A week in the life of a 'senior' Aspen ski bum

Sorry there was no narrative in last post. Technical glitch - another ! By contrast , no pic in this one - glitch again! One exception. Here is Ian, Harry, Mary and our lodger the incomparable and irrepressible Dadou after our breakfast at Gwynn's and just before Mary's private "lesson" with the latter. He is a quite remarkable instructor and arguably one of the best among 1500 Aspen/Snowmass instructors.

Harry and Ian's 10 day visit was immensely enjoyable for us. While the piste skiing was good in mostly cloudless skies, it was disappointing that they didn't get what they came 8,000 miles for - fresh powder . They had a good day up to the summit of the Highlands Bowl with Mary, Ian joined me on a skin up to Gwynns ( Harry including himself in the breakfast part of the arrangement ) and we enjoyed lots of good skiing together ( including a bit of fresh powder in Hanging Valley Wall ) and a certain amount of après ski for which the brothers seemed to have lost little appetite.

Since they left , it snowed significantly twice and powder skiing was superb I gather. Hearsay only sadly - I was working both days.

Back then to routine - but what a routine.

Sat - M working from 7 till 6 with only hour and a half for lunch. Saturdays always very busy for her with AVSC and a lot of guests giving her a hard time in the Tree House turning circle. I skinned up to Gwynn's - hour and twenty mins - arriving in time for the usual top rate breakfast. Constrained myself though to the healthy fare on the menu - granola joghart and fruit and copious coffee. Skied back to Two Creeeks via Elk Camp and Long Shot with No 3 bus 2 minutes along the road to Meadow Ranch. In time to get lunch for the exhausted Mary at 12.30.
Relaxing afternoon ( for me at any rate ! ) catching up with mail, emails, addressing US tax return issues , etc, etc.

Sun - M to Church. I drove down to El Jebel to collect Gaby and bring him back to MR. An afternoon of cooking ( brownies and quiche - his
choice ) and playing various games. Trying to teach Gaby chess - some success but a way to go. Gerry collects him from Intercept Lot saving me from a double 45 minute journey. Then M and I went in to Aspen to see The Descendents. Good but not brilliant. We're not huge George Clooney fans. Some beuatiful Hawaian scenery though reminding us of Lee and Julie.

Mon - both working . Route 3 for me 7.50 till 6.15 with hour for lunch . A good route though with 45 minute loops giving time at the Mall for reading in between. A hard day again for Mary with resort getting busier each day. Managed though some music in evening . We've picked our duet for Betty's 90th in June - a lovely Mozart piece from the "Figaro " book given to us by Amanda and her parents.

Tues- Rodeo Lot run for me on Tuesdays - ploughing up and down Brush Creek Road . 2nd day running though when conditions , esp early on, were treacherous. Much concentration required. I do enjoy these days though and enjoy the challenge - over 350 passengers for the day. Lunch on mon , tues and wed always a highlight . Used to be Spencers . Changed my allegiance to the Stewpot in the Mall. Owner Rob looks after me well. Valentines Day so M and I celebrated and had a lovely evening at Il Poggio in the village.

Wed - the least enjoyable working day of the week . Day off for M. I'm on the 1 route - Upper and Lower Woodbridge. No fun . Masses of stops all day. Tight turning circles and usually struggling to meet time schedule. Glad to have it over . 6.30 to 3. Then 2 hour session with Karina - dentist in the Village - courtesy partly of TOSV health care scheme. One of the great perks of Town employment. Covers Mary too.

Thurs - my weekend looms. Route 2 on Thursdays to Crestwood and above . 6.20 to 2.45. "Lunch" comes absurdly early at 9.30 to 10.30. I go to Big Hoss cafe in the Mall, try to eat healthily , but usually end up with stack of blueberry pancakes. Much coffee to stay alert for long 2nd half of Route 2. Highlight of week though in evening . Went to see the Met's "Live" performance of Don Giovanni in HD at the Wheeler Opera House. Quite stunning although comes 2nd in my book to Figaro.

Friday - both of us off. Up to Village Express by 9.15 and had a delightful 2 hour skiing together ( working on Dadou's tips ). Left Mary up there skiing with Fred. while his wife Barbara and I drove down to Basalt for our 2nd experimental partnership at a weekly duplicate bridge tournament. Likely to have been brought down to size ( no result yet annouinced ) after coming 1st in 7 tables - 24 hands - last week. Dead chuffed we were having not played together before. Barbara though is a real expert and a delight to play with . Very tolerant and hugely instructive. Learning about transfer bidding and discard strategies. Fascinating. In evening M and I went to Snowmass chapel for a Valentines evening of love songs organised, performed and directed by Paul and his partner Micha. Hugely impressive with suppport from a superb local pianist and 3 strings. A Robbie Burns song featured , but would have been improved further with some classical - Mozart , Schumann for instance.

Sat - 2nd of my 3 consecutive days off , but M working again and another hectic day for her. We had a lovely 15 minute chat with Meghan on Skype . Sadly Cormac not yet woken from his midday nap so missed him . I repeated my 8am start from the Mall on skins and had another delightful hour and a bit in the restauarant at Gwynns High Alpine before skiing over Long Shot again and back to 270 via Two Creeks and the No 3 bus. Another stunning , but very cold, day with quite beautiful snow conditions - but powder now skied out. The views to the Maroon Bells from the Long Shot summit were breathtaking . I stand there for fully 5 minutes spell bound by their beauty = and all that 15 minutes by ski ( albeit 5 miles and about 3,000 feet ) from our house. Concluded fittingly a week ( 8 days actually ) in the life of .....