Jeff Billimek’s Journal

I woke up around 8am today. Soon after I got up we had breakfast. We had some great omelets which consisted of cheese, bacon, and onions. We also had toast, jelly, strawberries, and milk. I drank the entire quart of milk - I must have been thirsty.

Yesterday the camera strap was bothering my neck while I skied. A scarf around my neck would be most beneficial to alleviate some of the chafing. I really need to invest in one of those nice neoprene straps which also better distribute the weight of the camera. I asked Mom if she had a spare scarf I could use. She didn’t have one but noticed that a wooden bear statue in the condo had a plaid scarf around its neck. I borrowed the scarf from the bear and wore it today.

We got some snacks together to take on the mountain today for lunch. We had carrots, crackers, and cheese. Around 10:30am we left for the shuttle bus and caught it shortly after going downstairs. We got off at the gondola stop today instead of the main mountain base.

Even though Mom wasn’t going to be skiing today, she was going to come along and take the gondola up to the top of the mountain to hang out in the lodge to read and take pictures.

Jim and I took a long winding green run down to the base of the mountain. During the descent, he had some trouble with soreness in his legs and we took it slow. When we rode back up to the top, he decided that he was going to sit out for a while and join Mom in the lodge. I agreed to meet up with them around noon.

I skied down some blue runs and took my time to photograph stuff. Unlike yesterday I opted to not use the chest strap today. It took too much time to re-fasten the camera in the chest strap. I also took more photos with my gloves on instead of removing them first. This was useful because I had much quicker turnaround time with using the camera while I skied.

Today was a gorgeous sunny and warm day. In fact, it was so nice that I didn’t war my goggles - I just wore my sunglasses. Warm and sunshine is prime skiing weather for me. I know that some people prefer it to be snowing but I love the sunshine.

I skied many of blue runs on the backside of the mountain and thoroughly enjoyed the conditions. Around noon I headed back up to the main peak and joined Mom and Jim inside the lodge. They were at the very top of the lodge in a small room overlooking the entire top of the mountain. I think this room is the highest point on the peak.

I sat up there with them for about 30 minutes while I ate snacks for lunch. We stepped outside to get some photos of the great view since we were so high up. I took photos will all three of my lenses (28-135mm, 15mm fisheye, and 50mm).

Mom and Jim left to return to the condo. I remained behind to keep skiing and told them that I would be back around 4pm. Before I left the lodge I called up Craig to gloat. He was pretty jealous that I was cutting up snow on the slopes.

I spent the rest of the day skiing from the other peak - the ‘north peak’ of Keystone. Off of this peak are only blues and blacks. It was a blast. Some of these newer trails have a lot more trees mixed in with the trail which makes it a lot more fun to ski down.

I switched to the 50mm lens and got some tight shots of the surrounding area. It was some great skiing.

Around 3:30pm I skied down to the base of the mountain. I had my hiking boots in my backpack so at the bottom I changed into my boots. This was pretty cool because I didn’t have to wear the uncomfortable and bulky ski boots.

The shuttle bus was late so I ended up waiting at the bus stop for almost an hour. That sucked. While I was waiting, I got a call from Larry. We chatted about skiing and he expressed a desire to set up a skit trip where he and I meet in Salt Lake City. I think that’s a grand idea. We also chatted more about laptops.

When I got back to the condo, I took a shower and had some snacks. We ate in tonight and had some pasta. Going against the ‘right’ thing to do, I have a few southern comfort & coke drinks. This was bad because I was already dehydrated from skiing and the high altitude. Also, the high altitude makes the alcohol a lot more potent.

We watched a couple of movies. We saw Kangaroo Jack (which wasn’t that good) and Happy Gilmore.

Around 9pm I went to bed.