Western Ski & Board Trip Detail

Aspen - Snowmass, CO

"Light up the New Year in Style"

Aspen / Snowmass, CO: January 9 -16, 2010

On January 9, 2010, 38 members of the Dayton Ski and Board Club left the Dayton Airport to begin our trip to Aspen-Snowmass, Colorado, led by Heike Hudson and Marty Baldwin. The people flying independently had their afternoon flight rescheduled for early morning, and although they got up in what seemed like the middle of the night with groans and complaints, they ended up getting in an extra half day of skiing or shopping by the time the others arrived about 8 p.m. Saturday night.

At the On Top of the Village Condos, we found that our luggage had been delivered to our wonderful two and three bedroom ski-in ski-out condos with beautiful views of the slopes. The first night our weary travelers (aka party animals) crowded into the “leaders + 3” condo for a complimentary pizza and beverage party. While a few were feeling the effects of the altitude change or a half day of skiing or shopping, everyone enjoyed the bash and looked forward to first tracks.

Sunday morning we skied Snowmass, and many took advantage of a guided tour of the mountain conducted by the wonderful local mountain guides. The tours were so enjoyable and helpful, that many in our group participated in mountain tours at Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Aspen. Every mountain had its own beauty and everyone found runs that they liked. Although we did not get any fresh snow, the mountains had a good base of snow and most runs were groomed daily. The weather was wonderful and the sun shone every day. Harvey, Bob, Heike, and Doug did manage to find some powder between the trees at Buttermilk! Buttermilk also hosted the XGames this year, and they were busy creating the runs, jumps, and half-pipes while we were there! Throughout the week the lift lines were short and the runs uncrowded. Who would have expected spring skiing in January!

Most participants skied for the full five days and quite a few skied six days. Many met for lunch at pre-arranged locations at the different ski areas and were able to reconnect with long lost ski buddies from earlier in the day or ditch them for new ones! Sorry, Harvey and Bob that we changed locations on you on a couple of the days! Hill bombing became the sport of the day by some of the DSBC skiers. What is it? Start at the top, ski to the bottom, full speed, no stopping. Was that you Mark, Vail, Dennis, Dan, Bruce???? Scenery? Who needs it???? Mr. Zann, you really need to watch where you are going and not cut your wife off at the pass! Did you help her up…???? Unfortunately, we did have one casualty, but she took her broken wrist in stride! Barb, we hope you got on those guys cases for stopping to talk to the uphill hiker! Bob M. was actually two feet away from Kurt Russell (you know, Goldie Hawn’s guy!) and his two sons as they left the gondola right behind the one he exited. Greg spent some fun time on snowshoes, and Dan L. went paragliding down and above the slopes and filmed everything on his new helmet camera, a wonderful Christmas present from his wife. Thanks to Dan, who diligently skied behind most of us throughout the week and captured our skiing skills on video, we now know who keeps their skis together, who tackles the moguls, who skis crazily, and who bit the proverbial dust, er... snow!

It was amazing how helpful all the personnel at the condos, the ski rental shops, the shuttles, the restaurants, and the slopes were. The shuttles were available on a moments notice and drove one or many of us at a time to shopping areas, ski shuttle stations, and anywhere else we wanted to go! Kathy, Karen, Nadine, and Mary Jane found wonderful deals at Aspen resale shops…that leather coat was beautiful, Nadine, and Kathy, you should have bought those $34,000 cowboy boots (they were barely worn) and $600 fur lined reversible ski outfit that were just your style!

Thanks to Heike, Marty, the Evans and Zanns, their condo mates, and other group members, the trip was a social success. We had planned meeting places for lunch and some dinners. Marty organized an outing to the Woody Tavern located in the wilds for wonderful food and ambiance. We gathered at some of the condos for happy hours and at local restaurants. We celebrated birthdays (Bruce, Nadine, Barb, Marty, etc) with cakes, and the tour and condo operators sponsored a wine and cheese night. And, to our delight, the annual Winterscol took place on the last weekend, and group members participated in the Snowmass Pub Crawl and the Aspen Soupscol. Imagine, 3,000+ plus people tasting 28 different kinds of soup ladled out to everyone in the roped off streets of Aspen to determine the winning soup of the annual event! Last but not least, the nightly hot tub gatherings soothed sore muscles in preparation for another day on the slopes! The group enjoyed every gathering and were very compatible whether skiing or partying.

Departure day came much too fast, and most of us did not want to return to the world of work and daily Dayton life! We arrived in Dayton late that evening, safe and sound and minus a few of our pieces of luggage. I guess we were too heavy for the plane so they had to choose between transporting people or luggage home, and the people won! The late luggage was delivered the next day, and everyone agreed that we had a great time and can’t wait for the next ski trip.

Trip Leaders: Marty Baldwin and Heike Hudson

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