Breckenridge's July 4th Skiing Celebration Perseveres Despite New Challenges

In 2023, Josh Barilar got a call from the Forest Service, who'd caught wind of a grassroots summer ski party being held just above Breckenridge Resort, Colorado, every Fourth of July.

The event—called the Peak 10 Classic —was started by Barilar in 2018 by piggybacking off a pre-existing tradition. For decades, skiers have gathered on Independence Day to ski the aptly named Fourth of July Bowl beneath the summit of Peak 10, which towers over Breckenridge's resort boundary. As fun as shredding under the summer sun is, Barilar thought the tradition could be leveraged for the greater good.

"I kind of really looked at that and said, 'You know, there has to be a cause here," says Barilar. He noticed that most of skiing's late season parties lacked a fundraising component, so for the first year of the Peak 10 Classic, the event raised funds for a friend of Barilar's who was injured in the mountains and didn't have health insurance.

Since then, the Peak 10 Classic has grown in popularity and has named a new charitable beneficiary: SOS Outreach, a non-profit organization that provides underprivileged youth with mentorship and the opportunity to get outside.

"It aligned pretty well because it was like, 'Okay, well, we're a bunch of folks that are skiing in Breckenridge on the Fourth, what a better way to give back than to kids that are actually in our community that might not be able to afford getting into snowsports,'" says Zach Ryan, who eventually joined Barilar as a Peak 10 Classic co-organizer.

The two first met when Ryan gave Barilar a ride back to Summit County after Alta Ski Area’s famous end-of-season party, Frank. Upon hearing Barilar's description of the Peak 10 Classic during the drive home, Ryan was on board and wanted to help.

Each year, the Peak 10 Classic boasts a handful of jumps, but the centerpiece is the snake run, a winding series of berms the attendees hike and ski. To construct these features ahead of the event, Ryan and Barilar recruited the help of numerous volunteers, including some friends whose expertise in mountain bike jump building lent itself well to designing the snake run. On the event day, "We had almost 400 people up there just hanging out and spectating, watching and enjoying some summer beverages," says Ryan.

Things were a bit different at the Peak 10 Classic this year, though. When the Forest Service contacted Barilar in 2023, they suspected he and Ryan were involved with the annual Fourth of July parties and wanted to know what they were all about.

"They said we're going to come out, and we're going to observe this year," says Ryan, explaining that around ten Forest Service rangers attended the 2023 Peak 10 Classic for observation purposes. "Technically, anytime there are more than 75 people gathered on US Forest Service land, a permit is required, and it is considered an event."

From there, dialogue between the Forest Service and the Peak 10 Classic's organizers spanned several months. The organizers would, indeed, need to obtain a non-commercial special use permit and, for the 2024 event, driving to the Overlook Restaurant on Breckenridge's piste—where attendees often parked in the past before heading beyond the resort's boundary—wouldn't be allowed based on a partnership between the Forest Service and Breckenridge.

"Since this event takes place outside of our resort boundary and permit area, our primary goal and priority is really to support our partners at the US Forest Service to help manage, protect, and prevent damage to our resources and forests," wrote Sara Lococo, Breckenridge's senior communications manager, via email, when asked about the resort's involvement in the decision to prevent parking at the Overlook Restaurant.

“Our primary concerns are public safety and minimizing damage to the alpine tundra,” wrote a representative from the Forest Service also via email. “[In 2023] we worked with Breckenridge to use the Overlook for parking as an emergency measure, but it was never meant to be the long-term solution.”

“We appreciate the long tradition of skiing the Fourth of July Bowl on July 4 and want to continue to accommodate this unique experience,” the Forest Service representative noted.

Two main challenges emerged from this shift. One, Barilar and Ryan needed to figure out how to get attendees from the base of Breckenridge to the Overlook Restaurant, where the hike to the Fourth of July Bowl often begins, snowpack dependent. Given the distance involved, asking attendees to walk from the resort's base to the Bowl presumably wasn't an option. Two, they needed an insurance policy.

The latter problem almost derailed the 2024 Peak 10 Classic. "Come January, we were like, 'There's just no way that we can swing this insurance policy' and we actually attempted to back out," says Ryan of their discussions with the Forest Service.

However, their Forest Service permit administrator thought the pair had done well organizing the event in the past and tapped a few local resources to see if there was a workaround. This eventually drew the support of the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District (FDRD), who helped the Peak 10 Classic cover higher upfront costs. Ultimately, the FDRD became the non-commercial special use permit holder. “They're awesome,” says Ryan. “The FDRD really was crucial.”

To address the parking issue, Barilar and Ryan partnered with Summit Express, a local airport shuttle company, which brought skiers from the base of Breckenridge to the Overlook Restaurant for free. "They were really helpful and really cooperative, and they pretty much saved the day," says Barilar. "If it wasn't for them, [the Peak 10 Classic] probably would never have happened."

While Barilar and Ryan are the Peak 10 Classic's primary organizers, they're quick to note that their mountain community ultimately championed the event. Numerous local businesses and ski companies have contributed prizes for a charitable raffle, and four breweries—Breckenridge Brewery, Syndicate Brewing Co., Angry James Brewery, and Broken Compass Brewing—teamed up to create a Peak 10 Classic beer, a portion of the proceeds from which benefitted SOS Outreach. Broken Compass has held the Peak 10 Classic afterparty for the past few summers.

"We do a lot of the kind of back-end organization and legwork, but so many people show up," says Ryan. "There are so many volunteers and so many people who are willing to shovel, or you know, we have folks who help us approach businesses for donations."

Ryan notes that this year’s Peak 10 Classic changes, particularly the implementation of shuttles, generated some controversy. On Instagram, below the Peak 10 Classic's 2024 announcement, a handful of skiers insinuated that the Overlook parking ban—and ensuing shuttle use—had "ruined" the tradition of skiing Peak 10 on July Fourth.

"Once we announced that, 'Hey, it was going to be permitted and that people couldn't park at the Overlook or they couldn't drive to the Bowl.' It was scary," says Ryan. "But anybody who waited it out and came up to the Bowl had a great time, and the vibe of the Bowl was really kind of unchanged."

In years past, hosting the Peak 10 Classic required a significant chunk of Ryan and Barilar's time, but in terms of spending, the duo only had to buy a couple hundred hotdogs before heading into the mountains.

Now, shuttles and porta potties are part of the deal. Covering these additional expenses ate into the amount the Peak 10 Classic raised this year. Therefore, Ryan explains that he and Barilar are hoping to eventually secure a sponsor who sees the event as a good cause.

It's a story that's played out in skiing countless times. When an event becomes truly popular, it has to tangle with the weight of evolving from the grassroots mindset. However, Ryan and Barilar are optimistic about the future of the Peak 10 Classic. "I think that we'll be able to do this again in the future,” says Ryan.

"The Forest Service has already reached out to us about scheduling, you know, our follow-up meeting and talking about how next year is going to run."

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