ROAD TRIP TO REHAB CHAPTER ll
Road Trip to Rehab Chapter II
Saturday, February 2, 2019
We departed Moab, continuing the drive to Durango… Clouds were surrounding the red rocks and a sun beam protruded down to the valley floor with the La Salle’s in the background… Awesome site and awesome drive…
Dan and I road-tripped to Durango about 6 years ago, when they hosted our NASJA Western Winter Summit. We both agreed that this was a fun resort with lots of diversity and Durango was great community with expanding mountain culture, great music, beautiful art and year- round outdoor recreation… fishing, paddle sports and great mountain & road biking
They even host an annual bike event, The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, that races the infamous Durango & Silverton Train, 50 miles up the canyon from Durango to Silverton. For more information on Durango, Colorado visit: https://www.durango.org/discover-durango/
We arrived in Durango about 12:30pm and drove directly to Purgatory… This was a Saturday and they had a good crowd and we found one of the last parking spaces in their mid-level lot. Actually, it was on their tennis court… This was a long walk to the shuttle pick up, but thankfully, Dan offered to carry my skis and negotiated the walk carrying two sets of poles… took me a while to get there, but we eventually got shuttled to the village base area…
Greg Ralph, Marketing Manager and his lovely wife, April, both old friends, greeted us and he set us up with ski passes… We rode up the Village Express to the top and skied down to Chair 3, rode back up and skied down to Chair 5… Rode back up and Greg & April had to depart, so Dan and I continued moving across the mountain to ski Chair 8 “Legends Express”. This lift was recently replaced with a high speed detachable quad and made riding up super-fast…
I really like the layout of this mountain and how the runs have been designed through the trees with rolling bumps and tree islands… A great area to ski on flat lite days… We eventually made our way to Dante’s on the mid mountain to take a break and grab a bite… We skied a few more runs and made our way back to the Village, where I checked out for the day and Dan continued to make a few more runs…
The base village was filled with skiers and riders of all ages… lots of young families with kids and everyone having a great time as a DJ spun tunes on the deck of the outside bar…
Purgatory has an unheard-of program for kids, 10 and under… A FREE Season Pass! That Right, I said FREE Season Passes for all kids, 10 & Under! The Power Kids Pass is good every day at Purgatory and their sister resorts to include, Pajarito, Sipapu, Arizona Snowbowl & Hesperus.
Purgatory offers 13 Lifts & Tows (3 HS Quad) leading to 101 trails, spread over 1,605 skiable acres with 2029 vertical feet. Base elevation starts at 8,793 feet and the Summit is 10,822 feet.
Full on winter activities abound at Purgatory with snow tubing, nordic skiing, snow cat skiing, dog sledding, snowshoe tours, snowmobile adventures and sleigh rides… They even have a mountain coaster! Purgatory is also a Summer Resort… For more information on Purgatory, please visit: https://www.purgatoryresort.com
Clouds came over, in and out offering warmth when the sun was out and having to put my jacket back on when the clouds obscured the sun… We made it back to the car via the shuttle and Dan carrying my skis… I had to stop several times to rest along my walk back, but starting to feel good about making turns and keeping up…
We were invited to stay at Greg & April’s house and made our way back down to Durango to their beautiful mountain home set in a beautiful valley surrounded by scenic rock outcroppings… We were guests here before and appreciate their hospitality and their long-term friendship.
I took them out to dinner that evening, and we headed to Eolus in downtown Durango… This was a fabulous restaurant, frequented by both locals and visitors and the place was packed and thankful we had a reservation. The service was on spot and the food was deliriously good! I had the best pork chop that I have eaten in many years, placed on a bed of jalapeno mac & cheese and sautéed spinach… Makes my mouth water, just thinking about it…
For more information about Eolus, visit: https://www.eolusdurango.com
End of a great day of fun skiing with great friends and great food & drink! It doesn’t get any better!
