First, the storm

 Before I talk about BreyerWest, I have to talk about the storm.

For the first few days at least, the storm was the story of this year's BreyerWest.

It started snowing Wednesday night and continued snowing for thirty six hours, dumping huge amounts of wet, heavy snow on the Colorado foothills and front range.

Roads were closed.

illustration by Karen Gerhardt

Flights were cancelled.

photo by Tara Reich

The entire Denver Metro area was a mess.

When I woke up on Thursday morning, most of Aurora's thirteen inches - it was closer to seventeen at my house - was already on the ground.

The dogs and I went out to investigate.

Yep, that's a lot of snow.

As part of the BreyerWest set-up crew, I was supposed to be at the National Western Complex at 8:30 that morning. That got pushed back a bit because of road conditions.

 Still, I needed more than an extra hour to get my car off my street.

We tried really hard...

but it wasn't happening.

Seth to the rescue!

His van has more clearance than my car, and he was able to get us out the neighborhood.

After that, it was smooth sailing. 

It takes more than a giant storm to stop this crew!

Against all odds, BreyerWest 2024 was happening.