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Breckenridge 3/19/17

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Conditions: Firm, PP, spring like

On Saturday we looked at the lift times on Epic Mix and they were never long at any Vail Resorts. Longest times were at Keystone. We decided that we would return to Breckenridge since my wife likes that ride. The temp up on arrival was 45 with bluebird skies so we expected soft conditions and they were down low but higher up they were firm still so we decided to ski peak 10 and got there via Frosty’s Freeway, E Chair then down to Falcon Lift on Briar Rose. We skied several runs watching others attempting bumps runs but they did not sound good. The groomed runs however were really fun as the snow softened smaller spring bumps were forming and created opportunities to catch air here and there. By 11, our son was getting hungry so we skied to the base of Peak 9 and ate at Copper Top, which is our go to place for everything – no Vail tax.

After lunch we returned to Peak 10 for a couple more runs on Corsair. The bumps now had a nice texture to them and the snow was easily pushed around. Since, things thawed out a bit we now felt more comfortable exploring higher elevations so we took the Peak 8 Super Connector and skied from Peak 8 over to Zendo Lift to head up Peak 6. We took our first run on Reverie and then took a second run over to the Peak 7 bowl where a Big Mountain Free Skiing event was being held on Georges Thumb and Whales Tail. To get there we skied Bliss which started with beautiful spring bumps with deep troughs that was all snow. Seemed really deep. In any case, the Big Mountain Free Skiing event was very cool to watch especially when the better skiers went down. There were a few pretty spectacular crashes but all were ok. After watching this we headed down Delirium and another trail which is unnamed on the trail map over to Independence Lift. Things were definitely getting really soft around the base. We opted to do another run from Peak 7 over to Peak 8 base on Pioneer then to Claim Jumper. The top of the run on Pioneer skied great still but the bottom third of Claim Jumper was getting really mashy. About that time we decided to call it quits and bask in the sun with a beverage. We ended up leaving around 3 with the temp at 57.

Last weekend, I had tuned our skis but opted for a warmer wax up to 50 degrees and it made a huge difference. We actually had a great day and our legs were beat by the end of the day. We did learn that Breck will be closing down in stages with Peak 9 going first after the first week of April. Then by Easter weekend, everything will close which is a week earlier than they were scheduled. Talking to someone who works there, they claim that the visits are down so they are cutting their losses.

BTW - blow torch not so much. Impact yes but most everything is still open!

Looking pretty glazed!

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