December 23, 2006

The snow in Breckeridge was varied. All good. But very different around the mountain. The temps started off cold. 3* @ 7:30. High teens by 10, and mid 20’s after lunch. Colder the better, because our skiing today was Hot.
It is a treat when an instructor gets to ski with two very high level skiers. Both had started when they were 3 years old. Our Lvl 9 class today comprised, Jared K. and Brad E. It is still early in the season for all of us.

We started our day on Forget me not (north bowl), then skied Stampede to Contest. Excellent snow. There were still rocks at the entrances to these spots. Easily avoidable and mostly low angle rocks.

We then went to the top. Imperial Chair. We looked to the Lake Chutes. There were some creative lines up there. Perhaps some base repair was in order after a few runs that way. We decided Whales tail and P7 were a better choice. It was an awesome choice in fact. A fun cornice jump in Whales Tail with great winter snow. It was like surfing a big white wave. We then headed across P7 to Magic Carpet (my favorite run on the mountain). There was evidence of heavy avalanche debris around. Although the carpet was sweet chalk. 1500′ vert of run. About 1000′ of chalk, 500′ of heavier snow (although still very good). Brad decided to put it into fifth gear on the bottom half. We decided 4th would have worked just fine.

After a little break, E-chair was calling our name. Mineshaft, and Tom’s Baby are especially good. Great condition, winter snow, minimal obstacles for this time of the year.
P10 (Charlie’s Trees and The Burn) were nice. Especially The Burn. a little stumpy at the top, but excellent chalky bumps through the trees.
Other highlights included Southern Cross, which is better now than I can remember.


Minimal crowds. Actually quite amazing. The airport SNAFU at DIA has diminished crowds. Good for us, poor for travelers.
Get away from the Crowds by skiing Windows, E-chair, hiking Lake Chutes.
to your sliding success,
j