ELDORA — They piled out of their borrowed, 31-foot RV with ski boots on, with turns to make and a schedule to keep.
Three members of the Ski Colorado Breast Cancer Awareness Tour grabbed first chairs Monday morning at Eldora, while the other three tended a table to distribute Colorado Breast Cancer Coalition pamphlets, pink bandanas and cards explaining their mission:
To ski all 27 Colorado ski areas in eight days, raising awareness and funds for breast cancer prevention.
“People have been pretty curious,” said one of the women, Page Kelley. “Are we selling something? What are we doing? So it takes a little bit of explanation.”
Five women — all graduates of Cherry Creek High School, Class of 2004 — and one man began the tour Sunday with stops at Steamboat Springs, Howelsen Hill, SolVista and Winter Park. If the tour goes as planned, they will finish this Sunday with a sweep of the Aspen areas.
Monday would take them from Eldora to Echo Mountain, Loveland, Arapahoe Basin and Keystone. Today the itinerary includes Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Vail and Beaver Creek.
They had already raised $10,000 in excess of expenses before the gondola ride Sunday at Steamboat that got their tour underway. They hope to raise more this week as their message spreads (for more information: ).
“We’re really trying to bring light to the whole thing,” said Laura Yale, whose mother died of breast cancer when Laura was 10 years old. “A lot of breast cancer survivors and people in treatment are coming up. They’re really excited about it. They love the RV, they love that we’re skiing, they have all their stories.”
The five women have been friends since high school, and three went to the same kindergarten. Two winters ago they worked in Aspen and would talk about what it would be like to ski every area in the state. Then they thought about doing it on a single road trip.
“It just sort of flowed naturally into something that we could do for the greater good, and not just be a random escapade,” said Kelley, who lives in Chicago.
Colorado Ski Country USA supplied them with gold passes. Windish RV Center loaned them the RV, which can sleep eight, and let them cover it with vinyl to promote the cause. Banner Signs and Decals of Lakewood supplied the vinyl wrap for less than half the price it would cost normally.
“The very first ride, on the gondola at Steamboat, it was a little bit of nerves, a little bit of uncertainty about how we would be received,” Kelley said. “But as soon as we broke the ice with the people we were riding with and told them about what we were doing, they were real excited about it and thought it was so unique and cool.”
Eager to stay on schedule, they spent only an hour at Steamboat, 30 minutes at Howelsen and 40 minutes at SolVista. At Winter Park, they could chill.
“Winter Park, we stayed for almost two hours,” Kelley said. “It was a lot of the spring break crowd. We were really surprised by how many survivors came up to speak with us.”
Yale’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after Laura was born. Her mother seemingly beat the disease, but it came back eight years after the first appearance. She died two years later in 1996.
“We did a dedication lap for her at Winter Park because that’s where our family used to take our ski trips,” Yale said. “That was really special. We did a little moment of silence on the top of the mountain. It was pretty emotional, not just for me, but for my friends that were surrounding me.”
They are skiing, however, with wide smiles, big hearts and lots of pink.
“Everyone wants to be excited and happy, celebrating life and love,” Yale said. “And skiing. That’s what’s bringing us all together, the skiing.”
