I crossed something off the bucket list recently and went skiing, proper skiing, for the first time ever. For someone that turned 29 when we were there, I thought it was about time! We chose to go to the Vail area in Colorado, USA (the Breckenridge ski area to be exact). At about an hour and half away from Denver, it had everything that we wanted.
The first thing that struck me, though, was the altitude. Just in the town you are over 9000 ft and then when you head up for skiing you are at over 12,000 ft. We took some aspirin each which helped the headaches and then just made sure that we drank plenty of water. After 24 hours or so we were all feeling fine.
The resort we stayed at was right in the middle of it all and we could walk or get a shuttle bus down to the mountain bases. Peak 8 & 9 was where we spent most of our time. Peak 9 had the most green routes to get us started. There were 8 of us that went and 3 of us and never been skiing before. So we spent the first day learning the ropes in the easier areas.
Gosh, I was terrible! I had the husband and my father-in-law giving me instruction but for the first morning I was just hating life. I kept falling over and got quite battered and bruised – getting back up uses so much energy. I couldn’t even get off the ski lift without falling over either! By the afternoon I was getting the hang of it a little bit more and was actually starting to enjoy it! Being able to just cruise down a mountain with bright white snow and blue sky around you is like nothing else. It was amazing. I preferred to stick to the green routes though as it was more fun for me. When it came to blue routes, it meant a challenge, rather than enjoyment. I still did some, though, they were just a lot steeper. The husband and his brothers hit up some black routes but there was no way I was going up (or down) those!
We were there for a week and did 4 days skiing in total. Two days involved travel and the other day was my birthday! On this day we did my favourite thing of the whole trip. Skiing was fun but the snowmobiling was just brilliant. It was about an hour drive from Breckenridge to a different area of Vail called Leadville. Then we hopped on snowmobiles and had a tour of the mountain area. We got up to ver 14,000 ft which was pretty amazing in itself. Don’t even get me started on the views! It felt like I was on top of the world or on another planet. It was so beautiful.
As well as the views, we had adrenalin rush from snowmobiling back down the mountain and having a tour of area. The part were were in had been a military base just before the second world war, and we saw the barracks and bomb shelters that were still there. You’ve got to get a bit nervous about seeing signs saying ‘don’t touch anything you do not recognise’ as there have been bombs and military weapons found in the woods – eeeeek!
Breckenridge itself was really cute and still had Christmas decorations and lights up. I wonder if they stay up all year long? The restaurants we ate at were brilliant, our favourites being Mi Casa Mexican restaurant and Empire Burger (c’mon, we are in the US)!
On our last day we went back down into Denver and enjoyed some Cheesecake Factory. It was immense and is one of my favourite things about America; is that sad?! haha. More about Denver in another post. I loved this holiday and would recommend the area to anyone. Just pack plenty of sunscreen – you catch the sun a lot more than you think you will!
Have you ever been skiing? I’d love to hear which resorts you’d recommend. I’ve got all the gear now so I need to do it again, right? 😉
Linking up to City Tripping.
I have always wanted to ski. Now we have the 2 young kids its going to have to wait a while. Looks like so much fun though.
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Sounds like you had a fab time! I have never been skiing and it hasn’t ever appealed to me as I can just imagine that I will be bloody awful at it!! Haha, maybe one day! 😉 The photos look beautiful though!! xxxx
Oh my goodness this looks amazing! My husband is a keen snowboarder and is itching to take Rosalie skiiing. Me not so much although I think I could be tempted by Colorado x
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Oh Rebecca it looks amazing! I would love to try skiing but I’m a total coward! H x
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I tried skiing years back and proper hated it, never got past the “fall off the ski lift” phase so I wouldn’t want to try it again. But I would love to give snowmobiling a go, it looks amazing!xx
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I had never considered going to the US for skiing; it’s always been something I associated with Europe and the Alps. Looks like an amazing trip was had 🙂
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Oh wow it looks like you had such a fab time. I have never been skiing and don’t even know if I would be any good! x
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Happy belayed birthday! I am late-30s now and have never been skiing! I think I would be rubbish at it! Glad to hear you got the hang of it though, the falling over and bruising doesn’t sound good. I love the pics of the snow mobile. Looks fab! x
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Wow your trip looked so amazing ! Such great photos and a great location! I love skiing but haven’t been since I was a teenager. It’s been back on the list for ages. You’ve inspired me to try and get it sorted for next year haha!x
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I have to admit, I’ve never been skiing but it always looks so much fun! I love the US so Colorado looks perfect for me. #citytripping
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So glad you enjoyed skiing Rebecca! It’s a fantastic experience – although those first few days of learning can be really tough!! I can’t believe how high up it is in that part of the world. We usually ski in France (in the Portes du Soleil area so only go to around 2,500m! Lots more fun to be had now you are all good to go and hit the slopes. Thanks for linking to #citytripping
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We went skiing in Breckenridge a couple of years ago! IT was a lot of fun (well except for me – I was the one in the party that got altitude sickness.
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I learnt to ski in Breckenridge too:) A spectacular ski resort, I would love to return with my family. I visited on a university trip with many of my friends who were Swedish and have skied since they could literally walk, so they were amazing and I was a complete beginner! #CityTripping
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