At the Denver airport;

look at the size of this bag!

Photos by:

Jerry Schuster

L-R: Jim, David, Paul,

John, Brian

Time to lighten the

snow load on the roof!

An anonymous Ullr breaking

into Jim's residence

Apre's-ski at Jim's

Paul & Jim on the only

cloudy ski day

L-R: Mary Ellen, Brian,

Marlys, John, Paul, Jim, David

Photos by:

Joan Roe

Co-Chairs:

Joan R & Dick B

Photo by:

Margo Dinneen

March 6, 2007

Ullrs salute before a special run in honor of Skip Skinner & Bobbi Ciesinski, who were unable to attend the trip due to serious health problems

Ullrs Do Beaver Creek/Vail in Grand Style!

 By Joan Roe, trip co-chair

A week earlier could have found us unable to get to MSP due to a snowstorm, and then facing high winds and frigid temps on the CO slopes.  As it turned out, it was a great week to ski Beaver Creek and Vail with lovely days and good conditions, not yet into Spring skiing and Spring breaks.  How can you miss with apple cider and cocoa in the morning, warm chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon, and great cruising runs down to the main area filled with music and fun!  You know it’s good when the only complaint the first day was, “It’s too sunny!”

As for the homes in the area, we came to know the meaning of 2-2-10-10!  Two people, two weeks, ten thousand square feet and $10 million!  We got a big clue when greeted by the guard at the gated community of Beaver Creek!  Our accommodations lived up to expectations for the most part, with some lucking out with sumptuous surroundings.  We were truly ski out, but ski back was opted out of in favor of the shuttle (ungroomed under the chair scary run!).

For the Welcome Party Jim Henn personally delivered the pizza from a good Italian restaurant nearby!  Jim took the week off from his bus driving job in Vail to have fun with Ullr friends.  He likes to bomb the hill, and when in the lead doesn’t always ensure that all are following him!  On Monday he lost five skiers, and on Wednesday managed to lose four out of seven when disappearing through the crowd at the top of the second lift!  After the lifts closed, these four ditched Ullrs gained entrance to Jim’s apartment by climbing through an unlocked window (see picture featuring Jerry Schuster’s rear end!), and raided the beer while awaiting Jim’s return!  “Jim, though we love skiing with you, you’ll never make it as a guide; stick to bus driving!”

The first morning over half of us took advantage of the excellent mountain tours, since most of us had not skied BC before.  With mid-day grooming (not just at night) it was fun to follow the groomers down on corduroy slopes.  Bobbi Ciesinsky and Skip Skinner, we were thinking about you and wishing you were with us as we did runs in your honor!  You were with us in spirit!

A group dinner was enjoyed at The Dusty Boot.  A former Ullr, a ski instructor at BC joined us.  The last night party was one of the best.  As someone said, “A lot of good eating went on this week!”  The bus driver (former tour guide) on the way back to Denver made the time fly by with interesting historical stories of early mining days, colorful personalities, and various CO facts, adding some political comments about such things as the botched airport.  As Jerry Swanberg said, “Wow, what a fantastic ski trip!  Both areas were awesome, and we even got to hear good Jazz the last night!”  The group consensus: “We want to come back!”