Maui Ski Bus

Many time yoga studios are off of the beaten track, down a hallway in an office building, or tucked around the corner from the front facing building. In Park City, actually at the Canyons Ski Resorts, more in the fabulous Westgate Villas, is the Kula Yoga Studio. Upon entry into this building, the door man opens the stout door, greets you with a smile, sees your yoga mat, and immediately directs you to the proper direction to this delightful studio.  Yoga clothes are not only needed here, as you will have free access to the adult relaxation pool, steam room, dry sauna, and Jacuzzi. Is this a yoga studio or are you actually going to a classy VIP spa!

Owner/instructor Trudee Sabonmatsu, sheds wonderful light on the benefits of yoga to all in her class, whether experienced yogis or a first timer, as she often receives. Kula Yoga has a spider web of directions that class participants arrive from. Local athletes from Park City, tourists from the Canyons Ski Resort, and the Deer Valley resort, whom expect VIP service. Added to this list is the tropical ski bum from MauiSkiBus!

Yoga Kula Project Studio

Westgate Villas, Canyons Ski Resort

yogakulaproject@gmail.com

1-435-659-6950

8 ladies/ 2 gents

Many yoga studios use Sanskrit words or terms in their business names, marketing brochures, and classes. Some know what they mean, while many, including MauiSkiBus, is usually focused on the stretches and assortment of poses. Melissa Garland, owner of Tadasana Hot Yoga, which means “High Mountain”, at the entrance to Park City off of I 80, has a great focus on marketing. She was really open for MauiSkiBus to visit and got the impression that MauiSkiBus was going to bring a greyhound number of attendees. The only attendee was a tropical ski bum from MauiSkiBus!

Arriving at this easy to find location, MauiSkiBus had to patiently wait as the previous class was exiting, as Tadasana often sees classes of 40, well dedicated athletic ”yogis”, as instructor Jill calls everyone in her class. Sundance Film Festival attendees will forego movies to attend a hot yoga class here, or take a class and rush to movies, with beads of sweat still dripping from foreheads. Dedication is what prevails here, as dedicated as Melissa was with MauiSkiBus in her marketing follow-up.

A hot yoga class will sweat out toxins, add to flexibility and give to all that Sanskrit name. Tadasana Hot Yoga, high in the Wasatch Range, will share with all attendees, the ultimate high feeling, as everyone wants a clean high.

18 Attendees, 1/2 ladies 1/2 men

Tadasana Hot Yoga

1-435-649-7260

3156 Quarry Rd.

Aspen Valley has many classic and wonderful things that are right in front of ones eyes. A 12 mile drive up Castle Valley will delight eyes even more, with the views of 14,000 mountains, the new Ashcroft Lodge,  and the current feel of a walking through a mining ghost town. Haunted, maybe, shadows looming around, possibly, echoes of sounds from the past, listen carefully, as Ashcroft really will open your mind to these possibilities.

Upon an entry into the Ashcroft Lodge, in the winter, when temperatures often see -20 below, the wood burning fireplace will act as a magnet to your frozen core. As warm as a burner, Liz and Carey, will lighten you up with their welcomes. Questions should be asked here, as both ladies have their own wealth of knowledge, Liz has knowledge of paleontology and Carey, with her youthful vigor, is the resident naturalist, leading tours up and down the valley.

In the winter, Ashcroft is a Nordic center, with miles of groomed trails, something that MauiSkiBusFranklin loved. With hours sleeping in MauiSkiBus, his energy, at 9,500 feet above his sea level Maui home, was peaking. Speed and constant back of forth running, was to his delight. Was he searching for the shadows from the past at Ashcroft, or expending pent up energy?

Carey/Liz

Stories of the departed will live on through the lips of alive men. Legendary, classic, a ski resort history, nearly a collectors item. Aspen Mountain, often called Ajax by the locals, is right in Aspen town. Like right there.. Look up, it is there. Breathe deep, scents of ski stories will tease your sensory of smell. Listen, yes, the stories are real, so real that they live on. Aspen, a ski resort classic.

The adventures of MauiSkiBus has many fine moments and one was from Aspen. Chuck Leavitt, and his entertaining wife Emily, joined MauiSkiBus at Aspen Mt. A fine day was skied by the three, with MauiSkiBus introducing Emily to the classic old ski patrol hut at the top of Ajax. Moguls runs were sliced by the three and après ski was well deserved by all. A stop by the Sky, then a jaunt to Aspen Hops, to fill voids in depleted stomachs. As the three sat at the bar, the bartender was sharing stories about MauiSkiBus to his crowd, stating tropical ski bum  stories that had truth. After a bit, Chuck asked what the MauiSkiBus guy looked like and happy hoppin’ Matt looked and pointed to MauiSkiBusSteve! What a delightful moment, stories being told through lips of an alive man, before MauiSkiBus Steve was even departed.

