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Breck Bike Week

Poker-Ride-Breck-Bike-Week-1890-Daniel-Dunn-682x1024Breck Bike Week, taking place Aug. 15-18, 2013 – may only be four days, but the lineup packs a week’s worth of activities into long weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado. The grassroots cycling event sits sandwiched between the Breck Epic (Aug. 11-16) and stages two and three of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (Aug. 20-21); tack on a few bike-in movie nights and math wizards will arrive at something like 12 days of cycling in Breckenridge.
Addition aside, Breck Bike Week brings a bigger-than-ever expo, which serves as event headquarters (be sure to stop by the Osprey tent!) and meeting grounds for many Bike Week events.
Other events throughout the week include women’s mountain bike skills clinics, a happy hour ride with Breckenridge Mayor John Warner, Poker Ride (Go Fish ride available for the kiddos), a youth race series and more. Visit BreckBikeWeek.com for a full schedule!
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In Breckenridge, Breckenridge Culture and Nightlife, Breckenridge Recreation, resources

5 Things to do in Breckenridge During the Summer

breck2The snow has melted in Breckenridge and the skis are packed for the summer. It’s time to get out the mountain bike, and hiking shoes and explore this scenic mining town during the summer months. July is the perfect time to take in the area’s history, enjoy the abundant outdoor activities, do a little shopping and enjoy a local brew. Bring a sweater, the nights can be wonderfully cool. Here are five things to do in Breckenridge, CO this summer.

1.  Participate in a Festival – For the patriotic, there is the July 4th celebration with a zany float filled parade and splashing in the fire hose on Main Street. Athletic types will enjoy Breck Bike Week. Our family enjoyed the annual Poker Ride. My older kids were skeptical they could complete the 10 mile mountain bike trail, but were quite proud of themselves when they did. My 8 year old and I stuck to the Go Fish ride. Perhaps I should have been embarrassed when the 3 year old on the strider bike zoomed past me. For adults, Breckenridge Beer Festival offers tastes of local micro-brews all in one place. Our favorite – HOSS Rye Lager from the Great Divide Brewing Company.

2.  Touch the Sky – Some of the most beautiful vistas in the world are right outside your door in Breckenridge. Take a guided hike through the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance or the Breckenridge Recreation Center. We visited Preston Mill ghost town, and learned how to shake hands with a tree on a flora and fauna hike. It’s also easy to find hikes on your own. We had a trail right outside our door, that started at a closed mine shaft. My son’s favorite hike was the McCollough Gulch Trail where we saw picas, waterfalls and touched the sky. My youngest liked the shorter and history filled Iowa Mine Trail, which is a short bike ride from downtown.

Click here to read the rest of the activities.

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In Breckenridge, Breckenridge Recreation, resources

Mountain Biking Breckenridge, Colorado

CIMG1766-533x400Known worldwide as a premier ski town, Breckenridge racks and stacks with the biggest and most famous ski resort destinations in the world, and rightfully so. Breck sports over 2,300 acres of skiable terrain on nearly 3,400 vertical feet from top to bottom, including long groomers, hairy steeps, glades, cornices, above tree line peaks, and epic terrain parks, all anchored by a beautiful Victorian town hosting a full compliment of dining, nightlife and shopping options.

What’s slightly less known outside of Colorado, is that Breckenridge also hosts an equally big, diverse, and excellent network of singletrack for everything from the timid novice to the super-adventurous expert. One of the things that makes Breck so wonderful as a mountain bike destination is that many of the great routes are accessible directly from town with no driving or shuttling required.

Click here to read the entire article.

 

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In Breckenridge, Breckenridge Access, Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Springs Access, resources, Vail and Beaver Creek, Vail and Beaver Creek Access

Steamboat Ski Corp. Executive Talks About Inaugural Tokyo flight

indexThe June 10 nonstop flight from Denver to Tokyo on a United Airlines 787 Dreamliner was years in the making. Aboard the inaugural voyage were business leaders and delegates representing various facets of Colorado. Part of that envoy was Rob Perlman, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. Perlman was along representing Steamboat and the Colorado ski industry. The Steamboat Pilot & Today spoke with him about the inaugural flight and his time in Tokyo.

Click here to read the entire interview.

