Breckenridge: Day 5

Friday in Breck wasn’t a lot of fun. We knew it was going to be cold. Highs of around zero.. (it was about 3 below at 9am). Wind chills in the -20s. Cold stuff. I got up about 5:30 this morning and watched the wind whip around the snow behind the condo. The top of Peak 8 has not been visible at any point (due to the blowing snow). I had planned to be in the lift line at 8:30 so that I could make my way over to Peak 10, but seeing the temps and the wind chills convinced me to delay. The weather forecasts were showing that the wind was going to pick up after noon, so I decided to go skiing. I got ready and left the condo a little before 9am. Brian and Bill were planning to go out around 10 and ski until 2. I wanted to go do Peak 10, and I figured I’d go from there. I got to the bottom of Peak 9 and learned that the lift for Peak 10 was closed due to extreme wind. So, that wasn’t going to happen. Since it was unlikely that the wind would just completely die all of the sudden, even if they opened the lift, the wind was still going to be pretty bad.

I got on the Beaver Run chair with a couple of ski instructors and we headed up the hill. The wind was whipping the snow all over the place, and there were very, very few skiers on the slopes. My fingers quickly got cold, even though I had started some hand warmers (for the first time this week). I asked the ski instructors about their gloves. One of them had a pair of Rome gloves, and the other had Gordini Outlast gloves. Both seemed to like their gloves. As we went higher on the mountain the wind got worse. I got off the lift and started down the hill. The wind was whipping, my goggles had ice freezing on the outside of them. There was absolutely no contrast to the snow. I wasn’t having fun, I was doing runs that I had done before, and it was cold. I decided that I wouldn’t get a wole lot out of being there.

So, I made my way over to the Peak 8 Superconnect. I figured I could take that to Peak 8, which would let me take the 4 o’clock run back to the condo. The top of Peak 8 wasn’t any better than Peak 9. You couldn’t tell that any of the runs had been groomed at all. The wind was blowing snow across them and had completely hidden all of the corduroy. In fact, as I was skiing down, the wind was blowing the snow across about six inches above the surface and it just looked like dry ice on a dance floor. I couldn’t see the surface, and I just counted on the fact that I had done that run multiple times and knew that I was unlikely to see any rocks, etc.

Groomers were out all over the place. I can only guess that they were regrooming the runs, since all previous indications of grooming had been blown away.

I got to the end of the ski run back at the condo around 9:50. When I got here, Brian and Bill hadn’t left yet, and I had to recommend to them that they not go out. There just isn’t much point. It just isn’t fun out there right now. If the skiing conditions were great, the temps could be handled, or if the temps were good….. But with the combination of everything, and knowing that I wouldn’t be doing any new runs any time soon….

So, we’ve just watched some TV since then. Boring times in Breck. A family showed up at our door this afternoon. Their rental company (not the same one we use) had told them that Sawmill 115 was their condo. It wasn’t. They left sad, but wiser.

For supper we went to Tokyo Taipei. They bring out this pre-meal thing (kinda like mexican restaurants will give you chips and salsa). It’s soybeans that have been steamed or something. They are still in their soybean shell, so you bite on the shell with your teeth and the soy beans pop out. Quite tasty.

For the main course, I had chicken Teriyaki. It’s the same thing that I had last year when we went there. For food presentation, I think that this place is about the best that I’ve ever seen. The chicken comes out on a pan that is still sizzling. The quantities are very good, and the taste is excellent. Bill had the Vegetable Tempura, and it comes on a big square plate with breaded veggies arranged in all kinds of neat ways. Another table had bought a bunch of sushi, and they brought it out in a miniature ship. Another table had something delivered that was in a little flower-type basket. All things considered, a very tasty meal. It might just be the best of the week so far.