Month: July 2025

Planning our new adventure

Many years ago, on a short break from my high pressure job, I got to know the daughter of the owner of my favorite cross country ski lodge in Ontario, who was spending winter there. I wondered, “What would it be like to ski every day for multiple weeks or even all winter?” Also many years ago, Dave dreamed of ditching corporate life to be a ski bum on the slopes in Colorado. How fun would that be? We decided to find out! We wanted to try it while we are still young and healthy. Also, we are making a point to have a variety of experiences and not have each year be a carbon copy of the last. I read once, that it is the best way to make the passing of time seem slower. We are pretty sure it is working.

We started planning the trip a year in advance. We wanted to take advantage of early discounts on season passes for lift tickets and nordic trail access. We decided Breckenridge was the best choice because of availability of lodging, pricing and ski options for both of us. After a lot of effort searching, Dave found the most affordable place to rent for a month or more. It was a “ski in/ski out” location for Dave and a short walk or drive to the Breckenridge Nordic Center. It also had a nice-looking kitchen, as I planned to do some cooking.

Just 3 1/2 days after returning from Ontario, and  17 days after returning from Maui, we loaded up the truck and headed toward Colorado. Our equipment included Dave’s newly purchased downhill and nordic skis, boots and poles. I brought my 3 sets of nordic skis, with boots and poles (classic no-wax, classic waxable, & skate skis). I also brought my friend, Marcy’s, skis, poles and snow shoes, as she planned to fly out and ski with me. I did not even bring my downhill gear. It has been over 10 years since a skied downhill, and was still a beginner. I did not want to spend money on lift tickets to relearn downhill, when I could be on the nordic trails.

Three Nordic Centers

We spent 5 weeks there, skiing almost every day. While Dave was on the blue and black downhill runs, I was cross country skiing at one of the three local nordic centers. The Breckenridge Nordic Center was less than 1/2 mile from our condo. The Gold Run Nordic Center was about 6 miles away and the Frisco Nordic Center was about 10 miles away. They all had world-class grooming and a variety of green, blue and black -rated trails. I learned that many of the blue trails were pretty easy and might have been rated as blue to allow more experienced skiers to avoid beginners clogging up the trails. I was very impressed to see so many first-timers as well as very proficient skiers at all the locations.  I loved the grooming, the mountain views and being out on my skis almost every day.

Dave took a few days off from downhill skiing to check out the nordic trails. I gave him his first-ever nordic lesson and he picked it up very quickly. Like the rest of his family, Dave doesn’t feel any affects from altitude. Once he was comfortable on nordic skis, I could barely keep up with him. I didn’t adjust to the altitude until our last week there. I had hoped to spend a lot of time skate skiing (freestyle), but it requires a high level of cardiovascular fitness. I was in great shape, but the altitude was a problem. (I plan to ramp up my cardio training and take vitamins before we return next year, and hope I will adjust more quickly.) I didn’t add up my mileage or hours skiing, but I did ski 29 days in Breckenridge and 33 days total in 2025. That is 29 more days than usual. I’m pretty happy about that.

Dave’s dream ski experience

Dave has been downhill skiing since college. He has been to most ski resorts out west with a couple of sets of ski buddies. He has endless stories about his many ski trips, sometimes multiple times a year. He describes our trip to Breckenridge as the best skiing of his life. He got to experience the full range of conditions, including skiing in just a hoody in warm sun and skiing in twelve inches of fresh powder, which was sublime. He had ski-in/ski-out access and got to ski almost every day for 5 weeks. He skied 311,000 vertical feet and rode 258 lifts, a total of 610 miles.

The Gold Pan Saloon and good friends

We cooked most of our meals, including homemade chili, chicken noodle soup and veggie pesto pasta. I read a lot. We met up with Maui friends, Melinda and Matty. Melinda (originally from Michigan, before Maui) lives in Boulder now and was in town for a visit. We spent time at The Gold Pan Saloon, as we have a history there. Dave visited the Gold Pan when he rode his bike across the country in college. We stopped there on our 2nd trip to Colorado in 2000.  We met partial owner, Nick, formerly from Maui, when we were camping nearby in 2021. We discovered we had some mutual friends. Another Maui friend, Nixon, was also often at the Gold Pan. We visited Nixon at Castaway’s, where he started work after being displaced by the Lahaina fire. He has since moved to Florida, not far from our favorite town there. Wishing him all the best in his new home and hope to see him soon!

Marcy flew out for 6 days and joined me on the nordic trails. She rented a condo a few blocks from our place. We had a great time showing her around town and skiing. Marcy and I have been skiing together for over 30 years, so I was thrilled to share the Breckeridge experience with her. We had a great time!

I am posting a quick update after recently resolving some technical issues with this blog. My security certificate had expired and my laptop had run out of storage space. My resident IT support updated the certificate and I cleared some space on my computer.

I am working on my next posts, which will include spring skiing in Breckenridge, and late spring camping in Shenandoah National Park.

Since returning from Shenandoah in late May, we have been alternating 7 – 10 days at home, with 7 – 10 days at our northern outpost. Our time at home is spent unpacking, doing laundry, taking care of the house, getting some excercise, seeing our parents and then packing again. Our time up north is spent hiking, walking, running, cycling, paddling, birdwatching, enjoying the beach and meeting up with friends. We are heading north again this morning.

I am really not sure who is reading this blog. I had to disable the comment section, as I could not keep up with the spam.  Mainly, it is for our own purpose of documenting our travels. The people I have shared it with also have my contact info. I would love to hear from anyone who is following it.