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Good reading. It could get this board going–lots of material to discuss. I’d recommend it.

Mich

Hi, I want to show you guys how gorgeous the Rocky Mountains actually are and it’s skitowns/resorts. This might be interesting for people who are planning to go on vacation to one of these resorts.

I have the Colorado skipass. I have access to 5 different resorts. So it’s likely that I’m going to visit those resorts and maybe towns to make some pictures.

– Breckenridge
– Arapahoe Basin
– Keystone
– Vail
– Beaver Creek

I’ll start of with Breckenridge!

Breckenridge

Breckenridge celebrated it’s 150th anniversary last summer (2009). It used to be an old little mining town. There are still some mineshafts and stuff left, fun to see when you’re over in ‘Breck’ for the summer. In the summer about 3000 people live in Breckenridge. In the winter this is more like 30.000. Breckenridge is well known because of it’s huge ski resort. As far as I know there are 4 main peaks: Peak 7, 8, 9 and 10. There is a Breckconnect gondola in town that will bring you up to the runs for free. Also lift tickets are available for purchase at the Gondola station in town. Enough about this, people who want to go to Breck will find out for themselves.

At the moment the snow is not very good. There is about 46” and the biggest part of that snow is artificial. Because of the global warming it didn’t snow for weeks which is quite sad. So let’s all do the snowdance and hope for some good fresh powder snow! The gondola brings you straight to Peak 8 so that’s the peak where I mostly go.

Let’s start off with a map found on the internet of the Breckenridge ski resort. Click on thumbnail to enlarge:

Courtesy of Breckvacationrentals.com

The Breckenridge ski resort has 26 lifts and about 140/150 runs.

From the left to the right: Peak 10, 9, 8, and 7. Peak 7 is the newest peak of the Breckenridge ski resort. It has only one lift. Where it says on top right under summit Peak 8 ‘foot access’ definitely changed nowadays. This map is a bit outdated but that’s fine. Just 3 weeks ago the Imperial Superchair lift opened. It’s the highest ski lift of North America. It gives you access to the top of Peak 8 and it’s expert terrain only. You can see the T-Bar too, it’s also expert access only. You guys won’t see pictures from the top of that for a while because there is just too little snow IMO. I don’t want to destroy my board on the rocks and ice. It will come though, the views are breathtaking 🙂

Let’s start off with the Colorado Superchair. I’ll tell you where I am at every single picture so you can follow me on the map I’ve posted if you guys are interested 🙂

1. Peak 8 base area

2. Going to the Colorado Superchair. I wish it was like this every single day. The reason why there are so little people is because I arrived around 9 am in the morning. You’ll see the amount of people increase on my pictures, the rows can be terribly long!

3. On the Colorado Superchair heading up the mountain

4. In the far distance you can see the T-Bar

5. On the right Sprouse’s run. Famous because of the several skiers and boarders that die on this run every single season. It’s not a hard run it’s just that people are going so fast that they can’t control their speed and lose their balance. They crash into a tree and die, sad stories :ohno:

6. On top at the Colorodo Superchair

7. Your guide 😉

8. View from the top. Down in the valley is Breckenridge. I’m going to take the Springmeier run down to the base area

9. On my way and entering a slow zone. Don’t go too fast in these or they will chase you and take away your lift ticket ( or your seasonal skipass which is even worse )

10. Back at the Peak 8 base area. You can see the brand new resort that will open in spring 2010.

11. Time for something else. Let’s go up the Rocky Mountain Superchair

12. Hmm that run looks exciting. It’s called Little Johnny. As you can see a bunch of moguls (the little bumps) so not a great run for snowboarders..

13. On top at the Rocky Mountain Superchair

14. The weather was not great for taking pictures, but still quite a clear view

15. A picture of the area while putting on my bindings and getting ready

16. We are heading for Dukes. One of my favorite runs. It’s expert terrain and you will see that in the next few pictures

17. Hmm that’s why. Looks pretty steep hm? Wait until you get there in real life :cheers:

18. Ok, quite emberassing but I ate snow a few seconds later thanks to the little amount of snow. Yes I know, weak excuse but wait until you experience it 🙂 Anyway, it was a good opportunity to show you guys something of the run and it’s steepness.

19. I took Dukes down safely and headed up the Rocky Mountain lift again. Now we’re heading for Northstar. Not as hard as Dukes but interesting to see.

20. Sitting down and getting ready. Here is also the T-Bar lift which takes you up to the expert terrain. Check the map if you’re interested 🙂

21. Ok, that’s what Northstar looks like. The last run for today. I did some more runs inbetween but didn’t take pictures of them all.

