View from the Summit
Photos Courtesy of Vail Resorts
Great skiers like Norwegian Trygve Berge firmly placed Breckenridge on the nation’s skiing map.
Murph’s favored mode of transportation between Breckenridge’s saloons was roller skates.
That presented two challenges: 1) Murph’s skating skills diminished with each bar he visited, and 2) this was in the mid 1970s when most of Breckenridge’s streets were unpaved.
I met Murph, at a bar, during my first days in Breckenridge in 1974. Soon after, on the ski slopes, I became acquainted with Crazy John, Rick the Pup and the Banana Man, three of the best skiers around.
My financial situation dictated I either buy a season ski pass or pay for ski school lessons; I decided to teach myself to ski.
While riding up on the chair lift for yet another harrowing ski run, I’d look down and often see one of those three beneath me skiing beautifully.
Crazy John was named “Crazy” because he was. They called Rick Ascher “The Pup” because he was young and frisky.
The Banana Man moniker came from the jacket Scott Rawles wore, which was a top-coat festooned with bananas.
Whenever any of the three passed under the lift I’d watch with envy. But when C.J., Pup and the Banana Man were still learning to turn, some of the best skiers in the world lived in Breckenridge.
Sigurd Rockne and Trygve Berge, both members of the Norwegian National Ski team, were brought to Breckenridge by the legendary Olympian Stein Erickson to help cut trails and run the ski school at the soon-to-be-opened Breckenridge ski resort in 1961.
By the time I arrived both Sigurd and Trygve were in their 40s, but they skied with athletic elegance that made even the Banana Man jealous.
The population of all of Summit County now is around 26,000; in the mid-50s it was just over 1,000.
Though today’s Summit can on occasion feel a little crowded, back in the mining boom of the 1800s there were over 50,000 residents.
There were thousands of miners, hundreds of mines, and countless bar rooms, boarding houses, casinos and brothels.
The County was filled with characters both good and bad. Barney Ford, a black miner was chased out of town by a bigoted sheriff, only to return years later a successful entrepreneur and civil rights leader.
Ford’s home is now a museum lovingly restored, along with many other Main Street historical buildings, by Robin and Patty Theobald.
Pug Ryan was a thief and murderer; he robbed and killed, escaped capture and was arrested four years later to be sentenced to life in prison. A restaurant in Dillon bears his name.
Father Dyer ministered to remote mining camps on skis; the local Methodist church is named after him.
You can learn more by attending one of the many sesquicentennial events of the “Breck 150” going on this summer. (Breck150.com) There are also many museums and walking tours.
As for the historical characters mentioned in this column: Banana Man is now head coach of the US Freestyle Team and C.J. (Crazy John) once held the world speed skiing record of 147 miles an hour.
He no longer is crazy and still skis almost 100 days a year. Murph is skating in a place where all the roads are paved and all the beer is free, Sigurd and Trygve still ski better than I do and Rick the Pup has a ski shop and two Pups of his own.
Jeffrey Bergeron, under the alias of Biff America, can be seen on RSN TV and read in several newspapers and magazines.
Biff’s book, Steep, Deep and Dyslexic, is available from local book stores or from www.webersbooks.com.
Reader Comments:
Keep up the greatness Biff!!!!! Hope to make it to Breck soon. Todd