Continuation of my trip to Summit County...
On Day 3 went to Copper because someone gave me a free lift ticket. They were in the process of shutting down the mountain, so only one of their back bowls was open... Made a few runs in it, but the snow never softened up so I skied over alot of frozen snow chunks. Here is a picture of Spaulding Bowl at Copper, taken from the summit of Breck
This is a photo looking back at a run that I skied named "Cornice Chute". Dropping off (small) cornices is one skill that I've developed this week!
I was back at Breck on Day 4, but the weather wasn't great. Once the storms passed through, I took the 40 min hike up Peak 7 (breaking trail the whole way!). I skied Y-chute, but again the snow was a bunch of frozen chunks. I really got beaten up by the conditions. Spent the rest of the day doing steep bumps runs like Inferno, Tom's Baby and Devil's Crotch. No pictures from Day 4 since I was too lazy to carry my camera... but I did carry my avalanche beacon, and went back to the beacon park for more practice.
The best skiing was today (Day 5) because I signed up for a "Big Mountain Experience", which is a day-long "lesson" with a ski instructor who brings you to spots on the mountain that aren't on the trail map. My instructor was a PSIA examiner, so I got one of the best for the day (and he was a great photographer!). I asked him to bring me to the steepest stuff on the mountain.
In the morning we hiked to "Windows" and found some wind-packed, chalky powder. Here are the track we laid down on "Broadway".
He brought me a couple of other spots that had great snow before we took at lunch break. In the afternoon, we took a traverse over to Peak 7 (the one I had hike up the day before), and we skied down a 35-40 degree face called Magic Carpet
Then we hiked up to the top of Peak 8 (12,998 ft), from which you can access Breck's "extreme" terrain. I was definitely breathing hard on the hike!
I used my Indigo G-string for all the in-bounds hiking. Small enough to fit in a pocket, and a great way to carry skis up a hill while keeping both hands free for balance.
http://www.indigoequipment.com/index...ts/p/backpacks
Heading into the "extreme" Lake Chutes (in the background). Had to hold on to the sign since it was so windy up top...
After a hairy traverse, we skied down a 45 deg run named Crazy Ivan, which was mostly packed powder. This photo doesn't quite capture the steepness...
But this one does... (sorry that it is a bit fuzzy)
We finished off the day by skiing another run called "Needle's eye" that wasn't on the trail map. Nothing like ending a great day on steep, narrow glades! My instructor/guide said that I had my best skiing of the day since my legs were shot and I was easily sliding and gliding over the bumps! If anyone goes to Breck next year, I definitely recommend springing for the BME!
And a note for you gear-heads, my K2 Shuksan with Silvretta Pure bindings performed very well on the steeps at Breck. Having the binding re-mounted 2.5 cm (1 inch) forward of the mid-sole mark did the trick. But being a very light ski, it got kicked around when I had to ski on frozen snow chunks. I spent two days in my Garmont G-Lite boots. Two thumbs up for comfort and hiking ability, but I would need something stiffer to really rip!
I am planning on skinning up the mountain tomorrow morning to make up for not having a BC day on my trip. And hopefully when I get home, I can squeeze in another trip to Tux before the Inferno race!
Copper and Breck on 4/10-12
Carvé Diem! 
It was also very windy the day we were up there.
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