22. This gives you an idea of the base Gondola station. It’s pretty close to downtown and it gives you excellent access to the lifts. I took the four o’clock run down to the busstation. You can find it on the map, it’s tight. You can basically ski/board down to the lot instead of taking the Gondola.

23. The Gondola station

24. You can see the runs from here. The buses are free, they’ll take you up to the Gondola station and downtown for free. There are a few parking lots in Breckenridge but it’s definitely not recommended. Besides that it’s awfully expensive to park, if you don’t live in town and come from far you don’t really have a choice I guess.

Pictures from the other side of the valley. This is the area where our condo/townhome is.

These pictures are taken with my DSLR. I took the pictures of the ski resort with my compact camera. Obviously I’m not going to take my DSLR up there.

25. The end of the day. Not much snow, it’s more ice. Disappointing season so far

26. It’s supposed to be completely covered with snow…

27. Peaks with snow

28. This is exactly where I stood last summer. Watching the fireworks of Breck’s 150th anniversary.

29.

30. The ski resort from far

31. From the other side of the valley. A closer look of the Breckenridge ski resort

32. Dirty icy roads

33.

34. This is where I’m waiting for the bus every single morning when I’m up in Breck

35. And the street where our townhome/condo is

Thanks for watching and comments are very welcome! If you have any questions you can ask those too. The next pictures I will post here are probably from the top of Imperial Superchair and T-Bar. When the snow get’s better I’ll probably visit Vail, Keystone and Beaver Creek too. I also have some summer pictures of Breckenridge somewhere. I might post those too sometime.

– Niels

at times i sit on my bed and take forever just to do 1 injection and i do 2 at breakfast time

I recently had 3 deaths in the family lots of stress but now i am not so stressed anymore but i am still have diabetes burnout

When i lived in Riyadh in the 90’s, i liked the city, it had very nice malls, Resturants, Shops, individual stores in the Olaya area and King Fahad road area.
I remember that area was so posh and expensive. I think in that time Riyadh was definatly much better then Dubai, but what about now?

Gallery: 2011 Honda CR-Z

Apparently there’s no benefit. It seems a Canadian study, presumably read by the Agency, says that more than 1,000 people would need to use strips regularly to prevent a single case of kidney failure.

Instead of relying on test strips, say these experts, patients need to be vigilant about diet, exercise, weight and … wait for it … blood pressure. My experience has been that my BP came down after I got the diabetes under control – not the other way round.

"The message we’d like to impart to those living with T2 diabetes, is that it takes more than testing your blood to look after your health," said Barb Shea, vice president of the health agency.

Well, to work off my irritation I’m going out for brisk drive through town now. I will control my speed with pedals and gears but have covered up the speedometer so that I can’t read it. Varooooom…. :driver:

China controls Rare Earth Elements market, Japan will control Lithium market after dozen of deals like this: our “investments bottlenecks” in action: total market of Top Five Canadian Lithium Exploration and Developments plays one month ago was only 190 million CAD.

WSJ:

Toyota in Lithium Agreement

By ANN DAVIS And DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
A key supplier of Toyota Motor Corp. moved to secure a long-term source of lithium in Argentina, in one of the first global natural-resource plays of the electric-car age.
Edging out Chinese buyers, Toyota Tsusho Corp., which is 21.8% owned by Toyota Motor, secured low-cost loans from the Japanese government to take a stake in a lithium project that could begin commercial production by 2012.
The move signals how the search for high-quality lithium used in hybrid and electric-car batteries is prompting jockeying for the earth’s commodities.

A supplier to Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, has tied up a potential source of lithium for batteries.

