Hiked Up Vail. Not Bad.
This afternoon, I decided to hike up Vail Mountain for a little lark. Well, a quite substantial lark actually – because the hike begins at about 8,000 feet and ends at well over 10,000. It was a strange sensation walking up in snowshoes – my gait was wider than I’m used to and the thin air burned my lungs as it entered.
My hiking partner Patrick quit smoking not so long ago – and climbed like a machine:
As I turned around – I saw a pretty cool view in the growing shadow of the setting sun:
After more than 2 miles and 2,000 feet of climibing loose, poorly consolidated snow – we paused at the summit, and Carl, Uber-Athlete among all of us, gloated for a moment;
The sun was racing down, and the air was in the low teens up there at the summit – but I could see the neighboring Beaver Creek Ski Area in the distance:
We took the lift down – and it wasn’t until we got to the car that I realized this was the first time I had ridden a ski lift without paying. I suppose they figure if you’re willing to walk up – you get a free ride down.
