Catch Up, Anyone?

It's been a quiet start to the new year around Breckenridge. Maybe the negative degree temperatures even before wind chill have contributed to that. It has been miserably cold the past couple of days, but it seems to finally be warming up.

We had an incredible start to the ski season- we were graced with powder day after powder day until the week before Christmas. It has tapered off a bit recently and the storms have been favoring the southern part of the state as they normally do early season, but we're hoping for a change in the jet stream that will bring us some big storms from San Francsico. Last night six inches hit us and hopefully more is coming in the next couple of days.

 

A picture from the resort this morning

In other news, we've hired two new employees who now feel like a part of the family.

When Peter walked in to pick up an application we chatted for a little while and he turned out to be a mini Greg. He has spent his youth and college days playing soccer and his summer whitewater rafting. If there are two things Greg loves in life, it's soccer and rafting. Peter was an instant in.

Peter and Susan checking out his white elephant gift

Historically we are a one girl in each store type of business, and you know, I kind of like it. But this year Greg met Lindsey and she was in. Next door at the Main Street Outlet we hired two girls also- it's pretty great to have more female energy around the company.

Lindsey has the moustache on along with the girls from the Outlet- Sara and Averi

Our company grew this summer as we partnered with Columbia Sportswear and opened the Columbia Breckenridge store, located at 108 S Main, across the street from Downstairs at Eric's. We lost one of our own to the Columbia store. Brett moved down to co-manage the shop with Timmy from the Outlet. It was a great move for him and a great loss for us. We miss him everyday. Luckily he still stops in for a quick chat most days. Since we opened Columbia our holiday party grew to the point that we almost didn't fit in front of the fireplace for our annual picture.

The party was just as good as last year's- the food was incredible, the gifts were hilarious and it's always wonderful to spend the time hanging out together outside of work. This year after the party we took over The Motherloaded Tavern for a couple of hours and then we had the urge to dance, so we made our way to Liquid Lounge, where we got some pretty sweet pics.

Love this one of Jeff

This has been a pretty great season so far- lots of snow (soon we will be thanking Ullr for his generosity), great new hires, and a wonderful holiday season.

Breckenridge Ski Resort Open for The Season!

At 5:30 this morning, Breckenridge Ski Resort had reported 20" of new snow in the past 24 hours, making this one of the best openings in a number of years. The t-bar also opened today which is the earliest we have had lift access to this terrain in history! I was returning home from a product showing in California and sadly wasn't in line for the opening or the fresh pow but I'm sure it was a who's who in line this morning. Whats a who's who at the t-bar line you ask? It's when all the locals, shop owners and skilled skiers rush out to get the first and best tracks in Horseshoe Bowl and the surrounding runs.

Here's a picture of me, Sydney, Sara, Brett and Timmy on opening day just after our free french toast at One Ski Hill Place.

I promise to have lots of great pictures of us skiing some better terrain, and to keep you updated when something BIG happens at Breckenridge!

Ski Wear Decoded

Andy and I filmed short commercials for the local Resort Sports Network station explaining what to wear on the hill for a normal ski day and for a cold ski day. Most days here would be considered cold for most people, but then we get the bitter, -63 degrees with windchill days that are almost impossible to dress for. We layered up well and explained the rationale behind each layer.

Andy with what to wear on a normal day:

Me with what to wear on a cold day:

Send comments our way with questions, related and unrelated to the videos, and we'll let you know how we've solved that ski day or even just winter day conundrum.

Also, don't forget about the Speaker Series featuring Kit DesLauriers coming up this Saturday, October 9. Come join us at 5:30pm at The North Face Breckenridge for a VIP reception where you will be able to chat with Kit one-on-one, as well as other outdoor enthusiasts. Tickets are available for free on a first come first serve basis, while guaranteed seating begins at $8.00. Tickets for the VIP reception, which include preferred seating, a meet and greet with Kit, beer, wine, and light food, are $20.00. All proceeds from the VIP reception will benefit The Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC),which is a "national leader in outdoor education serving all people, while ensuring the outdoors is accessible to those with special needs and disabilities." All tickets are availiable for purchase here.

2nd Annual Speaker Series

The North Face Speaker Series_2010_trailer from camp4 collective on Vimeo.

We're getting excited about our second annual The North Face Speaker Series on October 9th. This year we're hosting ski mountaineer Kit Des Lauriers, the first person to ski the seven summits of the world, which she completed in October of 2006. In 2010, she embarked on a journey to bring awarness to the effects oil drilling would have on the 19.6 million acre Arctic Refuge and she'll be sharing her adventure with us. We can't wait to meet her and hear her story.

