Posted for Nancy Yearout
RE/MAX Properties of the Summit
nyearout@colorado.net
http://www.realestate-breckenridge.net
For a good lesson on local history, go skiing. At Breckenridge Ski Resort, many
of the runs are named after early ski area characters or events, and some after
the personal whims of early locals. Here's the story behind some of the first
runs, plus their lower run-outs, named in the early days after Peak 8 Ski Area
(Breck's original name) opened in December of 1961.
Four O'Clock was
probably the first run cut through the woods. It went from its current location
near present-day Vista Haus down to Park Avenue. Its name, appropriately,
derives from the fact that it was the way down to town at
closing.
Springmeier (the correct spelling was actually Springmeyer) was
named, for reasons only the forest knows, after a colorful local character of
the 1940s to 1960s — Alva Springmeyer. His story is shrouded in mystery except
that he came from Oklahoma and made quite a bit of money in oil (this was known
because the local postal clerk noted the monthly checks he received from some
oil interests). Springmeyer married Agnes Adams, who owned a millinery shop in
the current location of Skinny Winter gift shop on Main Street. Springmeyer kept
his herd of goats in the rear of the building in winter. The couple lived in the
log cabin next to Gold Pan Saloon that currently houses Twin Moose yogurt shop.
Springmeyer also invested in local real estate and probably made a killing when
the ski resort developers needed land for lodging, retail and other facilities.
Maybe that's why his name graces one of Breck's ski runs today.
Rounders
and Callie's Alley were named after the resort's first developer — Bill Rounds
(nicknamed “Rounder”) — and his wife Carolyn (nicknamed “Callie”). Rounds owned
Rounds and Porter, a Wichita, Kan., lumber, oil and real estate development
firm. Callie still lives in the Denver area, while Bill passed away some years
ago. The final run — Spruce — was simply named after the official Colorado
tree.
The resort's original chairlift was named the Heron #1 and ran from
near the base of the current Rocky Mountain Superchair to a point above and
north of Vista Haus. The chair had a mid-point off-loading capability in the
flat area below the intersection of Spruce, Swinger and Rounders. The
northernmost run back to the base — the continuation of Spruce — was named Ego
Lane because it was so easy that it boosted your ego and courage on the way
down. On the opposite, south side of the tree island on the left side of Ego
Lane was Boreas Bounce, currently the lower part of Crescendo.
Later runs
in the same general area include two named after successful movies of 1977:
“High Anxiety” and “The Goodbye Girl.” Both of these runs were cut during the
late 1970s ownership of the ski area by 20th Century Fox when the movie studio,
flush with profits from these movies as well as “Star Wars,” ventured into the
ski recreation business for a short time.
And then there was Little
Johnny, whose real name was Johnny Sheron, a fiery, party-loving,
height-challenged lifty of the mid- to late-1960s who lived in Fairplay. Who
knows where Little Johnny is today — but his name lives on in the snows of
Breckenridge.
Many thanks to Maureen Nicholls for some of the details in
this article.
