Snow above 10,000 feet does stick around in the summer and it’s not hard to ride every month of the season if you are willing to hike or drive to find it. At the top of Peak 10 in Breckenridge is what’s known as 4th of July bowl, a riding location that consistently has year round shredable snow with 4WD access. Today was the day to finally enjoy the leftover snow from this season.
I left Steamboat early this morning to meet friends in Frisco and head to our summer shred destination for a day of on-snow shredding. We weren’t sure how far we could make it up (last check the road wasn’t driveable to the top yet) but we were ready to ride whatever snow we found.
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Our crew consisted of Lauren, Adrian, Scott, Eric and myself. My truck was the designated vehicle to suit the 4wd road and unfortunately Scott and Eric took the back of the truck for the bumpy rock climbing ride up to 12,000 ft (or more). When we arrived we found more people up there, some hiking to the top of peak 9 to ride down and others hitting the tube that knew our buddy Xavier (MIA for the day).
We made it to the snow, beautiful views from up there.
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In the summer, a rail yard gets set up for the riders that come to enjoy it. Some people bring up their own rails and others leave rails for the community to enjoy. When we arrived we found a couple small jumps, a log and a tube to play with for the day.
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So I’m not a rail rider, I hit the occasional box rail and I’m still learning to get better at rails. The tube today I managed to hit a couple times and actually not to bad. I tried a frontside boardslide the first time and that was a learning experience. Lauren got this shot of me on the tube.
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I caught a sequence of Lauren on the tube and turned it into an animated photo. Any shot where someone is smiling at the end is always fun to catch.
Adrian’s ollie over the log jib, the fisheye makes his horrorscope look insanely rockered
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Scott went off the jump, foot planted the log and rode away from this shot
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Scott’s 180 over the pole in the ground
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Finally at the end of the day, Scott ollied over Adrian in what looks like a tail tap of Adrian
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One of the hazards of riding in the summer is the quick weather changes at high elevations, even where I live at 7,000ft the storms roll in quick and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a thunder/lightning storm. Today the thunderstorm came in and started to rain, snow, and hail plus thunder and lightning over head so we went to the back of the truck for a 5 person bonding experience. Eric’s iphone kept us occupied with internet access for most of the waiting period. After waiting some time, we couldn’t see the clouds getting lighter so we decided to head down the mountain. Better safe than sorry.
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Luckily for all of us, my truck decided to let 4WD go back in and we were able to make it down in one-piece
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The back of the truck, Eric riding it out with all of our gear and smelly boots.
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It was definitely a great way to spend the day, back on snow doing something that I love and being with fun friends, meeting new friends as well. Definitely hope for more summer shred adventures soon!
Kristi
July 5, 2009 at 8:13 pmI wish I had 4wd! That looks like an absolute blast. I haven’t done any hiking yet but am going to do St Mary’s sometime soon with buddies…stoked =)
Shay
July 5, 2009 at 8:17 pmAh yeah I forgot to mention that in the post, my 4wd decided to hate me at the top and had some time where it didn’t want to kick in, which would have been bad since you have to go through a huge puddle to get down. Luckily my truck healed up and kicked back in for me. Which reminds me I should get that checked out, haha.
It is a blast, definitely 4wd is needed, lots of switchbacks and rocks to go over on the road and sharp turns.
St Mary’s is beautiful, I will definitely do that soon since it requires hiking and not my truck.
Adrian
July 5, 2009 at 8:30 pmKristi we’re thinking about hittin St. Mary’s next week for a little camping/shred trip hope we see ya up there!!!
JT
July 5, 2009 at 8:39 pmAhh, I so should have tagged along for this. I could have gotten the rover dirty and got shredding in!!! Maybe when I get back from Brazil I’ll go find some shred time!!
Shay
July 5, 2009 at 8:42 pmAh JT, that’s my fault for not letting you know! Your rover is definitely next. Let me know if you are up for St Mary’s.
Hanh
July 6, 2009 at 1:07 amYou were in San Francisco??
Shay
July 6, 2009 at 7:04 amNah Frisco is a city in Colorado.
gags
July 6, 2009 at 8:07 amyeah Shay….been too long since I rode….lmk if you got to St Marys later in July. I can’t make it next weekend/week, but after the 17th I’m good.
Hanh
July 6, 2009 at 9:31 amhahaha, owned…..
oh by the way in my 2nd bluebird wax mystery box i got:
2 bard of wax,
constant struggle and who cares signed by kyle clancy
two t shirts
a poster signed by bryan iguchi
and travic rice’s neff hat
Scott
July 6, 2009 at 9:41 amGood times with good friends! Next time I call shotgun!
Shay
July 6, 2009 at 12:30 pmGags, definitely after the 17th/18th we’ll still be up riding, so much fun just finding the shred in the summer so you’ll definitely have to join in.
Hanh, nice! Sounds like some good stuff, soon they’ll be announcing the winner in mid-July for the boards!
Scott, good times indeed, i’ll remember you have shotgun.
Hanh
July 6, 2009 at 5:44 pmI think im gonna go for a hat trick, just cause i like getting free random stuff, keep watching the bluebird movies, they are hilarous
Shay
July 6, 2009 at 8:19 pmNice! Yeah I just watched the Adam Dowell one, some good shit going on!
Jen
July 7, 2009 at 9:26 amHey, I have never been there. Once you drive to the top-do you have to hike as well? How hard is the terrain coming down? What is St. Marys?
Thanks!!
Shay
July 7, 2009 at 9:30 amAh it’s totally worth checking out. Once you drive to the top you can park and enjoy the rail area. If you want to actually make turns you’ll have to hike up from the parking area.
The terrain isn’t that hard but i wouldn’t go there to learn, there are rocks around and the snow isn’t that great, slushy leftover snow.
St. Mary’s Glacier is another location in Colorado near Eclipse snow park and off i-70 at st mary/alice I believe is the exit, you drive up there and park, then hike to get up to the snow. Pretty good hike but amazing location.
Jen
July 7, 2009 at 11:00 amok thanks!
So… how far do you have to hike from the parking at either of those? which one has better snow? which is harder/easier?
thanks 🙂
Shay
July 7, 2009 at 6:42 pmHere’s how I see it, if you hit rails go to Breck. If you want a long run go to St Mary’s. The hike is more at St Mary’s cause you have to park then hike to the lake and then hike all the way up to the top of the snow from there…it’s a hike. Breck isn’t a hike if you just hit the rail park, since you park your 4wd vehicle and are touching snow within feet.
There’s no such thing as better snow in the summer, they both are summer leftover snowpack so not the best. Wax your board!
Depends on the rider which is harder/easier, with rocks nearby you need to be able to ride decent and not worry about going into the rocks.
collin
July 20, 2009 at 10:06 pmwhat road takes you there??? ski hill..where do i go??????
Shay
July 21, 2009 at 6:30 amWhen you get into Breck, get onto Park Avenue and take a right on Village Road. On the left side of Village Road, you’ll see a parking lot with a pay booth that you can drive into and from that parking lot is a dirt road that goes up near the horse stables, when you get close to the horse stables you see that the road goes to the right, you follow to the right and then it’s a lot of switchbacks, rugged rocky terrain to get up. You need 4wd to get up the road and even then it’s sketchy. Vehicles going uphill have the right of way so always watch for other vehicles on the one way road cause it’s a pain to find spots to pull off, few and far between.
k
July 25, 2009 at 2:34 pmneeded to throw out a correction, fourth of july bowl is on peak 10, not peak 9.
Shay
July 25, 2009 at 2:48 pmThanks K I fixed that up!