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In Breckenridge, Breckenridge Culture and Nightlife, Breckenridge Recreation, resources

Yes, Breckenridge Has a Flourishing Arts District

Bike Wheel Eiffel TowerThe Breckenridge Arts District was developed in 2001 (yes, it’s been there for that long) and contains the Breckenridge Theater Company, the Robert Whyte House, the Quandary Antiques Cabin and Ceramic Studio, the Fuqua Livery Stable, the Tin Shop and the Riverwalk Center.

The buildings are historical or socially significant structures where artists both work and teach workshops. They are mostly located near the corner of South Ridge Street and Washington Avenue. The Riverwalk Center, an indoor amphitheater that features bands, film festivals and other great events, anchors the Arts District.

Each building hosts plenty of inspiring events, from ceramics, drawing, printmaking, metalsmithing,
Swing in for an arts workshop at the Fuqua. Learn from professionals to take your creativity one step further. Go out for a walk, like I did this past weekend, and get familiar with the area. I started on the corner of Washington Street and ambled through the district with my cousins visiting from Maryland; they couldn’t get enough of Breckenridge’s version of the Eiffel Tower, fashioned from bike wheels.

Every second Saturday of the month from 4-6 p.m., the Arts District hosts an open-house walk. Visitors can view new exhibitions at the Breckenridge Theatre Gallery and visit with guest and resident artists. Breckenridge galleries remain open until 8 p.m. that night. For a list of participating galleries, click here.

Click here to read the entire article.

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In Aspen History, Breckenridge History, Crested Butte History, Steamboat Springs History, Telluride History, resources, Vail and Beaver Creek, Vail and Beaver Creek History

A Milestone for Water Diversions in Colorado

If 1962 was a big year for skiing, with the opening of Vail, in Colorado it was also notable for benchmarks in diversion of water. One project was completed and another was started, the two of them substantially enlarging the unnatural flow of water from the Colorado River Basin to the Front Range of Colorado.

Colorado is an unbalanced state. Nearly 80 per cent of precipitation in the state falls west of the Continental Divide, where nearly all of Colorado’s ski areas are located, mostly in the form of snow. But 80 per cent of its population and an even higher percentage of its farms and ranches live on the eastern side.

Diversions across the Continental Divide began in 1911 and accelerated in 1936 when dewatering of creeks around Winter Park began. But 1962 was a huge year for this export of water. That year, Denver finished a new tunnel that is three metres in diameter and 37.5 kilometres long. The tunnel diverts water from Dillon Reservoir into the South Platte River, upstream from Denver.

Also in 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech kicking off construction of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The project diverts water from the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers, both located in the Aspen area, to cantaloupe and other farms in the Arkansas River Valley. Some of that water has now found its way to metropolitan Denver.

Now, Colorado faces a new issue. Instead of figuring out how to develop its water, the key question is how much water it has left to develop — if any. The Colorado River Compact of 1922 apportions water among the seven states from Wyoming to California. It also requires Colorado and other upper-basin states to deliver 7.5 million acre-feet of water to the lower-basin states on a rolling 10-year average.

During the last 30 years, Colorado and other upper-basin states have delivered an average of 10.8 million acre-feet. But that average has been exceeded only three times out of the last 12, reports John McClow of Gunnison, writing in the Grand Junction Free Press. 2012 was particularly bad: just a little over 2 million acre-feet of water flowed into Lake Powell from April through July, the prime runoff months, reports Jim Pokrandt of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.

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Pot Votes in CO Raise Specter of Weed Tourism

Hit the slopes — and then a bong?

Marijuana legalization votes this week in Colorado and Washington state don’t just set up an epic state-federal showdown on drug laws for residents. The measures also open the door for marijuana tourism.

Both marijuana measures make marijuana possession in small amounts OK for all adults over 21 — not just state residents but visitors, too. Tourists may not be able to pack their bowls along with their bags, but as long as out-of-state tourists purchase and use the drug while in Colorado or Washington, they wouldn’t violate the marijuana measures.

Of course, that’s assuming the recreational marijuana measures take effect at all. That was very much in doubt Friday as the states awaited word on possible lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice asserting federal supremacy over drug law.

So the future of marijuana tourism in Colorado and Washington is hazy. But that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation, especially in Colorado, where tourism is the No. 2 industry thanks to the Rocky Mountains and a vibrant ski industry.

