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Jim Kenney

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Seis de Mayo at Breckenridge was great. @Doug Briggs gave us an outstanding tour of his home mountain helping us make the most of our 4.5 hrs on the hill. I really enjoyed seeing how the layout will operate in late spring conditions, which will hopefully be a regular thing in future seasons. There was a ton of acreage open for skiing, basically most of Peak 6, 7, and 8 with a tremendous snow base and NO people.

The base of Peak 7 is a key entry point for the late spring ski operations at Breck. Instead of accessing it with the Breck Station Gondi, a shuttle bus is used. Parking is free at Breck station, just steps from the bus pick-up spot. pugski base peak 7 breck.jpg
This is the view from a groomer below the Kensho chair on Peak 6. Trail traffic was VERY light on May 6, 2019 and the snow was very good in many places, esp on groomed runs.
pugski breck below kensho.jpg
Emily Lovebug was in groomer heaven at Breck.
pugski breck empty .jpg
George's Thumb, the snowfield in the center accessed by the Imperial Chair, was probably our favorite offpiste run of the day. Nice spring snow and no competition for it.
pugski breck georges thumb from kensho.jpg
We took a few rides on the Horseshoe Bowl T-Bar.
pugski breck t-bar.jpg
Doug is a great skier and generous tour guide, here finishing up George's Thumb.
pugski doug georges thumb.jpg
Doug and @Tricia discussing Breck's magnificent high alpine terrain open for May skiing.
pugski doug tricia kensho.jpg
Em, Phil, Tricia, Doug and @P-Ute above Horseshoe Bowl.
pugski gang at breck.jpg
Tricia breezing down George's Thumb.
pugski georges thumb.jpg
Jim, Doug, Tricia and Phil at 12,800' summit of Imperial Chair. Beautiful Dillon Reservoir in background.
pugski imperial breck.jpg
P-Ute and I had some great afternoon runs off the Kensho chair on Peak 6 in wonderful soft spring snow.
pugski kensho breck.jpg
Emily loved George's Thumb!
pugski lovebug georges thumb.jpg
Emily's last day of the season and she enjoyed every minute of it.
pugski lovebug.jpg
P-Ute on George's Thumb. The six of us had the whole mountainside to ourselves.
pugski paul georges thumb.jpg
View of Sixth Senses hike-to terrain above Kensho chair. It was open and we saw a few folks going for it.
pugski paul kensho.jpg
Two shots of Phil in action.
pugski phil breck .jpg pugski phil georges thumb.jpg
The view that inspired the SS Pugski make-over. Very cool!
pugski ss.jpg

It was a blast to get some ski time with Phil and Tricia, who are often very busy facilitating fun for the rest of us.
Ski on everybody!
 
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tball

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^^^ Great post about Breck, thanks @Jim Kenney. I've been wondering how Breck has been with the new late spring operations.

I'd love to read a May skiing at Breck vs. A-basin thread with thoughts from those that have skied both. (It probably makes sense as a separate thread rather than buried here.) I suspect many others will be interested and it would be a useful resource for those searching for this information as they are considering pass choices.
 

Jim Kenney

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@Doug Briggs is a former world cup racer. It was a privilege to ski with him today. Here is a short sequence of him in action when he had no idea I was taking his photo. Doug, help me, what part of the mountain was this on? Was this that rough chunky snow in Horseshoe Bowl?

doug 1.jpg doug 2.jpg doug 3.jpg doug 4.jpg doug 5.jpg
 

Jim Kenney

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^^^ Great post about Breck, thanks @Jim Kenney. I've been wondering how Breck has been with the new late spring operations.

I'd love to read a May skiing at Breck vs. A-basin thread with thoughts from those that have skied both. (It probably makes sense as a separate thread rather than buried here.) I suspect many others will be interested and it would be a useful resource for those searching for this information as they are considering pass choices.

Good idea. I may try to do a quick report on your question, Breck vs. A-B in late season, but I'm going to be quite busy next few days after spending three days goofing off in CO.
In a nutshell:
I just skied A-B on Sat and Sun, May 4 and 5. It was great, but very busy with a lot of trail traffic in certain sections of the mtn (including a bunch of fun PugSkiers). Lift lines remained generally quite tolerable. However, I just did Breck on Monday, May 6 and it was pleasantly DESERTED. Would A-B have been deserted too? Maybe a local can tell me? Comparing what's available at both areas, they both may have similar total open skiable acreage at this point of the season and both have some excellent terrain variety for May (A-B is essentially 100% open/Breck has Peaks 6, 7, and 8 open), but I'd say A-B has more advanced terrain open, Breck has more intermediate runs open.
Parking was pretty hectic at A-B, but available at A-B on Sat and Sun. At Breck on Monday the parking was free, convenient, and no hassle. Although, you must catch a shuttle bus from the free parking at Breck Station Gondi lot to ride to base of Peak 7 to start skiing. Both were very fun and I enjoyed experiencing the contrast between the two. I was amazed at how much snow is left in the Colorado mtns this May:yahoo:
 
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Ken_R

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Many thanks to @Jim Kenney for the pics! They are awesome! I rarely get pics of me skiing!


pug cell ken too.JPG pug cell ken.JPG

Regarding Breck vs AB in the late spring this is the first year with Breck open so late but since AB is much more convenient I would say AB will always be more crowded. Not many people want to go all the way to Breck, park and take the bus to the hill. AB has more of a "scene" at the base as well. The terrain at A Basin is more varied, in aspect and features but the Breck bowls are hard to beat. They are massive and hold great snow conditions. The sustained steeps at Breck are just extremely fun.
 
