by Sandy Kiyomura, Board Member
What a week, 10 skiers and 1 boarder (Rick Dumlao) ventured out to Breckenridge! Although this was the smallest ski trip I’ve attended, the size of the group made it even more fun. There were 3 condos and everyone got to ski with everyone sometime during the week. Breckenridge has lots of blue runs for cruising and some challenging Single Black and Double Black runs. Jason Ku, his daughter Carolyn and Dan Lew were our “Double Black” diamond skiers. Armand (the skier) and Rick (the boarder) also ventured onto various black diamond runs (including “the Burn”, a steep run in the trees). Carolyn is our newest and youngest member. She is also probably the smartest…getting her PhD in Bioinformatics at UCSF.
Breckenridge has the highest ski lift in North America, the Imperial Express Super Chair lift at 12,840 feet above sea level. Before the week ended, all 11 of us had skied it! Since we were all Epic Pass holders, some of us were able to see where others were skiing by using the Epic app on our phone “Follow my friends”. This is a “Ski Technology” for you.
After seeing the Black diamond runs, I decided to take a lesson. It was well worth it. My teacher was a Korean fellow. Excellent skier and great teacher. We worked on moguls and turning on them one at a time. (Rolling the knees and ankles). Because of his instruction, I was able to ski some of the black diamond runs without getting hurt! I encourage you to take a lesson sometime (this is a former ski instructor speaking). I believe proper form makes for more enjoyable and safe skiing. At my age, I can’t afford to get hurt!
After 5 days of skiing, Jason decided to get a massage. I followed his advice and felt so much better afterwards. We both had a massage intern who knew exactly which muscles to work on. It was the perfect ending to 5 days of skiing.
We happened to visit during the annual Breckenridge Ice Sculpting Contest. There were some fantastic entries. Some of us saw it during the day, some at night when the lights made the sculptures more dramatic. Jim Tanaka and Gary Kitagawa were there when the bulldozers took them down…the finale for the week.
What would an NSC trip be without mentioning the food. For our potluck, I made “peanut butter jelly” salmon, David Tom made a yummy chicken stew and Armand’s condo had his wife’s famous spaghetti with meat sauce. In my condo, Dan Lew made homemade scones. They were perfect: crusty on the outside, soft on the inside. Check out the recipe posted this month. And don’t forget the Girl Scout cookies from Amelia (my granddaughter).
There was the daily Hot Tub Group: Armand, Rick and David Uyeda, Jason and Dan, Gary and Jim and Greg.
Matt of Summit Express did an excellent job picking us up from the Denver airport and stopping at City Market before delivering us to Beaver Run Resort. On the return trip, he was kind enough to drop us off at two different airlines. He said their company stresses customer service.
Thanks Armand for another great week. Looking forward to Jackson Hole in 2024.
Sandy off the Falcon chair. The part of Falcon chair under the chair is used for World Cup Downhill race.
Carolyn and Jason on top of Imperial lift, tallest lift in North America
David Tom, Jim Tanaka, Greg Wong, Gary Kitagawa
The Gang:
Greg, Gary, Jim, Armand, David Tom, David Uyeda
