Since brands and resorts often reach out to me for ways to get in front of a great audience, I figured I’d post this here. If you’re interested in learning more please contact me.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

I received a pair of Guideline Eyegear’s Alpine polarized sunglasses to try out this season¹ and I’ve been really impressed.

Build Quality

When skiing I always carry a pair of goggles to the slopes and throw a pair of sunglasses in my pack to pull out when outside at lunch or driving or on a patio during après.

I’m usually hesitant to bring my nicer metal-rimmed or higher-end sunglasses because I fear I’ll fall or throw my bag down and bend or break them inside. Since the Alpine sunglasses are a very solid build of plastic, I don’t have to worry at all. Plus they come with a nice semi-soft case with a hard front to help keep things protected.

Semi-Soft Case with Hard Protective Front

These glasses feel great, not cheap but sturdy and the right about of heft in my hands. After a few months of use, the hinges still swing freely but not loosely like they’ve been worn down.

Plus, there are rubber nose and temple pads to help prevent slippage which have held up very well against the sun and moisture this season. Plus, this means they never fell off my face.

Style & Look

The Alpine are a sleek, semi-transparent frame. You can faintly see through them it picks up the color behind them making them feel a bit more part of your face. I didn’t notice any light ‘leaking’ through the transparency since the rims on front are fairly muted.

While the Alpine comes in green, brown, clear and graphite, I love having a plain pair of dark frames. With the dark gray frames, I can wear them with any outfit on the slops. And when skiing, I’m almost always in black ski pants and probably have a black hat on.

The Alpine frame style is described as a “modified oval” which seems to fit my face fairly well and is said to work well with a medium to large face. The style is perfectly ‘sporty’ or ‘active’ so they work well on the slopes.

The lenses are polarized which is a big must-have for the bright, high-altitude sun and I wouldn’t recommend these without them.

Overall Impressions

Coming in around $60, I’m very pleased with the Alpine and they’re my new go-to snow sunglasses. In fact, I’ve start wearing them around town as it warms up when I go out jogging because the soft temple and nose pads keep them firmly in place while the light plastic doesn’t weigh down on my face.

Exclusively for Colorado Snow readers, use coupon code “cosnow13″ at checkout and receive 20%-off an online order at glpolarized.com. Coupon expires June 15, 2013.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

There are plenty of good happy hours and après deals around the various resorts and towns. With some sleuthing you can find there are some good alternatives, though. I’ve posted a quick run-down of three tasting rooms in Breckenridge offering unique imbibing experiences. Read more about tasting rooms in Breckenridge at Breck Connection.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

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I first came across these beauties at SIA. We stopped by the Anarchy booth to say hi since they are some of Devin’s favorites and always have nice products to peruse. While checking out their goggles, I discovered that they also have women’s sunglasses. Anarchy was awesome enough to pick out a pair of “Craze” for me to try, and I am so incredibly glad they did.

I’ve always been hesitant to invest in sunglasses (beyond the realm of Target prices) because they seemed so easy to lose or break. While admittedly my fear of losing my sunglasses has somewhat intensified because I love these so much, they’re at a price point that’s reasonable enough that it would not be devastating to have to replace them.

Interestingly, my worries about breaking them seem to have decreased. Maybe it’s just because I’m only used to lower-end frames, but I find these to be a surprisingly sturdy set of glasses for everyday use. I do try to be careful to not let them get scratched up in my bag, but overall they’re an undemanding accessory. Also, they are comfortable and (in my totally unbiased opinion) super cute.

Since February, these have been my go-to favorites for sun coverage: on the mountain, during my (seemingly endless) work commutes, and now through these terribly rough days spent sitting on our patio enjoying the spring weather… Go check them out if you’re in need of a new set of sunglasses!

Thank you, Anarchy!

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It costs resorts hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in materials (water, air, pipes) and time (employees, machinery) and National Geographic Channel goes behind-the-scenes with “Snow Park Technologies” to show how world-class, high-intensity snow competition courses are constructed. Be sure to watch for the episode showing the build out of the Winter X Games (in Aspen).

Learn more about Mountain Movers at natgeotv.com

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Resorts re-opening: Copper Mountain, Vail and Breckenridge (4/19-21), Aspen Highlands (4/27-28)

Still open until..: Winter Park and Aspen Highlands (4/21), Loveland (5/5), Arapahoe Basin (6/2).

