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Every other chair on the YC’s two-mile-long main lift is a plastic bubble in case the weather isn’t quite so picture-perfect. The jaw-dropping scenery in background is courtesy of the Spanish Peaks. (Photo: courtesy of the Yellowstone Club) |
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It’s 7 a.m. in Crested Butte and a full two hours before the lifts open. I never sleep much in the mountains. My inner child simply takes control, leaving me tormented by an inner restlessness to get on the slopes. For crying out loud, did we come here to ski or $%@* around? Yeah, okay, so I’m wound a little tight, and my right leg is doing its best imitation of a Singer sewing machine. The fact that world champion Wayne Wong, the godfather of freestyle skiing, is meeting me for breakfast and a day on the slopes is only adding fuel to my excited state.
Wayne glides into the room wearing his trademark infectious smile. His relaxed demeanor is a welcome counterbalance to my third cup of French roast. I met Wayne three years ago at my first Cowboys & Indians-sponsored Country in the Rockies event to fight cancer, and I look forward to skiing with him each year at the Butte. As we scheme about our plans for first tracks, Wayne innocuously throws a simple question my way:
“David, have you ever been to Yellowstone Club?” “Nope, never heard of it,” I respond. “Well,” Wayne says, “it’s awesome. You might want to do a story on it.” NEWSFLASH: When a world champion tells you someplace is awesome and they can’t wait to return, you listen—and quickly find a way to get there yourself.
Funny thing about champions—they hang around with other champions and know the true definition of world class. I’m a sucker for world-class recommendations. Which is how a month later I come to be standing atop 9,860-foot Pioneer Peak with Wong and YC sales associate Tim Foote as our guide.
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