Breckenfridge

Brooks.jpg
Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Friendship is the greatest. Katie and I drove from CB to Breckenridge to join our friends Ben and Alli Lawrence, Brooks Townsend, and one of Alli's dear friends, Pilar for a day of shredding and quality time. We took the Sweeteheart Suite at the Fireside Inn B&B in downtown Breck, a lucky score at the same spot the rest of the crew were staying. We ate dinner with the drunken remainder of the Super Bowl crowd at Eric's on Sunday night. A fine shouting match over dinner. Being together with Ben, who has been my friend for more than 20 years, and the rest of the crew always brings contentedness. Sleepiness overtook us all as we lounged together at the Fireside. There is no finer ending to the day than with friends and my wife. Our bedding was so soft and pleasantly fragrant - the makings of a sound night of sleep.

The next day started out clear and cold (0 degrees F). We took the Blue bus line to Peak 8 after breakfast with a cool Scottish couple visiting from Houston (Texas, not Scotland). Katie was able to secure us a couple of discounted lift passes ($60 - yikes). We had a tight posse. Alli is the least experienced rider, but she did really well. We poked around the mellow terrain of Peak 8 for a couple runs before heading up the T-Bar. Above tree line the wind was blowing a gale. It was a lot of work for Ben and I to stay on track. Pilar lost her edge 30 feet from the top of the lift but didn't give up and hung on, being dragged, until she made the top! The wind loading had done nice things for the bowls and we ended up getting some great turns. We hit the Imperial Lift as well. Ben Katie and I hiked Imperial Peak (12,998 feet) for some bonus turns and a chance to warm up after the blustry ride up the chair. To end the day we made the push over to Peak 7 for some fun runs on the mellow rollers. We rode until 3:30, when Katie was about to freeze solid.

Riding with friends, with no work obligations, strictly to enjoy being outdoors and have fun felt so good. I love what I do for a living, but snowboarding for the simplist, purist reasons is the best. Weaving lines in and out of the group, sharing laughs, and bitter cold temps all made for such a nice, albeit short, getaway. Ben, Alli, and Pilar are all staying for the week. Brooks will stay for a couple days, but Katie and I drove home last night. Looks like we will have blue skies all week, perfect for a crew from New York to enjoy the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.