New Year Ski at Breckenridge, Colorado

Jan 04, 2007  ·  12:44 PM  ·  permalink

“I think that people who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.” —Abraham Lincoln

Last Wednesday night we drove to Summit County in desperate hope of getting some snow from the impending storm. The predictions looked bright—10-14 inches at Keystone and almost as much at Breckenridge.

Thursday came and went with about an inch of accumulation in Summit county—meanwhile, Denver and Boulder started getting hammered. On Friday morning, the anticipation was great—we awoke early, logged on to check the snow report and found….a whopping four inches at Breckenridge!

It hardly seemed worth it, but the pass was just sitting there waiting to be used and maybe we could still find something untracked on the top. So we trekked to Breckedridge for my first day of skiing there….ever.

Breckenridge turned out to be everything I had anticipated: an expertly-run resort overrun by inept skiers in goofy hats. Granted, it was New Year’s Weekend so extra large crowds were to be expected, but the lines at the lifts really were egregious and Breck’s capacious runs were made to feel small by the abundance of snow-plowers and out-of-control bombers.

Our first move was to head to Chair 6 in hopes of getting to some advanced terrain away from crowds. But this was a fool’s errand: the two-person Chair 6 was experiencing frequent stops and we ended up waiting about 40 minutes to board. The run down was great fun, though: at the top, we traversed as far to skiers’ right as we could and then hit some of the less tracked-out shoots and trees. I would definitely go back if I knew I could make quick laps in fresh snow.

A well-known problem of Breckenridge is that it’s difficult to get to different areas of the mountain. Being two skiers and two boarders, we experienced this in depth as we spent half our day getting to Peak 7 from Peak 8.

Once there, however, we headed into Ore Bucket and found somewhat less-crowded terrain. Despite having been tracked out for days, the steep, treed, and chuted terrain of Ore Bucket was very satisfying, and its northerly exposure meant minimal crud. It was fun enough for us to make three laps, after which we decided to call it a day and head into the town.

The town of Breckenridge has been expertly manicured to look like one imagines a genuine ski town should. I was immediately struck by its visual similarity to Crested Butte, which made the abundance of pretentious fur coats, ostentatious luxury SUVs, and broad-shouldered ex-frat boys all the more intrusive.

We enjoyed a low-key lunch at Rasta Pasta (try the Pineapple Curry Pasta), and then an excellent cappuccino at Clint’s Bakery and Coffee House. Clint’s evidently gets its beans from Conscious Coffees and, “socially conscious” malarkey aside, it really is great coffee resulting in excellent espresso everywhere I’ve had it. It also happens to be roasted in Breckenridge.

Overall, I’m glad I finally had the Breckenridge experience and I’ll return if I ever feel I can do so without encountering crowds. The town appears to be interesting, if overdone, and My Thai is supposed to be the best Thai in Summit County. The mountain certainly appears promising, and with a bit more coverage, the double black Peak 7 and 8 Summits are supposed to be excellent. That said, one should not go to Breckenridge expecting to be charmed—it has the feel of a frat party or a shopping mall, not a mountain town. Some people like that, and they will feel at home at Breck.