Firsthand account of a week spent enjoying the majestic mountains of Colorado through snowboarding.
Photo by Mateo Rocha
As Spring Break approached the DPS calendar, students began to feel eager for their vacation from pushing pencils and sweating over exams. In my case, it was a time to forget about my school responsibilities and worry about one thing only: seven full days spent in the Rocky Mountains snowboarding. What more could I ask for? Each day spent riding in the mountains held a new experience for me. Just as fast as I would get on the chair lift, the end of the day would come. Once I realized this, I made sure to make good use of every run, every line, every slash, every time the sun shined, and every time the powder was deep. Here is a peek at my personal journal of the experience.
Saturday March 26th -Keystone
My first day on the slopes proved to be very relaxed and exciting. Departing from Denver around 9 a.m. was a nice change from the prior routine of waking up at 5:30 AM, rushing breakfast, and getting on the road by 6:30 a.m. Today consisted mainly of taking park laps (terrain park laps) at Keystone, and enjoying the sun. My plan for this week is to smooth out the kinks in my park riding, and enjoy the back-country. I think that I set the standard today for what I want to be doing this week, a few hard falls and plenty of laughs while I ride with family and friends seems to enhance the trip up to summit county.
Sunday March 27th -Keystone
Spending last night in Breckenridge was too good. With a hot tub and a nice bed in the mountains I know I’m set for this week. Today’s agenda was: arrive at Keystone on good time, and ride the terrain park. My buddy Michael Canady (TJ Junior) came up to summit county today, and we were both ready to have a full day of riding. On top of the excitement, it was a bluebird-sky day. Lots of people were stoked to be riding, some might have been a little too excited as they took naked runs down the mountain, but I guess that’s what happens during the Spring riding season. There were professional female snowboarders from the Gatorade team doing a photo shoot today too, so there was a pretty entertaining show to be seen from the chair lift. A few of them seemed a bit mediocre, which scared me. I wouldn’t want to see a train wreck happen right under me, but they seemed to pull it together on each feature they hit. I don’t remember eating today, but I guess that’s because I didn’t want to stop riding; it’s all in good sport though.
(‘Features’ include and are not limited to: hand rails, plastic boxes, poles, walls, and jumps.)
Monday March 28th -Breckenridge
Today was surprisingly, well, surprising. It was by far one of the best powder days I’ve had all season at Breckenridge. Mike, my cousins Andres (aka Pipé), Johnathan (aka Mimo), and I were making fresh lines (first tracks in fresh snow) down the mountain all day. We took some runs from the T-bar (a type of T-shaped ski lift that skiers and riders hold on to), and we made Mimo ride up it even though he’s only nine. I swear this kid is about to be the next best thing. There was some tough terrain we were riding, and Mimo kept up with us the entire way. That was really exciting to watch. Almost everyone kept digging their noses (front part of snowboard) in the snow and flipping over. Snow would get everywhere inside our clothes, but we all kept riding. Mike and I met this young kid from Breck who had supposedly already ridden for over 70 days this season. That’s insane, considering I’m only in my 30s. But I guess this is a regular amount for any Breck local, which is such a blessing.
Tuesday March 29th –Keystone
Another amazing powder day. The park was closed, but that didn’t stop Mike and I from enjoying the day. Powder is way amazing. We pointed our boards down fresh snow all day long. Along with the powder cruising, I had some powder dig-ins (falling and digging deep below snow); I had never fallen so hard before in powder. I dug in so much to the point where I had snow shoved down my throat, which makes me realize how treacherous avalanches can really be, but at the same time it was too much fun for me to be freaking out. Hand picking new terrain to ride was a privilege; it’s an entirely different side of snowboarding in contrast to park riding.
I also got a chance to explore Main Street at Breckenridge today. Mainly I was venturing for the all-famous crepe stand, which I found easily on the south side of town, and enjoyed myself a freshly made, delicious, banana and chocolate crepe. Good way to end the day.
