Livin’ Da Dream (and wearin’ da gear)
Posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009
Some lifestyle words to get the weekend started….
The Aspen Ideal; it’s a concept first attributed to famed industrialist Walter Paepcke in the1940’s.
Paepcke saw the Rocky Mountain splendor of Aspen, Colorado as a place for people to revitalize their “mind, body and spirit.” In today’s vernacular, we’ve simplified the notion. We just call it “Livin’ the Dream.”
If you’re one of the lucky ones who visited Aspen during this past ski season (2008-09), you know what I’m talking about. Aspen has natural beauty: four ski mountains, endless backcountry access, a thriving social scene and most of all deep POW POW.
We certainly received our share of sweet powder this year. Early season was especially siiiiiick as the storms kept socking in Fat City. We had a bit of a dry-spell mid-season, but ULLR blessed us with some great late season dumps too. All in all it was a fantastic ski season in Aspen…..again.
Not too many on-mountain pics, but the guy in the yellow is Valentino.
I take my role as a ski bum and unofficial documentarian very seriously. My job as editor of www.AspenSpin.com keeps me on the slopes all day and partying all night. It’s not as easy as I make it look. This year, I fought through the aging process, some minor injuries, several killer hangovers and the Aspen “crud” to score 101 ski days and almost two million verts this season.
Properly gearing up is very important to me. Of course my vast quiver of skis allows me to select the perfect ride for the conditions at hand— fat? mid-fat? or fattest? My ski boots are perfectly fitted to my mangled feet, so those are obviously super important. And, the only other piece of clothing I found indispensable this season was my Run Don’t Walk ½ Zip by Cloudveil. I wore the same mid-layer top for each of my 101 ski days this past season. YES! I did launder it occasionally. The Cloudveil top kept me warm as toast on the cold days, and wicked away my moisture to keep me cool on the bluebird days. Aspen’s ever-changing funky weather hit us with some freezing mornings, followed by baking afternoons. The Walk Don’t Run ½ zip kept me regulated through it all and performed like a champ. I’m going to spring for a new mid-layer for next season. Also, the Walk Don’t Run Boxers— siiiiiiiiiiick, but that’s another story.
Call me crazy, but I’m livin’ the Dream in Aspen, and I’m doing it in Cloudveil.
That is the best story of all time.