey, and fish, as well as generous portions of Southern-style side dishes such as mac & cheese,  collard greens, baked beans, and cole slaw.

It’s a really casual place - you walk in and order at the cashier stand, then they call your name when the food is ready. They post the daily specials where you order - today they had a shrimp “Mo Boy” served with two sides of your choice.

Seating is fairly limited, just a few benches in the restaurant.  The crowd is friendly though, and you could find a way to squeeze in or borrow a few chairs among the customers.

There’s an outdoor patio as well, which is enjoyable when it’s not too cold.  Even this day, when it was pretty cold out and had started snowing slightly, there were quite a few people hanging out.

The best part about Moe’s was the prices - I got a medium sized order (1/2 pint) of their delicious mac & cheese, a small container of their baked beans, a slab of jalapeno cornbread fried up on the grill, and a can of Newcastle - all of this was only $9. The mac & cheese was so amazingly good - you could even see chunks of melted cheese among the pasta.  So rich and filling!

It may not seem like a bargain to many but in this ritzy ski town Moe’s seemed a great value.  Heck, a beer alone would probably cost $7 in any other bar!   My friends all drank tallboy PBRs and I think they were around $3 apiece.

Check out Moe’s to avoid the throngs of tourists, gapers, and misbehaved children at slopeside, and instead enjoy a hearty BBQ meal with some delicious and filling sides and a cool local crowd.

Moe’s Bar-B-Que is located in Lionshead Village, at 675 W Lionshead Cir.  Call for more details at (970) 479-7888. Check out their menu or visit their web site at moesoriginalbbq.com.

Vail last weekend was fun, as usual, though there was nowhere near as much snow on the mountain as there currently is in Mammoth.  So I was a little bit disappointed traveling through some near-bare spots on the hill - yes there was actually brown patches.  Still, there was decent coverage, and Vail Resort does a great job of grooming runs, so it was nice and smooth in most spots.  No tree runs for me this time, I was too afraid of getting caught up on hidden “snow snakes” due to the low snow levels.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and lightly snowing with the sun peeking through at times.  We had a great plan that day to head up the hill and BBQ on the communal grills at Belle’s Camp at the top of Blue Sky Basin.

We woke up early after a mellow dinner at Bully Ranch and headed to the City Market to pick up our essential shopping list for our BBQ:  beer, brats, and buns!  (Insider tip: City Market staff are much friendlier than the Safeway folks - check them out!)

We bought tasty whole wheat buns, and some “Beddar with Cheddar” cheese-stuffed bratwursts.  Do not miss these delicious dogs!  City Market also had a really cool liquor store attendant and we picked up some local brews from Oskar Blues (Dales Pale Ale and Mama’s Little Yellow Pils.)

We packed everything into James’ lightweight backpack and started off on our trek from Lionshead to Blue Sky Basin.  Note that if you are making this trip, especially on a weekend, give yourself an hour!  We waited in some pretty nasty lift lines at Mid-Vail.  We finally arrived at the BBQ spot around noon.

The BBQs were already full of fun loving grillin’ peeps - we met this group of skiers who have been friends for decades who come up to the BBQs every Saturday!  They had an amazing array of food and offered us to come by and graze… smoked salmon, sushi, hot wings, red wine, smoked sausage, oatmeal cookies… they were really prepared!

If you make it up here on a Saturday, look for these guys and say Hi.  You will recognize Pat in the white, orange, and black ski jacket (he’s here at the right with Lauren and Leah):

You don’t need to bring charcoal, gas, fluid, or anything, Belles Camp has grills ready to go. You just need to bring what you plan on eating. And be ready to jockey for position on the grills (but friendly of course) as everyone comes up laden with meats and other grilling goodies and they want to cook and EAT after that long trek to Blue Sky!

Don’t forget your utensils -this guy was eating a giant steak with his bare hands.  How very Coloradan!

I highly recommend the BBQ experience at Belle’s Camp in Vail - it’s a must-do for any visit to Vail. Stick your beers in the snow to keep ‘em cold, mingle with your fellow riders and skiers in the crisp air, and mack down on a delicious grilled meal (sharing or trading if you can) at 11,000 feet!