With demand projected to grow rapidly for car batteries over the next decade, “we think we should start preparing to supply the market,” Naoto Yamagishi, general manager of the metal-and-mineral resources department at Toyota Tsusho, said in an interview.
The investment would give Toyota—the largest seller of hybrid vehicles—as well as Japanese battery makers a secure supply of lithium rather than leave them at the mercy of a few producers if, as some fear, supplies tighten in coming years.
Japanese electronics makers already control a majority of the lithium-ion battery market for electronic devices such as laptop computers. In the new deal, a state-owned Japanese entity, the Japan Oils, Gas and Metals National Corp., is giving Toyota Tsusho inexpensive financing to secure relatively low-cost lithium for Toyota and other companies that are competing with South Korean and Chinese rivals in the car-battery market.
The investment is valued at $100 million to $120 million, said people with knowledge of the matter. Toyota Tsusho will pay for the completion of a feasibility study this year on a lithium project operated in northern Argentina by Australian-listed Orocobre Ltd. and will take a 25% stake in the project thereafter.
Although lithium is found in rock formations on many continents, in only a few spots does it exist below the surface of natural salt flats where weather and geography make it the most economical to extract. Developers with access to underground salt brines pump the liquid out and concentrate the lithium into a white powder through steps that include outdoor evaporation.
Mr. Yamagishi said Toyota Tsusho approached Orocobre, citing the potential quality of its supply, located not far from rich deposits in Chile, known as the Saudi Arabia of lithium. He said he doesn’t expect supply concerns to be a problem in the next five years, but “if you look at it over 10 years, then we think the supply is going to get extremely tight.”
At current prices, lithium represents only about 5% of the cost of either a laptop battery or a large-format car battery. But margins in the electronics industry tend to grow thin over time.
The global market for lithium-ion batteries used in automobiles is forecast to grow 90-fold to 2.25 trillion yen ($24.8 billion) in 2014 from 25 billion yen last year, according to market research firm Fuji-Keizai.
Only 27% of lithium currently goes into batteries, according to the annual report of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, which claims a 30% market share of the alkaline metal. Lithium is also used to make ceramic glass and coatings, to cast steel and as a component in lubricating greases.
The metal is extremely lightweight, heat resistant and has other properties that also make it ideal for rechargeable batteries.
James D. Calaway, the Houston-based chairman of Orocobre, said in an interview that mining companies active in the Chilean salt flats can increase production, but as with oil fields, lithium reservoirs can be damaged by too-rapid extraction, curtailing future productivity.
Mr. Calaway added that his company had considered investment proposals from one of China’s largest lithium-chemistry companies, as well as other companies in the lithium supply chain. “The Asian lithium-ion battery and auto sector is taking a very proactive approach” to securing supplies, he said.
Japanese electronics makers, facing losses on TVs and other consumer electronics, are making a big push to supply lithium-ion batteries for the hybrid and electric vehicles of the future.
Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Co., and NEC Corp. have all made investments in the lithium-ion battery business for automotive use, while Panasonic Corp. bought a majority stake in Sanyo Electric Co., the world’s top supplier of lithium-ion batteries, to carve out a stronger footing.
Toyota and Panasonic are partners in the development and production of lithium-ion battery packs for electric cars. Sony Corp. has also said it is considering entering the car battery business.
To secure supplies for those companies, Japan’s trading companies, such as Mitsubishi Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., have been active in searching out opportunities in Latin America especially in the lithium-rich countries like Bolivia and Chile.”

Bloomberg:

Orocobre, Toyota Partner to Develop Lithium Project

Orocobre, Toyota Partner to Develop Lithium Project
By Nichola Saminather
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) — Orocobre Ltd., an Australian mineral exploration company, will partner with a Toyota Group company to develop a lithium and potash mine in Argentina.
Orocobre will establish a joint venture with Toyota Tsusho Corp., the trading affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp., to develop its Salar de Olaroz lithium potash project in Argentina’s northwest Jujuy province, the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
Toyota Tsusho will acquire a 25 percent stake in the project, based on the cost achieved from a feasibility study to be completed in the third quarter of 2010, Orocobre said. The Nagoya-based company will also provide $4.5 million for the study, and will obtain a low-cost Japanese government loan to fund at least 60 percent of the project’s development.
The partnership means Orocobre won’t need additional funding for the project’s development, Orocobre Managing Director Richard Seville said in the statement.
“Toyota Tsusho becoming our strategic partner allows Olaroz direct access to Toyota Motor Corp. and its partners such as Panasonic and Sanyo,” Seville said. “These companies have significant expertise and understanding of supply requirements in large format lithium-ion batteries for the automotive industry and consumer sector and that will add greatly to our understanding of end-user requirements and demand.”
Orocobre shares surged as much as 64 Australian cents, or 46 percent, to A$2.04 as of 11:24 a.m. in Sydney.
Project Overview
Orocobre will own the remaining 75 percent of the project after construction is completed, and will operate the joint venture, the company said.
Construction is expected to be completed by early 2011, and the mine will be operational by the end of that year, Orocobre spokesman Paul Ryan said in a telephone interview.
Toyota established a joint venture in 2007 with Panasonic Corp., then Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., to ensure supplies of lithium-ion batteries for the automaker’s planned plug-in hybrid cars.
Toyota Tsusho is seeking reliable, low-cost lithium supplies to meet rising global demand for lithium batteries for automobiles, the company said in the statement.
“The size and quality of the deposit is world-class and we believe will produce high-purity, battery-grade materials required for the global battery industry at a cost that is competitive with existing lithium brine producers in South America,” Toyota Tsusho said.”