Fit-Pic: Snowshoe Sunday

Bluebird skies, spring-like temperatures, 12 inches of fresh powder. Sounds like a great day for skiing, right? But snowshoeing? Isn't that more for the days when you're not itching to make fresh tracks, tear up the powder, or ski until your legs practically fall off?

Not today. Today was all about swapping the skis for the snowshoes. And racing--or at least crossing a finish line and having a time tacked onto the 5K you just logged.

At Beaver Creek Resort, Sunday, March 2, was the day of the final race of the 2014 Beaver Creek Snowshoe Series. I had already missed the first race of the series and skipped the second to ski, so the snowshoes were going to have to make an appearance whether I wished I was skiing or not. So snow or no snow, I'd be parting with my skis to strap on my snowshoes to tackle the cut trails and singletrack at McCoy Park, the resort's nordic center that sits 10,000-plus feet above sea level at the top of the Strawberry Park lift.

And I wasn't alone. Just look at these snowshoers snaking their way across the trail before getting to the singletrack. All people I wanted to catch up to as I got stalled at the start with a snowshoe that wouldn't stay on my foot. But more on that (and more pictures) after I've recovered from the weekend's active adventures. The Talons Challenge and Snowshoe Series take a lot out of this girl!

10 Reasons to Ski This Weekend...or Any Weekend of January's Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month

Vail, I'm coming to ski you--hopefully as good as I did last April!

There’s powder in the forecast, which means you’ve had a case of the powder flu growing all week. The winter chill that spread across most of the country just after the new year has finally thawed out (hello 40 degrees ABOVE zero in the Midwest after a few days of 40 BELOW zero wind chill temperatures). And while we’re all a little bummed that Lindsey Vonn announced her withdrawal from next month's Sochi Olympics, skiers aren’t going to let that ruin their winter fun. If anything, we’ll just ski harder and take a run or two for Vonn.

If there’s a weekend your skis shouldn’t collect dust in the closet, this one is it. The holidays are over. The resorts are clear of those Christmas and New Year’s crowds. And skiing is mindless exercise, especially on a pow day—we’re starving by day’s end and feel a good quad burn simply by playing in the snow. Need more reasons, concrete ones, to ski in January? Here are 10:

Fit-Pic: Three, Two, One, Snowshoe

It's Sunday morning. It's January. It's after most of the holiday hype has cooled off. So why aren't these snow bunnies skiing? Because January 6 was the first snowshoe race of the season at Beaver Creek Ski Resort. Each winter the Beaver Creek Running Series offers a snowshoe edition with races held on and around the mountain in January, February and March that draw pro and amateur racers.

According to the race announcer, roughly 350 snowshoers took to today's 5K and 10K courses that wound up, down and around Beaver Creek's west side. These athletes make the race look easy. If you watched me on the trail, you'd probably think otherwise (I'm convinced I held up at least a dozen people when our course turned to slippery, downhill singletrack). But more on that tomorrow (and more pictures too)--I'm still warming up after standing around for too long this afternoon in wet socks and layers.

Fit-Pic: Skier Spotting

Look who we spotted at the 2012 Audi Birds of Prey World Cup at Beaver Creek. He's a bit unrecognizable sporting his Movember mustache, but that dapper fellow is none other than Ted Ligety, 2006 Olympic gold medalist in the combined (slalom and downhill) and three-time giant slalom World Cup champion. Basically, he's one fast skier--and the favorite to win Sunday's giant slalom race as a fellow fan told me on the bus ride back to the Beaver Creek base.

Considering it took me for-ev-er to drive to Beaver Creek (a later-than-planned start, super slow drivers,  and overestimating the length of the downhill event), catching Ligety signing autographs and taking pictures in the finish line area completely made up for the action I didn't catch. I missed hiking up to the pumphouse to watch--and feel because they're skiing so fast--the racers whiz by. I missed Aksel Lund Svindal's second place run. I missed Ligety's run--though that might be for the best considering his GS strength and his 31st place finish today (granted he'd still make the super scary top section look easy, like Jonny Moseley on moguls, while I have to timidly ski across the mountain, making some of my most cautious and slowest turns to avoid slipping and skidding on the ice). I missed the rest Team USA's runs--minus Bode, who ruled this downhill last year but has an uncertain ski season ahead.

