SUN VALLEY, IDAHO SKI TRIP

Paul Whitt, Brian Mooney, Taylor Crowley, Ben Hoskins, and myself all went skiing in Aspen, CO after December graduation back in 2001. We stayed at Ben's dad's place and had a great trip, a la Ruby's Run wipeout, our free huge feast in Aspen, adventures on Ajax mountain, our trek over the snowy pass in Ben's Pathfinder as we got lost, and other stories that can be told another time.

Paul and I had so much fun we have been contemplating another trip for some time. So, for President's Day Weekend, we went to Sun Valley Idaho for 3 days (Fri-Sun) of great skiing. [Pictured above from the left: Paul, Courtney, Lindsey, Josh]. We stayed with Dale and Brenda, some generous and gracious family friends who were terrific hosts.


The skiing was excellent - Sun Valley had more snow and was colder than it has been for the last several years. Lots of powder and lots of great long runs. Oddly, the greens are more like blues in Colorado or Utah, and there are no double-blacks because the blacks themselves are so intense. Idaho is gorgeous and we enjoyed the historic lodge and resort area - Hemingway, the Kennedys, Gary Cooper, Ahhhnold, Bruce Willis, and others have spent much of their time there. (Willis still has a home there where he spends a good bit of time and owns several establishments in the area).

Paul did have some scary encounters with a large number of ferocious bears in the area. We were all pretty concerned with the aggressive behavior some of the beasts demonstrated, but Paul was able to woo them away from innocent bystanders and save many people's lives by his heroic efforts. One particular incident stands out where Paul convinced the large white bear (left) to not maul three children who were taunting him with a large candy cane (seen on the left edge of the photo.) Paul insisted that he was not a hero, that he just simply found himself trying to "be the bear" and "be in sync with it's life force." He did become bear-like several times and developed a fondness for salmon and honey.