Keystone

It turned out the day I arrived in Colorado was the coldest day of the year. Its been warmer (relatively speaking) since, in the 10s and 20s Fahrenheit. I did get to ski in Keystone, about 1.5 hours away from Denver. It is such a beauty country there. Even though it was cold and all, there was not much of snow because this is just the beginning of skiing season. There are a few ski and snowboarding slopes open but most still wait for a major snow fall to start their business. For cross country, it requires lots of snow too. Luckily the trails where I skied was on higher altitude so there was some snow to stride on. And due to lack of snow, I only have to pay for gear rental but not the trail usage. From the Nordic center where I rented the gears to the trail was a 20 mins drive, very scenic. The drive passes through this tiny "town", of 20 houses, called Montezuma. It's a historic town where there was a silver rush back in the day. Most of house were destroyed because of wood stove. Some managed to remain. It's not a ghost town but quite interesting to see some remnants of the past still standing. On the first day of skiing, the snow was nice but there were a few icy sections. I slipped into one of this section on the way downhill back to the trail head. I was wet. My fleece pants was wet but somehow ok, but my hands were practically holding two ice cubes for about 40 mins because my gloves were soaking wet! I learned my lesson not to wear fleece gloves when there may be icy water on the trail :)




The town of Montezuma