Skiing Keystone, Colorado

Flying Down the Frenchman at Keystone

[shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”20872686″]

It feels weird to write about snow when I’m currently sipping POG juice on my lanai at the Fairmont Orchid in Hawaii, but California and Colorado are having such record-breaking snow seasons that I’d be a terrible travel writer and blogger if I didn’t urge you to take advantage of a spring ski holiday one last time before you pack up your gear for the summer, as I already have.

While lately SVV and I have been more drawn to the (single) blacks at the ski resorts around Tahoe, we found ourselves obsessed with the blue runs on the frontside of Keystone Mountain—particularly the Frenchman and the Flying Dutchman—and actually rarely ventured far from them, even with Keystone’s 135 trails. (What can I say? I love me some Europeans.)

Both runs, along with another Euro favorite, the Wild Irishman, are extremely wide groomers: steep and mildly challenging in spots, yet vast and blissfully empty. Since he’s hogged the GoPro much of the ski season, I attached the little fish eye camera to my pole for a few runs to give you a skier’s perspective of downhill skiing for a change.

It wasn’t easy: The camera, when strapped to my ski pole with Gaffer’s tape, was extremely heavy (see 1:12), and I had to stop periodically to switch hands and shake the pain out of my wrist. (The sacrifices we make for good TV.) But hey, I learned something: I’m better at tearing down a mountain without poles than I would have thought!

Enjoy this last trace of winter, while I sit here and quietly mourn the passing of ski season and the expiration of my season pass.

COMMENTS
  • April 13, 2011

    I’d be afraid of loosing my camera that way. Enjoy the POG!

    • April 13, 2011
      Kristin

      The Gaffer’s tape works wonders! Sticks to ANYTHING. Besides, that little camera is so tough (and in a waterproof housing), it can withstand anything!

  • April 13, 2011

    How fun! This makes me crave one last ski day of the season :0

    • April 13, 2011
      Kristin

      Let’s do it–let’s go!

  • April 13, 2011

    What a great idea !! I wish I was confident enough snowboarding to do that too 🙂

    • April 13, 2011
      Kristin

      Well, the great thing is that it comes with a mount so you can stick it on your board with industrial strength tape, turn it on at the top of the mountain and film the whole way down! It’s what Scott’s done all season until this point, and we’ve gotten some amazing footage.

  • April 13, 2011

    Spring skiing is one of those fantastic miracles of nature. Unfortunately, some early warm spring showers have destroyed most of our snow, so the skis have been banished to the hall closet. Next year!

    (Also, gaff tape is the world’s most useful product in the world. We swipe a little from each gig, and use it to hold our apartment together. Best shit ever.)

    • April 13, 2011
      Kristin

      Scott’s taken to keeping a ballpoint pen with layers and layers of Gaffer’s (gaffa’s, gaff) tape wrapped around it for emergency situations. I think needing to film our downhill follies definitely qualifies as an emergency, don’t you?

  • April 14, 2011

    We live an hour away from a ski hill and now that Emily’s old enough for lessons, we’ve talked about taking it up as a family. Those photos make me want to make sure it happens next year. 🙂

    • April 14, 2011
      Kristin

      Get them out there early! That’s so smart of you. I took ski school at 8 but then didn’t really ski consistently until I moved to California three years ago. You have no idea how I wish now my parents had taken me every year as a kid!

  • April 14, 2011

    okay- the fact that you could ski and hold that camera is beyond compression for me. that was freakin’ awesome! usually i’m focusing on turn right, turn left, lend on my right, lend on my left…. Also- my favorite dashboard song- ever.

    • April 14, 2011
      Kristin

      Oooh mine, too! I recently transferred the iTunes library from my college laptop over to my current MacBook Pro and found so many great songs I’d completely forgotten about. It’s like Nine-Years-Ago Self made me a really awesome mixed tape and shipped it to the future for my listening pleasure!

  • April 18, 2011

    Man, you went skiing a ton this winter!! We went twice – my first two times ever. LOVEd it. Love all your reviews and am definitely going to try Heavenly on your recommendation.

  • February 15, 2012

    My boyfriend keeps promising to teach me how to snowboard one day. After reading this I decided I may have to learn to ski and school him 🙂

  • April 23, 2012
    Ryan Keller

    Have you or any readers been on the Beyond The Game travel trip to the Dominican Republic? Was thinking of going this May but looking for some input.

  • April 25, 2012

    This makes me craving just to be there 🙁

  • May 2, 2012

    Can’t load the video 🙁 But man, even just the photos and description really make me want to visit Keystone when it’s ski time … instead of in June for TBEX. Not that I am not looking forward to that. But this VT girl just loves her skis.

    • May 2, 2012
      Kristin

      Thanks for letting me know! I just updated the embed link so it should work now =)

  • February 6, 2014

    Hello,
    Thank you for sharing your video with us. It would be great if I could make a ski trip in Colorado. I have a lot of fun here in France, skiing on the french Alps but Keystone looks amazing !
    You did a great job and the GoPro is a must-have for a traveller 🙂

Leave a Comment