USA 2019 - Week 1, Denver to Vail

This morning we got up at 4:30am to get ready to catch the Greyhound bus from Denver to Vail. It was -18 degrees this morning, but we decided to walk anyway - bad decision. We made it, and on the plus side, nothing else on this trip will be as difficult or cold as this morning's 15minute, 500m walk.

Thank god we chose the bus and didn't drive ourselves! The bus had auto chain deploying feature which the driver used often throughout the snowy trip. The 2.5h trip took 5h, but I think we thought worst case it might be more like 9h after the huge storm last night so all in all it was a successful trip. I finally felt like I was on holiday since we managed to eat two bags of S&V chips (carbs are good for altitude, OK?).





We arrived at Vail and made our way through the beautiful village to the Lodge Tower resort. We were early for check-in so decided to get our ski gear and do some skiing before our room was ready. It's the first time we've ever worn a helmet, and it's OK, but honestly I don't think it makes much difference in confidence and you mostly forget it's there after a while.





After an exhausting walk to the Golden Peak area (combination of tiredness, altitude, and walking in heavy gear), we did a couple of runs on the beginners Gopher's run, and decided we were ready for Gondola 1. I only managed one full (green) run down the mountain before my fingers froze, but Andrew went up for a second run while I checked out the shops for some gloves.



My gloves had lost a bunch of their waterproof coating so they were not doing well in the cold, so I got an awesome pair of Burton ones to replace them, so cute!

On that note, Andrew apparently needs to learn how to say Burton in American, because people keep asking him to spell that when he says his last name, and we're al like um its the thing written on most of your buildings…



After skiing we took a quick break to check in and enjoy the amazing view outside out window, then went down to the Lodge Tower after-ski snack bar but were disappointed to find out they'd run out of their warm cider. They more than made up for it though by giving us cool drink bottles, so nice!







We headed out to check out the Vail village, and find a place to eat. There were two Japanese places, but neither were serving katsu curry (why the hell would you not in this weather?!) and we finally settled on Vail Brewing Company where we had some great beer (best one was Gore Creek IPA), meatballs, mushrooms, and tempura veggies.





Tomorrow is meant to be the best day of the season, can't wait!