Check out her video

Kit will be speaking at the Riverwalk Center at 7pm, Saturday, October 9th. Come join us at 5:30pm at The North Face Breckenridge for a VIP reception where you will be able to chat with Kit one-on-one, as well as other outdoor enthusiasts. Tickets are available for free on a first come first serve basis, while guaranteed seating begins at $8.00. Tickets for the VIP reception, which include preferred seating, a meet and greet with Kit, beer, wine, and light food, are $20.00. All proceeds from the VIP reception will benefit The Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC),which is a "national leader in outdoor education serving all people, while ensuring the outdoors is accessible to those with special needs and disabilities." All tickets are availiable for purchase here.

We hope to see you there!

Mountain Bike Stoke

Check out this video of TNF snowboarder Ralph Backstrom mountain biking in New Zealand

New Zealand Mountain Biking Video from UnofficialSquaw on Vimeo.

Here's another one of TNF skier Sage Cattabriga-Alosa

summer bike road trip 2010 hi res from sage on Vimeo.

We've been mountain biking our summer away also. It's been raining like crazy, but we find a window in the morning or afternoon and head out for a quick spin. On the positive side, the rain has been making for some amazing wildflowers and mushrooms.

Andy and I have been racing in the local mountain bike race series, the Summit Mountain Challenge, and it has been incredibly fun. It's been great to get out and meet more like-minded locals. Everyone in the series feels like family and is encouraging and supportive, even as a newby. I really enjoy participating in the races and look forward to more next year.

We're beginning to get our winter gear in, which means spring items are on sale. Come on in and check out our hot new gear and get outfitted for the snowy season. It's coming soon, there's already frost on the ground at night. Yikes!

(videos via The North Face Facebook fan page)

Mud Season

The month of May was quiet around the streets of Breckenridge, so our staff took the opportunity to get away to Moab for a week.

It was warm, sunny and only slightly windy.

We biked. A lot.

The first trail was Amasa Back, where we met a friend.

He was a downhiller from California on his first cross country ride.

Then we hit the Slickrock trail. Some of us hit it more literally than others.

Andy going down the Slickrock trail

Brett on the Slickrock trail with the La Sals in the background

Brett and Greg lookin' tough

We camped next to the river with some beautiful  trees.

Which, unfortunately, held mass amounts of caterpillars:

We picked them out of tents, luggage, and Greg even had one crawl up his shorts.

We also kept camp with some ferocious dogs

Jasper and Lulu playing

A sunset hike in Arches National Park to Delicate Arch was a must.

Brett, me, and Andy in a hole with the sunset laden La Sals

And, of course, there was just general goofiness, because what is a day around The North Face Breckenridge without goofiness?

Love. Just plain love.

After Greg, Jacque, and Brett left, Andy and I did some more biking.

Takin a break at the top of the Sovereign trail

After a week, it was time to head home. We all had another week off.

Andy and I headed to Maine.

We got to spend most of our time here:

Andy's parent's camp

On this lake

I ate lobster for the first time

Eric, Andy's brother, me, Andy, and the lobsters in between us

Andy said, "You're going to put one in and I'm going to take a picture of it!"

It was a wonderful vacation. Thanks, Steve, Susan, and Pete for giving us some vacation time!

Snow, Parties, and Jackets

Main Street traffic has greatly decreased and the weather, well, the weather does what it always does. Sun, snow, rain, sun, rain...

We've been enjoying our couple of days of 50 degree heat- bringing out our shorts and sandals for the two hours a day it is warm enough and trying to ignore the snowy days, knowing they will eventually pass.

We had our annual end of the year party at Carter Park.

It was goregous and the food was wonderful, as were Steve's famous margaritas. They warned me ahead of time not to drink too many.

Japser and Margo photo op.

True to the North Face Breckenridge tradition, Greg, Brett, Margo, and I were matching in our Meru Paclites.

Really, Greg is just irresistable, even Brett thinks so.

Greg and I tested the jackets out about a month ago on a hut trip up on Vail Pass.

Before we left, a group of us decided to brave the 50+ mph winds and skin to the ridgeline.

Although it was windy, it was a gorgeous sunny day to be out.

Andy's comment was the best: beautiful conditions...no wind and the snow was so soft.

Vail Pass is behind me and off to the right are the mountains of Vail Ski Area

We enjoyed the view for about thirty seconds, then took off our skins, I wallowed in the snow for a couple of minutes, sunk to my hips in snow that I couldn't get out of to put my skis back on, and then skiied down a decent pitch to get a couple of turns in.

We ended up having to traverse some tight trees to get back to the hut. Although we snagged about fifty branches between the six of us and a couple of us almost lost our balance into some tree wells, the jacket looks like I've kept it in the packaging.

It is now in the "take" pile for our Moab trip.