Yes, that's right! First blog of the new year, 2011, and it's a good one I promise. It's quite long, but I feel you will be sufficiently rewarded...
This particular adventure started Friday, January 14, 2011 and concluded on Saturday night, January 15, 2011. I'd like to thank Alisha High, for the story of the year (yes, I know it's only January and there's still 11 more months to go, but this story may stand the test of time throughout the entire year).
Alisha, is a girl who I met once when I was in San Diego over the summer of 2010, the Sunday after my buddy Jeff got married. She is friends with Yumi, my Colorado roommate for all of 6-8 weeks from January-February of 2010. We only met for an hour over chips and salsa and a few beers in Pacific Beach while I was hanging with Yumi and Miller. I had a flight to catch back to Denver that night, but in the short period of time we talked she had expressed interest in coming out to Colorado to snowboard over the next season. Being the gracious host that I am, I told her to just hit me up and we could figure something out. And she actually did, and decided to come out from 1/14/11-1/17/11.
Subsequently my best friend, Miller, was also going to be heading out for that weekend flying in on Saturday 1/15/11 and hanging over the weekend before working the rest of the week in Denver.
So Alisha flew into Denver on Friday night, 1/14, and of course her flight was late. Typical D.I.A. flight pattern to be late/delayed! So instead of getting into Denver at 8:20pm, she gets in at 9pm or so. I pick her up from the airport and we drive immediately to the Mountain Haus in Dillon. I was able to snag a share of this particular abode through a few friends I met late in the snow season last year. We end up getting to the Haus around 11:30pm, and start talking with Kevin and Kelli that night. Alisha did have one task I asked her to take up before flying to Colorado. Miller knows all about this task because he has always been asked to perform the same task for me countless times. Task: "Pick me up a Chicken California Burrito from what used to be known as Santana's." She did it for me, but there was a mix-up on the part of Santana's and she was given a Carne Asada Cali-Burrito. Not a big deal because it was still delicious! I was very happy with it, none the less. I wanted to get her out to Vail for her first day on Saturday because that mountain never disappoints when it is fully covered. And this particular Saturday, you can say that was an UNDERSTATEMENT.
It was just the two of us because A.J. ended up hitting the Beav and meeting up with some other people, and Alisha and I were up earlier than anyone else and outta the Haus by 7:40am. So we get to Vail, park at Lionshead, and by the time everything is situated get on the chair lift around 9-9:15am. All I wanted to do was get her to Blue Sky Basin, home of sick tree runs and back country terrain. We got to the back bowls and rode down the Sun Up Bowl to get to a lift that would get us to China Bowl and allow us to get to Blue Sky Basin. We finally get to Blue Sky around 10:30-11am and we take a nice tree run down skier's left through some trees. Vail didn't get hardly any new snow, so there was very little powder, and a lot of the tree runs were skied out. I was kinda pissed about this fact, but we went up the lift and went far skier's left this time and came up to a back country gate that said basically, "Enter at your own risk." We went through and ran into a nice sign on a tree through the catwalk saying, "Good Bye. Ski Area (arrow to the right). Cold Night in Woods (arrow to the left)."
So naturally we duck into the trees and head to the right to stay in bounds and get back to the lift. We keep getting separated through the trees, but finally we hit some untouched POW! Thank you Vail! Finally something worth riding today! It was the first time I had been to this area, and we met up at the bottom of the lift and lapped it again. After this run I want to take her far skier's right down the catwalk the other direction so we can get to an area with some small rock/cliff drops into deep, soft powder (Skree Field). It dumps you out into some trees and a nice little tree run finishes your ride until you hit Pete's Express which takes you back up to the top of Blue Sky even farther skier's right. We do this and then go back to Skree Field again, before finally getting back up to the top where we can access the back country gate again because that was the best snow we had all day. We go down again, and meet up at the bottom.
About this time it's 2:00pm. Blue Sky closes at 2:30pm, so in all reality I think to myself (I don't say it!) that this is probably going to be our last run back here before we have to head back to the front. Apparently, even thinking something to the effect of "Last Run" is a bad idea for me...