Aspen will always have that reputation, that esteem, the feel of the past that is still so alive today. Walking the streets, whether looking for something, on a mission, or just wandering from here to the here, shall always in its own way, be equal to the famous streets of Paris, London, Rome, or the Big Apple. MauiSkiBus has planted seeds in Aspen and will return to feel the stories of the past.

Going to a yoga class should be about the class, the postures, proper stretching. When MauiSkiBus was offered a class at the Shatki Shala of Aspen, by Ms. Maile, parking MauiSkiBus was to be the biggest dilemma. Once parked, MauiSkiBus had five minutes to run to class, and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With little time to observe the scenery, MauiSkiBus found a spot in this antique wooden walled studio, awaiting the directions of instructor Jess.

Shakti Shala of Aspen is a storefront yoga studio, right in the heart of Aspen. No matter what hotel one would be staying at, this is an easy spot to walk to. Many of the X-Games participates have taken classes here, celebrities search this sexy studio out, and MauiSkiBus loved the positions that Miss Jess had the class go through. Even Miss Molly, another instructor, found this class challenging.

Upon a return to Shatki Shala to introduce Franklin, the studio goddess, Jayne, greeted MauiSkiBus with a gracious smile. Of course Franklin was a hit, as many places in Aspen town are dog friendly. Look for Shatki Shala between Galena and Cooper Street, in the heart of the finest shopping of Aspen.

15 ladies/MauiSkiBus

Shatki Shala of Aspen

info@aspenshakti.com

1-970-925-1655

MauiSkiBus has shared that a proper diet is one of the most important things for your health. The next time you go to a supermarket, count the rows and rows of processed food{read the ingredients}, canned food{how long has it been in that can}, and food that is dead{eat dead, be dead}. From there go to the alive organic food section. Twenty years ago there was nothing that existed in this category. Things are changing, people are starting to care, and so does Snowmass Ski Resort.

The winter X-Games came to Aspen and so did MauiSkiBus. Where to overnight park? Of course in the X-Games sports parking lot, next to all of the winter gear trucks, ESPN trucks, and snowmobile trucks. MauiSkiBus fit right in and the security guard just drove right on by. What he did not leave was heat, as it got down to -13 below.

Once up on Snowmass, the temperature was still single digits, so MauiSkiBus went into the Elks Camp Restaurant to warm up, and a surprise was revealed, the best salad food bar that MauiSkiBus has seen in visiting over 100 western USA/Canada ski resorts. This was brought to the managers attention, that MauiSkiBus gets around, and he offered a lunch on him.

A full belly of healthy food was burned on the moguls of the Big Burn and at the peak of Snowmass, somewhere around 12,000 plus feet high. Four thousand three hundred feet of downhill skiing later, MauiSkiBus was seen at the Two Creeks base, where Franklin had been sunning himself on the dash of MauiSkiBus. When it is really frigid at a ski resort, there are no clouds, hence, a sunny day was had at Snowmass, even though in the shade of pine trees, temperatures drop to deeply chill bones.

Lungs. Clean lungs. To have clean lungs, one needs clean air, free of dust, mucus, foreign particles, and no smoke. Pipe smoke, smoke from a factory, diesel smoke from MauiSkiBus, tobacco smoke, and smoke from cannabis. Really, just cuz it is semi legal in Colorado, does not mean that it is clean for your lungs. Smokers are smokers. Lungs were not designed to handle any large amounts of smoke. If you feel that you need to smoke, strap your skis onto your back and hike to the summit of a mountain. Aspen Highlands Summit is a great way to get high with clean lungs and see if you can smoke the hike up.

During MauiSkiBus’s adventure of 2012, Chuck Leavitt, a fit skier that knows Aspen Highlands well, ended up hiking to the summit of Aspen Highlands with MauiSkiBus. So, the 2015 adventure was to have a repeat to the summit. A treat was given to both at Aspen Highlands, with perfect snow, as the two skipped softly side by side, down the slopes of Highland Bowl.

Of course, Aspen Highlands, more an experts mountain, had plenty of moguls to play in. MauiSkiBus was like a little kid in an un-attended candy store, and had Chuck hitting moguls until ones legs wore out. Thanks yoga studios for never ending mogul tough thighs of MauiSkiBus! Crazy is the word that ski patrollers call MauiSkiBus for loving bumps and crazy was what Aspen Highlands saw.

