Powder is Good

For the past two days, Steamboat Springs has been slowly receiving gifts from Mother Nature that are covering everything in a thick white blanket. Our snow dances have finally paid off for the fact that steamboat is getting its first reasonable snow dump. Waking up this morning there was about 6 inches accumulated at the dorms only meaning more had fallen on the mountain. Today being Tuesday December 8, I had 2 classes to attend to. Luckily for me however, I took care both of my Mass Media and Philosophy finals so I had the afternoon for exploring today.
The obvious thing to do was first go get a nice hearty breakfast at the dining hall and head out to the mountain for a day of great play. Nothing better than finishing finals a day early to go snowboard fresh tracks. Right around 11 am I hopped on the bus with sum friends and head out to the mountain on the bus. Being only a Tuesday, there was nobody around at the base and it was a walk on line at the gondola. It seemed like it was just us on the slopes at 11 and we still were able to track fresh tracks that late in the afternoon. Not something you get to do back in a summit county resort. Steamboat is just awesome! Today is what everyone at CMC has been waiting on for the past 4 months. It wasn't even bad for temperatures and it only reached a low of about 9. I got to ride all day and not have to worry about a single thing which was exactly what I needed after all the studying I have been doing. Time flew by so quickly and its still snowing even now that I am back at the dorms. The clouds haven't even let down one bit all day and its going to be an even more incredibly day tomorrow for snowboarding/skiing. Unfortunately for me, I won't be able to make it out for I have a class to attend to. For everyone else that didn't make it up today will have a great time tomorrow. Its really depressing to know that the season has officially been kicked off and we are getting kicked out the dorms for winter break on Friday.
I think this is the first time I have ever felt bummed out for the winter break for I will be spending it in Denver far away from this heavenly place. Its alright though because the Dew Tour is next week and im excited for that! Stay tuned for some really sweet action!

I Got Hypnotized

Title says it all.
Last night the Alpine Campus treated the fellow students and I to a night of fun with a man named Fredrick Winters. Who is Fredrick Winters you might ask? Well, he is a hypnotist and he has been traveling across the country now for years preforming his acts to live audiences. I enjoyed the act very much but at times I wished I could have been the part of the crowd instead. Laughing at people is easier than being laughed at in my opinion but it was a ton of fun and definitely worth it.

Fredrick Winters displayed his show to the student body during late night dinner last night. The house was packed; Everyone was excited.... I actually have been studying hypnotism in my psychology class for the past month and I really wanted to give it a try. He called up 15 volunteers and I lucky to be called on to be a part of the experiment. He gave us the ordinary spheal about how hypnotism won't go against your good will or judgment and for some reason his comforting words made me nervous. As we listened to very bizarre music while he brought us into a trance, I was not feeling much different. After 15 minutes I still was completely conscious and began to get frustrated with the whole ordeal. I remember learning something in psychology that one must be willing to be hypnotized.It just doesn't come on to you. So I began to try to concentrate and believe the nonsense he was saying and slowly but surely I began to feel very different. My whole body became very heavy and very dead weight. I was still 100% conscious of everyone and everything around me. I began to get more frustrated with this whole deal and I just started to concentrate on my breathing to ignore the frustration. The next thing I remember was snapping awake in perfect sync with everyone else being hypnotized and everything from there was a crazy experience!

Opening my eyes for the first time was like two different worlds. I was still 100% conscious and functional but my perception on everything was skewed. I had a hard time understanding a lot of simple concepts. I was simply confused and disoriented. I was having a hard time understanding what was going on and the things around me. Even now its hard to remember what exactly happened. I remember, but the memories are very unclear and wish wash. According to some video footage a friend filmed for me, I apparently was singing opera and thinking I was getting sprayed with water. I remember both incidents but the way I perceived them was far from what exactly happened. To be honest, it was a very wierd experience overall but I enjoyed it very much. I am just happy I didn't end up taking off my shirt and ran around shouting "I LOVE BOY BANDS!" I did however sing happy birthday in opera. It was great fun. Here is a pic


