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J.B. Bauersfeld 

I've been lucky enough to get away for the 3rd time in 4 years to go skiing (4 times if you count the 2 times last year).  Dave Johnson, Chris Rhoad, and I loaded up the Tahoe (thanks Mom and Dad) and took off on December 29th for Colorado.  

Day one was a little rough at Vail.  The snow was coming down like Jacob Pullen's 3-balls of late, and it was blowing around like crazy.  That made visibility a bit tough, and the bumps threw me off a bit (not to mention the fact that I hadn't skied in 11 months).  I see why people say Vail is one of the best resorts in the world... the village is gorgeous, and they take good care of you.  Nice, but not my favorite.

Day two was fun.  Copper is a lot more laid back than Vail, and I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen in months.  My former Disc Golf buddy Bill Rose joined us and even brought his wife Shyra.  We tooled around a bit, and hit up some blue runs.  It was fun, but the best part was lunch.  One of Bill's good buddies works on the mountain, and he tipped us off to a tasty little treat with rice, chicken, and green chili sauce.

Day three was one of the best days I've ever had skiing.  Bill and I rolled off for most of the day from Chris and Dave, and he took me up the Sierra lift at Copper, and we hit some AWESOME runs.  We dropped in on a couple blacks, did some off trail stuff (yes, I got stuck in the powder) and BOMBED down hitting some jumps.  SIDE NOTE: I'm not a particularly good skier, but I'm a decent enough athlete to hold my own, so I like to go fast. Like, nearly out of control fast (I earned the nickname Juggernaut last year in Utah), but I don't go so fast that I run little kids over.  At the end of the day, I decided to get gutsy, and take a run down the superpipe.  Oops.  I went the first 3 times back and forth, but then got a little too fast, and a little too high, and forgot to turn.  I subsequently landed on my butt, and lost a ski.  I'll live though.

Day 4 at Winter Park was good, once we got there.  It was a rough drive getting there, but it was worth it.  The snow was blowing, so it was similar to day 1 at Vail, but I really dig the blue runs at WP, especially Mary Jane.  SO FUN!  Saturday night, we enjoyed our evening in Denver.  Bill Rose and former WIBW producer Laura Phillips joined us in LoDo for a blasty of a night.  

The best part (other than the skiing, time off, apres ski, and hot tub) is that I get to grow my vacation beard out.