Vail Ski Instructor

Vail - PSIA-certified celebrity spokesmodel shows off jacket and the award-winning form that earned her the coveted PSIA jacket

Vail Scenery:

Vail

Karl Kelman skiing Vail:

Karl Kelman skis Powerline Glade at Vail

Vail Ski Trip 2009

Hiker's Commentary

I've skied Vail before; quite a few times, in fact. I've usually had lunch on those days too. What was different about Friday at Vail was the slippers at lunch. Thanks to my client/ski instructor, we got into the exclusive (hoytie toytie) Game Creek Club where you can take off your ski boots and slip into some club-provided slippers. Ahh, the luxury.

Karl Kelman even behaved himself in the midst of all that splendor. Before we went to the club, he was a little worried that the duct tape on his jacket might invoke sneers, or worse yet, jeopardize his lunch, so he wrapped his duct tape encrusted jacket around his skis outside.

A spring blizzard in Denver had shut down commerce on Thursday afternoon and threatened to do so again on Friday, so, taking a cue from Mother Nature, we decided to go with the flow and go skiing instead of going to work. It worked. Besides Karl, two of the worker bees from work came along too; The Instructor and I Can Keep Up. About 3 feet of snow the prior four or five days set things up pretty well. We found a few places that were still untracked, but just about everything was soft. Including the slippers.

The Duel

"certified PSIA instructor"

I'm still waiting for the bump-off between The Instructor and The Hiker after The Instructor threw down the gauntlet with the immortal line during a slope-side discussion of the pinky toe:

"Which of us has spent years as a Certified PSIA Ski Instructor?"

It's a great line - Use it in all disputes, like deciding what toppings to get on a pizza, is it faster to take I-225 or E-470 to the airport, etc.)

Or we could Skiercross. I suppose, as the injured party (and certainly, by mentioning the unmentionable P-nky T-e in The Hiker's presence, when the lower digits are not part of The Hiker Method, he is the injured party!), the choice should be Hiker's.

The History of Duelling (sic), J. G. Millingen, M.D. F.R.S, 1841:

Rule #7 The offended party has the choice of arms.

Rule #8: When the offence has been of the a degrading nature, or involves the outward-most digit of the foot, the offended has the right to name both arms and duel.

Personally, I'd favor a Chinese Downhill on Marmot at Loveland, but that's purely for my amusement as a spectator.