But hey, when you spot a skier, a World Cup skier who you recognize right away, hanging at the finish line--and most of the crowd is heading down the mountain instead of hanging out--you have to stop and say hello. Or clam up and not know what to say beyond, "Thank you!" A "good luck" or an "it's awesome to watch you race" probably would have been better conversation starters.

A Culinary Skiing Adventure

Serving up delicious food at the Keystone Culinary Festival

I think it's safe to say that I love food just about as much as I love sports, especially skiing, running and triathlon (if I had to pick three). So when I heard about a new event that combined food and sport in one weekend--and in January, no less, when I'm always yearning to get out of the Windy City and take some turns in the mountains--my mouth started to water.

OK, you caught me. Skiing or not, it also helped that I remembered my experience at the Keystone Culinary Festival where my taste buds were satiated with gourmet goodies that I probably wouldn't order off a menu, but was so glad to have them forced upon me. I had to get my ticket's worth, after all, and that meant trying everything on tap at the March event. Good thing I skied all day. But if I could mimic that experience again, I'd try to drop everything to do it. Yes, it was that good.

And I have a feeling that the Beaver Creek Food & Wine Festival, slated for January 26-28, 2012, could easily match those expectations. It's the first of its kind at the Colorado resort. It's full of locally and nationally renowned chefs. It's skiing and food--what's better than that?

Thrills and Chills at Beaver Creek Resort: Birds of Prey

Looking up a BC run, presumably Golden Eye

The male ski racers on the World Cup circuit took to it last week. The female ski racers will be racing it tomorrow. It'll be part of the FIS World Alpine Ski Championships when they land in Vail and Beaver Creek in 2015. And it's one of the 13 runs you have to ski from top to bottom, lift opening to lift close, at the annual Talons Challenge. Don't ski it early and you could easily be looking at a scary sheet of ice.

To some, including the World Cup racers, it's known as the Birds of Prey downhill course at Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado. To others, you'll find it listed on the trail map as Golden Eagle. The double black run can be accessed from the Birds of Prey lift or the Cinch lift, which takes you to the summit, follows a blue trail out of the start gate, and then picks up speed, near drop-offs and jumps before it turns blue again and ends where the Birds of Prey, Grouse Mountain and Larkspur lifts converge.

I forgot just how steep and scary this run can get until I was watching the Universal Sports' coverage of the World Cup men. Bode Miller made the run look easy until you saw him panting at the bottom and still catching his breath when he was being interviewed. He eventually took the race but not before other favorites like Aksel Lund Svindahl and Didier Cuche got their skis handed to them on some of the course's wily turns. Turn too early, turn too late and you could be done for. Lindsey Vonn, who calls Vail her hometown, warmed up on the run today in preparation for tomorrow's race--a super-G that was switched to Beaver Creek after there wasn't enough snow in Val d'Isere, France. Chances are that she's making it look just as easy as Miller.

Hike Me: Top Trails Near Vail and Beaver Creek

After spending nearly two weeks hiking in the Canadian Rockies, my office back at home feels like a hell hole. It's summer. It's sunny. It's warm. I know that these days will be gone all too quickly and I'll be regretting not spending more time outside when I wanted to. And I know that I'd easily trade a desk day for a hiking one. I might not be able to make it back to Canada anytime soon--and judging by some of the weather we had while we were there, cold and rain while a heat wave hit Chicago, I'm not sure I'd beg to return right away--but I can keep my eye on pursuits a little closer to home. OK, not so close since they're in Colorado, but at least if I go to the state that I hope to call home, eventually, I don't have to bring my passport and convert kilometers and Canadian dollars.

When my husband and I plan out forays out into the forest, we're all about tracking down some of the hardest. For him, I don't know what the reward is unless it's seeing how much he can tire me out. For me, I feel like I earned my ice cream sundae (hey, a girl's gotta splurge every now and then) after the loop back to the trailhead, tackling the tough stuff.

As for the latest adventures, research sent me scouring the trail maps in and around Vail and Beaver Creek. You've already got altitude, but throw in some summits to 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 feet, and some heavy mileage underfoot and you've got a difficult day hike. And I have yet to find a spot outside Colorado that takes me on a bigger challenge--but do tell if you know of one. Just where in, about and around Vail and Beaver Creek should you hike? Take a look at these top hikes as recommended in part by Nathan Goldberg who heads up the Beaver Creek Hiking Center. The extra cool factor: even when you don't have a partner in crime ready to take those challenges with you, you can find a hike happening with BCHC and get going with a guide. I might have to keep that in mind though as an opportunity to bow out when injury holds me back--it might save my husband from hearing me whine about my aches and pains.