Wednesday March 30th –Copper Mountain
After spending a few days with us, Mike left the summit county for Denver today. He’ll be back up later this week though, to enjoy a few more days riding back-to-back. Pipé, Mimo and I headed out to Copper Mountain today; we hadn’t been there since the 09-10 season, so it was a cool experience. Our expectations were pretty high for how the mountain was going to be, whether the runs would be nice, whether the park would be smooth or not. The park ended up being really rough in the sense that we could only hit a limited number of things, versus Keystone’s park where we can hit up to 15 features in one run.
Instead of bumming over this, we ended up venturing out to some higher terrain, the Resolution and Spaulding Bowls, where the snow was amazing, and powder drops (naturally snow-shaped cliffs) were many. It got so gusty, to the point where snow was whipped up and I literally could not see more than five feet in front of me; it was a really humbling experience knowing how unexpected and ferocious nature could be. After riding on the mountain, the cousins and I headed over to Woodward at Copper. We got the chance to have a laid-back skate session, riding mini ramps and street features. Along with the skating we took advantage of the foam pits (pool sized pits filled with Styrofoam cubes) installed inside the warehouse. Running off a cliff, flipping and spinning in any way one wanted, and finally landing into a pit of foam was one of the most fun things I could do at that moment. This must have been the most exhausting day of the trip so far.
(The Woodward at Copper website said “Woodward at Copper is a year round snowboard and ski training camp dedicated park and pipe progression.” http://www.woodwardatcopper.com)
Thursday March 31st- Breckenridge
Good, lazy day. We woke up later than usual because of how tired we were, ate a large breakfast, and got to the lift around 10 a.m. We ended up at Breck’s park for a bit, and took the T-Bar again up to the fresh snow. After that everyone was really exhausted. I know I was done riding for the day. We ended up walking Main Street again. Randomly entering shops was a good way to pass the time, but eating food at Downstairs’ At Eric’s Sports Bar was delicious. I highly recommend the hot wing pizza for anyone looking for a filling meal.
Friday April 1st – Keystone
Got on the mountain at 9:30 a.m. We wanted to get there early to have a long, fulfilling park day. After a three-day break from park riding we were all ready for some rail jibbing and spinning (rail riding and jump maneuvers). After a good morning of riding and slamming (falling), Pipé and I headed out to the Summit house to eat, where we ended up taking an unintentional nap; falling asleep on my food never felt any better.
We met up with Mike after lunch. He brought his girlfriend Katie up, so there was a good group of people riding. End of the day was slushy, so runs down the trails were really messy (slush makes riding slower and really wet). On the Frenchmen trail I ended up almost hurting someone badly; there are lips and rollers on the sides of the trail where you can pop up real high and spin. I ended up popping so high that I spun over an incoming rider and barely missed him. It was all laughs after we realized that we were all alright. Pipé hurt his knee pretty badly towards the end of the day. I guess this is a sign for him to take it easy, or just some bad luck.
Saturday April 2nd – Keystone
Today being the last day up here, there was a mutual understanding on everyone’s part to make it a good day. The sun was out and the skies were blue, not much to complain about. Our first run was through the park, which proved to be a strong and solid lap; we were landing every trick and riding with speed. When I got to the top of the park again, I decided I wanted to step it up a bit, try out some new presses or spins on the rails. Unfortunately, this ended with my head smacking the ground, leaving me with a concussion. The rest of the day was a haze.
This being the last day, I knew I wasn’t going to stop riding, not even for a mild blow to the head. The rest of the day consisted of runs down trails with Mike, Katie and Mimo. It was all pretty fun, but I just couldn’t pull myself together to ride how I usually do.
After eating lunch outside, Mimo and I lapped the small terrain park for the rest of the day. Days like these when you don’t want to ‘ride hard’, can seem to be pretty fun; I messed around on features and goofed on every run. It turned out to be a real good ending to the day and to this week of snowboarding, just kicking back and messing around.
I guess that’s what it’s all about. Why do something if you’re not gonna enjoy the ride? Leaving the mountains was a sad notion, but I needed a break from riding; I reached my limit with all the falls and the concussion. I look forward to the well-deserved rest I will be getting, and the next trip I make to Summit County.