To get to Belle’s Camp, make your way over from the front side of Vail Mountain over to Skyline Express - Chair 37. Belle’s is at the top of Chair 37. (Ask your friendly lifties how to get there, because I can’t remember…)

Our final full day in Jackson was Saturday, Jan. 10.  Because we were staying in condos that were walking distance to the little Snow King resort, Mike, George, and I decided to save some money and hit that hill up since we had two great days in Jackson Hole.  After the breakfast of champions of bloody mary’s, that is!

Our lift tickets were only $22 because we were staying in the Snow King resort/condo complex.  What a bargain compared to the $87 in JHole.  But I’m not complaining about that!  It was worth it for the great riding.

The Snow King resort is one of the oldest ski resorts in the US.  Being used to the newer, high-speed chairs at most of the snowboarding and skiing resorts I visit, I was not that impressed with Snow King!  There are only 4 chairs here and the vertical rise is just 1571′, compared to over 4000′ for Jackson Hole.

Still, for $22 it’s a bargain and you can just get some more runs in without a lot of other people out. When we went it was basically deserted!

When you’re heading up in the chairlifts it’s pretty cool to turn and look around at the town of Jackson.

The runs were steep but unfortunately iced over because the day before was a little bit warmer here in the lower elevations closer to town.  I personally ended up just staying out for I think only 4 runs, and was feeling really tired and not enjoying the conditions, so I called it a day. Everyone else stayed out for the rest of the day (Mike and George at Snow King, and Jessie, Leila and Leland had gone to Jackson Hole again.)

After an afternoon of resting, we headed out that evening to catch the football game at the Sidewinders Tavern.  Jessie and I got bored (not that into football) and went to play shooting games and air hockey in the game room.

Following the game, we wandered around the town of Jackson for more photo opps and some shopping… the highlight was the crazy taxidermy store!  You too could own a stuffed Polar Bear for just $34,000… !!!!

 After our shopping in town (lots of deals on hoodies and tee shirts for us!) we got cleaned up at the condo and went back out for our final night on the town in Jackson.  We went to the 43 North bar where there was a DJ and we danced all night.  It was a fun end to a good visit (except for the getting-there nightmares!)  Here was my final pic of the sketchy runway in the Jackson airport…

(read the Day 1-2 Recap here)

Mikey and George arrived late on Thursday evening and had actually met us out the night before at the Town Square Tavern.  The next day, the two of them and I took the shuttle over to Jackson Hole again and enjoyed the most amazing day!  As noted, it was a little snowy the night before and the temperatures kept the snow at the perfect consistency, so we tracked some amazing powder!  There was about 6 fresh inches from the previous night.

Jackson Hole apparently doesn’t really get crowded, so even though we didn’t get on the mountain till around 10:30, we still got some fresh tracks in areas.  This day’s weather turned out even better than the day before - there was no wind and the sun peeked out for most of the day.  Absolutely perfect conditions.

We started the day going up the gondola and doing a few runs over to Thunder chair again.  From there we branched out and hit a lot more of the mountain today.  Lots of great snow under the tram, and hit some tree runs around the edges of Lander Bowl.  After 2 hours of exhausting powder riding, stopped for a quick lunch at “Cowboy Cafe” at the base of the mountain then we boarded the tram.

The tram is a brand new feature - it opened on Dec. 20, 2008.  It holds 100 people and takes you all the way up to the summit at 10,450′.  And believe me, they really pack you in and fill that car to capacity.  I couldn’t move my arms to put my camera away after taking this pic!

From the summit, you can hit the insane well-known run called Corbet’s Couloir  - a 55-degree drop with rocks on either side!  I think I will pass!  We opted for the easier route down, via Rendezvous Bowl.  It was a little bit icy up here due to the colder temps and blowing wind, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as the rest of the mountain.  But Rendezvous starts off black and ends up blue, so it’s not bad.  From here we dumped back into Lander Bowl then cruised over to the gondola again.  Best choice of the day - dipping into the run directly under the gondola.

We found the best, deepest powder back here.  You can pop into tree runs all along the edge of the trail.  It’s wide and just steep enough to give you some decent speed to push through the deep powder.  At one point I did fall into powder that was probably up up to my mid-thigh, so I had to dig a bit and unstrap the board to get out.

We managed to head over to the Apres Vous side of the mountain today also, but the conditions weren’t as good as the whole gondola area was.  A little bit crunchy and icy, and not quite as deep of powder as we had earlier in the day.   All in all though, a great day, and some of the best riding in powder I have ever had!  We called it a day to get back on the shuttle about 3:45pm and luckily beat some of the crowds.

