R.I.P. Keystone 36

Author: Mike

The fall of the Keystone 36 had me very upset. I had a big bash planned for it since it would’ve been the 5 year anniversary of the event. My plans would’ve probably costed around $1200 for that weekend, but man it would’ve been totally worth it. Instead, people decided to complain about the “LONG” lift lines. What did they honestly expect for an event that would last for a straight 36 hours? Only thing I have to say to those people is, “Get off your ski’s, pack your shit up, go home and stop bitching.” Keystone decided to replace the “Keystone 36″ with “Friday Night Lights”, which from what I heard, was a complete bust. I mean, honestly, how fun could that have really been? They do it 3 fridays out of the season, after Thanksgiving. All in a row. What Friday Night Lights was was a free concert type of event. The bands would come out at 8 pm and start playing. Really? 8 pm during the snow season? The resort closes at 8:30 and they end the event around 9 or 10 pm that night. I mean, who the hell wants to see a band after a long day/night of riding? Your feet are tired of being in the boots and the normal persons shoes are in the car. It’s cold, you’re tired, you’re probably cranky, and you really don’t feel like getting home at 1 or 2 in the morning cause you watched some no name band at keystone. Let alone, the time wasted watching the band gave the highways time to freeze over and the traffic will be horrific. Fuck that, head home while the highway is still manageable and beat the traffic. Don’t deal with the possible drunkards who are driving all the way to Aurora or Fort Collins.

        In my eyes, Keystone resort has greatly disappointed me with this shift of events. Last year would’ve been the 5th year running of the Keystone 36. 5 Years! Not many resorts have something like that! Have an event that sold out every year not only on lift tickets, but also the hotels. Restaurants probably pulled in a lot of revenue from the event. I know the nearby liquor stores, cigar shops, and even pizza places made bank during that event. Everyone went up there to have a good time. Wake up at 3 am, throw your gear on, grab your board and go shred the mountain! Come back, grab a beer, change into your swim suit, grab another beer and a slice of pizza, and head to the hot tub. Or head to the club at the bottom of the mountain by the lifts and party it up some. I haven’t seen any reviews on revenue loss or gain from the death of the Keystone 36, but I can assure you, the revnue dropped dramatically. It was the only time during the year Keystone would be open for a straight 36 hours. All my friends made it a point to take that Friday off of work, clear their schedule, just to go to that event. Over the 4 years I went to it, I probably dropped about 2500 total up there. It’s not a cheap trip, but it was definitelly one to remember and one to look forward to the next year.

        So farewell Keystone 36. May the people who decided to replace the event be umemployed and discredited for destroying what could’ve possibly be the most revenue pulling event Keystone has ever had.

New and Improved

Author: Mike

        Back after a very long absence from my last blog entry. Thank you Trav for helping me get this thing rolling again. lol. Here are some updates on my life since I last blogged. First, I finally got over my, what seemed to be, emo moments. I’m not as upset about things anymore. Life has finally made a turn for the better over the last year. So lets go through the list.  

        I finally met a great girl named Kayla Moffett almost 3 months ago. We’re still getting along and have had no fights, which is absolutely amazing to me. And I am also happy to announce that I’m going to be a father in about 7 months. Lol. We’re both happy about the pregnancy and are very much looking forward to it. We’re both hoping that the child will be a boy, but we’ll be happy either way. We already have the first names picked out, Roxas and Claire. We’re still discussing the middle names lol. We’ll be moving in with my brother and his wife at the end of the month due to our roommates kicking Kayla out. I made the decision after I found that out that I’ll be leaving with Kayla. I refuse to not be by her side, especially at this time when she is gonna need me the most. Plus I’m not a coward like many men out there in the world who’ll run at the first notice of their girlfriend being pregnant. She’s a wonderful girl and she’s going to make a wonderful mother. I’m gonna do what is required of me to support for my new family. That actually felt weird to say. lol. I’m still trying to get use to the fact I’m going to be a father at the beginning of the next year. Never thought it would actually happen. But overall, I’m happy about the whole situation and can’t wait to hold my first born child in my arms and know that I’m that childs father.

