This past weekend Megan and I decided to go to Breckenridge. We have developed a poor opinion of Breck in past seasons and mostly, that is because we only go early or late season. However you feel about Breck, the crowds suck weekday or weekend so you gotta get there early before the mountain is crowded. We got up to the top of Rocky Mountain Superchair first thing and then took the t-bar up. Megan and I had never ridden a t-bar before so it was pretty awesome! I felt like I was in Europe, and the view of Breckenridge from the top was spectacular!
We had to take a few laps on 6chair before hitting Impreial. I went up alone on the first run because it was pretty windy and Megan wanted to warm up for a minute. The snow was AWESOME! I was one of the first 10 to the top of the peak and the blower powder was fun to slash into. I made a pretty sweet line headed right toward the warming hut by the top of 6chair and took a front flip tomahawk into a manual! Picked up Megan at the warming hut and did one more run, with another front flip! The blower powder makes the snow inconsistent so you may hit a deep pocket of powder that promptly sucks your nose into the snow, resulting in front fliping/ tomahawking down the mountain.
The mountain was incredibly well covered with snow, allowing for some rock drops and good pillow slashing. We rode terrain that wasn’t open at all last year, and our opinion of Breck has changed slightly.
We decided that we should move the car parked in town so we didn’t get a ticket, and headed towards Keystone. Megan was chilled to the bone from the wind and for the first time skipped out on riding Keystone. I went and rode A-51 for a few laps and the park was pretty boring by myself so I decided to go powder searching. Most everyone was determined to get some good turns in on north and south bowl so I decided to switch it up and look for some terrain off Wayback lift. Like at Breck none of these runs were open last season so I took the opportunity to do some exploring since I was by myself. There were some incredible runs off Wayback which I can only share with you in person. I had some really technical trees with pillow lines and some natural log jams. I came out of the trees by the base of Wayback and the lift operator said “I had that same smile on my face this morning”! Needless to say, the snow was fantastic and since nobody wanted to ride the slow lift, I was completely alone in the trees.
The thing I like most about picking fresh lines, is imagining someone else coming by later and examining your line. Whether you ski or snowboard I will be looking at your lines and deciding what creativity I want to add to what you have already laid down. The sport of snowboarding and skiing are so individually unique, however, we all look for similar lines and features. Enjoy your adventures and open your mind to new challenges and opportunities!
Get Out And GazE 