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American skiers and snowboarders are blessed with a wealth of great choices when it comes to planning a winter vacation, and there are plenty of excellent options - but Colorado’s Breckenridge should be near the top of any short list of finalists.
Breck, as locals and fans know it, is already wildly popular, usually the second most visited ski resort in the country after Colorado sibling Vail - with whom it shares lift tickets and passes. But Breck offers several things even mighty Vail can’t match, most notably tons of very aggressive expert terrain, a historic town, and lots of choices for ski-in/ski-out lodging, especially in an unrivaled selection of luxury homes. And this year Breckenridge is getting several key upgrades, on and off the slopes, that will make visiting even better than before.
Ski travel is often about variety, trying to please everyone, and Breck does a really good job of this, especially on the terrain front, with lots of skiing and riding for all abilities - the place is huge, with 34 lifts, 187 trails and nearly 3,000-acres of skiable terrain including more than a thousand acres of powder-filled bowls. It has long been a top choice for snowboarders, and was one of the very first major resorts to embrace the then niche “fad” - this will be the 30th season of riding here, and Breck first hosted the World Snowboarding Championships way back in 1986. Today the resort has four terrain parks and a rare 22-foot superpipe, and still hosts the Dew Tour. There is no shortage of skiing and boarding for every taste, and Breck is even among the minority of major resorts embracing the latest trend, human powered ascents, or “uphill traffic,” before the lifts open, with a loyal following of skiers on alpine touring (AT) gear, combining fitness and downhill skiing. If the destination has traditionally had a weak link, it was a lack of luxury lodging and dining options, but this has been changing fast - along with lots of other stuff in Breckenridge, as owner Vail Resorts has poured investment in for years. That’s why the 2014-15 ski season marks a watershed of sorts for the already world-class resort.
Last winter Breck added an entire new mountain section, Peak 6, which added 543 skiable acres. This will be the first full season of operation for the new peak, with terrain radically split between blue trails and quickly accessed hike-to extreme expert chutes - more than 20 of them, all rated double black or EX (extreme) the resort’s highest, like signature machismo test ESP, a tight chute with a very steep 45 degree entry. In sharp contrast, the main focus of Peak 6 is for intermediate skiers, and while the resort enjoys a high percentage of repeat guests, even those who have been coming for years will now find blue runs unlike anything that was here before, because Peak 6 is all above tree-line, including a rare blue bowl. At many ski resorts there is no easier way down from the highest points, so less advanced skiers are often limited to the lower mountain. Breckenridge never had any above tree-line blue terrain before and now has a wide variety, including the bowl, some steeper faces, “corduroy” groomers and intermediate glades. Across its breadth, the mountain also has everything else, from steep bump runs to green cruisers and learning terrain.
The other big change for this season is a new high-speed 6-passenegr chair to Peak 8, which is also used to access Peak 9 and should greatly improve skier flow. A new restaurant here, the Overlook, replaces the 40-year old Peak 9 eatery. Because the Forest Service permits do not allow a base lodge for the new Peak 6 (there is a large BYO warming hut with bathrooms) Breck added a novel “food truck” to its slopes, the Snow Drifter, a converted groomer serving Philly Cheesesteaks outside the Peak 6 warming hut.
That’s all brand new, but other recent additions of note include One Ski Hill Place, the resort’s fanciest hotel, ski-in/ski-out with amenities like private bowling alleys and a movie theater guests can reserve for private screenings. The hotel is also home to the indoor/outdoor slopeside T-Bar, which in just a couple of seasons has become one of the hottest après ski spots in the entire country.
But the real secret strength of Breckenridge’s lodging is a vast slate of rental homes and condos, from standard to huge and luxurious, a better array than any other major resort. Paragon Lodging is a longtime Breckenridge property manager, and one of the best ski town home rental firms in the nation, with a large inventory of one-of-a-kind luxury homes as big as 10 bedrooms. The new Luxury Rentals from HomeAway division of the online house rental giant HomeAway.com uses third party reviews by the staff of Andrew Harpers Hideaway Report to vet its top tier homes for the special site, which has higher standards, and they have several large and very well amenitized houses here: the one pictured has seven bedrooms, sleeps 20, and features a home theater room, game room with pool table, hot tub, wine room and more.
So you have great skiing and lots of it, great lodging and lots of it, plus lots of snow, especially given the high altitude - Breckenridge has the highest lift served terrain in the country. Then there is the charming town, an old western mining enclave whose downtown is the largest historic district in Colorado. The quaint streets are lined with a huge array of bars, restaurants and shops of every description and for every price point. It is also one of the few ski towns where you can ski right to downtown, either for après or if you choose to stay down near Main Street. Finally, Breck is part of Vail Resorts and its Epic Pass program, one of the best deals in skiing, which I have written about here before. The passes are interchangeable and good at nearby Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, as well as Vail and Beaver Creek, all within easy driving distance, plus many other top U.S. resorts like Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort, UT; Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood, CA; plus resorts throughout the Alps and even Japan.
There have always been plenty of reasons to ski Breckenridge, but never more than this winter - I plan to return.
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