From Gary Brooker

Susan and I had a good trip over spring break into the Colorado Mountains. I've twice gone to Ski Cooper and have had a very good day there both times. This last time was in the middle of a snow storm. Susan and I did their snowshoe trail through the woods. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to be during a snow storm. We got to see their fanciful dining place out in the middle of woods up close and personal. http://www.tennesseepass.com/cookhouse.htm

We had an opportunity to eat there and probably should have taken them up on it. We definitely plan to go back and take them up on it next time.

 

I spent two days skiing at Breckenridge on beautiful sunny 35 degree days. I was thinking about why Jason and Butch might list it as one of their worst places to go when I and MANY others list it as one of their best. I'd put it in the top 3 of the 21 places I've skied in my lifetime. A main reason I'd heard Butch and Jason list why they did not like it was due to a LOT of poling around to get places. I've not had to pole much if any during my visits. I know one of Butch's favorite places to ski is the blue runs above the Super Bee lift at Copper Mountain. If this is true he should LOVE Peak 7 at Breckenridge. It has 3 times the amount of blue runs EXACTLY like Copper's blue runs going to a fast non-crowded chair lift. There are 3 improvements at Breckenridge that were not there when Jason and Butch visited. One was the aforementioned Peak 7. The other 2 are a Gondola that goes from the parking lot to Peak 7 and Peak 8. The other is a fast connection

  chair from Peak 9 to Peak 8.

 

I really want to find a way to take Jason and Butch back to Breckenridge someday. Jason may be a little bored with a lack of Black runs and tree runs but there is a ton of Blue and Blue-Black groomed runs. Enough to get a full and tired day.

 

 

Nina Grace Cortes

She has Brooker blood. Great Grand of Butch & Barb. Her Granddaddy Rich sent me this  photo of Nina Grace. She is now 15 + months old.
Cute as a button.

A new addition to the Don and Nancy Brooker house. This is Abby.

Iowa's Ice Storm

Make a Smilebox slideshow

From Leo

We were all there just this past summer. Sure looks different now!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Leo's Winter Photos

Make a Smilebox slideshow

From Gary Brooker

I went to 4 different ski resorts in 4 days. Perfect plan for a guy who likes to explore different places and see what they have to offer! I left immediately after my half day of school Friday and drove clear to Denver and thanks to the time change was in bed by 10:30pm. I got up early enough to ski a full day at Keystone prior to finding the Leadville Hostel where I stayed (http://www.leadvillehostel.com/tour.html).

I give the hostel a thumbs up! You can bring your own food and keep it in their huge commercial fridge and fix good meals for yourself in their kitchen. The bathroom is clean and the showers blast the water. The beds are comfortable and despite 17 boy scouts there the first night it was always quiet at night. They have commercial washers and dryers available to wash up clothes and not bring a ton with you. They have two big TV's to watch Direct TV channels. Internet is available to use for a charge and a nice pool table for $0.50 a game. For a charge of $18 per night you can't beat it anywhere. They've been doing this a long time and they have their system down pat.

They are a little low on snow at Keystone and I scratched up my skis on their open runs. 2nd ski day I went to Breckenridge and it has a little more snow on the hill than Keystone. It was very crowded which I think is normal for them but they also had a big event competition going on. Despite the crowd I only waited once for a real long time in a singles line.

I met a volunteer ski patrol guy in the Hostel who has done that job for nearly 30 years at Ski Cooper. He gave me a free pass and talked me into trying his ski place. Ski Cooper was a huge surprise to me! I thought it was fairly small from Internet research and he told me they only had 2 lifts and they are slow. He was right that the lifts are slow and that was the only drawback. The runs are all over a mile long. The green runs are tough. They are steeper than Steamboat blue runs. They do not blow ANY artificial snow there but they don't have to because they get lots of natural stuff. They had the most snow of any of the 4 places I went on this trip. It was the only resort where I skied some powder on the trip. There are lots of beautiful glade runs. I will definitely go back to the Hostel and back to Ski Cooper on other Colorado trips.

My last ski day was only planned for a half day prior to running out of town to beat a snow storm in the Mountains and an ice storm in Kansas. I picked the right place for a short day. I started skiing at 9:20am and by 10:30 am I had skied every single open run at Arapahoe Basin. It was a very fun trip of exploration.
My other possible trips for the season are Feb 12 - 14 and March 11 - 14 if anybody decides to tag along.