Altitude Sickness
Hello from Cascade Village, near the base of Purgatory Ski Area north of Durango, CO in the San Juan Mountains.
It can't be anything but altitude sickness. After a month of sleeping and working at around 6800 feet, now we're close to 8900 in the Rocky Mountains. It can be a little overwhelming.
Ethel was a little overwhelmed by the size of the Chili Cheese loaded Bratwurst at Dante's Restaurant at Purgatory yesterday:
..but it turned out that, even though I had one too, at the end of the day I was actually very hungry again. Skiing way past the point where one should quit skiing is not the sort of thing that encourages moderation in diet and rest.
I've got a bit of a sore throat - it keeps showing up in the morning, and gradually disappearing through the day. Yesterday, after skiing just as much as I could, we went and sat in the hot tubs at the - well, I'm not sure what to call it. The Cascade Village condos are in several different buildings; at the front of the campus, there's a large lodge where the front desk, convenience store, pool, spa, saunas and hot tubs are, but I don't know the name of the building - but while typing this I decided to call it the Front Lodge - anyway, we sat in the outdoor soaker hot tubs, then went inside and I sat in the high-horsepower bubbler spa, then we came back to the room. During most of this, I was almost DIZZY with what felt like fatigue or fever. But now I realize that we got here Friday evening, so this is our third day at this elevation, so it's probably altitude sickness.
Ethel says that we're going skiing today - we've taken the day off from work - but as I sit here typing this, she's sitting at her laptop typing something, and I can't seem to get her moving towards the chairlift. I suspect that it's altitude sickness.
I'm not sure today that I am buying this condo, as I think that I've had an outbreak of mature rationality. It occurred to me that, for the price that I'm going to pay for this condo, I could get the lodging for almost a thousand nights of ski vacations. Looked at that way, it's just plumb silly.
It sure would be nice to be mature and rational. I hope that this mature rationality lasts.
But it might just be altitude sickness.
Jim,
Congratulations on your temporary flirtation with maturity and rationality. But have you considered that if you paid cash for this condo, assuming zero appreciation or depreciation, it would still be worth whatever you paid for it whenever you decided to sell it? That's right, it would be yours FREE for as long as you want to keep it! Well, except for condo fees and property taxes :-(
Even if you had to take out a small mortgage to buy it, the interest and the property taxes are both deductible at your top rate, which in your case I'm sure is 36%. So it would be ALMOST FREE! And, if appreciation is significantly higher than inflation, this condo could actually MAKE MONEY!!!
Just something to consider while you're still in the throes of maturity and rationality.
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Dear Uncle Gary -
(I'm sorry, but to me, you just plain *look* like an Uncle Gary - like anybody's favorite uncle should look) -
Actually, yes, these things have been taken into consideration.
HOA fees actually are quite expensive, as the condo is at 9000 feet, and everything has to be done to keep it from falling apart when it is underneath snow (snow removal costs alone for these buildings are 100K+) - in addition, there are a lot of services - hot tubs, spa, indoor heated pool, exercise room - that have to be paid for.
However, there is also on-site property management, and these units rent out nicely, so if I actually decide to NOT stay in the condo all ski-season long, there's a good chance that I can make up a good bit of the HOA dues in rent.
Ethel, being an accountant, has already spent many happy hours working out how,exactly, everything becomes tax deductible. So that means that we have to spent some amount of each visit working on the condo, improving it. So it just keeps getting better.
Currently we're scheduled to close next Monday. I should be back to Scott$dale by mid April, at the latest : )
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Believe it or not, even non-slat-rats like myself enjoy Durango outside of ski season. I once spend a beautiful summer day mountain-biking Purgatory, one that I'll never forget. So you could easily keep that condo rented year-round...
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Yes, and there's an "owner-friends" rate that lets you use most of the services, as well - of course, if said "owner's friend" sold his real estate in San Diego at the height of the market, that rate orta be around 2K/night - but let's forget such notions and I'll give you the discount. Shall I put you down for the month of July?
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Now if you had let me know about this last week, I could have driven down from Pork Sushi and skied with the Pucketts again.
I still have not forgiven you for selling my ski house there. I was reduced to reliving my hippie days, sleeping in the van. No need for a "If its rockin', don't be knockin'" sticker on the bumper, of course.
I wish you had bought a ski house a little bit closer to me, but Purgatory is possible. I trust you have a pull out couch I can mooch, and try to subvert both of you with commie left coast woowoo treehugging limp wristed notions.
Congrats. Wasn't right that you didn't ski much.
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TwoBuddha -
I'm sorry about selling "your" ski house; this is an acceptable substitute.
We do have a pull-out couch; however, it is microfiber. This may be too advanced for your tastes.
If you had let us know that you were gonna be in PC, we'd'a told you that we'd be in Purg.
Along with our Purg pass, BTW, came ten Kirkwood passes; Ethel immediately thought of giving you some of 'em, but it seems that you have to show up with the season pass itself to get the comps. My own objections to you using my pass (based on the "rigorous honesty" business) aside, I don't think that you'd be able to pull off the Bald Puckett look very well.
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You wallowed in your guilt for years about selling my ski house, this is almost an acceptable ninth step. Just a godawful ways away from me, which is probably part of the plan, so it is unlikely I shall show up.
In dealing with ski areas, the standard of rigorous honesty is directly tied to the honesty level of the snow report, which means you can lie like you breathe. While I could always shave my head, I have no desire to tackle a moving bus to achieve the facial features.
I really did think about calling you guys to thank you for my old ski house, but you're not in my new phone and I knew you were out of town. Darn.
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