March 3-4, 2007 – Big Mtn Experience

Breckenridge offers a program which is excellent for the expert skier. The groups are small 4 people or less. The skiing is high end. And we ski from 9-3:30, and lunch is included. It is called the Big Mtn Experience.

A few years back I was skiing in Jackson Hole, WY. On the third day of our trip my wife and her sister decided not to ski. I told her, “I’ve got to ski, I’m in Jackson”. My wife said, “Your not skiing this mountain alone. Take a lesson.” Well, OK I thought, “It should be fun.” The morning was a stereotypical lesson, and unfortunately it didn’t give me much value. However, in the afternoon another instructor came to me and said, “I heard you were skiing above the level of the class, would you like to ski the afternoon with me?” “Duh!”, I thought. He asked me, “Where do you want to ski?” I said, “I want to ski where you do on your day off.”
The BME (Big Mtn Experience) program at Breckenridge offers the ability to ski with some of the top pros in Breckenridge. It can be similar to a semi-private lesson, but with the focus of Coach and Guide to some of the hidden stashes on the mountain. And the ability to use the ski school lines. The last two days have been great.

BME March 3-4, 2007

Saturday: I was fortunate enough to ski with Zack. -1* in the morning. It was cool to cold all day with lots of wind. The Imperial Chair was snowed in at the top. So where does a BME head? We made for the Windows, Tiger Woods, E-Chair, Burn, Boundary Chute, and Southside of P10. After 2pm the Horseshoe Bowl became incredibly good. 2″ of perfect windblown velvet. Zack and I laid down some great tracks. 40′ plumes of Velvet windbuff. It was a magical experience.
The topic of the day was an apex to apex focus. We were using the entire corridor to flow through the transition. What was the alternative? A fall-line, down the line focus. The fall line focus is good, but when the skier is getting “jetted” from the turn it is usually because the focus is at the turn transition, and not looking into the apex of the next turn. Basically, the skier is focused on the present, and the skis have already started moving into the future. Apex to apex, allows the skier to enjoy the present, but move into the future.
Sunday: Gary joined Zack and me. The day was flawless. Temperatures started at 5*, but warmed up significantly. By midday temps were 40 at the bottom, and 30’s at the top. We spent the Morning in Horseshoe Bowl, Whale’s Tail, P7 (Magic Carpet and Art’s Bowl).
One of the highlights of the day was the opening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Absolutely an awesome experience. It was the first time Breckenridge has opened this terrain. I give much credit to Roger McCarthy (President of Breckenridge Resort) for driving to put the Imperial Chair in and now open Snow White. A simple hike (albeit at 13,000 ft elevation) from the top of Imperial Chair opens up the Lake Chutes (awesome very steep exposed skiing).


Gary had a very bad Cornice experience 3 years ago. I wanted to ease him into the cornice drops. We started on Whale’s Tail, then Horseshoe. On the way out to Snow White, I could sense a little apprehension as we skirted the Lake Chute cornices. Perhaps the apprehension masked the recovery from the hike to the P8 Summit. When we arrived at the first Cornice of Snow White, it was time for a very brief bit of instruction. We already went over technique and tactics for rolling into cornices. The snow looked terrific, so off I rolled. The run is steep and south facing, and the snow was excellent. After about 40 turns on Snow White, in we dropped to the seven dwarfs. The snow was still good, although started to soften. By the bottom of the run the snow was a bit on the manky side. But 800+ vert of very good snow made up for the runout.
In the afternoon we skied the ridge of Magic Carpet. It was so dang good. If I could transplant the feeling to all the readers I would be a rich man from the donations and prayers.

Enjoy Gary and Zack’s BME Video

The snow continues to be excellent. We are setting up for a great March. See you here.
to your sliding success,
Jon