Steamboat Springs

The color of the sky in Colorado is something altogether different; the blue is so intense you feel it in your bones.  In early February we took a trip out to Steamboat Springs to go skiing and we were lucky enough to have several clear-blue, sunny days.  I stopped halfway down the mountain to look for the porcupine we saw the day before and when I looked up this is what I saw (above).  The white aspens out there are so striking against that crazy, blue sky.  I took this photo with George's iTouch and used PhotoStitch to put it together.  It turned out Photostich is not as seamless as I would like, so I ended up fixing some blurry seems in Photoshop. 

Steamboat has a covered gondola which was nice to keep out of the wind.  It is also less scary.  Every so often when I am sitting in the uncovered ski-lifts I get the willies.

The photo below was taken from our room at the Torian Plum.  It was a nice ski-in ski-out location.  I took this photo because the air was filled with glitter.  I guess it was so cold the moisture in the air was freezing.  You can see a bit of it near the bottom of the photo, but the photo doesn't do it justice.  You know how sometimes when the sun shines just right and you can see all the dust floating in the air?  Well, imagine that all that dust is sparkling glitter and filling an area the size of your room.  The effect was dazzling. 

I actually lugged the big camera up the mountain one day and took a series of photos from the upstairs terrace at the restaurant (below).  I hand "stitched" them together in Photoshop.  Click the image to see it larger.

I wasn't so sure I wanted to go from cold Cincinnati to cold Colorado.  After three flights, briefly losing my luggage, then hauling skis, helmet, goggles, boots, and poles you begin to wonder if it's all worth it.  But once you start skiing you remember, "Oh yeah,it's like skating on the ground!  No, it's like flying! This is incredibly exhilarating!"... it all becomes worth it.