{"id":564,"date":"2011-02-09T08:47:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T15:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveltattler.com\/?p=564"},"modified":"2011-02-22T13:18:51","modified_gmt":"2011-02-22T20:18:51","slug":"the-osprey-beaver-creek-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/courses-and-travel\/564\/the-osprey-beaver-creek-colorado","title":{"rendered":"The Osprey Beaver Creek Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Osprey Beaver Creek is the closest hotel to a ski lift in North America<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Riding up the long Strawberry Park chairlift on a sunny, mild morning in Beaver Creek, Colorado, I was happy to have a volunteer tour guide on the seat next to me leading me around the mountain. We were heading up to 11,000 feet of elevation, after all, and the guide, an 81-year-old who\u2019d introduced himself as Emil, knew every run tumbling below us.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI give complimentary mountain tours about 40 mornings a winter,\u201d said Emil, who\u2019d been living in Beaver Creek for six years. He\u2019s only required to give 20 tours to qualify for a complimentary season pass, but he loves to ski and is very proud of the gorgeous Rocky Mountain vistas and loves showing off the marvelous terrain Beaver Creek provides.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019d boarded the lift a few feet outside the door of The Osprey at Beaver Creek \u2013 the closest hotel lodging to a chairlift anywhere in North America. As we rode up, Emil pointed out the home of the late President Gerald Ford, with its\u2019 adjacent Secret Service quarters, below us to the left. I asked Emil if he\u2019d ever met President Ford, who was very visible in the Vail Valley.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI was around President Ford often because I was from Grand Rapids – his hometown in Michigan,\u201d he said. When Emil asked me why I chuckled in response, I told him I was from Lansing \u2013 Michigan\u2019s State Capital. \u201cI have a relative from Lansing,\u201d he said. \u201cHis name is Tom Izzo. Heard of him?\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSmall world,\u201d I answered, since I was acquainted with Izzo, who famously coaches the Michigan State University basketball team. \u201cI\u2019ve seen him play the accordion at Christmastime.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah, badly, but by family demand,\u201d Emil joked.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It turns out Emil Pulick\u2019s son married Becky, who is one of the sisters of Izzo\u2019s wife Lupe. Emil is a retired Ford engineer who used to spend winters skiing at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs. He returns to Michigan for the summers, but his children and grandchildren invade his Beaver Creek home each March. \u201cThey all ski at separate abilities, so they sort of go their own way on the mountain,\u201d he says. \u201cThe littler ones urge me, \u2018Grandpa, can you ski a little bit faster!?\u2019\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But Emil\u2019s experience makes him savvy. \u201cTry getting an intoxicated woman who is having a big fight with her husband down the mountain,\u201d he laughed. One group of women skiers wanted to undress and have Emil take their picture at the scenic spot where Playboy Magazine once did a photo shoot. \u201cThen they decided with ski goggles I looked like Hugh Hefner and wanted me in the shot, too!\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Emil refused to be in the photo\u2026or take the photo. He did, however, catch a G-rated glimpse of current vice-president Joe Biden skiing at Beaver Creek earlier this season. Your trip to Beaver Creek for alpine chic awaits you at www.ospreyatbeavercreek.rockresorts.com<\/a> or call (866) 621-7625.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Riding up the long Strawberry Park chairlift on a sunny, mild morning in Beaver Creek, Colorado, I was happy to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses-and-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2011\/02\/003v3_osprey_low.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}