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Tricia

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Uh Oh, I was asked to clean up some extra thumbnails in JK's post and now I can't see any of his pics. I hope he can fix it. :(
 

Ken_R

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Uh Oh, I was asked to clean up some extra thumbnails in JK's post and now I can't see any of his pics. I hope he can fix it. :(
:eek::eek::eek:
 

Monique

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Many thanks to @Jim Kenney for the pics! They are awesome! I rarely get pics of me skiing!


View attachment 73479 View attachment 73480

Regarding Breck vs AB in the late spring this is the first year with Breck open so late but since AB is much more convenient I would say AB will always be more crowded. Not many people want to go all the way to Breck, park and take the bus to the hill. AB has more of a "scene" at the base as well. The terrain at A Basin is more varied, in aspect and features but the Breck bowls are hard to beat. They are massive and hold great snow conditions. The sustained steeps at Breck are just extremely fun.

People are also in the habit of thinking Breck is closed and going to the Basin by default. And next year, plenty of people on the Epic pass won't have A Basin.
 

Doug Briggs

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Ken_R

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People are also in the habit of thinking Breck is closed and going to the Basin by default. And next year, plenty of people on the Epic pass won't have A Basin.

Its gonna be very interesting to see what happens next year.
 

mdf

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Guess I need more run-in speed or a takeoff pop. The last six inches of my skis scraped on the rock! (Or maybe shorter skis ogwink ).
Or I could just use @Philpug 's demos for that. :duck:
Just kidding, Phil. Phil... put down the scraper! Noooo....
 

Jim Kenney

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I botched this initial posting, the photos showed for a while, but then dropped. Here we go again.:P

Cell phone photos from Cinco de Mayo, A-Basin and Seis de Mayo, Breckenridge.


Emily, Breck
pug cell em.jpg

Gary, the Beavers
pug cell gary too.jpg

pug cell gary.jpg

Jimmy, Zuma
pug cell jimmy.jpg
Ken, Zuma twice
pug cell ken too.jpg
pug cell ken.jpg

Mark, Zuma twice
pug cell mark too.jpg pug cell mark.jpg

Mary, Zuma and Beavers
pug cell mary too.jpg pug cell mary.jpg
Paul, Zuma
pug cell paul better.jpg
Phil, Zuma, Pink Boots!
pug cell phil best.jpg
Phil, Breck, friendly PugSki lurker.
pug cell phil.png
Rachel, Zuma twice
pug cell rachel too.jpg pug cell rachel.jpg
TonyS, Zuma twice, seconds before his incident. Love the close-up!
pug cell tonys too.jpg pug cell tonys.jpg

Tricia, Breck, queen of the spring.
pug cell tricia.jpg
 

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Gary Stolt

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Thanks Jim, for the photos.
Thanks Phil and Trish for too much to mention.
Thanks Christy for the Loveland tics and the new grill. (No grease stains this year.)
Thanks Mdf for a good day at Mary Jane.
Happy birthday Betsy. You did well on your new knees.
It was great to see everybody.
Good friends, good skiing, good alcohol.
I had a good week.
Now, on to summer.
 

James

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I botched this initial posting, the photos showed for a while, but then dropped. Here we go again.:P

Cell phone photos from Cinco de Mayo, A-Basin and Seis de Mayo, Breckenridge
IMG_6444.JPG
Just photoshop the snowboarder out and you've got a great wall shot.
She caused your crash right? Figures, she's in grey-blue, you're red.
 

mdf

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You were missed @James , although I did find someone else to ski till closing a few days. And I sort-of did a circle this year. Pretty mis-shapen, but I got all the way around. Hope you are healthy next year.

Oh yeah, and for the bread. Store-bought just wasn't the same.:huh:
 
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Tricia

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Thanks Jim, for the photos.
Thanks Phil and Trish for too much to mention.
Thanks Christy for the Loveland tics and the new grill. (No grease stains this year.)
Thanks Mdf for a good day at Mary Jane.
Happy birthday Betsy. You did well on your new knees.
It was great to see everybody.
Good friends, good skiing, good alcohol.
I had a good week.
Now, on to summer.
Gary, as always you made things so much better just by being there, and your grilling is on par with Glenn.
IMG_0837.JPG IMG_0839.JPG
 
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