Fit Snowshoe Tour in Beaver Creek

Monday I headed out with a couple of friends on Beaver Creek's new Fit Snowshoe Tour.  Here's the kicker - you start this tour at 9,840 feet and climb to 10,400' feet.  It's really cool because it's in McCoy Park, which is one of three lift access Nordic centers in the United States.  Most are at the base of mountains.

I really liked how our guide Tom got us through the workout.  We started by just counter poling, which is using opposite pole with opposite foot, for 100 yards then resting 30 to 60 seconds. We did that for several rounds then started adding more distance in between breaks.  We did a variety of terrain from flat groomed trail to well into the powder on an incline.

We were out of breath and sweating.  Definitely a great workout!  Tom put it this way - if you take one breath at sea level, at that altitude of almost two miles high, you're taking two breaths.  You're working harder as your body compensates for less available oxygen.  Tom also said this working is twice as intense as hiking.

I loved the mega workout at altitude.  I can't wait to go back and snowshoe or try cross country, skate, or tele skiing at McCoy Park with the Beaver Creek Nordic Center.

Skiing Powder Day at Beaver Creek

Sunday was a powder day at Beaver Creek.  9" of new snow fell Saturday night and early Sunday.  So two friends and I headed out to feel the burn in our legs from skiing powder.  It was a blast!

Check out my Powder Day! Skiing Beaver Creek Swept Away blog for the video of my powder day at Beaver Creek.

Skiing With A Ski Film Veteran

Saturday I got to ski with my friend, Chris Anthony.  He's been in 21 Warren Miller films and is a big mountain skier.  Yes it's been an incredible week for me getting one-on-one lessons with Billy Kidd at Steamboat Springs and Saturday skiing Beaver Creek with Chris.

We had a blast.  Chris worked on technique with me, keeping me in that ski like a world champion mentality.

If you know Beaver Creek, we trained on Lattigo and Gold Dust.  These are two blue runs.


Couple of things Chris worked with me on:

Keep your shoulders and chest forward.  Think belly to the base.
Look down mountain, not at your ski tips or just a few feet in front of you.
As you pole plant, stand up then bend into the turn as you put weight into the downhill (or outside) ski.

After a few runs with Chris, he headed out to ski with another friend who is a very advanced skier.

I took a couple more runs with my friend Carl, who's a blues to blacks skier.

Great day skiing with friends and working on my technique!

Hiking & Biking Up A Storm in Beaver Creek

Saturday turned into an all day workout for me at Beaver Creek.  It started at 7:15am when I took off on the Lost Buck Trail.  I headed out on what I thought would be just a nice hike/jog but it turned into a 3 miles hike/run with three hill intervals added in.  There's something about hiking or jogging by a ski slope that just inspired me to run intervals to the top of the hill.

For there it was out on a mountain biking adventure at 9:15am with my guide Laura.  Little did I know that I would be going 14 miles and there would be a crash.  I'm still a pretty novice mountain biker.  I'm a much better road cyclist.  At Beaver Creek we road the Centennial Lift then took off on Cinch to Dally to Village to Village over the Arrowhead.  Somewhere on the Village to Village I bit it going downhill while trying to shoot video.  In Arrowhead we caught the bike trail and then bus back to Beaver Creek for a quick lunch at Spruce Saddle, off of the Centennial Lift.

Laura was up for a hike so she went with me.  We took the Royal Elk Trail to Beaver Lake at an elevation of 9,746 feet.  After a quick break to soak up the beauty of the lake it was back down the Beaver Lake Trail to my hotel The Osprey.  Round trip it was a 6 mile hike.

That's 9 miles on foot and 14 on bike - not bad for a day's workout!