Here's where the real fun begins! We go back through the back country gate for the fourth and final time of the day. I duck into the trees to the right and go down then keep heading right to get back to the lift. I hit the tree run before Alisha dropped in, and I get down to the bottom of the lift. About this time, it's probably around 2:15pm. I have been beating Alisha down all the time, so it's no big deal that I beat her again. I did end up taking a while to get down this particular run myself, getting stuck in a few places and having to wiggle my way out of some trees. I'm pretty sure I even unstrap and hike up a few feet at one point. Still, I beat Alisha down again. I'm waiting for her for a while. It's been five minutes... Now it's ten minutes... Okay, now I'm starting to get worried so I give her a ring on my cellular. She's not answering, and I'm not liking this either. I'm really starting to get worried. Did she hit a tree? She wasn't wearing a helmet. Did she get a concussion? Is she hurt? Only bad things are going through my mind right now. Right after I call and get her voice mail, another boarder comes down. I passed this guy too. Okay, I'm not worried as much anymore. She's probably in the next wave of people about to come down.
Ring! Ring! Ring! My phone's ringing now, and it's Alisha. At least she's calling me. Her, "Ryan! I'm lost! I don't know where I am!"
Me: "Calm down. You're going to have to give me a little more information. Are you okay? I mean, are you hurt? Look around you. What's around you? Do you see the lift?"
"I'm not hurt. No, I don't see the lift. I'm really scared. I'm sorry, can you please get Ski Patrol? This is how people die."
I don't like that at all. "Alisha, did you go through the trees on the right? I mean, do you see ANY other tracks around you?"
"No. There are no tracks around me, just animal tracks. There is no one else around me."
I'm still trying to calm her down. I still have no idea where she could possibly be. A little more questions. "You're going to be okay. Can you traverse at all to your right. I'm pretty sure if you can keep working your way to the right you'll be able to find a track and it will lead you out."
"No. There are no other tracks and I'm in a flat area. Can you please talk to someone?"
I'm still not satisfied with knowing any vicinity that she's in. I ask a few more questions and get some more information.
"I followed another snowboarder down, and then we both hit a flat area. He unstrapped and walked out. Once he was gone I got worried. So I tried to get to somewhere that I could get cell phone reception. You'll see two tracks going down from the catwalk, and then there will only be one, and that's me."
At this time I head to the lift and yell at a lifty and he subsequently sees a Ski Patrol guy. I'm still on the phone with Alisha and tell her I'm going to talk to this guy from Ski Patrol. Me and Ski Patrol guy, I think this guy was Bob(?) get on the lift. I give the phone to him. He's telling her it's okay, and that her buddy, Ryan, knows pretty much where she's at. Then he tells her, "Your buddy, Ryan's gonna take us to where you are. He knows where you went. We'll be there in 10 minutes. Sit tight." BIG MISTAKE. Let me just say, they didn't find her in 10 minutes. We get to the top of Blue Sky and go into the Ski Patrol station there. I talk to Tom(?) and Cory also. We give them the story, and these two are going to follow me out to the last point where I saw Alisha. At this time, I'm looking at my phone, and notice it could possibly die on me at any time. So I make a very smart move, and give them her number. They write it down and take it with them as we head to the back country gate.
It's around 3:15pm and we're on the catwalk, farther down it than I had gone all day long. We went past a tree that was down, that I had to duck under to get past. Haven't seen that tree all day long. Then we come to a marked valley with a sign on a post with a cross on it and the #1. Ski Patrol is telling me these are marking Valley's. They keep asking me if she went left (the sign had the arrow pointing to the left stating "Cold Night in Woods"), and I keep telling them no way. "We've been down this all day long and she knows not to go left. We've been staying right the whole time." They're not convinced, so they ask me to call her. Well, guess what? My phone's dead! Good thing I gave them her number. Cory pulls out his phone and calls her. It's around 3:30pm now. And she's not answering her phone. Now my worry level is at a 5 out of 10. It was probably somewhere at a 2 or 3 before this.
Ski Patrol is talking to each other now. I'm kinda useless at this point. They get two others out. When the two extra peeps in the search party are on their way, Alisha calls Cory's phone. They're asking her questions. Did she go left or right? Is she in a covered tree area, or is she out in the open? Is she in a flat area? Is she hurt? Cory follows a single board track down which goes off to the left ("Cold Night in Woods). This track doesn't prove to be her either. He comes back up. Now Tom and Cory are talking to each other again. "We have to have her call 911 and have them GPS her coordinates." Now the Hiatt worry-meter jumps up to 6 out of 10, and it's very unstable! Cory calls her phone, and she's still not answering. Cory leaves her a voice mail to call 911 and get them to GPS her coordinates. Then one of the two extra search party members meets up with us. They make it apparent that I have served my purpose and that he should take me down to the next lift so I can get to the front side. Before I leave Tom says, "Don't worry. People get lost back here all the time. We find people lost back here all the time. Head to the front and charge your phone. By the time you do that, we'll probably have found her." For some reason this calms me a bit. Hiatt worry-meter back down to 5.
