I’ve had two good sleeps since returning home Saturday at 3 a.m., so I’m feeling much more like a human again. I promised photos, and I’m here to actually deliver.

I first skied as a 3-year-old, and I’ve never looked back. I try to ski once a year, though work has gotten in the way of that in recent years. It’s one of my few complete releases in this world … one of the few times I’m able to completely let go of the stresses of everyday life and just be in the moment. It’s me, the snow and slopes and the sky around us.

My parents and I laid our heads in a condo in Frisco, Colorado, and my Dad and I spent two days skiing at Vail (our favorite) and two days at Breckenridge (my Mom doesn’t ski and was content to read in the condo or get out and walk around town). I’ve visited these places so many times in my life that it’s like coming home. At Vail especially, I know where the crowds are going to be at a certain time, I know where the softest snow will be in the morning and I know exactly what spot on each run can give me some air, if I’m in the mood to fly.

I’ve gotten faster on my skis in the past couple of years while my Dad claims to be slowing down as he reaches retirement age. We meet somewhere in the middle. We chat on the lifts and at lunch about sports, past vacations, retirement funds, trivia and philosophies on life.

We’ve put up with a lot of early and late season crummy snow conditions and spring break crowds. This was our first time skiing together in January, and though Colorado and all of the Mountain West needs snow badly, there was just enough snow to combine with the lack of crowds and gorgeous weather for it to be damn near perfect.

**shout out to the Camera+ iPhone app (which is not the same as Camera Plus). Camera+ helped make these photos appear pretty dang close to the real view, which is really hard to do in sunny, snowy, high-altitude shots.