Sunday: February 3, 2019
Super Bowl Sunday… Dan and I have spent many of winter road trips watching the Super Bowl from ski resorts or at sport bars along the routes… mainly because of the consistent timing of our road trips starting the last week in January and normally for at least 2 weeks on the road…
It had snowed about 4 inches overnight and it was thick and heavy… I decided to take the day off from skiing and Dan headed back up the mountain… Our hosts had planned a Super Bowl Party with about 15-20 friends coming over that afternoon, so I rolled up my sleeves and helped them prepare for the big event. Wings, Sliders, Potato Salad, Chips with Dips and a whole lot more were prepared and brought by friends… I haven’t attended a Super Bowl party in years… as mentioned, mostly by being on the road…
Of course, the game was boring to say the least, and the only thing that kept everyone engaged was that Greg told everyone to bring quarters ($.25) to play the game… Everyone signed up on a list in order and at the start of game, everyone put in a quarter… Every time there was a change in possession, you put in a quarter… And passed the bucket to the next person on the list… If you happen to be holding the bucket and a there was score, the bucket holder got the goods in the bucket… Well, obviously there was but a few winners, being a low scoring game, but Dan managed to be holding the bucket when a score happened and he loaded his pockets with $38 worth of quarter… All in all, a Super Fun Super Bowl day…
Monday: February 4, 2019
We packed up the Subaru and bid our dear friends good bye and hit the road to our next destination… Telluride Mountain Resort… We had skied Telluride many times in the pass and they also hosted a NASJA Western Winter Summit about 7 years ago…
Dan and I shared driving this morning and headed over Lizard Head Pass directly to the Mountain Village… We paid for parking in the garage and accessed the Mountain Village Plaza. I had to go to the guest services office to pick up a pass… I have been honored with a complimentary Epic Media Pass, but since Telluride was a partner resort, my Epic Media Pass was not honored, so I picked up a Telluride Guest Pass to access the mountain…
All along our journey we have been spoiled with RFD technology, with the Ski City Super Pass that is RFD readable through your clothing and using our Epic Passes at Park City… But at Telluride, unfortunately, you still have to expose your pass for them to scan at the lift lines.
Not a big issue, just inconvenient to unzip your jacket, find the pass and show it… And sometimes having to take off a glove.
None-the-less, we were riding up the Village Express to access the mountain trails… It was a mostly cloudy and partly sunny day, so visibility was pretty good… Conditions were really good with recent snow and plenty of groomed packed powder runs were calling our names… We skied a couple of runs down and rode up the Polar Queen Express. Several years ago, Dan and I rode this lift at the end of the day, before it was upgraded, and it stopped, leaving us hanging about 300 feet above the run below… it was scary! We waited and waited for it to fire up and knew we were there for a while when several lift maintenance snowmobiles were heading to the top… Eventually, they fired up the auxiliary motor and we were able to get off the lift and rewarded with a meal voucher. This time, no issues and we skied a couple of more groomed runs down… We then skied to the Gorrono Ranch Restaurant for a lunch break. Lots of fond memories as well hanging at the beach at this location in days past… After lunch we headed back up and took a few more runs before I had to call it a day…
I hung out in an Adirondack chair in the plaza, trying to catch some rays and waited for Dan to finish up… He took a few more runs and met me at the village and we packed up and headed into the town of Telluride, where we checked in to the Mountain Side Inn, our overnight accommodations. A comfortable but cozy room with two beds on the second floor… No elevator, so dragged my bags up the stairs… We were lucky to get the last parking space in their lot, so thankful we did not have to transport our gear, from the adjacent public parking lot.
We decided to head up to the Mountain Village for dinner and take the Gondola up… It was a longer walk to downtown Telluride… The roadways in town were covered with snow and the 3-4 block walk to the Gondola was challenging for me and I ended up using my cane to help steady myself… and, having to stop several times to rest… But, eventually made it.
Several restaurants were open in the Mountain Village… We chose Crazy Elk Pizza and the server was friendly and accommodating… We sat and ate at the bar as opposed to the main dining room, where lots of families with kids over ran the facility… The food was great!
We took the transport gondola back over the mountain to the town and the walk back to our lodging property proved again to be challenging, but made it and call it a night!
Telluride is most certainly one of the most spectacular scenic resorts in North America. And the terrain is highly recognized by many an avid extreme skier… So much off-piste terrain offered… 17 lifts & tows, leading to 148 established runs, spread over 2000+acres with lift serviced 3790 vertical feet. For more information on Telluride, visit: www.tellurideskiresort.com
At this time. I’m feeling pretty positive about my skiing abilities and able to keep up… but, find myself short of skiing a full day and today, I considered it a little set-back having to use my cane, but then again, it was a 3-4 block walk…
Tuesday: February 5, 2019:
We packed up and checked out of the Mountain Side Inn and decided to enter the mountain again from the Telluride Mountain Village, so we drove back up, parked in the public parking area and rode the access gondola to the village… 1-2” of fresh had fallen overnight, what we call “dust on crust” and intermittent clouds and sun, made visibility good and bad at times…
The light layer of fresh snow, over groomed is fun to ski… like slicing buttah’ and we took several runs before ending our day early, to drive to Gunnison and our next destination, Crested Butte.