I get to the lift with the other Ski Patrol guy, and then the 2nd extra guy in the search party gets down to the lift also. This lift is off now, and there's no lifty's here. Then I see a sled/snow-mobile come down. Now I'm thinking, "Sweet! I get to ride a snow-mobile to the top? And then I get to ride to the bottom of Blue Sky Basin to get back to the front side. Um.... Awesome?!" Yeah, I thought wrong. They tell me to take a catwalk down which will get me to another lift that can get me to the front side. So I take the catwalk to the lift which is gonna take me front side.
This is where my small adventure comes into play... There are two lifty's back here, and I am the absolute last pass holder (other than Alisha) to be back here. I tell them my friend's lost back in Blue Sky, whether they care or not is beyond me. So I get on the lift. It's a high speed quad. Hiatt worry-meter still at a 5. My phone's dead, so there's no way to know if they've found Alisha at this point still. I'm on the lift to the front side. About 7 or 8 polls from the top, the lift starts to slow down. Hiatt worry-meter back to a 6. They have to know that I'm on the lift. I look up and see I'm on chair 72, and I'm sure the lifty's know this too, right? I look down, and there's no way I'm jumping from the chair lift. That's going to hurt! The chair slows down to a crawl now. I'm starting to think it's gonna stop very soon. Hiatt worry-meter hits 8 now. Mind you, my phone is dead... If the chair stops with me on it, I can't call anybody! I basically would start yelling/raising hell if this were to happen. It's kinda my only option at this point. The chair I'm on is about 5 polls from the top now. Luckily, I'm in the brightest possible outfit I own. A very bright light blue Quiksilver jacket and neon lime green Quicksilver pants. Once I am in view of the operating shack at the top, the lift miraculously gains speed back to normal speed! Hiatt worry-meter back to 5. I get off the lift and strap in. I'm gonna high-tail it to Lionshead and charge my phone. Hopefully by the time I make it to my car and get my phone working there's gonna be a voice mail that Ski Patrol's found her.
I get to Lionshead base area and see a guy with a Vail vest on. Me, "Where's the Ski Patrol lodge down here?"
Him, "There isn't one down here."
That kinda makes me mad, because I just don't see how he couldn't at least divert me to a first aid station or something... But I pry a bit further, "My friend's lost in Blue Sky Basin. Ski Patrol's been looking for her."
"Oh, that's your friend back there?"
"Yes. Have they found her?"
"No."
Hiatt worry-meter 7 and unstable. "Well, they tried to get her to call 911 and GPS her coordinates. Did she do that?"
"Oh, yeah. They got hold of her and told her to call 911."
And?!?! "So did they get her coordinates?"
"Oh, no. They couldn't get them."
Talking to this particular "Ambassador of Vail," felt like talking to a 4 year old child. Short answers to every freakin question I have. I was trying to steer the conversation for more information, but to no avail. I decide that the best thing to do to get any information is to actually get to my car and charge my phone so I can call Ski Patrol myself at this point. This guy was an IDIOT.
Hiatt worry-meter is at an 8 now!
I get to my car and charge my phone. It's 4:18pm when my phone charges and starts getting reception. I get a text from Chris Miller. He's got his rental car, and heading from D.I.A. to the Mountain Haus. I totally forgot all about Miller! So I call him and tell him the whole Alisha situation. I really don't know what's going to happen, so just head to the Haus and I'll call him back when I get more information.
It's 4:21pm. It's at this time that I receive my cousin, Walt's text message. The text message interaction verbatim...
Walt: Some guy called me trying to help his daughter Alecia H
-He said u guys were together and she is lost
Me: Ya. She's w me @ Vail. Got lost in Blue Sky near Champagne Glades. Ski patrol's lookin for
-My phone was dead. Chargin it now
The Hiatt worry-meter is steady at an 8. The person who called Walt was Alisha's Dad. I call Walt at this point. He's wondering what's going on now too. He was skiing at Keystone all day long.
You may be wondering to yourself at this point, "How come Walt is getting a call from Alisha's Dad?" Well, between the time Alisha was first lost and the time I actually make it to my car, Alisha called her Dad to say, "I'm lost in Colorado, and I was snowboarding. If I have to die at least I died a pretty cool way."