        This past snowboarding season was a great one! I’ve learned a lot this past season. We had a terrible start to the season, but to our surprise, we ended up getting a fairly good amount of snow in the mountains. The season didn’t start till about late November/early December. But we got up there! Got to do some shredding with my bro Trav and do some tree bashing with some powder runs. Good times, next season we’re gonna take down the Imperial Bowl. Better get psyched for that! Seeing Arwen take her first steps towards improved control on the snowboard was awesome! At her rate, she’ll be cruising with us in about 2 more seasons. And taking me down in the terrain park 2 more seasons after that at the most. Just hope she’ll be ready to do some teaching then cause my kid will be ready for the mountains by then lol. Speaking of the terrain park, my freestyle skills have improved dramatically this past season. I learned how to board slide on both a fun box and a rail. I also learned how to 50/50 on a rounded rail, which I might add is a pain in the ass. It doesn’t stop there though, I hit my first medium size jump. Not gonna lie, the first few times were pretty scary. But after that, the fear started to dissolve as my confidence grew. I still haven’t learned to do 180’s off the jumps, but I have pretty much learned how to land them from hitting a small bump in the terrain. Butters were also learned. My crash course was an attempt to throw myself out of control by doing a fast ground butter. Didn’t think it would work, but boy was I wrong. I ended up spinning out of control, but I recovered in my natural stance after 3 360’s. Picnic tables are a lot more fun than I originally thought. It’s a different feeling than when you’re on a fun box. I also learned how to nose stall on obstacles at the top of jumps. I nose stalled the “Echo Pill” at Echo Mountain Park. That was unexpected and really cool. Just wish I could’ve got a picture of it. I learned how to do spines as well. Last day at Echo, I decided to do a tail slap on the top of the spine as I went over. That was pretty sick if I don’t say so myself. Last, but not least, I also learned the wall rides. Didn’t really do much on it, just learned how to approach, ride, and depart from it. I almost broke an arm or shoulder due to launching too fast off a jump and ate it. At peak height, I was probably about 25 feet above ground. Luckily, I was coherent enough to tuck my arm into my chest to initiate a roll instead of trying to brace myself for the impact. This coming season, I plan on getting a season pass to Echo since it’s only $129. I also have many plans for advancing my freestyle skills. Some are: Learning how to spin while on the wall, 180 and 360 off a jump, More advanced grabs, 180 and 360 grabs, Jumping back into the halfpipe, and front/rear plant rail slides.

        The subaru is coming along nicely. Took it out to C.O.R.E. last year and plan on going back in the next month. But as fate would have it, I want another supra. The plan is that when Kayla is closer to her due date, she will be getting the subaru cause I want her and the baby in a safe, all season vehicle. I’m not going to modify the car any further due to this fact. The exhaust will get replaced, along with the downpipe. I’ve driven rear wheel drive cars in the snow before, considering I’ve only driven rear wheel cars for the first 5 years of my driving career. So it shouldn’t be too big of a hassle for me to have to drive another one. I’ll just have to get some good winter tires for it lol. Just hope I can find the right one for the right price, which in this economy, will be hard to do.

        And lastly, about a month ago, I did my first flight! It was a lot different than what I expected. But as soon as we took off, I knew right then and there, it’s what I want to do for a career. The flight itself was quite bumpy, but over all, the views were awesome. I’ll upload the photos Kayla took onto my myspace page. My countless hours of Flight Simulator and the few hours in a Boeing 777 simulator really paid off. Shortly after take off, the instructor let me take control of the plane. I maintained altitude within 300 feet. I maintained heading within 5 degrees. I also knew what most of the basic avionics were. Sadly, the instructor didn’t let me take off or land. However, I did get to line up the final approach to the runway. It was quite amazing and I really can’t wait to start training to become a full fledge pilot. Just wish Breckenridges airport was still in service. It’d make for easier trips to and from the resort during the snowboarding season lol.

        So that pretty muchs wraps up a year or two in a nutshell. Quite a bit has happened, and I don’t regret a single thing. I’m glad that the paths I have chosen have led me to where I am. I have a drive for a career ambition, I have a great time when snowboarding, but most importantly, I have an amazing person in my life that I trust whole heartedly and love very much. Once we find out the due date, it’ll be posted on the calendar. I’ll be posting a blog about the Keystone 36 tonight as well. Until next time…..

        P.S. Trav, could you add the weather plugin for me? That’s the only other plugin I want. Thanks again buddy! ^^