This was our fourth trip to Breckenridge, which is one of our favorite ski areas. There is an excellent variety of skiing terrain for all ability levels, with skiing spread over three main base areas and four separate mountain peaks. Let’s…Read More

This was our fourth trip to Breckenridge, which is one of our favorite ski areas. There is an excellent variety of skiing terrain for all ability levels, with skiing spread over three main base areas and four separate mountain peaks.

Let’s start with the base areas. If you park in the large skier lots, you can take a free shuttle bus to any of the base areas. If you are staying in town, the base area you choose might be determined by its accessibility from you lodging. You can ski to any part of the mountain from any other part, but it might be easier to start where you think that you will ski the most. All three areas have full services, including rentals, ski school, and tickets. The Village Base Area is essentially in downtown Breckenridge and is surrounded by condos, shops, and restaurants. The main lodging nearby includes The Village of Breckenridge Resort, Marriott’s Mountain Valley Lodge, and the new hotel/timeshare at Main Street Station. The Village Base is often referred to as "Maggie’s" by the locals, after Maggie’s Pond, which is located here. The Quicksilver Super 6 high-speed lift departs from this base and serves all skiing abilities. Start here if you plan to ski mostly on Peaks 9 and 10. The Beaver Run Base Area is only a short distance away from the Village. It is located at the huge Beaver Run Resort, but shuttle busses also unload and depart from here. Beaver Run Super Chair takes intermediate and advanced skiers directly to the top of Peak 9. Beginner skiers can take an easy ski around the corner to the Quicksilver Super 6 chair. The Peak 8 Base Area is furthest away from the town and is away from all the hustle and bustle. It is accessible mainly by shuttle bus from anywhere in town or by skiing over from Peak 9. Peak 8 is a good place to start if your lodging is along Ski Hill Road. Five lifts depart from the Peak 8 base, serving all abilities on Peaks 7 and 8.

Breckenridge is a huge ski area with something for everyone. We will take a tour as you look at the mountain from left to right. Peak 10 can be accessed from the top of Quicksilver lift or by following the signs from the top of Peak 9. Peak 10 is not the place for beginners or lower intermediates. Most of the trails run along an exposed ridge giving fantastic views, but also exposing you to strong winds at times. This is my favorite part of the resort, with wide-open, groomed slopes that are rolling and relatively steep. Also, a maze of advanced trails takes you in and out of trees on the side of the ridge. Between Peaks 9 and 10 is an excellent beginners area with a variety of long, flat trails. This is where most of the beginner ski school classes go. The new Tenmile Station day lodge, located at the top of Quicksilver lift, is a great place for a break as long as you avoid the lunch time rush on busy days, Peak 9 is probably the busiest part of the mountain and is an intermediate heaven. Get there early to experience the velvet grooming on most of these trails. The relatively new Mercury Super chair allows you to ski Peak 9 without having to go all the way down to crowds at Beaver Run or the Village. The steep canyon between Peaks 8 and 9 is one of many expert slopes. Peak 8 is a good place to go when your group consists of skiers of varying abilities. Both green and blue slopes come together at the base of Peak 8 and your extreme skiing friends can join you there or meet you at the Vista Haus day lodge up top. Up above the fabulous views from the Vista Haus is the open bowl skiing served by the T-bar as well as the walking access to Peak 7. Peak 7 will soon be home to five or six new intermediate trails. As of January 2002, these trails had been cut, but there was no lift access.

The skiing conditions at Breckenridge are generally excellent due to the high altitude. (IMPORTANT NOTE: With a base altitude of 9600 feet, you really do need to be aware of the effects of altitude on your endurance and your health.) Snowmaking is extensive to provide cover for early seasons and dry spells. We have skied there at various times from Christmas until late March and found conditions always good. Of course whims of the weather gods will determine whether you have an abundance of fresh powder. Enjoy!

My half-sister-in-law Meredith is 16, and was just shy of earning her driver's license when we met up in Breckenridge for a long weekend of skiing and snowboarding. So it should come as no surprise that she showed little interest in her former favorite…Read More

My half-sister-in-law Meredith is 16, and was just shy of earning her driver's license when we met up in Breckenridge for a long weekend of skiing and snowboarding. So it should come as no surprise that she showed little interest in her former favorite sport of snowboarding, and instead spent several days singing the praises of the only snowmobiling tour in Breckenridge that would let her drive her own snowmobile. Eventually she wore us down, and so off we went to an afternoon rendezvous with White Mountain Snowmobile.

The Company

We were picked up at our hotel, and driven about an hour out of town to a high-altitude headquarters of rambling trailers and sheds, perched on the border of the Arapaho National Forest. I suppose the relaxed minimum driving age should have been a hint that White Mountain’s management puts payment before people. We got another hint upon arrival, when we separated into two groups. A large horde of beginners had come for a regular tour and a few experienced drivers had signed up for the more costly "High Adventure" tour, a fast-paced, high-pitched "extreme" snowmobiling adventure with their very own guide. When the staff realized that due to an administrative error, the High Adventure group was not nine but three people, they promptly canceled the High Adventure tour and told the three experts that they could tag along with us newbies. They took it well - but personally, after spending an hour on the road to get there, I would have been really annoyed.

