Getting Comfortable

After a week and a half of nosebleeds and chapped lips, miserable headaches and unobtainable hydration levels, followed by two weeks of cough and runny nose, I've finally become comfortable calling these snow-capped Rocky Mountains my new home!  It was a "rocky" start, but I'm officially acclimated and loving it.  The thin air up here does somehow lend to a cleaner energy that I haven't experienced before.  I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day, especially if I go riding first thing.  That's a sure way to get the blood flowing!

Riding Peak 8 in the morning

Work has gotten better.  I've worked my way from "AM Pizza Guy" to "PM Saucier" in a period of a few weeks, which allows me to ride in the mornings.  At first, I was pretty miserable working from 8 - 5 with no ride breaks - getting to work before the lifts start running, leaving after they stop - but after some persistant persuasion and a few solid first dinner specials, I've locked in my position at night.  Now I try to ride in the mornings as much as possible.

Ye Olde Workplace, Seven's Restaurant on Peak 7

There's this program that Vail provides to all passholders (employees included) that keeps a tally of how many vertical feet you ride in a season, as well as any pictures you get taken of you on the mountain.  It does this by scanning your pass each time you board a lift or have a photo taken, and the info is automatically transferred to an online profile.  Isn't technology scary?!  But it's pretty cool.  Today I got about 10,000 feet before coming down to write and get cleaned up before work.  So far this season I've done about 140,000 ft in 12 riding days or so.  It's kind of awesome to see how much you've really done each day.

Anyway, back to the restaurant.  One of the most interesting things about the place I work is its location.  The main lift on Peak 7, as you can see above, is located just outside our front door!  I can literally ride straight to work if I want to!  Usually, though, I take the gondola up from town, which looks something like this:

Pretty tight right? The view is great, especially of 10 Mile Range (there are 10 peaks, which is where Breck is located: Peak 7 - Peak 10.  They'll be opening Peak 6 to the public in the next year or two, but for now it's hike only).  There is also the chance of seeing some wildlife on your way up the gondola. Many people, including my roommate, have told me they've seen a large bull moose directly under the gondola just after the midstation.  I've been looking every day, but since I'm usually riding the gondola at 2 p.m. instead of early in the morning, I don't get to see the animals on a regular basis.

Moose.  Yeah, that's plural.

Even though I haven't seen the moose under the gondola, I did get to see him walk across the base area of Peak 7 with his little girlfriend the other day.  This single act was probably the final event that solidified my acceptance to Breckenridge.  Once you've seen the moose, you're in!  (unless you're on vacation...that doesn't count.  And it's unfair to the locals.  He's our moose!)



Ok, enough about the moose.  The town of Breckenridge is incredible as well.  The Main Street, which reminds me undoubtedly of King Street in Boone, is filled with old historical buildings that have been converted into shops and eateries, some of which are quite nice.  Between the shops there are newer-looking shopping centers that offset the old wood of the rest of the town, and make it look a bit like the North Pole.

Shops downtown

Lots of festivities occur in this downtown area of Breck throughout the winter.  Ullr fest last month, a festival celebration of the Norse God of Ice & Snow, marked a milestone in Breck (and World) History: the longest EVER group shot-ski.  If you don't know what that is, a shot-ski is a ski with four shot glasses fastened to it, so four people can simultaneously take a shot.  Down Main Street, they lined up over 300 people with 60+ skis and took the largest shot-ski of all time.  Yes, we are proud.  

A couple weeks ago we had the International Snow Sculpting competition, which was pretty freaking sweet. Teams from all over the world took 12x12x15 ft blocks of snow and converted them into everything from giant Faberge eggs to Mongolian warriors (which won, check my FB album for pics).  Besides all the festivals and shops, the view from Main St. is pretty sick.  You can pretty much see the whole resort!  From the park on the East side of the street you can literally see all of 10 Mile Range.  Not bad.




So now that I'm getting comfortable here, I've decided that I can't let myself get BORED!!  Too many people seem to associate comfort with boredom.  Or maybe their idea of contentment seems boring to me, I don't know.  But what I do know is that there's a lot to offer in these mountains, and I'm going to do my very best exploring, learning and discovering what I can from them in these next three months before I go.

View of Breck from the Imperial Lift - 13,000 feet.

To close, a quote from a new book I'm reading on travel.

“...Your state of mind must allow for new ideas and new experiences, for tolerance and humor, must be willing to accept some discomfort, insecurity and risk.  Basically, you say yes to life, all of it, a whole spectrum, as opposed to the narrow sliver we get to be so content with.”

- Ed Buryn