BEAUTIFUL BRECK
By Ron Glowzinski 

I remember when my oldest son was about four years old. There was a “Breck Girl” photo on the back of every magazine. It was a shampoo advertisement. She was so beautiful and he used to carry that magazine around like he was in love with her. That is what I thought about when I thought about “Beautiful Breck” as a title to this article. In March, I made my first trip to Breckenridge CO and I fell in love with it. We scheduled the first Western ski trip to Breckenridge this season because of the snow that Summit County gets early on in the season and there was no disappointment. About 25% of the mountain was open when we arrived and 50% was open two days later. That is enough skiing territory for 6 days for most people (600 acres) and there was always the daily bus to Keystone if they wanted more. Seventeen of us flew from Detroit ant two from Florida for this first outing. We were later joined by five other TBirds, Phil Varilone, Doo Ming Yee, Ron Bunnell and Bert Carty for our dinner get- togethers and skiing. Jerry Sawyer spent Sunday skiing with us as he took a break from his new job as snowboard instructor in Beaver Creek. Kristen Keller of Vail Resorts joined us on out first night to provide us with valuable information about the open ski areas, restaurants and bus routes as well as providing us with a lot of neat give- a-ways for the raffle.

Some interesting things took place on this trip. I am glad to report that our only serious injury was Evelyn Fitzgerald’s broken fingernail in the airport. Of course, Gary Green and Ron Wilson fought over the same 3 square yards of skiing territory on Peak Seven, leading to a groin pull to Gary the CMU Chippewa football player and tiny Ron Wilson who skied away with a helmet that looked like a squashed orange after colliding head on with a tree. I guess size does not matter. Gary got a ride down the mountain to the clinic by the ski patrol but, he should be okay in a couple of months. After seeing Ron Wilson’s helmet, Ron Ferenczi decided to rent a helmet for the rest of the trip. Now if we can convince Evelyn to stuff her pretty hair into a helmet, we have accomplished something. Jackie Fancher can attest to the need for a helmet. After taking a couple of skiing tips she started keeping up with the fast skiers and managed to do a head over heals 360 degree face plant without losing a ski. It destroyed her goggles but the helmet saved her from any serious physical damage. She slowed down a little bit the next day but continued to ski well.

Before the trip I suggested that everyone contact their doctor and get a prescription for “Diamox”, a great little preventative pill for altitude sickness. We were staying at 9000 feet. Well, nobody got altitude sickness but, we did have a few doctors that prescribed the wrong dosage.  Debra Tahy was told to take two 250 mg tables per day for three days. That is four times the proper dose. She was dizzy and her gums bled. I think she needs a different doctor. 125mg per day is the proper dosage and only for 3 days. One other person was not told to cut their 250 mg tablet in half so he got dizzy too. Oh well, I try!

We couldn’t find my Big Brother Steve Sliper all week so I set out 6 beers in my condo and sure enough he showed. John Staif ran NASTAR most of the week but, couldn’t get past the bronze medal. I checked his skis and he explained they were sharp when he bought them in 2003 and doesn’t know what could have happened. After I talked to him, he had them tuned and improved his time immensely.

The snow boarders “Winter Dew Tour Contest” was held at Breckenridge while we were there. They showed it on NBC on Sunday when we returned.  Did you happen to see it?

I think a smaller group like this one makes for a fun trip by letting everyone get to know each other better. Dinner’s together, socials together, etc. Well, I am out of space so I just want to thank everyone for making this such a pleasant trip.