Vail 2002 - February 7-11th, 2002

This was actually before I got to Vail.  Pieton's flight came in a few hours before mine and Josh wasn't yet off work, so he had some time to burn.  He decided to head west a bit along I-70 to Glenwood Springs, an area with incredible backdrops of the canyon through which the interstate makes its way.  This picture here was of a hot spring he stumbled upon.

Pieton in Glenwood Springs:  alone and scared.

The river at the bottom of the canyon (not sure of the name).

Jay, who'd you get to take this one, anyway?

Driving along I-70.

The next day (Friday):  Hubox and Leake heading toward the slopes.

Top of the mountain:  Jason and Jeff.  The first day we skied was overcast and later that afternoon and night the snow hit.

Pieton and Hubox.

Hmmmm...........

Jeff at the top.

Josh with a nice little hit.

Hubox taking a break.  Actually, he was probably waiting for us Ohioans to catch up.  As you can see, here comes the snow.......

Jay bundling up.  It hadn't snowed in two weeks, but it let loose while we were there.

Leake hitting the brakes in front of Josh.  I was able to make him amply nervous, I think.

Looking up the hill as Jeff heads down.

Hubacher working the edge of the woods.  That kid will go to ridiculous lengths in the search for powder.  As for me, being from Ohio, I was far more used to all the packed snow we had the first day and occasional patch of ice.  Those conditions were not to last........

Pieton getting ready to head down.

Josh and Jeff.

Heading up the lift on the front side.

Did I mentioned that it snowed?

And snowed.  The second day we were there 14 inches fell, setting us up perfect for the third and final day of skiing.

As usual, waiting for Hubox.  Damn snowboarders.......

Not bad for an old man.

Josh's place of employment at the top of the mountain, managing the snowmobile tours.

The chair Josh spent much of his time in.

Pieton and his Dunkel, at the Kaltenberg Brewery at the bottom of the mountain.

Jay making his way down the hill.

Pieton and Hubox, in that order.

The trusty K2's and Pieton's rentals.  Josh hooked him up with a sweet pair of X-Screams for those three days.  Nice......

The sun trying to peek through.

Pieton in the chair behind us heading up the oldest (and therefore slowest) lift in Vail on the backside (I believe).

The chairlift to nowhere.  Actually worse, it led to......

Jay just wants you to think he went down here........

this is the path he took in order to meet us at the bottom.

Back for another round.

And here is what it looked like the third day: not a cloud in the sky and 14 fresh on the ground.  It was unreal and, according to Hubox, what Vail's all about.

A shot of some rocks we were heading toward.  Hiking to the top was not fun, especially for a couple sea-level skiers in gear.

So we're standing at the edge of this 10-15 foot drop, looking down onto fresh snow, no one around.  I'm wondering allowed how hard the landing is and Josh decides to find out by launching.  Oh no, no snowboard needed.  His first step I thought he was screwing with me.....but sure enough off he went.  Ended up, landing was a little harder than he had expected.  Yeah, Josh, peace..........

Coming off that drop into completely untouched snow.  It was great until I bit it and took 20 minutes to get up.  Powder skiing is SO different.  Unbelievable.

Jay making his way down.

Once again, Leake almost bites it.  I took some ugly spills that weekend - but well worth it Hubox!

Heading up the lift on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Sharper folks might notice our shadow spells out the name of Colorado's premiere ski resort.

Trying once again to kill myself.  I almost succeeded this time, but actually did NOT go down!  First for everything, I guess.

Of course Josh makes this stuff look easy.  He was nice enough to take it back a notch while we were there.  Here he is going ballistic.

Jay's just happy to be (still) alive, I think.

Ever wonder what a foot of powder looks like as you ski through it?  Didn't think so....but here you go anyway.

Leake at the top.

Hubox and Pieton at the top.

Josh is the blur on the left side.  Hey, I was TRYING to ski!

There we go, that's more like it.

Jay taking part in some competition for free beer (hey, sounds good to me) at the Kaltenberg.

Yes, those are marshmallows.  Pieton won easily, but was passed over for a woman.  Typical......