Breckenridge
Saturday 22 April 2006

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

This is probably my last day of skiing of the season. As usual, I get to the resort well before the lifts open. It is warmer than the previous day at Vail and the skiing is much better value ($30 lift ticket and free parking).

Peak 8 base area	Peak 8 base area
The bottom of Colorado and Rock Mountain lifts

The lifts open about 8 minutes before the advertised time. The first few runs leave little impression on the hard frozen groomed runs.

The bottom of Spruce run	Colorado chair
Runs alongside Colorado chair	The top of Colorado chair
Early morning empty slopes under Colorado chair

Pioneer on Peak 7 is the first run where the sun has started to soften the service. This is a very pleasant run, but the only one actually open on Peak 7 at this stage of the day, so I decide to cross right across the resort to the runs on Peak 10 which are directly facing the sun.

Getting to the bottom of Peak 9 is not straight forward. Several runs are closed and the almost flat Lower Sawmill is very heavy.

The top station of Colorado chair	Beaver Run lift passing under Peak 8 Connect
Peak 8	Peak 8
The top of Beaver Run

After a brief comfort stop at 10 Mile Station, I am finally heading up Falcon to the top of Peak 10. Suddenly (trying to check football results) I realise that I left my phone in the rest room. So my first run down Crystal is pretty high speed. Down at the lodge, my phone is exactly where I Left it; probably no one else has actually visited the rest room. In my rush to get back to the lodge, I lost too much height to get back to Falcon Chair, so I was forced to make a run down the nursery slope to Peak 9 Base and retun on the interruption prone Quicksilver.

Falcon Chair	Chair A clearly not in use
The top of Quicksilver chair

Back on Falcon, this time I was able to enjoy the conditions. Riding the lift, I passed the Breckenridge version of Vail's Mardi Gras tree. The sun had done it's job, leaving conditions the best of the day, with soft snow, but not mush. I did two more runs before stopping for a mid-morning break and a cheeseburger on the deck of 10 Mile Lodge.

Crystal run under Falcon chair	Every resort now has a Mardi Gras tree
The top of Falcon lift	Choice of runs

I was undecided about whether to try the new Imperial Express lift almost to the Summit of Peak 8. All of the runs are graded double-black, but from below the runs don't look too bad. I decide to give it a go. This meant crossing back to Peak 8 and taking Lift 6 to the bottom of Imperial Bowl. By the time I got to Lift 6 it was closed, so the decision was postponed. I had to get back to Peak 8 again. I decided to try Psychopath to get to the midway loading point on Peak 8 Connect, on the basis that if I couldn't manage moguls, then I really shouldn't try the bowl.Back at the top of Peak 8 Connect, this time I turned to the right to traverse across to the T-Bar, the alternative route higher on Peak 8.

The top of Peak 8 Connect	Psychpath
The bottom of chair E

The T-Bar had the only queue of the day. I had to wait for about 10 minutes. I don't like T-Bars, but this one was OK. At the top of the T-Bar, I faced the decision again. To the right was a groomed run back down. To the left was a track into Imperial Bowl. I turned left; chaning my mind at the rim of the bowl would be possible, but would involve a walk back uphill. Ant-climax: there is an easy track down to the base of Imperial Bowl lift.

Finally I am committed. On the lift to the top of Imperial Bowl there is only one wat down. At the top of the lift, there is quite a crowd, watching a rather brutal race. The contestants started on bikes in the town. After a six mile uphill ride, they switched to skis to climb almost 3000' to Peak 8 Summit and then back down again. The bowl was a bit of anti-climax. It was not as steep as its rating would suggest and the snow was in great condition. After a second run, however, the heavy snow took its tool on my legs and it was time to call it a day.

The highest lift station in North America

The top of Imperial Chair

Imperial Chair and Bowl	Race to theSummit of Peak 8
Imperial Chair and Bowl	Looking down towards Vista Haus

Driving back to Denver, I took the scenic route past Arapahoe Basin ski are and over Loveland Summit and stopped briefly above the Georgetown Loop railroad.

Arapahoe Basin ski area	Arapahoe Basin ski area
The moguls on Palivaccini	The moguls on Palivaccini
Snow bank above A-Basin base	Georgetown loop railroad
Georgetown loop railroad	Obviously the trains are not running yet this year

Runs

Last updated: 23/04/2006