Summit County. Colorado’s Playground. What an understatement!! Put it this way, if you don’t like the choice of Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland and Arapahoe Basin as places all within half an hour of each other, then stay away from Summit County. Stay far, far away.
If you do like the idea of about 10,000 acres to ski, snowboard, and tele on, then you have to consider Summit County for your ski vacation.
At Breckenridge, you have 4 incredible peaks on which to play. Peaks 7, 8, 9, and 10 offer downhill recreation on a universe-class scale. Let me give you a local’s view of what you can expect.
Peak 7 is the newest expansion at Breck. High speed chairlifts zoom you up the mountain as you enjoy indescribable views of the massive 10 Mile Range. Wide open terrain that extends above the treeline gives the beginner, intermediate, and extreme downhillers a smorgasboard of slopes, tree runs, and trails to enjoy.
Peak 8 has recently installed a new chair that takes downhillers up higher than any other lift in North America. Taking your place in line at the T-Bar on Peak 8, you’ll notice a big red sign that warns beginners to consider what they are getting themselves into. The warning, I think, is a bit too stern, but they have to cover their liabilities. If you are a beginner and you head up the T-bar, head to the left, past the drop in to Ptarmigan Bowl and you’ll find mountain faces that a beginner to intermediate downhiller should be able to handle. If your level is that of intermediate-advanced to advanced-extreme, take the ___ lift up to the Imperial Bowl. The wind blows the snow around so that tracks from skiers, snowboarders and telemarkers disappear on an hourly basis. This chairlift starts well above treeline, so make sure you turn around and take in the most outstanding mountains vistas in Rocky Mountain downhilling. Once at the top, extremely extreme downhillers can hike another quarter mile to the summit of Peak 8. Take your time. The air is very thin. It’s ok to hike 20 steps and rest for a few minutes. You’ll get there, and when you do…The word awesome is tossed around with reckless abandon these days. The summit of Peak 8 is one place in this world that is truly awesome. You can see the Gore Range and Vail. You can see the slopes of Keystone. You feel like you can see Mexico, for ski’s sake. Aspen has cornered the X-Games for years, but Breckenridge has the terrain park of North America.
Head up Peak 9, and follow the signs. At this point you catch air at your own risk, and some of these jumps are designed so that if you don’t fly 30 horizontal feet, not to mention 20 vertical, you’ll get hurt. The park ranges from little 5-10 foot jumps to monsters like the Wu that requires you to go a long way to hit the landing. Rail slides, box slides, and half pipes appear again and again all the way during the ____foot descent.
Peak 10 is the purists’ peak. To skiers left, you have the Burn and other open glades and tight tree runs. This can be your best chance to find a great deep powder stash on days when it hasn’t snowed for days. To skiers right you have Mustang and surrounding slopes that are as steep as the walls of the office where you probably now sit. Down the center are perfectly groomed steep with not a hint of ice, and great bumps along the sides of these slopes. The Falcon Superchair scoops you up and you can fly back up the mountain as fast as you went down.
If you ski, ride, tele or do anything that involves gravity and snow, and you don’t go to Breckenridge, you are not paying your hobby
Written by Jason Palat
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