The Gear

We were taken into a trailer to pick out our protective gear. We suited up in one-piece snowsuits, helmets with no face shields, goggles, and warm boots. Supplies of certain sizes of helmet and suit were perilously limited. The gear was old and grubby, but it kept us warm – although my husband was cursing the lack of a face shield when icicles started forming in his beard. The snowmobiles, or "sleds" in the lingo of the would-be High Adventurers, were shiny new Polaris models. Apparently since the last time I went snowmobiling almost ten years ago, some brilliant person invented built-in hand warmers! They were, in fact, so warm my hands started sweating, and I had to turn them down to low. Unlike other snowmobiles I’ve used, these were simple and painless to start up. Our guides gave us a quick safety lesson followed by a short, easy trail ride leading to a big practice loop where we could get used to bumps and curves in a safe environment. Meredith took advantage of the practice loop to taunt me loudly, taking care to point out how slow I was.

The Adventure

Operating a loud, smelly, expensive vehicle which I am very likely to drive into a tree is not my favorite way to spend an afternoon, particularly when I’m minutes away from some fantastic skiing. But it was the best and only way to experience the astonishing scenery at the top of the Continental Divide. For those of you who don’t remember grade school, the Continental Divide is a pivotal point in the United States, the central high point from which waters flow in opposite directions. When weather permits, you can see 125 miles away. Visibility when I visited was about 125 feet.

The trails were mostly on private land owned by the Climax molybdenum-mining company, which closed in the 1980s, as well as in Arapahoe National Forest. If you really want to know what moly-whatever is, I’ll tell you. It’s a metal which is added to steel to make it more durable. Sorry you asked?

Although we were fogged in for most of the tour, we did have a few moments of clarity in which to be astonished by the scenery around us, made all the more dramatic by the fleeting glimpses we were offered. The fog also posed challenges, as we followed our guide down a loosely linked collection of trails. He veered off the trails in places, letting us run wild over a succession of gorges and gulleys. Our narrow line of black, exhaust-spewing sleds drew dark, sinewy curves on the hillsides as we navigated harrowing hairpin turns and zigzagged through coordinated turns.

We got up to 45 mph at times, which was challenging given the poor visibility. The tour was recommended for all levels of experience, but slowpokes could easily lose sight of the group despite the wide open spaces we were often traveling through. They may have felt some pressure to keep up, and therefore might have gone faster than felt comfortable. At one point, Meredith skidded off the trail and hit a tree, causing some shaky nerves but only $75 in repairs. Any newcomer to snowmobiling could have easily done the same.

The Ride Home

Quiet and sleepy on the van home, I chatted with our driver and learned some interesting factoids about the surrounding area. I asked about the local wildlife and got two answers: One, that there is a herd of elk, some bear, and bighorn sheep in the hills. Two, that locals sometimes ski off the back of Copper Mountain and then hitchhike back once they hit the road (insane!). They are also known to cross-country ski the back bowls on full moons.

And Meredith? She was shaken, but not stirred. The snowmobiling bug seemed to pass out of her system, and the next day on the chairlift, she solemnly confided to me that snowmobiling "really wasn't that cool after all."

Founded in 1859, Breckenridge dates from a time when skis were made of wood and gondolas were unimaginable. Now skis are parabolic and the lines for the gondolas are unimaginable – so while some things have changed, others have not. This is reflected…Read More

Founded in 1859, Breckenridge dates from a time when skis were made of wood and gondolas were unimaginable. Now skis are parabolic and the lines for the gondolas are unimaginable – so while some things have changed, others have not. This is reflected in the delightful architecture of the town. As the town grew, the essence of Breckenridge stayed the same, and original Victorian townhouses sit side-by-side with careful reconstructions. It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I had visited Breckenridge as a child and found it much expanded since the 1970s, but essentially looking the same.

Development continues at a rapid clip – our spotless, welcoming condominium rental at the Mountain Thunder Lodge was built only last year, and is owned by the same folks who own Vail. Our Peaks passes allowed us to ski at five different Colorado resorts, although in the three days we had to ski, we found Breckenridge itself more than adequate and didn’t even stray over to nearby Copper Mountain. We did, however, save a bundle - $90 off on three-day passes for five adults. Not bad!

There are some wonderful, unique things about Breckenridge. Driving by an oxygen bar and watching people reading the paper while getting their daily fix is always entertaining. A drive over to Lake Dillon will often reward you with a close-up view of snowboarders "kiting" across the frozen lake. You might spy a local climbing the ice chutes, or encounter a paraplegic or blind skier schussing down the hill alongside someone in one of those goofy hats that seem to have taken the winter-sports world by storm. Free buses whisk skiers from condos and hotels directly to the slopes. On the other hand, Breckenridge’s facilities have not been updated in some time. I never noticed how much I appreciated the plastic bins in the bathroom stalls that keep your gloves and goggles safe from harm’s way while you use the facilities, until I visited a resort that didn’t have them. The lack of public parking is an ongoing problem that gets worse every year. But if you’ve got non-skiers with you, Breckenridge is an exceptional choice for your ski vacation. With so much to do on AND off the slopes, and a great restaurant or bar around every corner, it’s a winter paradise for all parties involved.

Another great experience I had was with a VRBO travel trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. My newlywed wife and I drove there from Arkansas 2 years ago and we stayed in a condo, actually in Keystone, within walking distance from the ski slop. We stayed for…Read More

Another great experience I had was with a VRBO travel trip to Breckenridge, Colorado.

My newlywed wife and I drove there from Arkansas 2 years ago and we stayed in a condo, actually in Keystone, within walking distance from the ski slop. We stayed for three days and skied both Keystone and Breckenridge Village.

Breckenridge was beautiful from the slopes. We found discount lift tickets at a local store and skied all day. We liked Breckenridge better based on our experience level and Breckenridge had more beginner runs.   Close