Two weekends in a row in the mountains, and although it had started to lightly snow by the time we left two days ago, it was painfully obvious that the white stuff out there would be better suited to dividing among extra-large plastic cups and flavoring it with a hefty dose of Berry Blaster than actually trying to slide along it. Vail Resorts encouraged us to take the lift down from the midpoint insted of playing dodge-the-dirt, which we did after skating across a few ponds. Up high there were a few fun runs to be had — most of the blues and blacks were open on Golden Peak and Lionshead, but the Back Bowls, Blue Sky Basin and China Bowl were closed.
Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn says this is her favorite time to be out there — “I never get to ski on anything this soft,” she said during an afternoon of racing young girls who participate in her Ski Girls Rock program at Vail — and she attacked the race course with gusto, despite what she later described as a “pretty sore knee” and being worn-out.
“My body needs some time to rest,” she said. “It’s just been a long season. Physically, I’m really tired.”
You wouldn’t have known it the way she horsed around with the girls, all 10 of whom hung out with her as though she were their favorite babysitter from down the street instead of a world-class skier, and vice-versa. Pretty cool.
FORK IN THE ROAD
What a difference a chef makes. The snow is no better in Beaver Creek, but at the Park Hyatt’s 8100 Mountainside Bar & Grill, Christian Apetz — who came aboard in summer — is welcoming and charming, and the fact that he takes the time to chat with the guests makes what could be just another meal in a ski-area hotel — a 60-second walk to the first lift, and also a great place to stay if you’re headed here in the summer to mountain bike — into a welcoming and charming experience.
Of course, the fact that Apetz’s menu is packed with dishes that you actually want to eat keeps it from being ho-hum resort fare, as well. I love me some French food, but the old menu was pricey and you had to choose carefully or wind up with something overwrought and cranky. It made the staff uptight, too, as though they were always waiting for something to go wrong.
Not so this crew, but then again, they’re happily bringing forth such delectable tidbits as jalapeño-bacon-wrapped shrimp, lightly seared scallops swimming in a house-smoked trout chowder (also avilable as what could only be a stellar soup) and tender buffalo meatballs that housed a surprise center of goat cheese and sat in a chutneylike sauce of sour cranberries, pistachios and pickled shallots.
We didn’t get to half of the things from the menu we were dying to try – and that’s the hallmark of a good selection.
This summer, the Park Hyatt will offer a new Summit@The Park Package that helps guests get up a fourteener during their stay, and it includes spa treatments. You get five nights of lodging, three days of guided hiking (two local, one fourteener), gear rental, three picnics, two spa treatments, daily breakfast and transportation to the trailheads. Rates start at $1,900 per person based on double occupancy. Summit @The Park will be offered limited dates June 23-Sept. 27. Visit
Kyle Wagner: 303-954-1599 or outwest@denverpost.com
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
“As I was reminded, once again, when I took on my second marathon, committing to a training plan is strangely liberating and energizing. Yes, I am adding to my “motherload, but I choose to put it on the list. What’s more, I choose the race, the program, the places I’m going to run, the music I’m going to listen to, the shoes I’m going to wear. Nobody else gets to have input or place demands…I choose this race for me. Repeat: I choose it for me.”
“Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line – and Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity,” by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
