Sunday, December 28, 2008

Kristmas is kinda busy... thankyou for your patience...

Saturday, December 20, 2008

My First Review On The Internet!!!

Thank's to Cameron for some how comming accross this website review and forwarding it to me... (and yes this really was me I can vividly remember 'the guy from pheonix' he was really nice, and from memory it was quite a good visibility, but bad weather trip :)

Gabi K.
Phoenix, AZ
4 star rating 12/3/2008

Thank you, Daniel and CME for getting us from DIA to Beaver Creek safely...

My boyfriend made the arrangements, so I was literally just 'along for the ride' but I was pleasantly surprised at how well organized and efficient CME was, how friendly their staff was, and how smooth the entire process was. All four hours of the drive. Yes, I did say four hours! Because of the snow and the roads, etc... it did take almost four hours, but hey - they put safety first, so I can't complain.

The van was full but the others were friendly and we made the best of the situation. Nice to meet you John, Heather, Lynn, and a few others too. Thanks for putting up with my boyfriend's humor along the way. I liked the place we stopped - clean bathroom and plenty of snacks to choose from. You can't go wrong with that!

At $80 bucks a head, I thought it was a bit pricey, but so is everything related to the sport of skiing, right? I'll update my review after my trip back on Sunday, but as of now, I'd give 5 stars to CME for service and safety - 3 stars for price... and with that, I'm out - it's beautiful here!

People thought this was: Useful (5) Funny (5) Cool (5)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/colorado-mountain-express-edwards

...and thankyou Gabi K, for taking the time to write the review Colorado Mountain Express! I hope you enjoyed your time in the valley :D (and friend's wedding if I rememmber correctly)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Things Under Snow

Right now the snow is exciting, except if I may have to be driving in it, on it, under it, or potentially getting stuck in it :) ...which is not entirely true... because I have been fortunate enough to drive most of my "Vampire Runs" to Denver in bad weather (fortunately for me just not bad visability) and because the Vampire Runs attract very few guests the bad weather has been encouraging more generous tips and keeping me financilly a float, and so far I have not yet had to go into debt... which is a miracle in itself after being here for about 6 weeks already with sketchy work.

It will be interesting to see if I am just as enthusiastic about all this snow by the end of the season.


The first two photo's are from late november when most snow was not hanging around except for all the manmade snow...



From memory this was taken from the Vista Bhan that runs up the west slopes of Vail.





The following are from the entrance to the Beaver Creek Villiage as you approach from the bus stop...

The reason why there is snow everywhere except for on the foot paths is because the paving has been laid down over a heating system which constantly melts the snow as it lands on it... very cool!... well actually not quite cool enough for the snow :)

..."The Demon" (named after its 'stomp pad' and colours:) VS Tree...

Typically The Demon wins, but I have come accross a couple of deceptive tree tops that would not yeild... sending me sumersaulting through the air. Hilarious if the snow is not too deep and you don't have to spend the next five minutes floundering around in deep snow trying to get back ontop of it.


Entering Vail Villiage from the Vail Transportation Center, which is basically a public transport hub for Busses, Taxi's, CME and some car parking as well.


Now the lego car up by the Beaver Creek iceskating rink starts to make sense... Volvo's seem to be springing up all around Vail. There is even one that is cut in half up on the mountain as you disembark the main mountain Gondola... so something starts to smell like sposorship :)




Entering Vail Villiage...





Entering Avon from the exit roundabout from Interstate 70 (which runs over that bridge)


Avon's back drop
Colorado loves its bronze sculptures... they are everywhere...






Eagle River runs all the way through the county.



Its Not Always Cold On The Mountains!

For those that keep telling me how cold it looks up here... this blog is for you. While it can get cold up here... this is why we wear clothes and don't do this stuff naked!!! But we do tend to get as many sunny days as snow stormy days so the following photos are a collection from Beaver Creek and then Vail on sunny days....


Matt ....A River ....A Valley


Some very cold tree's....






Cameron... and... Matt


From Vail looking North East

...Avon (in the valley) from a long way up Vail Richard about to go over the edge.

Then we went to collect some snow-bunnies for lunch from the learner slopes.



Brooke, Richard, Maggie (Nashville, Tennesee) ...Homies in the Rockies :D

The Vail learning slope complete with magic carpet.

West from a Vail Gondola

North from the same Vail Gondola








Venturing into the back bowls of Vail, but we picked a very hard day to do it... the snow was icey on the surface and soft underneath... it was like boarding on a pavlovo you never knew whether you were going to crack the surface or not... very very hard work!!! NOW Reserved for fresh snow or powder days only!!!



Here I am 2 miles above sea level and loving it... unfortunately I for got to bring my shrimps for the open 'barbies' which we found... 2 miles and one 'deck' above sea level...

......"Smokin 2 Miles High"....
I thought the photos would speak many more words than I could... So "HI" from in fact "Very HI" above you all :D... Cheers, Daniel