After a nap to refresh, we went to dinner at the Snake River Brewery.  Great local brew house with large food portions.  We all tried pretty much all the beers they brew since we each shared Leila’s beer sampler.  The shock of the night was the “Ned Flanders” brew, which we though tasted like crap - this weird, sour, vinegary taste - but once we read the description it made sense because it was called a SOUR ale and was made with 50 lbs. of cherries!

Jess and I shared a yummy heart-attack-maker of a sandwich called The Roper, which was a half-pound of brisket topped with some applewood bacon and cheddar cheese and horseradish cream sauce.  MMMMM it was good though!

Being exhausted from our days (I forgot to mention, Jess, Leila, and Leland did a sled-dog tour all day long - we need a write up of that!) we called it a night and were pretty much all sleeping by 11pm.

(Taking a break and having a chill day this Saturday.  My own pics to come… I didn’t bring my camera cord to download pics!)

Everyone else had arrived (or attempted to arrive) in Jackson on Monday 1/5.  As for me, I flew in on Wed. 1/7.  There had been a huge snowstorm on Mon/Tue and so Jess, Leila, and Leland’s flights were diverted.  Long story short, their travel ordeal involved a 12-hour wait at the Denver airport while the Jackson airport authorities decided whether or not it was safe to land a plane there.  They ended up renting a car and driving 9+ hours from Denver to Jackson in the middle of the still-blowing snowstorm!  Needless to say, not an auspicious start to the vacation.

The good news is everyone eventually arrived safe and sound.  I finally got there at about 4:30pm on Wed. after my flight too was diverted and I had to be bussed in from Idaho Falls.  What an experience!

We are staying in amazing condos that are part of the Snow King resort - it’s called Love Ridge Lodge.  our place has 2 bedrooms, a den, and 3 1/2 bathrooms.  It’s about 2000 square feet and very well-appointed with beautiful tile flooring and granite countertops.  And it was cheap!  (for what we are used to paying in say Mammoth & Vail…)  So after arriving, didn’t do much of anything my first night except head down to the “Shady Lady” saloon that was part of our resort.  I had a burger and a beer and ended up meeting these fun English guys who had an even longer travel ordeal than my friends.   We had some drinks and fun conversation which involved exchanging local slang - I learned that the word for a hot English guy or girl is called a “top tottie.”  I might have to use that one!

After an early-ish night we got up on Thursday, made breakfast, and headed over to Jackson Hole.  It’s about a 20-min drive from our condos to the actual mountain.  We were lucky to have a fairly sunny day - it became more overcast by the end of the afternoon though.  We did not attempt to make it up the tram that first day, as the wind and cloudy conditions would have made it hard to see and enjoy.

Due to warmer temperatures, they also closed a lot of the chairlifts because the melting heavy snow created higher avalanche danger.  So we started off the day with a few runs on the Teewinot chairlift to warm up then hit the gondola.  Because so many of the chairs were closed, we mostly stayed around the gondola and on the Thunder Quad chair area.  We did a lot of runs and stayed out til the mountain closed but still did not get to see as much of the mountain as I would have liked.

That night after cleaning up we headed to the Gun Barrel restaurant.  Real old-west style food - they served all sorts of local game and definitely strayed from the “usual” restaurant fare of beef and chicken.  The menu offered such meats as bison, buffalo (um, wait, are those the same?), venison, wild boar, and elk.  Gracie, Leila, and I split the sampler platter which had buffalo prime rib, elk chops, and some venison bratwurst.  Delicious!  We pigged out on all those meats and had some wine and fresh baked bread.

After that we headed to the Town Square Tavern, which was pretty fun and picked up after a while.  The dj played some reggae/dub to warm up and as more folks started coming in he picked up the tempo with more r&b, hip hop, and classic dance favorites such as “Groove is in the Heart.”  We were having so much fun that we ended up staying out much longer than planned and did not get home till after 1.  Drank lots of water to prepare ourselves for the next day!

I am really looking forward to this weekend even though I feel busy and somewhat stressed with the holidays!  Nonetheless, it should be a great weekend with all the new snow.  (However, I hope our drive up is clear, wish us luck!)

