Golder Interview/Ski Trip

Last week/weekend I was fortunate to be the interest of an international engineering firm with offices located in vast reaches of the US including Denver. They invited me out to their Denver office for a round of interviews. Because they were paying the way for me to get out there, of course I had to take the new skis and make a trip out of it.

Pauli's Last ditch effort to keep me home.

I flew out of KC Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. putting me in Denver around 6:30 a.m. (1.5 hr flight, but we gain an hour). From there I rented a car and drove to the office in Lakewood, CO, about 5 miles west of Downtown Denver. My first interview was at 9:30 and others followed for the better portion of the morning. Lunch was had at a local grill then a few more interviews followed. I was impressed with what I saw of the company and look forward to hearing back.

I checked into my hotel for the evening at 2:30 and took a much needed nap. I met up with Josh Elliott around 5 to grab some tele boots for the weekend ski trip approaching. Shortly after, Uncle Don met me at the Hotel bar for some tasty local microbrews (a plentiful fixture in CO). After a couple of beers we left for the Rockhouse Brewery for some more tasty beers and burgers. Here we met up with my cousin Matt. We spent the rest of the evening slurping down beers and discussing the weekend plans.

Friday morning I got an early start and headed to Loveland for my FIRST day of tele skiing...ever. I was the second one on the lift right after another fellow tele skier. I figured I could watch him descend and get an idea of the secrets of the tele turn. Boy was I wrong, he descended fast and smoothly, when i tried to mimic, I face planted and slid to a stop on my nose about 20ft later. After regrouping, I pointed my skis back down the hill and tried yet another turn, which had a very similar outcome. This was turning out horribly. I scratched and fell my way back down to the lift tired, beat and humbled.

I took another lift up to the other side of the mountain where the grade was a little less severe. I remained on this lift for the majority of the remainder of the day. Believe it or not, by the end of the day, I managed to make ONE run from top to bottom without stopping or falling! It was revolutionary, i was actually tele skiing.

Some Point during the day when I wasn't on my ass.

Breckenridge from Loveland

Keystone from Loveland

Amazing powder at Loveland

I hopped off the mountain at closing time and headed to Golden where I met up with Josh Elliot and roommate Keith for some more tasty local microbrews and some cut throat. Much like tele skiing, I was not impressing anyone with my pool sharkiness. Later that night, Josh, Ashley and I headed to the famed CO pizza joint/chain Beau Jo’s for a 5 pound loaded pie and, you guessed it, tasty local brews. I retired to Josh's guest bedroom that night completely exhausted.

Saturday was spent at Breckenridge with Mariel, husband Louis, and their many good friends. The conditions were of the typical spring skiing sorts - slushy slow snow (good for learning on) and high temperatures (40-45 deg, i skiing in a long sleeved t-shirt and no jacket). I used this day to really hone in on my newly acquired tele skills. By the end of the day, I was extremely tired, extremely burnt and a little more competent on free heeled skis. Thanks to Mariel and her clan for putting up with my slowness as I learned the art of tele.

Mariel and I after a nice run at Breck

Saturday evening I was invited to hang out with Mariel and friends at their posh Vail rental. We watched a little Tron and then played Wii Sports, where again, I showed my incompetence in coordination. I received a call from cousin Josh confirming lodging plans for the evening. I left Vail around 9:00 and headed back over the pass to a little mining town where I met up with cuz Josh and Uncle Don at a hotel. We enjoyed a few tasty local microbrews (are you seeing a pattern?), shared some stories then hit the hay.

Mariel and I getting some beers in. Aloe Vera anyone?

Sunday morning we awoke to 6" of fresh powder and knew it was going to be an 'epic' day. We left for Copper mountain navigating the snow covered interstate. We got to the mountain around 9:00 and headed up for our first of many great runs. It was at this point I realized the beauty of telemark skiing. The tele turn is exceptionally stable in the somewhat unpredictable powder. Thanks to Josh's knack for finding sweet runs and never backing down from a challenge, I became somewhat proficient on the teles. We spent most of the morning on black and double black runs, skiing everything from deep powder, to tight trees to large/steep bumps. We skied hard for most of the day. At 3:00, everyone was completely gassed and we retired to the car to head back down the mountain.

Donny, Josh and I at the top of Resolution Bowl

Josh picking his way through this amazing powder run.

It was a good thing we left when we did, traffic was moving at a snails pace on the drive back. We stopped at a small mining town on the way back to Denver for some Dinner, then parted ways. I booked it to the airport for my 9:00 flight home. At the airport I ran into some trouble and would have missed my flight, but fortunately all flights were running 2.5 hrs behind schedule. I slurped down some beers in the airport bar then boarded around 12:00 am. We landed in KC around 2:00 am.