Beaver Creek Trip: The Pines Lodge, Skiing Day 1
A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to be invited on Ken’s office’s annual ski trip. They go to Colorado every year around the Super Bowl – some year’s they’ve gone to Vail but this year the trip was at Beaver Creek. Ken and I headed there a bit early so we could get some extra skiing in before the rest of his office arrived in Colorado. The Ritz-Carlton, where we stayed with Ken’s office, was fully booked for the first two nights so we stayed at The Pines Lodge, a ski-in/ski-out resort that was cozy and close to the slopes. Right before we arrived in Colorado, they had a lot of snow (over two feet!) so we were really lucky because the skiing conditions were great. They didn’t have great snow until then so there were a lot of locals also skiing during the weekend, but we skied on Monday and Tuesday as well when the slopes were completely empty, except for us. The Pines Lodge from our room:
Another shot of the beautiful snow:
The Pines Lodge had a cozy lodge feel with lots of pine everywhere. The wood used for all of the cabinets was actually quite beautiful:
There was even a nice large bathtub for soaking after a long day on the slopes:
The best part about the Pines Lodge was the outdoor hot tub and swimming pool – both heated so you can go in year-round:
After we arrived and unpacked on Friday night, we got a good night’s rest and prepared to wake up super early on Saturday morning so we could ski all day. On Saturday morning, Ken and I ate at the breakfast buffet (lots of protein from the eggs and black beans) and then went to the ski shop to get our gear for the two days we were staying at the lodge. I layered with multiple turtlenecks (Lululemon sports tank, then heat-tech from Uni-qlo, a cashmere turtleneck, and my jacket kept me warm on the slopes):
The weather each day on the slopes was perfect – blue skies, sunny, and cold but not too cold. On the first day, we skied around Arrowhead, Bachelor Gulch and Beaver Creek to get a lay of the land:
After a full day of skiing and a super tiring trek to return to our hotel (when we were trying to ski back to the hotel, we took the wrong path and ended up at a random resort REALLY far from our hotel!), we did a little apres ski at the Pines Lodge, where they set up a little hot chocolate, apple cider, hot green tea and warm chocolate chip cookies. We had an amazing first day of skiing by ourselves and were so exhausted by the end of the day that we fell asleep around 10pm! Perfect Saturday in Beaver Creek.
