{"id":802645,"date":"2019-12-29T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376632"},"modified":"2019-12-29T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T00:00:00","slug":"top-10-sports-stories-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/top-10-sports-stories-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 sports stories of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Frank Walter, 96, skies with help from colleagues April 4 at Keystone Resort.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

1. 96-year-old Frank Walter skis his final run of the season at Keystone Resort<\/a><\/h4>\n

Frank Walter of Copper Mountain is regarded as a superman of skiing for so many Summit County locals.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Walter has inspired many Summit County visitors and longtime residents because he\u2019s continued his lifelong passion for skiing despite his age and reduced mobility.<\/p>\n

April 4 at Keystone Resort was Walter\u2019s third day skiing this season, after a couple days skiing with his son and nephew at Copper Mountain Resort over the holidays. Three ski days \u2014 it\u2019s far from the numbers the longtime Copper Mountain resident used to register when he was younger. These days he walks gingerly with a cane. Still, Walter was there in November at Copper\u2019s opening day to press the button to start the Super Bee lift, long his favorite chair from which to ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to average 151 (days). That\u2019s all they were open,\u201d Walter said. \u201cAnd then, I just ran out of gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: April 4 was Walter\u2019s final day on the slopes. He now lives at a care facility in Golden. Read more at summitdaily.com\/longevity<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A snowboarder lets out a scream of elation while riding at Breckenridge Ski Resort on the closing day of the extended 2018-19 winter season.<\/strong>
Antonio Olivero \/ aolivero@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

2. Breckenridge Ski Resort caps memorable 206-day season with bluebird skies on closing day<\/a><\/h4>\n

What a day to end an all-time season.<\/p>\n

Bluebird skies, top-to-bottom runs and scant wind gusts blessed local skiers and riders June 9 for Breckenridge Ski Resort\u2019s final day of the 2018-19 season. Skiing was crusty in spots up top and slushy with warm, full-on summer weather down below, but it was a classic day at Breckenridge. Even Trygve Berge, one of the resort\u2019s founders, made it out for some end-of-season turns to culminate a 206-day season that began Nov. 7, 2018.<\/p>\n

Breckenridge\u2019s crews manicured the remaining snow lower down on Peak 7 to provide top-to-bottom runs off the Independence SuperChair despite the surrounding mud-season conditions. In the high Alpine, skiers and riders were able to access the T-Bar shortly after the ski resort opened at 9 a.m., and the Imperial Express SuperChair \u2014 the continent\u2019s highest chairlift at just under 13,000 feet \u2014 opened shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

3. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area chief operating officer elaborates on condensed June operations<\/a><\/h4>\n

In advance of its weekends-only season extension through at least June 23, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area announced on social media that the only lift-served terrain offered for the remainder of the season will be skiing and riding off the Black Mountain Express and Lenawee Mountain lifts.<\/p>\n

A-Basin\u2019s Chief Operating Officer Alan Henceroth described in a blog post<\/a> how crews keep the ski area open into summer.<\/p>\n

Henceroth wrote that on weekdays, the ski area\u2019s snowcat crew will be busy opening waterbars \u2014 a way for controlling runoff \u2014 and managing snow. Henceroth said each week the ski area\u2019s crew will have snow torn up for a few days before putting it back together by the time chairs start spinning again each Friday.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: A-Basin closed for the 2018-19 season July 4.<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Dew Tour likely won\u2019t return to Breckenridge Ski Resort in 2019<\/a><\/h4>\n

The annual Dew Tour snowboarding and freeskiing event might not return to Breckenridge Ski Resort in December.<\/p>\n

Dew Tour spokeswoman Melissa Gullotti wrote in an email that Dew Tour was in active discussions with several resorts about the future location of the event.<\/p>\n

Dew Tour\u2019s previous contract with Breckenridge Ski Resort concluded with the event in December 2018. It was the 11th consecutive year Dew Tour competitions took place in Breckenridge.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Dew Tour will be held Feb. 6-9 at Copper Mountain Resort.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The American Flyer high-speed six-person chairs with bubble enclosures await their opening day at Copper Mountain Resort. <\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

5. Opening of new American Flyer lift again delayed at Copper Mountain Resort<\/a><\/h4>\n

The New Year\u2019s holiday came and went at Copper Mountain Resort without the opening of Copper\u2019s new American Flyer chairlift.<\/p>\n

Resort officials said in December 2018 that they were hopeful the new American Flyer lift would be open by Christmas that year, though they made it clear the timeline was subject to change. On Jan. 1, Copper posted on its social media channels that unexpected complications related to the new lift\u2019s automation software had caused the most recent delays to the opening of American Flyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect these programming malfunctions to be resolved within days and allow the project to get back on schedule,\u201d Copper wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: The American Flyer lift opened Jan. 10.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Peak 8 Ski Area, the predecessor to the current Breckenridge Ski Resort, is depicted in this drawing from the 1961-62 season. The drawing shows the original half-dozen runs at the ski area. <\/strong>
Courtesy Summit Historical Society<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

6. Creation and growth of Summit County\u2019s ski areas shaped the mountain sports community<\/a><\/h4>\n

Breckenridge Ski Resort co-founder Trygve Berge points out several locations from his perch at The Crown coffee shop above Breckenridge\u2019s Main Street. Few structures resided in the footprints of these contemporary buildings when he first visited six decades ago.<\/p>\n

He waxes nostalgic about how property was alarmingly cheap to purchase. He emphasizes how there was hardly anyone here. Historical records chronicle the Rocky Mountain mining town\u2019s population dipping to 383 in 1960. Scouring his memory, Berge recalls that number being closer to 200 \u2014 maybe fewer.<\/p>\n

