Telluride 2017

Telluride Colorado - one of the most elusively beautiful places I've ever been. She sits west of the Rockies,  about a two and half hour drive south from Grand Junction. Our team of five traveled to Telluride the way folks closer to the 1900s would have gotten to such a remote area of land: via a train (though to be fair we all also flew and rented a car, but the train ride from Denver to Grand Junction was at a speed as such to enjoy the views with maximum possible impact than if viewed from a car or plane). All-in-all the trip was quintessentially the most amazing ski trip I've been on - for being 26 and skiing as much as I can while trying not to go poor. The remoteness was the most difference from skiing anywhere else I've ever been; standing on top of the mountain over 12,000 feet after just climbing up the last 800 vertical feet, there isn't much a better feeling in the world. Oh yea, other than skiing down the face of the height just achieved. Being a creature of western Pennsylvania where the altitudes barely reach over 3,000 feet, keeping breath was gruesome. Yes, that's an excuse I'm making for being also just a tad out of shape....but having to stop every other, other, other mogul to stop from getting light headed, pick a new line, and force yourself to keep going or else risk losing precious adrenaline. More often times than not, physical limitations are met, but those little breakthrough moments of when everything just comes together and the perfect line was laid - nothing more than xanadu could come to mind.

The nicest thing about Telluride, as state before, is her exclusivity. This means the crowds, by-in-large, stay away. Having said that skiing over President's Day weekend ourselves, the lines did get noticeably longer after Friday (though mostly due to a mogul competition where the only access lift we had from our condo was a 2-man lift that crawled, and we all conveyed on her 9 a.m.). We had learned the mountain at that point, but definitely the one aspect of the hill we all noticed was difficulty in getting from A to B. Because of certain lifts and runs closing at certain times throughout the day, we spent almost an entire afternoon trying to work our way back to skiers right to our condo. Then again, Telluride is home to one of the very few free gondolas in the world. What makes this unique is, obviously, you don't need to buy a pass to get around from mountain village (higher up) back down to the town of Telluride, meaning that at no point does the Gondola really go up to the top of the mountain, it basically just skirts the bottom, but you can ski down from certain areas, they just check your pass at the top of the hill rather than the bottom. There is a mid mountain top bar halfway in between built what feels like into the mountainside herself, and definitely a little over-the-top luxurious in some areas. For being basically a western Pa ski bum, being out there was a far cry from places like Laurel Mountain in Ligonier PA and Mad River Glen up in Vermont, but the skiing at Telluride was worth every penny.

The town of Telluride is not what most people think of a town. It is about 10 blocks wide by 5 deep, if that, filled with cozy little houses with restaurants on just about every block. The one night was someone's birthday in the group where we managed to do as much of a bar crawl as we could manage after two days of intense skiing/boarding and toured three restaurants - all wonderful. The last day we treated ourselves to one of the more upscale places there, and it definitely blew expectations. It is this unique blend of high class, mixed with cool aspects like a free gondola, and being out in the middle of nowhere (oh yea and some steezy slopes) - Telluride should be put on the list in some order. And it actually is one of those places where people can come who aren't skiers or boarders because they can still navigate a large portion of the mountain. And for just the beginners, there are some excellent long rolling slopes where, by the time the bottom is reached, anyone would feel more comfortable on a board or ski (not to mention excellent opportunities for ditching the kiddos into a ski lesson for the morning while you head up high).

New York, Ny adventure

The big apple supplies some great stories and interesting conversations as the big city was explored

Sites included dinners on 78th street, Yankees stadium, Hoboken, Irish pubs, little Italy, many more

The New York City skyline as seen from Hoboken, NJ.

This trip to New York happened primarily because of the NFL draft that Brandon Boyd, the sports editor at the newspaper I work for (the Behrend Beacon), wanted to cover this year.  So with his motivation, he, I and the other managing editor (now editor-in-chief) Shannon Ehrin made our way to the big city from Erie, Pa during the last weekend in April to see the draft at Radio City music hall and explore the city a bit looking for stories.  And did we ever find stories. Through the three nights and four days we were there, we were definitely exposed to some culture.

Spring break 12' landed us in the Great Smokey Mountains

Smokies yielded great views, great company, one very cold night on Appalachian Trail

Mt friend Aaron peers over the edge at Charly's bunion. About 4.5 miles north of Newfound Gap Parking area.

This 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip had us encounter the last remnants of the winter season but brought us great times as we met a ton of people along the way.  College kids were all over the trail as everyone had the same idea we had by coming to hike the trail for spring break.  We met kids from Georgetown, Georgia, two groups from Michigan, Eastern Tennessee and Florida just to name a few.

