the international rock star lifestyle, part 4

i was in vail for a “business trip” this weekend.

“business trip” meaning an excuse to go out to colorado and take oracle out for a ski day in vail, thus being synonymous with “boondoggle”. but as long as it means a free trip to vail, who’s quibbling over semantics?

as we landed in colorado springs on sunday, it was 81 degrees. in march. is that normal? unfortunately, from the moment i set foot outside the airport, i had a splitting headache. i’m guessing it’s from the altitude, since it’s like 7000 feet high up there to start with. i’ve been out there once before and didn’t have any sort of problem, but somehow this time it hit me pretty hard.

on the plus side, i can safely empathize with people who get migranes. it hit me full on during dinner with everyone, where it was so painful that it felt like someone was pushing my head down and screwing my face tighter and tighter so i couldn’t see. then my buffalo ribeye steak came, and all i wanted to do was throw up.

if anyone else wants tips on how to entertain clients, just drop me a line.

oh, and in case you’re wondering, alcohol helps. except that it doesn’t. at all.

i’m sure it was the dryness as well, leading to dehydration. i was drinking water like a newbie at burning man, and i can assure you that i was pissing clear like a good little burner. yet, to no avail.

i did hear an anecdote that the army had recently done a test to see the effects of altitude on people, shipping recruits up here and making them do workouts and measuring the effects.

then they gave them viagra.

which helped, apparently.

i don’t know the details. i don’t want to know the details. this clearly falls under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” doctorine.

fortunately, by the monday morning my headache had mostly subsided, so i was able to go boarding sans viagra.

all i have to say about vail: OH MY GOD.

oh, and: it’s huge. really HUGE.

it’s the largest ski resort in the united states. the only thing bigger in north america is whistler. which is two glaciers. vail is like three tahoe resorts stuck together. 5,289 skiable acres. base elevation of 8,120 feet, going up to the summit at 11,570 feet. 193 trails, with the longest run being four miles long. huge open back bowls that go on forever. really long runs that are just so wide that you can cry.

oh, and since it was a monday in the spring, there was nobody there, either.

fucking incredible.

i did take two pretty good tumbles. one where i flipped head over heels, landing face first in the powder. and then rinse, repeat. in fact, on either the first or second one of those successive falls, i fell so hard i lost two lug screws out of my binding, such that i only had one left on my left foot, which now had an exciting pivot action. thank goodness one of the guys had a portable screwdriver thing, so i was able to swap a screw from my right and just go 2-2 the rest of the day.

all in all, it was great. i survived with nothing more than some bruised knees and sore neck muscles. oh, and two less screws.

it’s a good thing/bad thing that we got out when we did, early this morning. it dumped a foot of snow in colorado springs right after we took off from the airport.

Posted at April 5, 2005 11:19 AM