Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com from May 12-18.

1. ‘Dangerous and potentially armed suspect’ in Blue River, lockdown in place

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office issued a lockdown order on Saturday, May 18, for anyone in the area of Colorado Highway 9 and Blue River Road in the town of Blue River. The order was canceled around 1 p.m.

“The reason for that shelter-in-place (order) was, earlier in the day, an armed and dangerous suspect fled from law enforcement in Teller County, was spotted in Alma, and fled law enforcement in Alma headed towards Breck. He crashed his car in Blue River,” said Summit County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Mike Schilling.

Schilling said that earlier Saturday, Teller County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Colorado State Patrol officers “and others,” attempted to stop the suspect in Teller County but cut off the chase “due to public safety concerns.” 

According to a post by the Park County Sheriff’s Office on social media, the suspect was allegedly “wanted for a felony warrant” and was “reported to be armed with a firearm.”

When the suspect was spotted again in Alma, the suspect allegedly led police in a chase over Hoosier Pass and towards Breckenridge. The suspect crashed his vehicle near mile marker 83 on Colorado Highway 9 in Blue River. 

Local law enforcement, with Blue River Police Department taking the lead, responded to the incident and “had to safely extricate (the suspect) from the car (and) get him medical attention,” Schilling said.

The suspect “sustained serious injuries” as a result of the crash and was airlifted to receive medical care in Denver, according to the Park County Sheriff’s Office.

— Summit Daily News staff

2. How busy was Breckenridge this ski season?

When it comes to quantifying exactly how busy the town of Breckenridge was during ski season, things can get a bit tricky. 

The Breckenridge Tourism Office utilizes a software called Key Data to get a snapshot of how booked short-term rental properties in the town were during ski season. Public relations director Melissa Andrews said that the data the tourism office pulled May 5 shows that guest night bookings were up 2% year over year. She said this is fairly flat. 

Andrews said that while Key Data captures data from most short-term rental properties in Breckenridge, it does not capture every single one. 

Property management companies in the area also use Key Data software to get short-term rental data in addition to another software called DestiMetrics. 

President of Breckenridge Resorts Managers Toby Babich uses data from both Key Data and DestiMetrics. Babich said that by comparing both data sets, he found that December was up in occupancy, January was flat in occupancy and February was also flat in occupancy for bookings in short-term rental properties. Additionally March was flat in occupancy and April was down in occupancy.

“Quantifying data is so complicated because timeshares don’t participate, hotels don’t participate and each data set is made up of different rental units,” Babich said. “On top of all of that, that doesn’t even count the owner-managed vacation rentals in town.” 

— Kit Geary

3. Officials share details on proposed Breckenridge Ski Resort Peak 9 improvements, including new gondola, lift replacement

Breckenridge Ski Resort is proposing multiple improvements to Peak 9, including the construction of a new gondola and the replacement of an existing chairlift.

The White River National Forest said in a news release Tuesday, May 14, that it is now seeking public comments on the proposal, which is located within the ski resort’s existing permitted. A majority of the project is on national forest lands.

Under the proposal, a new Peak 9 Gondola would be constructed near the Quicksilver SuperChair, the release states. A new learning area — with two short conveyors, a ski and ride school warming hut, a bathroom and increased snowmaking coverage — is proposed to be built near the gondola’s midway station on the Frontier Trail.

Upon completion of the proposed gondola, the A-Chair lift would be removed. A-Chair, a three-person lift, was constructed 1975, making it the second oldest lift still running at Breckenridge, according to LiftBlog.com.

The existing double C-Chair — which was constructed in 1972 and, at 52 years old, is the oldest operating lift currently at Breckenridge — would also be replaced with a high-speed, six-person lift under the proposal.

— Ryan Spencer

4. Aurora borealis dazzles over Colorado’s mountains

Readers were eager to share their photos of the aurora borealis, which appeared over Summit County, Colorado, and across the world particularly on Friday, May 10.

The phenomena was due to a rare geomagnetic storm. On Thursday, May 9, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch, the first in nearly 20 years. 

5. Arapahoe Basin’s longest-tenured employees reflect on over 40 years at the ski area 

For the last 40-plus years, two men have drastically helped shape the skiing and riding experience on the trails that make up Arapahoe Basin Ski Area. 

Working deep into the night with the ski area blanketed in the occasional glow from the moon and the stars, Dick Dreyer and Gerry Dorsey have groomed snow across the mountain so that when sunlight peaks over the spiny crag of East Wall, guests will be met with a fresh and fast layer of corduroy. 

Dreyer and Dorsey began working at A-Basin only a few years apart, with Dreyer being the first to join the then small crew of employees in 1978 and Dorsey following in 1980. Now, after a combined 90 seasons of grooming, A-Basin’s longest-serving employees have decided to call it a career.

— Cody Jones