We drove out of the canyon heading to Montrose, where we stopped to refuel and made it to Gunnison and check in to the Holiday Inn Express… It was Chinese New Year, but we ended up going to a recommended restaurant… Garlic Mike’s… The atmosphere, aroma and service was nice and homey, service was attentive, and the food was great! I went for the Egg Plant Parmesan.
Wednesday: February 6, 2019:
Fresh snow was falling as we drove to Crested Butte from Gunnison, about 20 miles… We eventually drove up to the mountain and paid for parking, the closest we could get to the village access… We had skied Crested Butte several times on previous media trip and on our own over the past 20 years and this was the first time back in over 10 years… It has changed a lot over that time with many more lodging properties at its on-mountain village, but we were still able to navigate the village and once at the lifts, recalled the layout…
Crested Butte is a Vail Resort and our Epic Passes allowed us access on the lifts… Another day of “dust of crust” as it snowed about 4” and continued to snow that morning… It was a flat light day, so I switched to my yellow lens glasses, plus it was cold and for the first time in years, used a neck-face gaiter…
We rode up the Red Lady Express and skied over to the base of the Paradise Lift… We skied several runs in this area, as most of the runs were treelined… The fresh snow was fun, and I felt good carving turns and keeping up… I really like this side of the mountain with mostly blue groomed runs, just my style for carving and cruising… And, uncrowded with plenty of space on the runs… We skied several runs with no one else on them… We took a lunch break in the Paradise Warming House… Lots of people inside, out of the weather, but managed to find a table… After refueling with some nourishment, chicken tenders that I couldn’t finish, we got back on the skis and road up Paradise to ski down to the East River Express… From there, we rode up this lift and skied downed to the Teocalli Lift, and skied back down the base village… I was good for the day, but as usual, Dan took a few more runs as I waited at the base…
Crested Butte Mountain Resort skis BIG! 15 Lifts & tows (4 HS Quads), leading to 121 established trails spread over 1,547 acres offering 2,775 vertical feet… For more info, visit: www.skicb.com
After the walk back to the parking lot, to which Dan continued to carry my skis, we headed back through the town of Crested Butte and back to Gunnison… Later that evening, I was craving Chinese food and in celebration of Chinese New Year, we found a Chinese Restaurant on the main drag, that was open, and I got my fix with Sizzling Beef & Scallops…
Thursday: February 7, 2019:
We packed up, checked out and drove back up to Crested Butte for more turns this morning before heading north… A good friend and fellow NASJA journalist, Denis B. Hall, who lives in Crested Butte was to meet us for a few runs… We parked again in the paid parking area and hoofed it to the village where we met up with him… We rode up the Red Lady Express and skied several runs then on to Paradise Lift and terrain… Great to catch up with Denis, as he also had some medical issues over the past year and let his NASJA membership lapse but, was also on the road to recovery and would be active in writing his column again this year. He had to leave the mountain by mid-morning and Dan and I skied a few more runs before heading back to the parking lot…
We loaded up and drove back to Gunnison, where we refueled the Subaru and I noticed that I did not have my credit card… We headed back over to the Chinese Restaurant to see if they had it, and they didn’t and then I recalled paying for dinner with cash… Looked for my receipts of when I used it last and realized it was at Garlic Mike’s… We drove out to Garlic Mike’s and they did not open till 5:00pm and no one was there… I called and left a message that I left my credit card and asked if they could call me to confirm it was there… I was somewhat concerned and debated to cancel the credit card, but as we all do, have certain monthly bills paid directly from this card and was hesitant to do so, hoping that Garlic Mike’s had it and if they could send it back… I was a little upset that I failed to put it back in my wallet after that meal, but at this time, there was nothing more I could do, except wait for a call to see if they had it and would be willing to send it back, or I would have to cancel it and continue the road trip with out it…
By this date, I had skied 11 days with one day off. My confidence in skiing was improving, one turn at a time. Skiing intermediate groomed runs, my ski legs were getting stronger and not feeling any soreness in thigh or calve muscles and would push myself a little more each day in honing my technique in balance and hands-arm position in the apex and though out my turns… Tightness in my gluts when walking long distances were still an issue but getting better.
This afternoon, we would drive to the Vail – Beaver Creek area and complete the last chapter of this year’s road trip.