Chester's Somewhat Daily Report - 12/20/03

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had a volleyball tounrament
yesterday, and things in general have been a bit hectic of late.

So Friday Jennifer says to me "let's go skiing Saturday." Not one to
shirck away from an opportunity like that, I say "Sure!" We decide to
go to Breck, since I hate Keystone, and the Basin would be a bit out of
her's and Megan's range this early in the season. We get a good jump on
traffic, leaving Lakewood at 6:30. No real traffic on I-70, at least
not what weekend skiers have become accustomed to. A quick stop at AB
Ski and Sport in Frisco to pick up a few small things, and we are in the
parking lot at Breck by about 7:45 or so. Rock star parking up front,
thinking it is going to be a killer day since so few people are present.

Get out of the car, grab the keys to unlock the rack, and lo, a harsh
reality sets in. My wife's new set of keys does not have a Yakima key
on it, because I had not replace it after her 1st set of keys had been
lost. My keys, with our spare Yakima key, are sitting on a hook at
home. Damn, what to do. Being a fatalist at times, my first reaction
(after quickly determining I was going to break the ignition key trying
to jimmy the lock open) was that we were going to have to head home.
Jen thought that perhaps a ski shop could help us, so we went to Ski
Country Sports, which is conveniently located next to the free lots at
Breck.

The manager (or owner, not sure, didn't ask) was very polite in saying
that Yakima makes one of the strongest locks in the business. He did
recommend a locksmith though, something I hadn't thought of (Jen did
though). We called a Breck locksmith shop. Left a message, and waited
for the on-call guy to call back. Still waiting for that call. So we
called another one in the book. He wanted $40 to drive from Dillon to
the lot in Breck to open the rack. I asked him how much if we went to
him. $15. And he lives in Summit Cove. So we start heading that way
and I decide what the heck, since we are closer, let's go to Keystone.
We were only planning on a half day anyway. Yes, I feel like these
events are my penance for bad-mouthing Keystone. The girls were in, and
off we went. The locksmith was able to pick the lock in about 2
minutes. At $15 for 2 minutes of work, his hourly rate works out to be
$450. Not bad. I suspect there is a lot of downtime though.

Anyhow, we get to Keystone before 9, get on the hill and the 17" base,
and proceed to have a pretty good time. We left at about 1pm, when
things started to get crowded on the hill. All in all it was a very
peaceful day of skiing. The 17" base was a good mix of hardpack
man-made and some natural. Grooming was good, though as the day turned
into afternoon, the groomed got skiied off exposing the bulletproof
hardpack they are famous for. When we notice this, we went to other
trails that weren't as crowded. No real rocks to speak of, one
distinguished patch of blue ice on Paymaster, and assorted small tress
sticking up here and there on the ungroomed trails.

My wife decided she likes Keystone a lot (again, more of the penance
thing I think), so we will likely be going back there more this year.
That's OK, I actually like the far reaches of the Outback, and I want to
hike the glades this year. I still hate Keystone, but I can handl
skiing there if it makes the family happy...

Have a great holiday. Another report may come out on the 26th, as we
are talking about skiing Xmas day. Ciao for now...
--
Chester Bullock,
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