Vertical Edition: Jan 23, 2011

Good morning family friends, and whatever the hell Matt is. It is now, 9:19am. I was up at 6:30am with full intentions of writing. Well my internet stopped working yesterday and it took me this whole morning to get it back to functioning order. As much as I love wireless internet, it is a huge pain in the ass. Even if you know what you're doing things change, then work, then don't. You can be doing something that works one minute, and the next it won't. It really is a lovely process. It is pretty simple if everything works the way it should, which is doesn't, ever. Anyway, it is now back to functioning properly.

This week at school was pretty good. Friday was stressful and annoying but that is to be expected every once in a while. Friday night was quiet and I was up at 6:30am yesterday to meet Nick and my buddy Nathan in Breck. They left at 7 from Denver and I left at 7:30 from the Springs. It technically should take less time for them. Well one of the perks of the springs is the backway to get to the mountains. I arrived at 10 ish and they arrived at around noon. Traffic on 70 was horrendous and they were stop-go nearly the whole way.

On my drive I stopped at a coffee shop in South Park City, which is technically considered an "open air museum" located in Fairplay Co. It is an 1800's mining town that was restored and now functions as a normal-ish town. It is the same town that has the combo liquor and sporting goods store. Awesome. I usually stop in Alma, at a really cool coffee shop, but it is another few miles toward Breck. Also, I felt like immediate gratification and wanted to see a new place. There is a cafe called the Brown Burro that I always see driving by, so I chose it. Now keep in mind, South Park City cannot be home to more than 400 people...would be my guess.

Sidenote: As I looked for pictures of South Park City I found a website called "Beans Around the World", run by a man who travels around the world with a can of beans, and takes pictures of it in different locations. I could not believe what I was seeing. That to me just seems ridiculous. It is literally just pictures of a can of beans, in front of different things. Like historic landmarks etc, and of course the beans. Wow. If anyone ever feels the same sentiment about what I post here, please let me know that I have hit a new low, and I will promptly take down my website and punish myself.

So I parked and headed into the Brown Burro. Upon entering a smiling man approached and instructed me to have a seat wherever I wanted. I told him I was just going to grab some coffee if it was ok, it which his response was, "I have some right here." He had a pot in his had, as he was refilling coffee from the tables, and filled my mug. I said "thank you" and "how much do I owe you" to which his reponse was, "a handshake." Seeing as though I was a little unsure of his seriousness I shook his hand, he smiled and said "have a good day." I assume this was the owner, but can't be sure. I left feeling very surprised, pleased, and sure that I would return. It was only a cup of coffee but in a world where people doing nice things for one another is becoming more and more rare, it was pretty great. And like I said, the next time I go board, I will stop there for breakfast. Also I will get a picture of it for the website, without the inclusion of a can of beans.

When I got to Breck I rode by myself for a little over an hour. They wanted me to meet them at the base of peak 9 at 11:45, and I was on peak 8. It is kind of a haul to get over there so I started the journey over at 11:30. Unfortunately most of the way is flat ground, and on a snowboard that is miserable. It kind of feels like the Flintstones esque way of driving a car. We met up and had an awesome day in the snow. Over half our runs were in powder ranging from our knees, to our waist. There was so much snow. The vast majority of the runs were also blacks and double blacks, through the trees. I am finally feeling comfortable enough to ride these which is a really exciting thing for me.

One or two of the runs were a little dicey because with the wind and snow it was a complete whiteout. One particular, we got into the trees and were immediately separated from Nathan. Nick and I were only ten or so feet apart and were only able to catch brief glimpses of each other. We were completely riding based on the feel of the snow. All three of us said that it was the worst, visibility wise, that we had ever boarded in. Overall it was a great day of boarding, although the top of the mountains was windy as hell, and with the snow, it froze on your face and was very cold. It is always a good idea to shave prior to going because if you have any type of beard, you end up with a snow beard, which hurts a lot. So we had frozen faces for most of the day. A small price to pay. We all packed up at about 4 and headed back to our respective cities.

I got back and relaxed at home with the animals for the remainder of the night. Now, after the internet debacle this morning, I have fallen back into the normal weekend routine. Coffee, breakfast, and soon to be climbing, boarding and biking movies. Happy Sunday.

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them

The Pup loves roadtrips.