New articles section

Check out the new "Articles" tab for some interesting reads. Headlines include:

Libertarian Gary Johnson has been overlooked by America, but he deserves to be heard
Johnson, the former Republican Governor of New Mexico (1995-2003), was bidding for the Republican backing with a “common sense” campaign that was based more on cost-benefit analyses than ideology before being forced to change his party to Libertarian.

A documentry explains how marijuana can single handily take the economy from rags to riches
In a documentary by journalist Christof Putzel named The War on Weed, he clearly shows the economic benefits, among other interesting information.

Is technology helping or hurting the development of society?
Some People are naïve enough to think that advancements in technology only benefit society, whether that be by increasing efficiency or just by making life generally easier. There are many cases throughout history that refute this point though.

Why consumption spending is not the answer for the American economy
Need versus want comes up in a variety of classes especially marketing and economics; however they are viewed slightly differently from each viewpoint.


Is the NFL just another exploitation of corporation control in America?
The league has been labeled “entertainment” in numerous court cases, and I agree with this assessment. With all the halftime shows, the fireworks and half naked cheerleaders, the game sucks every last penny it can out of every season.

Killington, Vt Ski Trip - Day 4

Last day of the trip produced great views, funny stories, one great video

A couple of crashes ended the day on a week long of fun

This was the view we were blessed with late in the day today coming down one of Killington's black diamonds on the K-1 side of the mountain.  Visibility went on for miles and the sky was magical.  It was surreal to ski down all day long.

Today was a great day of skiing.  All the runs that were getting blown with snow were perfect and the crews changed the guns to other runs which only allowed for better skiing on the new runs.  Some great photos came of today highlighted (in my opinion at least) above as the sky was changing colors all day.  During another five hours of skiing I was able to snag a great wreck by Bob on video, along with a few other videos too.  Check them out below the pictures.

Killington, Vt Ski Trip - Day 3

Killington revealed her best skiing of the week as

snow machines added over a foot of base last night

A day filled with snow machines, powder, and a few falls

Here lies Outer Limits, the steepest mogul run in the east.  I have paid homage to this great run for the past three years but have only ever conquered this beast once, two years ago.  We did three runs and it was all our legs could handle because it was some of the most physically demanding skiing I have ever done.  

We finally woke up to about an inch of fresh natural snow in the morning and it was nice to see on the slopes after two days of ice and bare spots.  The crews have not stopped making snow all week long and it all payed off as today was by far the best day of skiing, even though we were skiing in a cloudy mist for most of the day.  I have a video posted below of a snow maker up close, and what they do when ski gloves are put in their path.

Killington, Vt Ski Trip - Day 2

I took this from the chairlift on the way up, it was worth the freezing hand that I was left with.

Great skiing in the morning today.  Early birds got the worm today as there was plenty of snow that eventually washed out to ice later in the day.  Very cold still, close to zero when we walked out the door, and the wind chill made everyone freeze.  We were on last chair though for the second day in a row and had a blast nonetheless.

Killington, Vt Ski Trip - Day 1

From the top of K-1 Gondola.

Nothing like seeing the great state of Vermont again.  I started going to Vermont to ski two years ago with three buddies from school and from back home that I knew. That group grew to ten of us that drove up the ten hours from Greensburg, Pa to Killington, Vt. for four days of skiing and a week of fun in the green state. Only problem was the lack of snow.  Just take a look of what we saw the entire drive up, no snow until we arrived in our condo parking lot.

New backpacking post

Winter backpacking trip proved to be more wet than white, took refuge in XC ski warming hut

My friend Dylan and I made a winter backpacking trip Dec. 27-28 and had a blast. We hiked a portion of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail from the Rt. 31 parking lot north with intentions to reach the turnpike shelters, but we did not make it.  Find out what happened by checking out the story and photos from the trip under the backpacking tab. From flat tires to terrible weather we survived the worst of it.

What the site is all about

This site is called xanadu (pronounced zanəˌdo͞o) because by definition xanadu is a noun that is used to convey an impression of a place as almost unattainably luxurious or beautiful.  That is exactly the purpose behind this blog, for people to find their own beautiful place and use this as a medium to find new places to explore and to find ultimate happiness within themselves.  I am an avid outdoors-man that loves life and am attempting to experience as much as possible within our limited lifespans. I will post as many stories and pictures as I can and please leave suggestions of places that you enjoyed and any other place that I may not have heard of yet.  I am from Greensburg, PA and go to school in Erie, Pa, but travel as much as possible.  I am leaving for Vermont on Jan. 2nd for a ski trip with some buddies of mine from school, so look for new pictures of that coming soon.  Thank you for reading and enjoy all that the blog has to offer.