Real quick post because I’ve yet to pack!  Looking forward to:

•  72″ base (2′ of new snow earlier this week!)
• riding with Stacy and meeting new friends from SoCal Outdoor Adventurers group
• 3-7″ of new snow predicted for Friday!
• Night of Lights holiday lightshow on Sat. night
• and of course… hopefully some Hotties on the Hill… 

Have a great weekend everybody and I hope to have some great stories and photos from my first weekend on my favorite mountain when I return.

Woke up to a pleasant surprise on the first full day of the conference I was in Park City for.  There was actually snow falling - a welcome sight considering the near-total lack of snow on the ground otherwise.

After the conference sessions were over about 1pm, I went up to the room and threw on my gear, then boarded the shuttle for the Park City Mountain Resort.  PCMR was the only resort open out of the three in Park City.  It only had 1 lift operating, the Payday.  From Payday, only a green run was open (I forget the name, Home Run?)

By the time I had rented boots and a board, it was already 2:30 pm and the mountain closes at 4pm.  By this point I had also lost all the other people who came on the shuttle from the conference to go skiing or snowboarding.  But I figured the crowds were so thin - after all it was a Thursday with no snow - and there was such limited terrain to cover, that I’d easily be able to find them.  No such luck though.

I ended up doing about 6 runs that day in that hour and a half.  It was good to get back out on the mountain and at least start to get my “snow legs” back before our trip to Jackson Hole in a month.  The conditions were not great but not as bad as I thought they’d be.

They had made a bit of snow - the machines were pumping the whole time I was out, and probably had  been blowing snow all day long, so there was good coverage on the trail.

It was slightly icy in spots but overall the snow was pretty soft (not too hard packed) and fast.  I did end up taking a header on my 2nd run of the day because I started bombing a steeper portion of the run and wasn’t used to the rental board, so I caught an edge and went flying.  Yard sale! My goggles and hat were about 10 feet down the hill.  If I saw myself do it, i probably would have thought “ouch!”  I did hit my head pretty good, :-(  (dammit, I didn’t bring my helmet so of course I crashed my head!)

The board I rented was a 155 Burton Cruzer.  I wasn’t too impressed with it - it didn’t have those deep side-cuts that make it way easier to link turns, and the board didn’t have much pop.  Overall I got used to it pretty quick though and was just cruising most of the time anyways.

The crowd mix was about 60/40 skiers to boarders.  I’m used to Mammoth where it’s definitely a majority of boarders. Is that because Park City and Utah in general are more “ski snobby?”  I mean, two of the remaining resorts that don’t allow snowboarding, are Alta and Deer Valley in Utah!  The resort did have a fun little terrain park set up, which I did not go through because honestly I was a little gun shy having fallen and not having my own safety gear on (helmet or wrist guards.)  Seemed like a lot of folks would cruise through and hit that up given the otherwise somewhat boring run, time after time.

All in all a fun and enjoyable day, good to get the confidence back and see that I hadn’t gotten that much out of boarding shape since my last session in April.  And now I have another pre-Jackson trip planned:  hitting Mammoth on 12/20!   Now that trip will NOT be a disappointment in snow, considering Mammoth already has as much as 48″ base in places.  Can’t wait!

p.s.  I did not catch up with my conference peeps on the hill, but they ended up having my camera (hence the crappy blackberry pics above) and here they are mid-trail!

Hmmm… so I’m off to Park City on Wednesday and was hoping to ride on Thursday and Friday when the morning sessions of the conference let out… however, the conditions are not looking too promising.   2 runs are open and an 18″ base?  Sounds like Snow Summit. 

I’m checking with the bloggers at the Park City Mountain Resort to see what’s up, but I am not even sure if those conditions are worth the extra baggage fee.   Sigh.

Getting ready to fly to Park City, UT for a marketing conference in a few weeks and naturally I’m bringing my gear for post-conference riding!  However, will I have a rude awakening of extra baggage fees when I go to check my bags?

The  SnowSports Industries America (SIA), a snow sports trade group & resource, has helpfully compiled a list of baggage fees from the major US airlines.

Looks like Southwest, who I usually fly, allows 2 checked bags for free.   Woo-hoo, no wonder I love SWA.  Then there’s United, who I’m flying to Jackson Hole - $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second!  CRAP!

Come on United, gas prices are at two-year lows, give passengers a break!