I have video of all this for you to see but CMC's internet is so awful I can't even upload the video. If any administrators from CMC are reading this... WE NEED BETTER INTERNET!!! Last I checked, my download speed was 14kbps. THATS SLOWER THAN DIAL UP!!! Its already a pain to upload photos let alone videos. So if you would like to see more content (pictures videos etc) PLEASE help me and yourself out by posting a nice comment below. Until then, I apologize for not being able to upload video from last night, its not my fault :(
So whats the lesson learned?
1. Get hypnotized if you ever get the chance
2. Don't come to CMC if you are a fan of slow internet. Cuz its horrible.

Peace Out!

Stranded!

Yup, you heard it. I am stranded.
On Thursday, I made a trip out to Denver to see my family and friends from home. Little did I know that the end result would be me being stranded because of the ridiculous amount of snowfall that swept through the Denver Metro Area. This is the 2nd huge snowfall for the Denver area this year, and I finally got to be a part of one of it. I was excited to see all the snow today.

The town turned a blanket white in just a night fall and it looks really pretty with it everywhere. Steamboat is in a different boat however.... This is something that Steamboat is very much lacking. Actually, Steamboat has absolutely no snow last time I checked and that was on Thursday. Interestingly enough, you would think SKI TOWN USA would have a ton of snow by now but controversially it doesn't. A bud of mine back in the boat said it snowed a few inches but even Denver won in the total accumulation of 10 inches. Yup, 10 inches. That is why I am sitting here in my home in Denver because the roads are too covered for any substantial and meaningful driving. I could make it, but it would be a long and grueling task. Check out the pictures!

On the plus side, I had a great weekend down here in the suburbia of Denver. I got to get my laundry done, free of charge and I got to actually go sledding. Two things I cannot do in Steamboat so far.

I also got to get back in the Denver night life scene for a night and see a very good friend of mine play an incredible DJ set. Nightlife... Also something you cannot get in Steamboat. You may take it like I am bashing big time on Steamboat but it really is not a bad time up there. The fun is just being major delayed for us up at CMC. Once the mountain opens however, it will be a whole new ball game filled with exciting things to keep ourselves occupied. Until then, I am just waiting for the day to pass over and the sun to melt up the roads for the long trip home.

Until next time,

Cheers

Private Concrete Skate Park Session

I was just walking out from lunch today and I was fortunate to have no more class until tomorrow. The weather has been quite warm since the beginning of November and it seems to look like it will have a big effect on the quality of Steamboat Mountain's opening day. Forgetting about the dirt covered mountain, I decided to head to the skate park in good use of this great weather we unfortunately have. Went and got some friends and we drove to a very special place to skate today instead of the park in town. Colorado weather is known to have a life of its own, it could flip around and get snowy any day now. That being said, we drove over to the new concrete skate park that is currently in the middle of being constructed. About a 1/2 of it is complete but there was still a lot to skate. On top of the great weather and the incredibly pristine skate spot we found, there was nobody at the park either. Take a look at these pictures!


This is the street section


part of the big bowl


the other part of the bowl


still under construction

more to be continued.


Steamboat Mountain today



Anyway, the skate park is one of a kind. The people that built it are called "Team Paine really know how to build a quality place to skate. Its only half way done too. There is a whole lot more to come. check out this website

http://skateboat.com/

The pic of the bald snow less mountain is a photo of Steamboat Mountain as of today. No snow at all! Where is it all? I am not worried though. It might have a crappy opening, but I have a feeling a big dump will come around soon :)

Woodward at Copper

On Friday we went to Copper Mountain for opening day. If you didn't already know, scroll down and check out the post before this. It will fill you in. I was originally going to make this 1 gigantic blog post but decided it would be better to split it up into two sections.

