Visiting "Breck" During the Season

My sister Susan and I, along with her dog Blackberry, drove up to Breckenridge - the main square of which can be seen in the photograph on the left - from Denver this past Wednesday to check out what it is like there during the heart of ski season. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of people out and about, including students on spring break. And since it was such a pleasant spring day, I assume there were far more people up on the slopes, despite the fact that a daily lift pass there now costs over $200. My God! That is hard to believe. No wonder so many people head out into the backcountry to ski, despite the risk of avalanches.

Of course, the majority of people who live in Colorado and ski regularly buy a season pass, which although pricey, pays for itself after just a few weekends on the slopes. I suspect it is the out of state tourists who pay those daily rates, since, after all, they are on vacation. I myself gave up skiing years ago, after my friend Richard took me on a black run at Arapahoe Basin, and when I baulked at heading down the slope, directed me to what appeared to be a cliff. From the base of that precipice, he shouted up at me to "remember to snowplow." No doubt it was a none too subtle attempt to kill me. Since then, I have stuck to perusing the quaint shops and restaurants in the various ski towns I have visited, such as the one in Breckenridge in the photograph on the right, and avoided those steep slopes at all costs.

As always, it was very pleasant walking around Breckenridge, which is as cute a mountain town as you will ever find. But to be honest, I much prefer it in the summer and fall, when the restaurant patios are filled with summer visitors, and you can sit outside and do a bit of people watching. Plus, buying a beer and sitting on the patio in nice weather costs a hell of a lot less than $200. And when you get tired of hanging around town, there are hiking trails throughout the area, which locals claim are filthy with moose. They are lying, of course. I have spent years looking for a real live moose in Colorado, and have never found one. I did spot a unicorn once, but that was after having a couple of pints on one of those sidewalk patios. Which of course does NOT mean I didn't see it.