Snowboarding on MLK Weekend 2004

Snow

[skip to the pictures]

The slopes were sunny and relatively warm for both Saturday and Sunday when we skied/boarded. That made it enjoyable, but had left Copper Mountain noticeably bereft of snow.

The trip out to Denver was fairly uneventful, with our flights being on time and Keith coming up with a loaner Mercedes SUV at the last minute. Bobby ended up still renting a car when he got in an hour and a half later than Keith, Tony and I. While waiting to make sure Bobby was able to get the rental car at the airport, we went into Denver and had drinks and a bit of food at the La Salle (I think that is the name).

Eventually Bobby called with the thumbs up about the rental, and we all headed over the pass to our hotel in Silverthorne. We had a room at the Four Seasons Sheraton right off the highway next to the Village Inn and Luxury Inn and Suites. We never figured out what could be possibly luxurious about the Luxury Inn. Maybe they were spending all their money on the rooms, rather than the bare navy on white signs and exterior.

We all fell asleep pretty quickly since it was 2:30am in ATL by the time we checked in and were settled. Even then, we all woke up fairly early. But, it took us a while to get ready and going.

We had decided to go to Beaver Creek on Saturday, and while Tony was getting ski rentals I had to go to the third shop before I found a board place which had the binding bolt-down disk for my new Burton board. By the time we got to the chairlift to leave, Keith and another friend from Denver had already left.

The conditions were good, and we started trying about all the runs we could. There were a lot of people there, and some long lines, but it wasn't too bad. I was definitely having fun with my new board.

When we finished with our day Tony and I kicked back with a beer at the base, and waited for Bobby to get in a last run or two. When we left the slopes, for some reason we all went with Tony's suggestion that we walk to the car rather than wait in the really long shuttle bus line.

It turns out we probably saw 7 buses go by in the time it took us to walk way down the long road to the parking lot. Lesson: Don't walk to the parking lot at Beaver Creek.

Sunday at Copper

We decided to try Copper Mountain on Sunday, and found $59 lift tickets at a kiosk in the hotel lobby. I had gotten my snowboard waxed and that seemed to help, although we soon realized that Copper was a bit bare of snow. I ended up being pretty cautious all day with my snowboarding, partly because of the exposed rocks, and partly because I was a bit sore from the previous day and worried I might fall badly.

I did have a lot of fun, and even was OK with a butt-disk ride up one of the areas so we could get to another area of the mountain. It is tricky to do that on a snowboard, and I ended up just holding on to the metal bar of disk-thing up the first bit of the slope. Then I got it between my legs and only almost wiped out once.

That would have been fine, but then we had to traverse a bit to get to the area we really wanted to be in.

Tony kept pushing for some tough slopes, which was good. He had rented some "demo" skis and was doing very well with just about everything.

We eventually wore ourselves out and rode the icy traverse over to The Village base area. Even at the bar where they were showing some sort of football game there weren't very many people.

After heading back to the hotel we decided to try the Old Chicago restaurant in the same building. Tony and I split a "Chicago style deep dish" pizza, which wasn't exactly very Chicago style at all. Even I could tell that and I am no expert. It did come in a deep dish, though.

Lazy Day

Monday was a slow day for us, with me getting up and wandering into the lobby because everyone else was sleeping in so late.

After we all got up and listened to me talk to T-Mobile 3rd tier customer support for a while because I couldn't get the internet access on my Treo 180 to work, we eventually walked over to the nearby Village Inn for breakfast.

For the always crowded place that it was, it had amazingly bad service and food. It took eons to just get our coffee and juice, and then an even longer time for our food. I was pretty happy with portabella chicken skillet dish which Bobby and I split, but everyone else's food looked pretty bad. And the coffee was definitly not good.

By the time we got checked out of the hotel, we just headed over the pass and went straight to the airport.

Equipment

Well, everything went pretty well on the trip when it comes to snowboarding. The equipment was so much better than renting. Not that I haven't had really good equipment, but mainly because I didn't have to scrounge around for it, pay a lot of money and then have really sore ankles or badly performing equipment.

I had recently purchased a 162 cm Burton Custom board, Solomon F20 boots, and Flow bindings. I also bought a Dakine padded board bag which had wheels on one end. The wheels were very handy, since the bag is pretty long and unwieldy and would be hard to maneuvering around an airport without the wheels.

And after forgetting to wax the board before the first day, I took it to the shop in the lobby of our hotel and had them do it. It turns out to be a branch of a store I have rented from a number of times in the past. The guy there seemed really knowledgeable about snowboards, and was very impressed by mine. He pointed out that it has some sort of composite fiber strings which run from tip to tip and that makes it flex and perform really well.

And the boots were really great. They are not as bulky as most, but kept my feet really warm and fit well.

I had to wander around to the third shop in Beaver Creak base before finding the correct bolt down disk for Burton's 3 hole bolt pattern. They sold me the plastic disk for $10, and said that Flow always charges for that anyway. That wasn't too bad, so I went with it.

I really like the Flow binding system. It was pretty easy to get in and out of, and still was very solid when boarding.

But... I think I got the wrong size bindings. I basically got the XL size because a guy in a shop here in ATL thought that is what was needed for the boots I got. They worked when I used them, but the straps were ratcheted down as far as they can go. So, if things wear or I need to tighten it, I won't be able to.

Travel Bonanza

I was notified by Bobby that our flight back might be oversold, and after they put me through the extra-special-super-duper security check, Bobby and I checked to see if they wanted volunteers to be bumped off the flight.

They said they were 17 people overbooked, so they would definitely be taking volunteers. I said I could, and asked what my routing would be if I were bumped.

The trick to my entire trip was that Bobby had booked my flight as ATL to DEN, and then DEN to ATL to TPA (Tampa). So the check-in agent looked for all sorts of connections to get me to TPA that day. She said I would have to overnight in ATL, but would be on the next later flight out of DEN, so I said that would be fine.

Eventually they just needed one volunteer, and I was at the top of the list, so they took me. They handed me the $400 voucher, which was because I was having a forced overnight. They would have only given Tony $200 if they had taken him. I also go a $10 dinner voucher and a $4 breakfast voucher and was told to ask for my hotel in ATL when I got to ATL.

After the plane left, I went to Concourse C because the check-in agent suggested it had better food options. I had a couple of Lefty Pale Ale beers and used the $10 food ticket to get a grilled tuna sandwich. It was decent and came with kettle style thick, crisp chips, although the bread was not very good. I called Nancy and talked a while after letting her know what was going on.

I arrived back at the departure gate about an hour before the flight and went to check in. I showed the boarding pass and asked if that was good, and she said, "Yes." So, I sat around charging my phone, listening to music and reading my Details magazine. Lots of good ads in it. ;-) I really do need those $695 khakis.

Eventually they were calling people up to board, but I was in 10A, so I figured it would take a while. Keith had finally shown up and I went over to talk to him and soon we boarded. But, when I was about to give my boarding pass to be scanned, the agent said, "Where'd you get that?" I got scared there was something wrong, and I said that I had been bumped earlier and they gave it to me. She seemed to remember me although it wasn't the one who handled most of the stuff earlier.

She said, "No, it's OK," and used her id card to scan me through. The machine was beeping wildly, but I went on into the boarding ramp. Not sure what was up with that. Next time I will force them to double check things for me. They keep changing everything every time I fly.

So, I boarded, got in my seat, and even found overhead for my two bags a few rows back from where I was sitting. They wouldn't let me put my bags at my feet since it was the first row of coach. The flight was amazingly smooth, and perfectly on time. And even the flight attendants didn't annoy me. I almost forgot I was flying Delta.