Talk about not putting your Father at ease! Apparently he got my number by calling her ex-boyfriend (who she works with) then he told him to call Yumi, who gave him my number. And since my phone was dead it went straight to my voice mail. On my voice mail I list Walt as an emergency contact (for work purposes in case someone's calling for a surgery and they need our implants... Stuff of that nature). So that's the circle of phone calls. Walt has his number and asks me if I want him to call the Dad back. I have her Dad's number and tell Walt I'll call her Dad. I asked Walt to text me Vail Ski Patrol's number so I can call them too, though.
Before calling her Dad, I get Ski Patrol's number via text message from Walt. So I call Ski Patrol. They are still looking for her. It's 4:25pm now! Hiatt worry-meter 9.
So now I'm dialing Alisha's Dad, not sure what he's going to be like on the phone... Is he going to be pissed at me for losing her? Will he be yelling at me? Am I about to be verbally assaulted via cellular phone? Well, I have to call him no matter what so I dial out. I get his voice mail and his name is Chris High, "Hi Chris, this is Ryan Hiatt. I'm with your daughter Alisha... Well, I WAS with your daughter Alisha today. We are at Vail Mountain in Colorado. She got lost in the back country and Ski Patrol's looking for her. Call me back when you get this. My number is 619-325-9575." Rather uneventful.
My car is parked in the Lionshead parking garage, and my service is in and out. I receive a phone call from an Unknown Number a few minutes after I hang up with Alisha's Dad. I try to answer, but the call drops. Aughhhhhh!!! Come on!!! Who was that calling me? I really would have liked to have been able to answer because it was either Ski Patrol or her Dad I'm guessing. I realize that my service is bad because I am underground, and that I should move my car up top to get better reception. So I do, and I decide first to call Alisha's Dad back because I'm guessing that was him with the Unknown Number. It goes to his voice mail again, so I don't leave him one this time. I hang up and call Ski Patrol. It's like 4:30 or so now. They found her!
"They found her. They're either taking her to Red Cliff or Vail."
I'm confused now. I've never heard of Red Cliff before. What is that? Is that a hospital? She wasn't hurt, but is she like traumatized out of fear that they have to take her to a hospital? So I ask them on the phone, "Are they taking her to a Hospital? What is Red Cliff?"
"No. It's a town. If they take her to Red Cliff we have to send a truck to pick them up, so it's probably going to be at least an hour before they get back to Vail. They have bad reception back there so we'll call you when we hear from them."
After I hang up with them I look up Red Cliff on Google Maps. It's on the backside of the mountain. She did go left and opted for the "Cold Night in Woods" from the sign after we went through the back country gate. It's a 35 minute drive from there to Vail. Wow, she was totally lost. She was lucky Ski Patrol found her because the whole time we were thinking she was somewhere in the trees to the right. After I checked out Red Cliff on Google Maps, I get a call from Alisha's Dad. Thank GOD I have good news for him! "Ski Patrol just called me and said they found her."
Him, "Yeah, I was just on the phone with them. Thanks for calling me. Can you do me a favor? Whenever you see Alisha, can you have her call me?"
Me, "Yes. I'm pretty sure she'll be calling you the second she gets reception, but I will remind her when I see her in case she didn't call you."
I hang up with her Dad, and I call Miller back. "They just found her. They won't be back here for at least an hour so you're gonna beat me there for sure. Just tell everyone in the house you know Ryan. They're cool. I'll probably be there around 6:00 I hope."
I also text him not to say anything about what's going on with Alisha because in all honesty, I don't know what she's gonna be like when I see her again. Who knows if she's going to want to ride in Colorado ever again.
4:36pm now, and I receive a text message from Laura...
Her: How was Vail? Breck tonight still?
Me: I'm sure AJ is down.
-Vail was aight. Not the best snow, but did duck into a backcountry area that was pretty sweet @ Blue Sky
-Until Yumi's friend Alisha got lost and ski patrol had to look for her. So I'm waiting til they get back to Vail w her. She took a wrong turn and ended up near Red Cliff
Her: Wtf oh no she must be terrified! K let m know bout ur plans!
Me: Well, she was freakin out for sure. It took em 2 hours to find her.
I'm waiting in my car the whole time, and I haven't heard from Alisha or Ski Patrol to find out when they're getting back. Around 5:30 I call Ski Patrol. They haven't heard from them yet, and they still can't get hold via cellular. But once they do, they'll let me know.