The day after Colorado approved recreational marijuana by a wide margin, the headline in the Aspen Times asked, “Aspendam?” referring to Amsterdam’s marijuana cafes.

Colorado’s tourism director, Al White, tried to downplay the prospect of a new marijuana tourism boom. “It won’t be as big a deal as either side hopes or fears,” White said. Maybe not. But many are asking about marijuana tourism.

Ski resorts are “certainly watching it closely,” said Jennifer Rudolph of Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade association that represents 21 Colorado resorts.

The Colorado counties where big ski resorts are located seem to have made up their minds. The marijuana measure passed by overwhelming margins, with more support than in less visited areas.

The home county of Aspen approved the marijuana measure more than 3-to-1. More than two-thirds approved marijuana in the home county of Colorado’s largest ski resort, Vail. The home county of Telluride ski resort gave marijuana legalization its most lopsided victory, nearly 8 in 10 favoring the measure.

“Some folks might come to Colorado to enjoy some marijuana as will be their right. So what?” said Betty Aldworth, advocacy director for the Colorado marijuana campaign.

Marijuana backers downplayed the impact on tourism. Aldworth pointed out that pot-smoking tourists wouldn’t exactly be new. Colorado ski slopes already are dotted with “smoke shacks,” old mining cabins that have been illicitly repurposed as places to smoke pot out of the cold. And the ski resort town of Breckenridge dropped criminal penalties for marijuana use two years ago.

 

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In Breckenridge, Breckenridge Ski Resorts, resources

Breckenridge Ski Resort opening for season

The Breckenridge Ski Resort is kicking off its season, joining other Colorado resorts that are already open.

The resort is counting on a big storm bringing more than a foot of snow beginning Friday to some areas on the Western Slope.

Copper Mountain and Keystone Resort are now open, giving skiers and snowboarders more options of where to make turns in Colorado. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland opened in October.

The Colorado ski industry is hoping to bounce back from last season, when snowfall in large parts of the state was below average.

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Switzerland is Now Epic: Vail + Verbier Join Forces

Vail Resorts announced today an unprecedented partnership with Verbier, Switzerland, that will enhance the already incredible value of Vail Resorts’ Epic Season Pass, providing three days of free access to the Verbier ski resort, including Les 4 Vallees, the largest ski area in Switzerland, for new and renewing 2012-2013 Epic Season Pass holders. In addition to unlimited, unrestricted skiing and riding at eight world-class mountain resorts in the United States, Epic Pass holders will now have the opportunity to extend their winter to Europe and experience four additional premier mountain resorts including the illustrious Verbier resort, as well as Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon, Switzerland. The “Four Valleys” ski area boasts breathtaking views of the Rhone Valley and the infamous Matterhorn, and extend to the Valais and Bernese Alps, culminating in the largest ski area in Switzerland.

“Vail Resorts Epic Season Pass holders already receive an incredible experience with unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail Resorts’ seven world-class resorts including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone,  Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, as well as Arapahoe Basin, but we wanted to give them even more benefits by offering Epic Season Pass holders three free days of skiing at the legendary Verbier ski resort, including Les 4 Vallees  in Switzerland,” said Kirsten Lynch, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Vail Resorts.

Click here to read the entire article. 

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Colorado Resorts Welcome Early Snowfall on Upper Slopes

Fall is definitely in the air in Colorado’s high country … and winter, too.

The accompanying image reveals spectacular fall colors in the Aspen-Snowmass region, but also a fresh dusting of snow that blanketed the upper slopes early Monday.

Snow and a mixture of snow and rain fell throughout parts of Colorado, and resorts were quick to spread the news.

“If this is a sign of things to come, you better dust off the skis now and wear your boots to watch the Broncos’ game tonight,” Jeff Hanle, spokesman for Aspen-Snowmass, said in a news release.

The Broncos are playing the Falcons on Monday Night Football in Atlanta, but the comment shows the level excitement generated by the first tangible snowfall of the season in Colorado, arriving about two months before most resorts expect to open for skiing and snowboarding.

The Denver Post reported: “Snow acknowledgments were passed along by Colorado Ski Country USA, Loveland Ski Area, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park Resort and Copper Mountain, among other ski areas and resorts.”
Some of the resorts received as much as an inch of snow, mostly above 11,000 feet, which qualifies as a significant dusting.

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