Now 87, the 1956 Olympic Norwegian Alpine skier still skis more than a half-century after he first arrived to scout the potential of a ski area. Berge was invited by Bill Rounds, of the Kansas-based Rounds and Porter Lumber Co., along with fellow Norwegian Olympic downhiller Sigurd Rockne. In 1960, the trio toasted to the town\u2019s future near the current location of the upper terminal of the Colorado SuperChair on Peak 8.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 59 years to this past June: Berge hops off the Independence SuperChair at tree line on the resort\u2019s Peak 7. It\u2019s just a short ski north along the Tenmile Range from where he, Rockne and Rounds toasted in 1960. On this warm, sunny day, Berge sticks to trails below tree line, though many others ride the Imperial Express SuperChair to ski from just below the summit of Peak 8.<\/p>\n

Rising to 12,840 feet, Imperial is the highest chairlift on the continent and serves as an emblem of what Summit County resort skiing has become nearly three-quarters of a century after Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, the oldest remaining ski area in the county, opened in 1946.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Read more about Summit County history at summitdaily.com\/news\/history<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Members of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area\u2019s ski patrol chat near the top of the Pallavicini Chairlift on the morning of March 9. A-Basin remained closed the two days prior due to avalanche concerns.<\/strong>
Courtesy Arapahoe Basin Ski Area<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

7. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area director of snow safety recalls closure amid avalanche concerns<\/a><\/h4>\n

Just what does it take to close Arapahoe Basin Ski Area?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question many Summit County locals, visitors and online commenters had after the ski area near the Continental Divide remained closed for two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cSnow is a good thing\u201d A-Basin Director of Snow Safety Ryan Evanczyk said. \u201cHowever, you can get into situations where too much snow influences your ability to open. And I think it\u2019s inherent as to our location on the Continental Divide here that we could run into these scenarios. But again, it\u2019s still really rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only the second time in Evanczyk\u2019s near two-decade tenure at A-Basin that he can remember the Widowmaker path 1 mile west and down the road from the ski area covering the highway with avalanche debris. The Widowmaker is an extremely dangerous south-facing gully that also covered Colorado Highway 9 with avalanche debris once prior: in February 2014, according to Evanczyk\u2019s recollection.<\/p>\n

8. Red Gerard to compete in X Games\u2019 first-ever Knuckle Huck competition<\/a><\/h4>\n

The X Games will feature something truly different when snowboarders take not to the jump portion of Buttermilk Mountain\u2019s big air venue, but rather, the knuckle.<\/p>\n

The \u201cknuckle\u201d is the rollover of the big air jump. For the first time this year, Winter X Games Aspen will feature a Knuckle Huck competition. For the competition, snowboarders will take off that rollover portion of the jump and hurl a trick before finishing in the same landing area as the big air competition. The snowboarders will execute tricks off the knuckle for a set period of time in a jam-style format throwing as many tricks as possible within the allotted time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince riders do not get as much height, the tricks must instead rely on technicality and creativity,\u201d said a new releases from X Games Aspen.<\/p>\n

9. \u2018Never say never\u2019: Longtime CDOT avalanche expert puts this month\u2019s slides into historical context<\/a><\/h4>\n

It was a relic of grainy Disney Studios footage from 1957 that elicited the loudest gasps from the audience at the Colorado Department of Transportation avalanche lecture<\/a> at the Frisco Historic Park & Museum.<\/p>\n

In the brief black-and-white clip, a deep-voiced narrator describes the fatal nightmare filmed by photographer John Hermann. At the time, 62 years ago, Hermann asked people living near the Continental Divide for the best location to film an avalanche. The story goes that longtime High Country locals pointed Hermann to what they referred to as the Dam Slide, an avalanche path above Berthoud Pass on U.S. Highway 40 on the border of Clear Creek and Grand counties.<\/p>\n

The longtime locals Hermann spoke with thought there was no way a Dam Slide avalanche would ever reach the road where he and highway department supervisor Wayne Whitlock would set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo both men set up the camera on the highway and filmed and continued filming the avalanche until it reached the highway,\u201d CDOT avalanche mitigation and snow removal expert Ray Mumford said about the men who were killed. \u201c\u2026 That was the last time it hit the highway until three weeks ago\u201d in March.<\/p>\n

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Copper Mountain Resort\u2019s new general manager and former NFL player Dustin Lyman rides on the new American Eagle gondola Jan. 25 at the resort.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

10. New Copper Mountain general manager, ex-NFL player Dustin Lyman, confident in leading resort\u2019s future<\/a><\/h4>\n

Snowboarding wasn\u2019t mainstream in the 1980s, but that didn\u2019t stop a young Dustin Lyman and his Boulder buddies from messing around on their Snurfer boards on the sledding hills of Scott Carpenter Park.<\/p>\n

Back then, the future National Football League player would meet up with friends before they\u2019d conjure whatever kind of snowboarding setup they could muster. In those early years, that sometimes meant strapping their Sorel snow boots to wooden planks with rudimentary plastic bindings or by nailing down belt straps.<\/p>\n

The city of Boulder had its limits, though. That led Lyman first to nearby Eldora Moutain Resort and then Copper Mountain Resort, where Lyman remembers pushing his young snowboarding limits on the Coppertone run.<\/p>\n

And now he\u2019s back at Copper as the resort\u2019s new president and general manager.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank Walter, 96, skies with help from colleagues April 4 at Keystone Resort.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com 1. 96-year-old Frank Walter skis his final run of the season at Keystone Resort Frank Walter of Copper Mountain is regarded as a superman of skiing for so many Summit County locals. In recent years, Walter has inspired many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-802645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 17:52:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}