Beautiful Breckenridge

Skiing is the number one winter activity in Summit County. The slopes themselves are sure to please. This journal will focus on skiing at Keystone, Copper, and Breckenridge. However, after a day of skiing, you might want to find time for family fun like tubing at Keystone or Copper. Or when the weather isn't cooperating--or your legs have turned to butter--take the kids to The Country Boy Mine to pan for gold. The Country Boy is open all year round though there is more to see there in the summer months. Look for winter hours and pricing at www.countryboymine.com. Adults might enjoy a tour of Coors in nearby Golden (www.coors.com). Go to the outlet stores in Dillon one afternoon and take in a movie afterwards at the Skyline Cinema. We found the Skyline to be small but comfortable, and it is not a bad drive from Breckenridge. Breckenridge Village is full of shops and restaurants to explore, too. Or if you want some funkier shopping, cruise out of the way to Fairplay---home to South Park, a restored 19th Century Mining Village (Not open in the winters, but we peeked down the street that looked straight from a Western movie anyway!--- where you will find shops like South Park Pottery (719-836-2698) that sells unique art and beads galore. My wife bought hundreds of tiny beads there, and she and my son enjoyed making Indian necklaces around the fire in the evening.

Quick Tips:

If you fly into Denver, stop off at a Safeway to buy your lift tickets. Day passes to Breck, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin will only run you if purchased there. That's the half-day rate for tickets bought at the resorts (at the height of the season)! Fortunately for me, I have a friend in the mountains with a cabin, but I have stayed at the Holiday Inn in Frisco, too. It's not a bad drive from the slopes, and it is very comfortable and clean. If you have a lot of time on your hands, don't forget to explore places in and around Denver. Denver has a great Natural History Museum. If you are an American West history buff, seek out Buffaloe Bill's gravesite with its nearby museum. Both overlook the city. Drink a lot of extra water. It's easy to get dehydrated in the high altitudes of the Rockies.

Best Way To Get Around:

While many resorts will bus you to and from the slopes, you will need a car to get around to most other places. If skiing is the only thing you have on your mind, catch a bus from Denver to your accommodations.

My family and I ate at the Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant on Valentine's night, 2002 per the recommendation of a good friend. This friend lived in Breckenridge for three years and confirmed that the restaurant's claim to be a locals' favorite is absolutely true. It is located at the base of the Breckenridge resort in front of Breeze Ski Rentals, and free parking is available in a lot closeby after 5 p.m. Lunch is also served at Mi Casa from 11:30-3 p.m.

Mi Casa is much larger on the inside than I first expected it to be. The interior walls are made of a pale stucco. The ceiling is brick supported with dark timbers, and the floor is a red stone. Oil paintings hang on the walls. Books line shelves for decoration. Lights made of chipped glass hang from the ceiling.

The night of our visit our waiter arrived quickly with chips and exceptional salsa made from fresh tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. He won my wife's heart by presenting her with a flower in honor of Valentine's Day! Our entrees were exceptional, too. Our son ordered from the very reasonably priced kid's menu: chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. An array of frozen drinks are on the menu, too, and the bartender will whip any of these up without the alcohol for children. My wife had spinach and mushroom enchiladas full of cream cheese and covered in chipotle yucatan cream sauce. I found my fish tacos satisfying. I noticed the special for the day was actually Mahi Mahi, so I believe the menu would suit a wide range of tastes. There are even some selections for vegetarians such as the portobello sandwich. Of course, we topped our dinner off with refried ice cream covered in strawberry and chocolate sauce!

While we did not eat at the Keystone location, there is also a Mi Casa on 22869 US HWY 6, Mt. View Plaza, Keystone. (970-262-9185).

I'd highly suggest this restaurant to anyone in the mood for Mexican.

Keystone is my wife's and my favorite resort in Summit County. We spent much of our honeymoon there quite a few years ago, and we were not disappointed by the resort when we returned in 2002. Keystone seems to be a little warmer and less windy than its larger cousin, Breckenridge. This can, to be fair, cause more ice on low snow days, but it can also make family skiing more comfortable.

As for the slopes themselves, the runs feel faster to me. And longer. Mozart is sheer music for the intermediate on skis. A long run with a short spirt of bumps to one side, trees in the middle, and plenty of space to go cruising, this is a favorite run for many Keystone visitors. My wife seems to have a thing for Keystone's foreign men, so the Flying Dutchman, Wild Irishman and Frenchman were visited often. My young son wasn't left out in the cold either. A pizza-wedging intermediate, he liked taking a lift over to the Jackhammer Snowboard Terrain Park and watching some of those crazy athletes as they jumped off the high ramps. (Skiers jumped, too, but snow boarders seem to me to take tricks to a new extreme!) If skipping the jumps, the run next to the park is a blue.

