Berthoud Pass SkiBike Meet

Berthoud Pass. I had never even heard of the place until Devin Lenz called me up and asked me if SkiBikeFun could attend and help sponsor the inaugural Berthoud Pass SkiBike rally. Still jonesing for a few more runs this season, we agreed and drove up for the weekend of fun.

At 11,307 ft tall, there was not much air up there but there was a bunch of snow!!! Melanie and I arrived at the parking lot at Berthoud at just after 7:10am on Saturday April 30, 2011. Waiting for Devin and his crew, we noticed that there was already about 6 cars in the parking lot with most of those folks gone hiking already and a few more getting gear on for the upcoming fun. We started to see several people in many different directions hiking mountains in skis with skin and even saw a snowboarder post hole it up the big mountain top across the street. I have to give credit to these folks. I can't hardly breathe at this elevation sitting in the car in the parking lot and these folks are skinning up the mountain on skis. WOW!!

Finally Devin and team arrived and the real fun began. We started setting up the grills, unloading bikes, assembling the ramps for the big air and carving a walking path up the snow bank to the start of our runs. Devin arrived with this SIC ramp he built just for jumping. He is a perfectionist like no other I have ever seen. The ramp work was amazing and he even took the time to finish it so it looked like the darn thing was made of wood logs. We finally got most of the preliminary work completed and it was time to start playing.

As we all started down the first run, breaking the trail through "FEET" of fresh powder snow, it was not as easy as I had been accustomed too on ski hills. With no real bottom packed out on the run, it was a lot of work getting the first path cut. We had rode down about 1/3 of the way and gotten into some very flat parts of the run. We were all pushing through it and scootering our bikes it and holy molly it was a lot of work. We had taken a breather at this point and the folks above us moved forward. 3 of us left there and as we go to take off, one of the guys with us says he's not feeling to well and as I looked at him, he was pale as the snow. I asked him to sit down and the old boy almost lost consciences on me several times. Altitude sickness!! I've seen it before in folks but never had to deal with it personally. I usually find a ski patrol but at this event, there was none. I felt very helpless out there and all I could do it keep that old boy awake and as warm as possible. I was able to sit with him while the other guy with me headed down for help. After about 25 minutes, he started to come around a bit and I was able to ride with him very slowly and get him off the mountain. The entire episode rattled me a bit for the rest of the day but was very glad I got him done in one piece. He did not get back on the mountain the rest of the day.

I went down for another run and what a difference after the run was packed out!! A lot of fun!! We then moved into a timed race down the hill with each rider starting at 2min intervals. Times down ranged from approx. 10:30 to almost a full 20:00 minutes. Melanie and I were the finish officials and had a lot of fun.

We all finished out the day with some food and the big air competition. We took off after the awards ceremony and headed back into Winterpark to our condo. As we drove down the switchbacks off the mountain; there was not a single open piece of mountain side that did not have tracks coming down it. With no chair lifts in sight, that was impressive to me....the chubby kid from New Mexico.

The next day, I was wasted from all the fun and play but I'm still beaming from the fun I had even today. I called Devin back after I returned and said we wanted to help sponser this again next year and do it even bigger!!

A huge thanks for the efforts of everybody that came to the event. What a bunch of fun!!

Keep it skinny side up!!

Randy