Anyway... Located just at the base of Copper Mountain is the new Woodward training facility. About 3 years ago, Copper signed a deal allowing Woodward to take over their terrain park maintenance and install the newest and state of the art action sports warehouse. If you are a skier, snowboarder, skater or fruitbooter, you will find Woodward at Copper a dream come true. They have hundreds of square feet of Snowflex installed. Snowflex is a technology for skiers and snowboarders to be able to ride without snow! Yes, I said it. Without snow. It is a carpet like material with hundreds of bristles and brushes on the surface. When you wet the material down with water, it slides just like snow! Just be careful because falling is something you do not want to do.


They also have tons of foam pits set up around the facility.



Rail Section


Overview of the foam pits and tramps


quarter pipe



Even if you are a skateboarder, you will find this place amazing. They have several skateboard features to keep you entertained when the snow features get old. Not like they will bet boring, but you get the point.





spectators lounge


Woodward at Copper is an awesome facility bar none. It is state of the art, fun, classy and expensive. very EXPENSIVE. In order to even partake in any of the facility features, one must take a training course. The training course is called a one hit wonder and that is $69. Once you have completed your training you can drop in anytime for $29 (thanks to Ali, one of our CMC bloggers/woodward employees for that info). They really did go above and beyond this time though. From the cool skate bowl, lounge area, to the huge foam pits, anyone from anywhere can find fun in this place. It is just a little over an hour from Steamboat and if you have the money, I highly suggest going to it.

Copper Mountain Opening Day

Today, Copper Mountain opened its slopes to the public to kick off their 2009-2010 winter season. Since a lot of the CMC kids up here have the Ultimate Pass, a good amount of the school was empty this afternoon. Friday started perfectly waking up early not having to go to class but getting to go to the mountain for the first day up. After getting some breakfast and grabbing a sack lunch from the dining hall, we headed out around 7:30. The drive went by quickly because we didn't take the crowded Denver route I am used to taking called I-70. We thought we got a late start for opening weekend and expected the mountain to be packed for the first day. Surprisingly when we got there, the mountain was not as busy as we thought. On top of that, they had a pretty good base built up at the bottom. We waited in the line no more than 5 minutes when we got there at 9:30 and were excited to see hardly anyone on the slopes.


The sun was beaming down from above and it was such a warm beautiful day. A light hoodie and light gloves were more than enough warmth in those conditions. While we headed closer to the top, we noticed the little terrain park they usually have set up first was a lot better this year considering Woodward took over as the park crew. They had a box section, a handrail section, an urban section, a ribbed tube, a few jibs and at the end they even had a mini jump. Never has there been a jump at the top of American Flyer, this was a first for Copper.




Around 2:30 we were all getting tired and someone in our group got hurt in the park. A bud of mine from Denver brought up one of his friends and he was the one who hit his head pretty hard on a rail. We then had to call it a day and bring him in to a doctor because he didn't look like he was in good shape. It turned out out that he got a concussion and had to rest for a bit before he could leave. I hung out for 15 minutes or so then me and my 2 friends from Steamboat said our goodbyes and took off heading back to the school. It was a fantastic day considering it was opening weekend. The crowd was minimal and the sun was out in a perfect cloudless sky. It just made me that much more excited I will be getting to do this at the school every day once Steamboat opens! Check out some pictures of the clinic and some cool river I found.



Anyway, that was the adventure for today.

Peace!

Halloween 2009

So last night was Halloween and man what a night! The day started off perfectly with a warm temperature and a cloudless sky. It was perfect weather for skating the mini ramp and that's exactly what me and the gang did for the bulk of the afternoon. There are not going to be more days this nice so we took advantage of it while we could. After lunch we spent the day hiking behind the school enjoying the clear skies and fall atmosphere.

At the mini ramp

Andy chillin by the mini ramp

me on the ridge
As nighttime rolled in the energy in the dorms was getting rowdy and everyone was dressing up getting ready to go out. As far as my gang, we didn't have much planned so we decided to take the evening into town and see what was going on. We all dressed up like 80's rockers and skated around the streets of steamboat. Somehow we managed to get on the other side of Lincoln street and this is where the story gets interesting...