Photo grabbed from Beaver Creek and Vail Resorts.

Take a Hike!

I can't help it: I've got hiking on the brain. But honestly, can you blame me? In the last 48 hours I've gone from Chicago's flatlands to the Canadian Rockies where the mountains jut into the sky at even steeper rates than what I've seen in Colorado. I've traded my obligatory summer flip flops for a new pair of hiking boots. I don't leave "camp" (no tent camping this time around) without my CamelBak, rain shell and a million layers. And I've chatted with Nate Goldberg who heads up the Beaver Creek Hiking Center.

If I wasn't super psyched about hiking through the Canadian Rockies when I boarded the plane--let's just say my recovery stress fracture left me doubting my ability to do anything uber active for the entire summer--Goldberg got me far more excited. And well, he also made me want to hop aboard the next plane to Denver. Yes, that's exactly how much I wanted to hike, not bike, a fourteener, see the Mount of the Holy Cross when it's not completely buried under snow, and check out this Beaver Lake that all the locals rave about.  

Want to learn more about the Beaver Creek Hiking Center? It's all laid out here with everything you didn't know before you go. But one thing I forgot: plan carefully if you're particular about your flora and fauna sightings. You'll see, and trudge through, a lot more mud in the early season while missing out on the flowers and mushrooms. Goldberg says it's constantly changing up there--that also goes for any rain forecasts. Proof? Just look at these photos.

Tough Mudder's No-Fail Fitness Prep

That's the slithering: the Boa Constrictor obstacle.

Call me obsessed with the Tough Mudder event series now in its second year. But I can't help myself. The event looks more wild and challenging every time the race organizers post pictures from its latest location--two easy routes to take to this endurance girl's heart. And--if all goes according to plan--I'm supposed to be in Boulder right before the Beaver Creek rendition and am oh-so-tempted to detour out to the Beav' before driving home to check it out and possibly participate. The only problem is that Tough Mudder is only one day of the year--unless you're lucky enough to qualify for the championship event in December, crazy enough to city hop to more than one event or certifiably insane (yes, really) to sign up and participate in both days of challenges in your favorite city--and that can mean make or break time if you haven't trained a little for the challenge.

Lugging logs? Slithering through tunnels? Hauling yourself and your best buds over walls, hay bales and snow? Outlasting the monkey bars I haven't touched since I was oh, about 11? I'm getting scared just thinking about the disasters that could come race day for this body that hasn't seen my exercise beyond some wimpy attempts at yoga, repeats on the bike and forced swims. Granted I haven't been a couch potato, but I totally could use a Tough Mudder tune up. And that's even if I end up not participating because my leg's not ready for the wear and tear.

These moves, what I deemed the no-fail fitness plan, are just what the trainer offered for whatever challenge you've got on your calendar for the summer. I unveiled the essentials at buzz.snow.com to get started on conquering Beaver Creek's course. And if those aren't enough to feel the burn, there are more, 16 altogether, to add a little jolt to the fitness routine. But check out my favorites first--I think they're less intimidating than the others, but that's just my opinion. 

Photo grabbed from Tough Mudder.

Mud, Sweat and Tears

I don't even live in Colorado but I'm sad to see some of my favorite ski haunts closed for the season. It means the epic season is in the books, as final as the season snow totals from years past. It means stowing the skis and boards and other winter gear in the closet, especially if you know the chances of you making it to an open resort like A-Basin, Loveland, Squaw or Alta to name a few are next to none. But you don't have to leave the mountains for good until the 2011-12 season rolls around. Instead you could take all that fitness you acquired over the winter and funnel it into another pursuit.

One that could fit the bill is the Tough Mudder, happening at Beaver Creek Resort on June 25 and 26. But the catch is that this event might actually be tougher than anything you'd encounter when you're on skis. And if it's not tougher, it certainly is dirtier. And scarier. And probably even more lung-busting--running in the mountains always feels so much harder than skiing, doesn't it? You can decide for yourself by reading more at buzz.snow.com.

For all its craziness--hello, sliding through mud to pass under wires, swinging on the monkey bars, sprinting through a fire-laced field?--Tough Mudder, Beaver Creek style, still sounds oddly appealing. Apparently I'm not alone in thinking this either...the race already has 3,000 or so registrants, and there's still room for more. Hmm, if I can figure out what the heck is keeping me out of commission and mend in time, I just might have to add it to my calendar. But please, don't shock me too much at obstacle 22.

