My parents first took me up here to ski See Forever when I was about 8 or 9. At the time, I was too young to fully realize or appreciate that very few ski mountains, not even the Alps, have a view quite like this.

I will never forget that Oprah Winfrey told the world on her talk show that she "saw God" at the top of the See Forever run in Telluride, Colorado, and that it was one of the most beautiful sights she'd ever witnessed. (I might be paraphrasing here, but she said something extremely hyperbolic and vaguely spiritual about how beautiful See Forever was.)

Well, I would have to agree with her, it is one of the most breathtaking views I have ever witnessed in the entire world. You will never forget it. In fact, although you can't see it with his sunglasses on, this photo was taken just after Seth finished crying. I had just shown him the view for the very first time, and he was crying from a combination of (he says) terror and (I like to think) also a sense overwhelming majesty.

While we were up here, enjoying this amazing view in almost complete solitude, I told Seth about the year Oprah uttered her little "secret." At the time, her show was the most watched talk show in existence. All she had to do was mention it one time -- how spiritual and transcendent this amazing view was, at the top of See Forever -- and shortly thereafter you couldn't "see" much of anything at the top of this lift. Suddenly there were swarms and swarms of people wanting to see what Oprah saw, and have a similar religious experience. I'm sure glad all of that eventually calmed down, because a lot of these people, while they might have been extremely committed to Oprah, were sadly not all that committed to skiing.

Shortly after Oprah's little syndicated revelation, you suddenly had all these beginner skiers up here. These are people who could barely ski a green bunny slope -- and now they're all up at the top of a lift that only offers Black ski runs (and one single Blue) as the only option for getting down. Wow, what fun, thanks for this, Oprah! For months, trying to ski that one and only Blue was like skiing through a slow-moving calamity of religious thrill seekers, soccer moms, and octogenarian paparazzi.

"Look under you chair, folks! You get a concussion, and you get a concussion... concussions and ski injuries for everyone!"

Thanks again, Oprah!

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