The Ski Trip with No Snow
Following the huge success of our spring break ski trip last year, my sons and I decided to do another one this year. Since my oldest is starting to look at colleges, we chose Breckenridge Colorado as our ski destination. We would spend a few days on the slopes, and a few days exploring universities in the greater Denver area.
Lesson learned from last year, it’s much cheaper to buy your ski passes in the off-season for the number of days you expect to ski. I jumped on the Labor Day sale in Sept. and bought us all 5-day ski passes, saving us over $1,000. Around Christmastime I locked in our condominium, flights and rental car.
Anticipation for the trip was riding high until late February when it was clear that the Western US wasn’t getting nearly enough snow to support its typical ski season. In March I saw headlines of Nordic ski centers closing due to lack of snow. Then there was a “heat dome” that settled over the Breckenridge area. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough snow, but according to the Breckenridge website, slopes were still open. And we had scheduled college visits to attend, so we were committed.
When we flew into Denver the landscape was dystopian-like. Everything was brown. Typically, in springtime the melting snow gives way to green grass and other emerging plant life. As we drove on towards the mountains we only traces of snow. We kept thinking it would get better as we got further into the mountains. When we finally made it to Breckenridge it was dark and we hoped we would see plenty of powder in the morning.
Morning came and there was, in fact, very little snow. Our condo was across the street from Peak 9 base. But Peak 9 was closed so we had to drive over to the Peak 8 Gondola to get onto the mountain.
The ride up in the gondola was beautiful for sightseeing, but not for hopeful skiers. There just wasn’t enough snow. As one can imagine, what snow there was on the slopes was slushy and muddy. In addition to the lack of snow and warmer temperatures, there were also more people skiing Peak 8. I wouldn’t say things were crowded, but everyone was restricted to the same area. Breckenridge Ski Resort has 5 peaks, only 2 were open (Peaks 7 and 8). And of those 2, several trails and lifts were closed.
We finished out that first day hot, tired, and disappointed. Especially my oldest son who ran over a rock that took a good size chip out of the bottom of his ski. We had college visits planned for the following two days, so at least we had time to get his ski repaired before our next day on the slopes.
College visits took us to Golden, CO and then to Boulder. Golden is as the name implies: shiny and happy. It’s the type of place that just brings a smile to your face. Beautiful views all the way around. A charming downtown. Thriving campus community. (I really hope my son gets accepted there, but with a scholarship).
Likewise, Boulder is a beautiful city, with beautiful views. We spent lots of time at the Pearl St. Mall. As has become a habit of mine, I found a local bookstore to peruse. We had dinner at a wonderful Japanese restaurant. There were buffalo statues and blooming tulip beds. All kinds of picture-perfect springtime vibes. CU Boulder campus was amazing and seems like LOTS of fun, maybe too much fun for out of state tuition rates.
The drive back to Breck from Boulder took us through a canyon. The road followed the river and around every bend was one stunning view after the next. There was a dedicated walking/cycling trail that ran alongside the roadway, and I thought how wonderful it would be to live there and have that as part of my weekly exercise routine. My sons thought the same. By the time we made it back to our condo they were hatching ideas on how to convince dad to move to Colorado.
After our two-day hiatus from the slopes, we returned to even more shutdowns. Peak 7 was now completely closed and Peak 8 was more limited than before with only a couple of blue runs available (that’s what I ski). Given the volume of people on those blue runs, I decided to try my luck at a black diamond with Joey. Situated at a much higher altitude, the black runs would have more snow and fewer people.
As we got closer to the lift, we passed signs warning us that only expert skiers should proceed. I’m no expert. Joey convinced me that I could do it. On we went.
I looked out from the top of the chair lift and wondered how on earth I was going to make it down the mountain alive. Joey didn’t give me much time to contemplate. He just calmly began making his way down. And I followed. And it wasn’t that bad. The worst obstacles were the small rocks trying to escape the thin blanket of snow covering them. Since I ski as slowly as possible, I was able to avoid them.
Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely a challenge, but I made it down the hard part with no issues. The moment the trail merged with the crowded blue run I cut hard to avoid a beginner who had lost control, and my ski got lodged in slush and knocked me over and out of my skis. Then I hit mud, more rocks, ice, and had to dodge people left and right. When I met up with the boys at the base of the slope we were all done with skiing. James had hit rocks again and scratched up the bottoms of his skis. We all decided it just wasn’t worth the risk to keep skiing.
We decided to call it quits for the week. 2 days of a 5-day pass used. Refunds only issued in the event of resort closure due to natural disaster (which doesn’t include record-low seasonal snowfall or heat domes), and “technically” the resort was still open.
And so, we were left with a couple of days of what to do? Hiking is supposed to be great in Colorado. But we didn’t bring hiking boots. Cycling is supposed to be great in the area, but my oldest was in a cast with a broken wrist. I decided we could walk the bike path from Breckenridge to Frisco. It was mostly flat and only 6 miles. We’re an athletic, active family, surely, we can put one foot in front of the other for a couple of hours. It may come as a surprise to some middle school children, but Crocs are not an appropriate shoe for this activity, as my youngest found out the hard way. There were foot cramps, tears, and no sympathy from the older brother who kept us trekking at a 17-min/mile pace. We caught the free shuttle back to Breckenridge, just shy of making it all the way to Frisco. Well, we got our steps in. The boys were ready to name me "worst mom of the year." But we got our steps in.
The next day we decided to take a drive. We made a short stop to find Isak Heartstone, the Breckenridge Troll. The artist, Thomas Dambo, has made several of these forest giants, including a collection we have visited here in Kentucky at Bernheim Forest.
We couldn’t drive the Boreas Pass since it was still closed for the season. But we followed CO-9 and drove to the Continental Divide at Hoosier Pass, where I did a terrible job explaining what the Continental Divide is. There was a lot of confusion about which way the water swirls in the toilet. From there we continued through Alma, the highest incorporated municipality in North America (over 10,500ft elevation) and then Fairplay, where we found the real-life South Park City, the old gold mining settlement, complete with restored 19th century buildings and modern-day South Park character merch. The boys were elated to be so close to such fame!
For our last night in Breckenridge, I let the boys choose our adventure. They opted for another round of arcade games at Eric’s Downstairs, and then we went on to a wizard-theme escape room challenge, where my contribution to the challenge was that I made the minimum required number for participation. It was fun, though.
We wrapped up our time in Breckenridge a day early. Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport on departure day, we allowed ourselves to sleep in, do laundry before we packed, and took our time driving to Denver for the night before our flight.
So, we didn’t get to do much skiing. But we did get a lot more time to spend together, exploring the gorgeous mountains and mountain towns of Colorado.