Photo courtesy of Tough Mudder.

Fit-Pic: Talons Challenge

There's nothing like sun, skiing and Spring-like conditions, especially when you're experiencing the Talons Challenge at Beaver Creek. We lucked out with a warm day--sure beat that subzero morning I was skiing in Park City in January--when we took to the 13 toughest runs at Beaver Creek to earn our Platinum pin and find our names among other Challenge finishers next time we're at the resort.

The challenge happens as a one-day event in January each year--mark your calendars for Jan. 23, 2010--with registrations limited to roughly 1,500 skiers and boarders. Or if you can't make it on that day, you can ski with an instructor to have the accomplishment certified. You'll take to the infamous World Cup course, Birds of Prey, luckily not logging speed and jumps like Bode Miller and Hermann Maier when they hit the mountain. Then follow it up with bump black runs off the Birds of Prey and Larkspur lifts and on Grouse Mountain. My favorite part is you can take as many breaks as you need, just as long as you can hit all the runs before those lifts close at 3:30. And if you take an extended lunch and shed layers as many times as I did (yep, I forgot how hot I can get skiing the bumps), that 3:30 deadline can start to look like it's not going to happen.

I'd hate to see what the troughs look like on these bumps on Talons Challenge day when thousands are hitting these runs throughout the day. But I'm happy we were hit with soft snow thanks to the sun hitting the mountain just right--with the exception of the slick top on Birds of Prey where I prayed the rest of the day wouldn't be as nerve-wracking as that and the last two runs on Larkspur where the bumps acquired some lumpy, icy chunks. And to say you're sweating, dripping even, while skiing, that's new to me. Posted by Kate

Snow Day!

If you're east of the Mississippi you've probably gotten pummeled by rain in the past few days, checking those basements for leaks, carrying an umbrella and rain gear every time you leave the house, and hoping that there's warmth and sunshine at the end of this rain cloud. But if you're living in the mountains, especially ski country, or perusing the resort snow reports as I now find myself doing daily (trying to give myself an excuse to hop a plane to the Wasatch or Rockies even though I just returned), then you're leaping for joy over a snow day.

I was crushed to see the snow we had prayed for last week to blanket the bare mountains fell now that I left. And not only did Colorado get hit, but Utah too. This season's snow isn't just reserved for Tahoe where a four-foot drop fell last week and completely blanked the Rockies. Alta's report at Ski Utah listed 22 new inches and Brighton listed 25. Sheesh. Now while those in Colorado will be quick to say that the snowfall is a light load this year, at least they got some white stuff to play in. Not epic proportions but enough to patch the holes that were starting to show by Friday afternoon. I'm just wishing I could play in it--check out the glades at Beaver Creek that were closed or hit the snowcat skiing area again and make some fresh tracks in what I'm hoping isn't mashed potatoes like I encountered. Yep, apparently mashed potatoes is a term for heavy powder--heavy, hard-to-ski-in powder that had me cursing my powder skis that were supposed to love the stuff and our guides flopping over on turns just like the guests (namely me).

Back to the snowfall...Beaver Creek is boasting 10 inches of powder today. I'm jealous! That also means that the glade skiing that I missed out on last week due to undesirable snow conditions--or the conclusion that myself, my husband and the head of the kids ski school decided upon--was most likely open. One way to find out: Check for the flag flying at the top of the Centennial lift, chair 6, that's black and flashing BC/EX. I'd sport a picture but I'm having some difficulties copying the link. The other way...for the Royal Elk Glade, head to the top of the Grouse Mountain lift and look right past the hut at the top. The sign and roping will be posted if it's closed (a familiar site for me) or be open for travelers. I can only imagine the pockets hiding in the glades...after a wind swept top crust, even I'd go skiing in the trees. As for getting to the Stone Creek Chutes, an area that used to be out of bounds but was recently rezoned to become a part of the resort's terrain, I followed Cindy our guide to get there and have no clue how we zig-zagged across the mountain to get there. It involves riding the Birds of Prey lift and traversing skier's left to more trees. Sounds sweet--and flickr pictures can prove it...I'm wallowing in others' glories captured on film in years past. But hey, keep the snow coming, Colorado can use it. Especially Blue Ox, my fave double black at Vail that was like a skating rink transplanted into a wind tunnel last Thursday. Photo grabbed from ctirpak at flickr. Posted by Kate