At the end of the day, at the base of the Highlands, a shout went out to MauiSkiBus, and an about face saw a Maui buddy from the 80′s, Wes Howard and his son, Josh, all the way from North Carolina. They had seen MauiSkiBus parked in the lot and Josh saw MauiSkiBus on the back of the ski jacket. A few beers were had, stories of the past were shared, and MauiSkiBus departed Aspen Highlands, with clean lungs, and a skiers high.

MauiSkiBus and MauiSkiBus2 focuses on ski resorts, the vibe, interesting topics, and now yoga on this 2015 adventure. A detour will occur here, as a detour occurred to assist MauiSkiBus in Telluride. MauiSkiBus is a long vehicle for some parking spots and a full forward park job must be made in many situations. A little too far forward in Telluride and a little too steep to back out of on a icy covered area, created a bit of a reverse problem. Jeff Badger of Siam Thai Telluride, stopped, gave a quick tow, offered credit at his Siam Thai, and a ticket to a blues/rock show, celebrating the Taos Fire Festival.

Not only was this a gesture of good will from one former Telluride ski bum to a current Maui tropical ski bum, the delightful dinner was over the top. The food here is more than food, it is worthy of its own art gallery display, satisfying visionary cravings, along with the tastes of massive vocal hmmms, oh so good! Kurt Russell was at the same seat that I occupied the night before, missing a conversation with the MauiSkiBus tropical ski bum. Or MauiSkiBus was a night late!

Telluride has a must for dinner and that is a visit to Siam Thai, a no miss artful funky dining destination, ever so close to the world famous free gondola. If you were ever to get stuck in Telluride, this is the place. Mahalo Sir Jeff, from MauiSkiBus.

Kala is the Hawaiian word for money. A bank is where many deposit and withdraw money. In the heart of Telluride, a former bank building, must have seen millions of dollars of gold pass through its vaults, in a building that is over one hundred years old. This must have been a center of Telluride mining finance, during the days of extraction of gold from the 13,000 plus foot mountains that surround Telluride. Now, this same building is a center piece, a center for yoga the world over.

Telluride Yoga Center is more than a yoga studio, it is the core base for the Telluride Yoga Festival. Over 750 yoga lovers from all over the world descend on Telluride every mid-July, for a week of outstanding courses numbering over 100, from over 40 masters teachers, all within the magnificent canyon of Telluride. A must to attend for those that have plateaued in the art of yoga.

If it is true that men are from Mars, then Telluride Yoga instructor Miss Venus, was the balance that was needed for sore legs of three back to back mogul skiing days of MauiSkiBus.  Kristen Taylor and Albert Roer, proud owners of this studio centered in Telluride so perfectly, that the Telluride Fire Festival was held right outside every evening. Sir Albert, knows location, location, location, as his Telluride Properties office is directly across from the free Telluride Gondola. A fine combination, a former bank for a studio, an evening Fire Festival, the heart of Telluride, a festival of fit attracting ones from all over, and an office with a free gondola ride to take in the view.

10 ladies/4 men

Telluride Yoga Center

info@tellurideyoga.com

1-970-729-1673

Telluride Properties

albert@tellurideproperties.com

1-970-708-5527

Free. Well not really free. There always seems to be some hidden cost somewhere or some hidden catch. Not is Telluride. The Telluride gondola leaves right in front of the offices of Telluride Properties, where Sir Albert set MauiSkiBus up with a pass for free. Yep, you read it, free. Then there is the Telluride gondola, a free ride from the former historical mining town of Telluride up to the Telluride ski village. The ride is so high up, that the dizzy effect is also free. Serious, this is the only free real gondola anywhere in the USA that will ascend a distance that offers views of the southern San Juan mountains, also which is free.

MauiSkiBus has always promoted ski resorts to non-skiers. Why? A cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate will always taste better here than at your kitchen table. A stroll down the historic town of Telluride, set deep in a canyon with sheer walls of mountains so close in your sight, gives a feeling of being able to reach out and touch them. Touch will not happen, as the heights of these faces rise 3,000 feet from the streets of Telluride.

Fire does happen here, as MauiSkiBus was able to visit T Town for the winter equivalent of Burning Man, called the Fire Festival. Walking down the streets of Telluride, knowing that this was one of the richest gold mining towns in the USA, and seeing modern fire stunts and effects, brings the two distance worlds together.