I've been flying blind ever since 4:30 when they said they found her. I'm not worried at all anymore. I just want information other than, "We don't know where they're at still." Really, I am not very impressed with how little information I have received ever since I left Blue Sky at 3:30pm. The Ski Patrol guys were all cool, and putting me at ease, and these dispatchers had no concept of that. NONE. So, I am now starting to jump up a notch on the Hiatt pissed off-meter. So I finally get out of my car and walk into Lionshead Village around 5:30pm. I want to find a security station or information booth so I can wait with them while hearing first hand any radio communication between them and the search party. I know that Alisha's okay physically, and that they're all going to make it back to Vail eventually, but I don't know when this fictitious "eventually" is going to be. So I'm walking through the village and all Information Booths close at 5:00pm... WTF!!!!!! I can't find any security stations, and I basically am stuck having to deal with the dispatchers over the phone, who haven't been impressive in the slightest!
I walk back to my car and get in it again. It's around 6:00pm so once again I call Ski Patrol. "Oh... We were just gonna call you!" I'm thinkin, 'yeah right!' "We finally got hold of them. There's a truck going out to pick them up now. They're going to take her to Vail Village."
Ok... I'm at Lionshead so I'll just drive over to Vail Village, but, "Where in Vail Village? Are they taking her to a security station?"
Their response I'm sure will shock you! "Yeah... We're not sure. They didn't say."
OH MY GOD! I should be wax ecstatic that she's alive and safe, but all I'm thinking is how incompetent these dispatchers have been ever since I left Blue Sky Basin! Whatever. I decide to drive to Vail Village anyways, and hopefully they'll call me back at some point.
At 6:15 I get a call from a (970) number. "Ryan! It's Alisha! My phone was dead so I'm using one of these guys phone." She actually doesn't sound freaked out at all. I would officially classify her demeanor over the phone as, 'Happy to be alive.' "We're on our way back now. They're going to take me to Vail Village."
Okay? "Where in the Village?"
She's asking them, and they tell her where to meet them. "Vendetta's."
"Vendetta's? Okay, that's a bar. I know where that is. I'll meet you there."
I get to Vendetta's and I'm riding solo. I walk into a packed crowd that is watching the Packers-Falcons game on the TV. I'm soooooo ready for a beer now! So I get a pint and wait. About five minutes later Alisha enters the bar. It's around 6:45pm now. "RYAN!!! Let me just say, I LOVE Ski Patrol!" The search party is with her. "I'm buying everyone drinks. What do you want? It's all on me!" She wanted to get a picture with all of them, including me. So we got someone to take our picture.
Meanwhile, while we're drinking with Ski Patrol, Miller's been sitting at the Mountain Haus. He doesn't really know anyone there. He's been there since 6:00, and it's probably around 7:15pm now. I'm giving Alisha the benefit of the doubt since she was all by herself for more than two hours in the back country. I'll let her blow off some steam, but for sure I have to get back to Dillon. Miller's waiting on me. Also, A.J. and me have a few friends there that want to go to Cecilia's in Breckenridge tonight because it's our friend Roxanne's birthday weekend. I have no choice. I have to get back to the Haus. If Miller weren't in town, I could be partying with Ski Patrol all night in Vail, and I wouldn't care. I text Miller at 7:45pm. Say that we'll be leaving Vail in 15-30 minutes, and that he better be ready to go out in Breck tonight. After my day, I am so ready for tonight in Breck. I guarantee I will be drinking! His response to me leaving Vail in 15-30 minutes was, "I think I heard that story about 2 hours ago." I finally tell Alisha that we have to leave. She's cool and understands. She closes her tab and around 8-8:05pm we're making our way out.
I text Miller at 8:18pm saying we're walking to the car and I'll be home around 9. Miller texts me back and he's starving. He asks me to pick up some food on the way home. I was starving too, so I'm 100% down to do that for him and me! Alisha's cool and totally in good spirits. We get to Dillon, and I stop off at Qdoba to get some food. I ask her is she's hungry. Her response, "Oh, no. I'm pretty full from the nachos we ate when we were at the bar in Red Cliff?" Huh? This is the first time I'm hearing about this. This is when I make the executive decision to tell everyone what took us so long the second I walk in the door! There's a group of people around the kitchen table drinking. It's 9:00pm now. Kevin, A.J., and Chris are all here. So are Collin, Roxanne and her friends Amanda and Krista. Alisha and myself tell them the story of the year! Alisha is so drained from her ordeal that she doesn't feel like going out in Breck, but I am ready to let loose... She stayed home, and around 10:30pm the rest of us head to Cecelia's where I am handsomely rewarded for my day by drinking numerous Irish Car Bombs and beer. Ahhhh, so refreshing! I needed this night after the day I just had...
The End... For now...