True beginners will enjoy going to the Summit and taking School Marm, a 3.5 mile green run down the mountain.

Advanced skiers will flock to the North Peak to find some of the best bump runs in Summit County. While I enjoyed these, I also liked the fact that a lot of smooth blue runs had bumps to one side. On these runs my wife could cruise down as fast she liked while I abused my knees.

Tree skiing is good at Keystone, too. And the best thing is you will find trails to your level are easily accessible and all over the three mountains of the resort.

Another thing we noticed was a parents and child ski class for $50 in the afternoons. This class focuses on the basics with kids who have not been on skis before. While our son is beyond learning from such a class, my wife thought it looked perfect for the child who was skiddish about going to ski school alone.

Basic Information:
Operating Hours: 8:30-8 p.m.
Ski Lessons: 800-255-3715
Website: www.keystone.snow.com

Copper Mountain seems to be steeper than Breck and Keystone. It is the one mountain in Summit County not owned by Vail Ski Resorts, and--like A-Basin--it attracts more experienced skiers. I took a private 2 hour lesson at Copper for $140. My instructor watched me ski on a main run and then decided we were heading to Spaulding Bowl. It was deep and steep with no trees. We worked on technique before getting off the bowl and zooming through a tree run! The instructor certainly challenged me--an intermediate/advanced skier--while also concentrating on the fundamentals of turning on bumps. I would suggest a lesson to anyone who wants to improve their skiing though I noticed private lessons in Summit County seem to be more expensive than private lessons at other resorts.

The runs on Copper Mountain are basically split into three sections: greens, blues, and blacks. This is appealing for the skier who wants to avoid crowded greens. While Copper certainly felt smaller to me than Breck, I'd suggest a day of skiing here as a change of terrain from the other mountains.

Breckenridge is one of the most--if not the most--well-known ski resorts in North America. As far as I know, its summit at 12,998 feet has the highest elevation of any of the major resorts in the US. I actually had a touch of altitude sickness the first day I hit the slopes. This high elevation makes for decent snow even when the weather hasn't been cooperating.

I think Breckenridge is the most wonderful place to visit if you are a new skier. While there is a wide mix of terrain--very easy to expert--the vertical drops are not as long as on the other mountains. The greens are groomed every day. While we did not sign up for lessons here, a local told me the ski school for kids is phenomenal, too. With 25 lifts, the lines move fast as crowds are dispersed to different points around the mountain. Almost half of the mountain is rated green to blue so there are plenty of trails for less experienced skiers to explore and enjoy.

Advanced skiers will also find plenty of challenges at Breck. The Bowls are fun to experience (I especially enjoyed Whale's Tail, which--even though rated a double black--CAN be navigated in sections by solid intermediate skiers.), and the well groomed mountain is easy to navigate. The back country is full of deep snow with steep rides, and it's easy to get to.

Snowboarders are especially attracted to Breck, too, because of the highly touted terrain park they find there. While it can get crowded, it is rated as the best terrain park for snowboarders in the country. High jumps, rails and half pipes are just a few of the challenges it offers.

After a day on the slopes, another attraction to Breckenridge is Breckenridge Village. While I am not a big shopper, I enjoyed walking with my wife and son through some of the shops, blowing on hot chocolate, warming up after a small snow storm. Mi Casa Restaurant (see separate entry) has appeared in national publications as one of the best ski resort restaurants around.

Some Basic Resort Info:
Operating Hours: 8:30 - 4 p.m.
General Information: 800-789-SNOW
Web Site: www.breckenridge.com

Skiing in the summer is almost surreal. On the way up to A-Basin, three billy goats actually ran into the road in front our car! Because we hadn't planned for a Winter Wonderland adventure, we had to take a detour to pick up some "ski equipment" before we hit the slopes. Forget the heavy pants. This was June 21st, 2003. Gloves and a sweatshirt were all we needed. In truth, the sweatshirt was basically for the lift where the hood came in handy. Some people were actually out there with no shirts, but I think they'd suffered a little sunstroke. At over 13,000 feet high, it's a little brisk, regardless of the season.

So how was the skiing?!

Keep in mind if you're in Summit County in the winter, A-Basin offers the steepest, most technically challenging runs in the area. It gets little sun and it's HIGH up (the highest place to ski in North America). It's a hardcore ski and board place. No beginners here. In the summer, only the blue runs are open (and they normally close by July).

On our day out there was one main run available to us with six other tributary-like paths that paraded as runs. There was a cool ledge for jumping, and there's nothing like slishing down the snow and gliding through a mud (!!) puddle!

Would I recommend this experience? Keep in mind the snow is of the consistancy of a slushy left for a half hour in a car in Georgia. If you bite it on the ground, you might get grass in your mouth. But if you're in love with making tracks and you've never done this before, absolutely. Spend a half day on the mountain. You won't soon forget the experience . . .