We took a skate break to hang out on the bridge for a rest stop. The night was just as perfect as the day. Still no clouds in the sky, the moon was full and the trees had a surreal Halloween look to them. It really was a great sight to see considering the past 3 Halloweens have been presented with blizzard conditions. After catching our breath we decided to turn and head back to the dorms when all of a sudden we realized something. Behind us there was a clown on stilts peeing off the bridge! We could not believe what we were seeing. Seconds later the clown turned around and honked his party horn and screamed "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!" and he took after us chasing us. The night was so calm and flat the whole night until this event. I was skeptical to the fact that this incident was even real but it definitely was considering my 3 other friends noticed it too. So there we were, skating for our lives back to the dorms like we just recreated a scene from the movie "It". That was definitely the highlight of the night for me.

Today Was the same weather as yesterday except I had absolutely no candy to eat! We skated around Steamboat for hours and didn't even have the brains to get any candy. What a shame. All day I have been sugarless for this problem. You could say I was a little bummed out by this. As I went downstairs to check my mail, I noticed I got another surprise package!! It was a box filled with Halloween candy! Just what I had been looking for!! That made my weekend for sure. The past hour consisted of munching on some candy while studying for my Psychology test. It was a great weekend!! This is a pic of my candy stash. Its half sized that right now.

Trick or Treeeet!!! SNOOWW!?!?

So last night was another one for the record books. It was a great night for sure... with a twist :P. On October 29th (last night) the Resident Hall Association hosted a safe house trick or treat party for all the little people in Steamboat. Everyone who didn't want to trek around Steamboat in the cold, could come to Hill Hall and trick or treat in the dorms. We decorated the 3rd floor all creepy and spooky with blacked out lights and all sorts of scary stuff. Down in the MPR we had a bunch of games set up for the little young'ns to play.
Roughly at 6 PM the children showed up with their costumes and parents ready for a candy hunting adventure. Give it not even 10 minutes, and Hill Hall took a drastic change for the worse. Right when I got my first customer at my door, the last thing you could expect to happen... happened. With ear blasting volume, the fire alarm went in full effect making everyone charge out of the building for the second time this week. Yes. I said it. That was the 2nd time the fire alarm went off this week. The law enforcement agency up here must hate CMC kids that much more now :/. Turns out the fire was caused by one of our smoke machines. Major bummer.
Anyway after 10 minutes of freezing balls outside, we were allowed to go back inside and continue our mission. Every Kid went way out in their costumes and it was great fun seeing all the tykes in their sweet outfits.



Haunted Hallway




Tiff is a TACO!


Red Riding Hood and her Hubby


Me and my Candy Bucket

So disregarding the 2nd fire alarm of the week, it was a really fun night. Nobody died which was a good thing and everyone had a great time. I got to hand out candy and eat a whole lot more. I also got to keep a bunch too :)
aha anyway that was the adventure of the night. See you on Halloween!!
check out the pics of the snow!

Sunday Night Pumpkin Showdown!!

Tonight for the weekly Sunday activity hosted by the Resident Hall Association, (RHA) was the yearly pumpkin carving contest. Everyone gathered in the MPR around 8:30 for the event. 4 teams of 4 were selected to carve the best pumpkin they possibly could and the winner got a prize! Everyone had s strategic plan for their pumpkin while my team sort of attacked the pumpkin with butter knives, toothpicks and carving tools. It was great fun and everyone had a good time. After the 30 minutes was up we all had to stop and let the judges decide who's pumpkin would be the winner. Turns out, our pumpkin took 1st place!! We were surprised. Anyway that was the action going down at Hill Hall tonight.... Nothing really more exciting until Halloween on Saturday!!!


Greatful Dead Bear







FIRST PLACE BABY!!! MY TEAM!!!
The Harry Potter Pumpkin




After the whole pumpkin carving extravangaza everyone was offered some pumpkin pie. Cliche huh? It was very good though.