Living the dream

Nestled at 9,000 feet at the bottom of Bachelor Gulch mountain in Colorado is the gigantic dream-like log cabin that is the Ritz Carlton. I’ve been lucky to stay here a number of times and the hotel crowns the mountain range like a Bavarian castle complete with numerous huge log burning fires and a roaming giant St Bernard dog called Bachelor.

I’m no longer a skiier, I was only ever a perennial beginner, and an ACL replacement put paid to my mogul jumping career.

Once again I took to the snowmobile yesterday. Two and a half hours flying along snowy trails hugging mountain ridges and forests with panoramic views of Vail’s back bowls and the surrounding White River National Forest. It’s an exhilarating couple of hours, although yesterday under beautiful blue skies our run was a little more pedestrian than some other times I’ve snowmobiled here.

I’m always intrigued by the guides out here. Mostly they are living the dream, not making any money, but doing what they really want to do. Each has a story to tell, and yesterday our Kiwi snowmobile guide was also a champion sailor, a veteran of numerous Bermuda Gold Cups and also the Americas Cup.

In my experience ski guides often make me look at myself and make me re-evaluate exactly what I’ve done with my life. Our Kiwi guide Hayden was very down to earth but told us that after the winter season he is moving his wife, who is a professional skiier, and two kids to Long Beach, California for 18 months to join Taylor Canfield’s Stars & Stripes Team USA, who will challenge for the 36th America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021.

For me, I’ll be back at my desk on Friday sharpening pencils and organizing my paper clips.