Riding the Roof of America

Home Made Prime Rib Roast

I must admit that I didn’t fabricate the ingenious title for this post: it is the title for a ski flick from Poor Boys Productions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgTrcMqQM0U).  I will, absolutely, make the claim that the title does pertain to my current lifestyle.  My sole obligation is my bouncing gig at Cecilias which is more like a social event than an actual job.  I truly think this current state my life is the nearest I will ever be to a perpetual weekend.

My snowboarding progresses.  Before I continue, I will remind the audience that we are still in the month of November.  Today marked my fourteenth day on the slopes; which exceeds what most people can say for their entire season.  Many of the locals stew in their own glee when they haughtily profess that they are way ahead of their normal schedule with ten days on the mountain.  I hate people who play the “one up” game so I happily keep my notable number secret and pretend to be impressed with their slain days.  Fourteen days for a poor boy from CT… not too shabby I’d say.  It looks like my goal of 100+ days is attainable.

Breckenridge continues to open more terrain.  Today they opened peak 9 with three trails.  This was a magical feat because the crowds melted and were conservatively spread around the mountain reducing slope traffic and life lines.  Even now, Breckenridge is only around 8% open and the conditions are predominantly man-made.  This is far from a complaint.  The snow is as soft as any fantastic day of New England skiing and the runs are far more exciting.  I know this is redundant but my point is to convey how different this experience is.

My main riding buddy has been my roommate Chris.  Chris is a great skier who has been enjoying the fresh, untouched snow in the tree’s that lay off several trails we have been frequenting.  Eventually, I grew envious from stories of knee deep freshies and thrilling lines; I began to yearn for these experiences myself.  Heeding the advice of a coworker, I decided to brandish my “clunker” Nitro snowboard and head into the trees myself.  Chris was certainly correct.  Fresh snow, challenging lines, and a secluded winter wonderland was what I experienced.   I also had the pleasure  of riding on fresh snow with absolutely no base.  Without a base, the natural features of the mountain are a very real part of this particular riding experience.  My board became the victim of assault from rocks, roots, and stumps.  After three long runs in the trees my board had enough; evidence of this came from the three NASTY core shots that the bottom of my board received.  Needless to say my fun in the trees has been postponed until the storms start dumping and the risk to my equipment is null.

I’m seriously considering purchasing a used snowmobile.  I know that the owning one of these machines goes against everything that I set out to do in Colorado; HOWEVER, the purpose of this purchase would be for one reason, and a damned good one at that.  A snowmobile can provide quick, effortless access to back country terrain.  Sledding up back country bowls is the most (human) energy efficient way to get a great day of untouched riding in; it will open up doors that would otherwise be bolted closed.  A prep talk from a friend back in CT runs through my head before I make every decision out here, “Do everyone favors, don’t say no to anything, live like everyday is your last, open doors everyday…” etc.  What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Tomorrow will mark the second Thanksgiving I have had without my family.  Though it won’t be the same without Mom, Dad, and Rob… (miss ya’ll) there will be a feast to devour and good company to enjoy.   Posts to follow.

Happy Turkey Day!

I worked my first shift at Cecilia’s last night.  Cecilia’s is both a local hot spot as well as a renowned bar that tourists flock to for late night cocktails and dancing.   Apparently, this is the only “club” type bar in town and is one of the main nightlife attractions.  I was at the door checking ID’s for the night.  The bar was crowded with locals who weren’t overly thrilled about getting carded by the new bouncer; but for the most part everyone warmed up, understood, and was happy to introduce themselves to the rookie on board.  It is my understanding that things pick up when the tourists come in to town.

