Champagne (def):

Skiing in powder is the best possible scenario in a skier's career. It makes all the days of ice, overly groomed trails and shitty, hard-packed moguls worth it. It is in essence, why we ski.

Before today, I had only had one great day of powder skiing in my career and that was last January in St. Anton, Austria. And then there was today: this was hands down my best day thus far in the Vail valley and possibly my skiing career.

I started off my day coming off a nasty food poisoning of some sort that left me couch-bound yesterday. So when I woke up feeling close to normal and looked outside to see 14" of fresh powder, it was time to rally! I caught the first bus down the Lionshead to demo my new potential skis. Now I don't know if it was the skis or the fresh 14" of champagne powder (def. below), but the next five hours of skiing were something to write home about.

Champagne (noun): Light, fluffy snow so good that you want to drink it. It usually comes in depths over a foot and makes people giggle and scream the whole way down the run.

My new skis (yes, I went ahead and bought them) were amazing! The skis I had been skiing were about nine years old and didn't have any of the width to handle powder or crud. And let me tell you, these new Volkl Auras floated like little love bubbles on the champagne! Plus, they looked pretty. And just like ski boots or running shoes, you are not allowed to buy skis on aesthetics alone. But if they happen to ski like a dream and they look like something you'd see on an Aspen fashion runway, then there's no harm. Really.

I met up with my friend Jon (from my trip to Chamonix, France in '07) and we skied some fabulous runs. Skiing in powder is like none other: you float, you just think about turning and you do, and if you fall, you feel like you are on a bed of feathers. It's truly the reason we all ski and it was the best day ever!

After skiing, I met up with Pete, a new guy I had met on the mountain, for some beers and a bite at the Tap Room, a bar in the village. Then Pete and I went to Pepi's bar to meet up with Jon for a few more drinks. There was a live musician who reminded me of Jeremy Sprags from my days at Harper's at Michigan State— he sang Neil Diamond, Jimmy Buffet and James Taylor. It took me back and made me smile. It was strange that this was the 23rd of December and here I was singing, "Sweet Caroline" with strangers and yet it felt so at home.