Well I am officially exhausted and sore, having discovered muscles I did not know that I had and realizing that it get very very cold at the top of the mountain.

My week started with a rather epic journey to Breckenridge. I flew into Denver International airport and then took a shuttle to Breck, however this journey that was supposed to take 2 hrs took nine! It was ever so slightly frustrating especially when it took 3 hours to drive 1 mile! But I did eventually make it to Breck where I am staying in a really nice youth hostel/bed and breakfast.

The hostel is called the fireside inn and it is really nice. It is run by the Harris's a an English couple and it is full of Americans. English and a few Australians. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming and they have been very good with me through my travails!

Yesterday I took a ski lesson, confident in my ability to ski blues and blue-blacks (the equivalent of red runs at home). However my confience was quickly diminished with my first sight of powder snow. I had not realised that powder would be so different to ski than the ice I am used to in Europe. So I was knocked back a number of levels as I learned how to deal with all the white powder. By lunchtime I was getting the hang of it and there were only 2 of us in my lesson so when the other guy dropped out at lunchtime it was basically a private lesson. It was definitely worth it.

The evening was spent very quietly. I was still acclimatising to the height at 10000 ft altitude sickness is very common. I was also aching and so I took advantage of the hot tub and soaked my poor muscles. We ordered pizza in and I was asleep by 10pm.

This morning was a slow start as I had planned to meet a group to ski with at 10am. It soon transpired that a) my legs had not recovered, and b) they were all of a much much higher standard than me! So after doing a number of very fast runs on blues and blue blacks I cried off at lunchtime and took a slow lunch before doing one last run down a blue/green before heading back to the hostel.

The plan for this evening is probably not very exciting. I am feeling much better this evening and more able for the height. I am going to head out for dinner and try and find somewhere interesting maybe with some live music.

We have 10 inches of snow projected this evening and there is a possibility that skiing tomorrow might not be a good idea due to this large dump. That might be a good thing for me as I could rest my legs and do some sightseeing before taking some more lessons on Tuesday.