It seemed as though most every drunk patron of Cecilia’s wanted to explain the relationship between the locals and the tourists to me.  It is a symbiotic, love-hate, relationship that people appear to be truly adamant about.    This is what I understand so far (in a nutshell): the locals rely on the tourists to come in and spend their hard earned money in town to sustain the thriving micro economy and thus create a pool of jobs that the locals occupy; the locals need the tourists.  On the other hand, the tourists need the locals to fill the basic jobs that make Breckenridge so great – operate their fancy hotels, ski lifts, grooming machines, etc.  There is some resentment from the locals towards the tourists.  The locals are proud of their town and work together to keep it afloat, feeling protective of their turf as a result.  The tourists, who are here for a few days or a week, rape and pillage the local goods with no remorse and have no consideration of the efforts taken to maintain and preserve “their” town.  Of course these are all generalizations, but for the most part I feel as though I understand the subtle conflict.

There are a couple types of local.  There is the “New” local such as myself.  We come out for 5 or 6 month lengths of time  and at the end of our stay we surrender our local status and abruptly return to reality at the end of our stay.  The New local has a chance of solidifying the local status and becoming one of the following two categories of local.   First is the Bro/Brahs – “chiller bro’s.”  The Chiller Bro is a type of local that goes with the flow.  You can spot them in town by the extremely bright, clashing colors of their snowgear or by their ridiculously long hair and facial hair.  Their language is more relaxed and words seem to flow out of their mouths in a lazy, slightly stoned type of annunciation. The “Chiller Bro” seems is a character like one would expect to see straight out of a cartoon.  They work basic jobs and have aspirations of snowboarding for the entirety of their life.  Finally, there is your everyday, high county, average Joe, local.  This person has felt the complexities outside of mountain life and has established a prioritized list of life goals… skiing and snowboarding would fall somewhere in the middle.

Overall it was a pretty good experience.  Meeting people was definitely a plus; I’m going to have to figure out whether or not the hours are too overbearing.  Getting home at 4:00 am to wake up at 7:00 am for fresh powder might not be entirely convenient, nor will working at night when I have guests visiting.   The pay is definitely on par and it seems like a position where I will meet loads of people … I’ll have to weight the pro’s and con’s.  I was informed that I will have to work New Years eve, for a hefty sum of cash, but there is something about working on New Years eve that kills me.  I’m dead after last night and will be working late again tonight: debating whether or not to ride at this point.  We are supposed to get a storm later today which is affecting my scheduling at this point in time.  I might declare it a “lazy day” and save myself for tomorrow when there is some freshness on the trails.

Cheers!

P.S. Opening day at Breckenridge was awesome.  They only had a couple trails open but the conditions were solid and it was beautiful outside.   Chris and I took a quick 5 or 6 runs and called it quits.

The house has been filled.  The past several days have been devoted to setting up our house and little more.  We were able to make our way to Keystone for a day of riding this past weekend.  The conditions were as good as any solid day of New England skiing.  I still get a kick out of these western powder skiing folk.  When there isn’t a couple inches of fresh snow they don’t know what to do with themselves.  Proof of this was the four downed skiers we saw on one single run once the trails started to get a little skied off; these people just cant handle the slightest bit of ice.

I have been in a pickle with a owner of one of the “best” bars in town for a gig as a bouncer.  I’m hoping to lock down that job today if only our endless game of phone tag would cease.   I figure this job would be perfect for my social life and my snowboarding schedule – I figure I wont be missing any powder days working at night!

I now wish I brought my road bike with me.  This week has been 55+ and the skies have been clear as I’ve ever seen; perfect riding weather.  A lot of people road/mountain bike out here as there are intricate trail systems for both types of bicycles.

Breckenridge opens tomorrow and we are supposed to get snow on Friday and Saturday, more detailed posts to follow.

Cheers.

These pics come from Loveland pass, just beyond A-Basin.  I will be sure to try this terrain out.  To The left is a large, more mellow slope that looks awesome.

Is this sign perfect or what?  You see these every so often on the drive up to Loveland pass in addition to your standard “Avalanche Warning” signs.

(listen to this song….. classy rap -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SJahxYBmlk)