traveldiary.stracke.us

On Saturday, January 2nd, we are up at 5:30 AM. The Alamo shuttle bus is right there and drops us off in front of the United curbside check-in desk at the Denver airport. Great service! My back is happy for not having to carry our skis through the terminal. We wish Carsten a good flight. He is on American to Dallas and Newark, we fly United to Chicago and Albany. We make record time through security, and 30 minutes later are at our gate. Now we have 2 hours left: United 910 is delayed, waiting for our crew to come from another flight. We have breakfast at “Vive La France”, but the Eggs Benedict at home are much better. We fly to Chicago, while Carsten is on his way to Dallas. In Chicago we have another delay. Our Airbus A319 is leaving for Albany, but on the taxiway returns to the gate: one of the on-board computers is not working properly! Back in the terminal, we call Carsten. He is stuck in the Dallas airport: a security breach closed down Newark airport. We get a different plane in Chicago and arrive in Albany at 7:30 PM, about 4 hours late.
We celebrate our return home with a good dinner at “Shane’s Rib Shack”. One more vacation day at home, before we have to go back to work!

On Monday, December 28, we wake up with sunny blue skies and a view of the slopes of Beaver Creek. I check in with my CME meeting at the Creekside Resort, and then Gabi, Carsten and I hit the slopes. It is packed powder and we ski Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead. Lunch is at the “Broken Arrow” Restaurant. In the afternoon, our legs need a break and we take the “Leav the Beav” trail back to “The Landing”, where the shuttle bus picks us up. The hot tub feels good after a day on the “hill”!
The next days are a repeat performance, because it is so good!
We ski on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at Beaver Creek, Friday at Vail. On Wednesday, we get 13 inches of new snow. Thursday is a great powder day on the slopes. Gabi spoils us with dinners in the condo and we only go out to dinner twice this week. On the 30th, we celebrate New Year’s Eve one day early and drive through the snow to “The Gashouse” in Edwards. There are many animal heads on the restaurant walls, and now I can tell once again the difference between an elk and a moose. We just don’t see them that often in Upstate New York.
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We have been looking forward to our Christmas ski vacation for the last 4 months, but we have trouble to get off the ground in Albany.
Our United flight 7374 is stuck in a snowstorm at Chicago O’Hare. We are scheduled to depart Albany Airport at 11:27 AM on December 26, but spend 6 hours here, waiting for our flight. Finally we take off at 4:30 PM (with an upgrade to First Class), and 2 hours later, snow flakes greet us upon our arrival in Chicago. We arrive in Terminal B and make the long trek through the underground tunnel to Terminal C. At the gate, I stand in line for 45 minutes, so I can secure us our boarding passes for our new flight to Denver, while Gabi holds another spot in the very long line at the United Customer Service desk. I try to call United Airlines reservations, but the recordings informs me of a very discouraging 45 minute wait period, before I might be able to talk to somebody (probably in India or the Philippines). Just as I make it to the front of the line, our gate is being closed. Our new gate for our flight to Denver is at C9. We make the long hike back to Terminal C, and are back one gate next to the gate where our Albany flight had arrived. More standing in line at C9, until I finally get our seats for United 253 to Denver. Aah, the joy of air travel nowadays!
The Chicago airport is a mess, with masses of passengers stuck here due to the snow. The lady next to me is being told, that her flight out of here is in 3 days from now. We consider ourselves lucky. We have 2 seats in exit row 21 H and J on a Boeing 767 and have a smooth flight to Denver, arriving 4.5 hours late. At least no sleeping in Chicago O’Hare to-night! Being a Premier Member certainly helped us today.
Carsten arrived before us and welcomes us at our Courtyard Marriott Denver Airport. He had his own excitement during his flight from Newark to Denver. Apparently there was a smell of something burning on his plane, prior to landing. The pilot declared an emergency and, once on the ground, firetrucks met the plane. Fortunately nothing else happened and the passengers got off the plane at the gate, while firefighters with heat sensing equipment came on board.
We are now safely reunited, which is another Christmas present. Tomorrow we will drive to Beaver Creek and our ski vacation will begin.

Today, Gabi and I are cruising all over Vail Mountain (claiming to have 5289 acres of ski area):
from Simba to Game Creek Bowl to Highline Express, covering the terrain from the eastern to the western ski area boundary!
My favorite run is racing down the wide open Flap Jack. The yellow banner half-way down the trail says: “Flaps Down on Flap Jack”.
I pretend that I don’t know what that means. My 198 cm long Voelkl Giant Slalom skis like to go fast and I time my run (and fun) to make sure that nobody is skiing in front of or near me! Gabi must enjoy this as well; she is always close on my tail!
We go to bed happy and tired, having skied 6 out of 7 days.
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This is what we do all week! There is no sleeping on the slopes. The powder is too good.
Gabi and I ski Vail Mountain all day Sunday. “Poppyfields” is on the agenda in the afternoon, and this time, I have no breathing problem at 11 250 feet (3430 meters!). Carsten is flying in from Newark, joining us in the evening.
Monday is another sunny day. The new powder snow is calling us, and Carsten does not get any time to get used to the altitude. We ski Born Free, Cub’s Way, Mid-Vail Express, Hunky Dory twice, Northwoods, Flap Jack, Highline Express twice, Flap Jack, Tin Pants, Choker Cut Off, Northwoods, lunch at Buffalo’s, followed by the leisurely, long “Sleepy Time” run to the Back Bowls, Blue Sky Basin, Skyline Express, Cloud 9, Tea Cup Express to the top of the mountain. From here it is a long run home: Whiskey Jack, Flap Jack, Northface Cat Walk, Lionshead and Born Free back to Lionshead Square. Strangely enough, we never encounter any lions all week long.
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This is our lucky day. It is Valentine’s Day, February 14, and Gabi and I spent most of the day on airplanes. Amazingly, we make all our connections: United 5350 to Washington Dulles, UA 43 to Denver and UA 576 to Vail/Eagle. The clouds break up during the 30 minute flight across the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, and I have a nice view of the slopes at Beaver Creek and Arrowhead. We see black clouds just to the West, as we step off the plane in Eagle. 15 minutes later, and a blinding blizzard greets me as I am trying to find our rental car. I don’t care that the return flight to Denver is on hold for now. We are here and have 8 days of ski vacation ahead of us.
Gabi and I celebrate with lunch at the Grand Avenue Grill in Eagle, followed by sitting in the outdoor hot tub (in the snowstorm) at our Simba Run condo in Vail.