The time I Nordic skied without knowing how to ski

You may recall our Nordic skiing outing with friends at Breckenridge. While it was fabulously fun, I do have a few recommendations based on my experience. Start by asking yourself these questions:

1. Did you know that Nordic skis (at least the ones we rented) have no metal edges, which can mean that people inexperienced with shifting their weight on skis might have trouble controlling their direction?
2. Did you know that Nordic ski trails have difficulty ratings, similar to Alpine trails?
3. Did you know that harder Nordic trails can have some moderate inclines and no tracks?

I did not know any of those things and still managed to have a fantastic time. However, if you are not okay with the possibility of careening off the trail into a creek, you may want to do some research on the above items first.

The time my contact ripped in half in my eye mid-day

We sure ended our trip to Steamboat with a bang! Overall, the conditions that day were not great: mostly low light, some fresh snow with a constant emergence of icy patches, and always wind. Add to all that the inability to see clearly due to a contact that tore apart in my eye and things get messy.

I took my goggles off while on the chair, rubbed my right eye, and had a chunk of contact come away with my glove. (The other chunk remained in my eye until we got back to the car.)

Fun fact: I can only wink my left eye. No, seriously. It’s a thing.

Obviously it was not ideal to suddenly lose vision in the one eye I couldn’t close, but it was our last day in Steamboat. So…I just kept riding for another couple hours until we had a full day in. Insisting on being able to see where you’re going is for the weak.

Lesson: Learn to wink both eyes. Get Lasik.

The time my binding broke at the top of the mountain

Before our lunch break at Beaver Creek, we decided to do a few laps in the Larkspur Bowl. Devin, Alex, and Jonathan like the runs off to the side of the mountain, while I usually entertain myself playing in the bumps along the edges of the main run.

Just a few turns in, I suddenly tumbled head over heels with a foot free from the board. Apparently, the screw holding my binding together suddenly decided to work itself loose. I climbed back up to where I fell and found two of the three parts that came off, but couldn’t reassemble the binding by myself; I was left to navigate my way down the mountain without a way to solidly anchor my front foot to my board.

My turns were slow, but I made it down to Red Tail Camp. I was lucky to find an employee who helped me zip tie my binding back together until I got to the base of the mountain. Once there, the lovely people at One Track Mind reassembled my board for free and we were able to continue the afternoon.

We now carry zip ties in the ski backpack.

The time I decided that I wanted to switch from snowboarding to skiing

I once advocated that falling on T Bar is fine as long as you get out the way, but sometimes life doesn’t afford us the luxury of following our own advice.

There was a spectacular occasion this season where I caught a bump with my board, fell and got tangled up with Devin, and couldn’t get untangled in time to clear out of the way of the people behind us. The old man behind me proceeded to fall directly on top of me, which then lead to a pileup with the people behind him.

All told, I took out six people. (Though I allege the man who just laid on top of me shares some responsibility in those final two.)

Luckily we were near the top and still managed to have a nice run. But it was exactly that moment that I decided I want to ski.

I have a few bunny hills and green runs under my belt this season, so we will be sure to provide more updates on the transition from snowboarding to skiing as I progress. Sometimes it can be hard to start all over when there is immediate fun to be had on my snowboard, but I think it’s going to be the right choice in the long run.

Everything doesn’t have to go perfectly for you have a great day: embrace the chaos and remember that adventure’s out there!

This post is part of the thread: 2012/2013 Season – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

This Sunday was closing day at Beaver Creek, the last day of the season.

We weren’t too excited for skiing the night before. On Saturday evening, around 8 PM it started raining… a lot. Rain and snow rarely mix so our expectations were pretty low for what the final day of skiing would bring.

We were pleasantly surprised by 15 inches of fresh snow all over Beaver Creek!

We took our time getting out and ended up at the Village around 10 AM. Plenty of early-risers made fresh tracks all over, but we still found tons of fresh powder all over the mountain. We essentially had the place to ourselves (never had to wait in a line) and did 8 solid, powdery runs in just under 90 minutes.

We were tired by noon and concluded: closing day at Beaver Creek was probably the best snow, skiing, and overall day we had all season.

Thanks for everything, Beaver Creek!

This post is part of the following threads: Ski Log, 2012/2013 Season – ongoing stories on this site. View the thread timelines for more context on this post.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

For more photos, follow coloradosnow on Instagram.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.

For more photos, follow coloradosnow on Instagram.

This article is published at Colorado Snow (cosnow.com). All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety is welcome with attribution.