Lee Lucas: Captured A Legacy of Fun in Breckenridge
Lee Lucas Latest Film: Breckenridge Rewind – Captures a Legacy of Fun in Breckenridge’s early ski town years
by Leigh Girvin
Lee Lucas left a legacy of fun in Breckenridge that locals still remember today: April Fool’s Day parties in Horseshoe Bowl, the ZLTV station, and a massive catalogue of videos that captured Breckenridge’s early ski town years.
Lucas departed Breckenridge over thirty years ago, yet his impact continues. And this summer, you’ll get to see why. In August, the Breckenridge International Festival of the Arts (BIFA) will premier “Breck Rewind,” a compilation of Lucas’ rare video footage from the 1970s and 1980s.
The Army taught Lee Lucas how to ski in the late-1960s. His war assignments kept him out of danger: he threw disk and shot put for the Army Track Team in Europe, then drove a jeep for U.S. service members on R&R in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. There, he didn’t just learn to ski, he excelled, applying his surfing background to snow. Soon Lucas was forerunning race courses and skiing with legend Willy Bogner.
Back home in 1969, Lucas worked for his uncle helping build the tarmacs at Denver’s Stapleton Airport. Taking a break, Lee visited Breckenridge. Waiting in line to buy a lift ticket, he stood out in his red one-piece Bogner ski suit. “No one wore one-piece suits in those days,” he explained. A man asked him if he could ski. “Yes sir,” he replied. It was Harry Baum, Sr., owner of the ski area. He offered Lee a free lift ticket and they skied a few runs. Baum introduced Lee to everyone. Soon Lee a job and a place to live in Breckenridge.
Lucas began taking skiers on tours and competing on the Midas Muffler Chevrolet Freestyle Circuit with wild exhibitions of skiing before a judging panel giving points in Aerial, Moguls, and Ballet.
At the end of two seasons, Lee didn’t need a panel of judges to pull his tricks; a local audience and a camera would do. He famously jumped over the old Ski Patrol shack on Peak 8, and purposely rolled down the Front Bowl holding his running video camera. Warren Miller included Lee in several movies, including with Mike Wiegele helicopter tours in Canada.
Lucas moved behind the camera when he started his “See Yourself Ski” video nights. “We’d advertise the day before where we would be shooting,” he explained. People flocked to the bar to watch themselves ski. “It was a real money maker for The Depot Bar. [Owner] Jim Vaughn loved it.”
Lucas created a product people could buy. He shot film on Super8, included an intro clip on Breckenridge, and edited footage for the client. Today, it’s no big deal to video yourself skiing, but in the 1970s, Lucas was on the vanguard.
Technology changed rapidly and Lucas moved to the next iteration: video and television. Lucas partnered with experienced TV producer Tom Foster to create ZLTV, investing in equipment and a studio on Boreas Pass Road with a head-end on Bald Mountain, “the Highest Station in the Nation at 13,069 feet.”
There Lucas and Foster boosted the skiing lifestyle with ski videos, events, and interviews of famous people visiting the area. They distributed their show, “Rocky Mountain Lift Ticket,” via videotape to cable stations across the country, eventually reaching 3.5 million viewers monthly.
ZLTV’s ‘Good Morning Summit County’ show began the on-air career of Biff America, aka Jeffrey Bergeron, beloved comic, columnist, and former Breckenridge councilmember. Bergeron remembered Lucas from his early years as “a statesman of Breckenridge, charismatic, welcoming, and also a free spirit who reflected the image of the community of the time.”
In 1992, Lucas produced his last video in Breckenridge: Lee Lucas Video Productions Presents “Speed, Powder & Rock’n Roll” about ski hall-of-famer and speed-skiing Olympian John C.J. Mueller.
Lucas left Breckenridge in 1992 after years of wear and tear, and a broken back. He relocated to Duck Key, Florida to heal, returning to his love of salt water and fishing. Today he takes people out on his boat, First Love Charters. Lee reports that life is good living on the water with his high school sweetheart and wife, Lynn B. Lucas, where he revels in family fun, teaching kids to fish, and sunset tours.
He still misses Breckenridge, his friends, and “the rush” of skiing. “I know Shamus [O’Toole] claims this quote, but I came up with it in Breckenridge in the 70’s and it’s true for me today,” Lucas concluded, “I’ve Never Had Too Much Fun!”
We think it is the perfect Motto for him and all of us here in our Mountain Town communities!
Feature Image: CJ Mueller left, Lee Lucas right by Holly GoSpritely Media.
If you would like to view the Film, CLICK HERE
To Learn More About Breckenridge CLICK HERE
SPONSOR
MTN Town Media Productions | Celebrating the Colorado mountain lifestyle for 15 Years
Copyright ©2025 MTN Town Media Productions, all rights reserved.
