When I began dating my wife we lived in Jacksonville, FL. The very 1st trip we took together was to Keystone in 1981. She was from Ohio and told me she had skied in Ohio numerous times. We arrived in the dark and the next morning we got on the ski lift as it began to snow lightly. I commented on the beautiful scenery and looked over at her. Tears were trickling down her cheeks as she looked at the “Last Hoot” black run below. She said “I’ll never get down this. I just skied on little hills in Ohio.” I reassured her that she could handle Schoolmarm and took her straight to the beginner slopes at the top. She did fine and improved quickly. We had an incredibly romantic trip and I knew I had found my soul mate.

In 2006 I had not been skiing in 18 years. We had been married for over 25 years and I was recovering from some serious surgery. Just before my surgery I promised myself that, after I recovered, I would take my wife back to relive that fantastic 1st trip together. So in December of 2006 we flew to Denver and drove up to Keystone. We checked into Mountainhaus and were delighted to discover we were only 100 yards from the lift.

It took us awhile to test our legs and recapture our technique but in a couple of days we were cruising down Mozart, my favorite run from back in the 1980s. We could still ski, but not for as long or hard as we could 20 years ago. Fortunately, our condo had a hot tub because we definitely needed it. On our 3rd day we left the slopes about 2:30. As we sat in the hot tub with drinks in hand it began to snow lightly, just like it had on that 1st trip to Keystone. We watched the last skiers of the day come down the mountain. I knew then that Keystone had to be one of the most beautiful places in the world and life doesn’t get any better than this.