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Following are excerpts from a spread that appeared in the Travel section of the Denver Post, February 11, 2007, by Kyle Warner, Denver Post Travel Editor.
The snow stopped abruptly, as though it had been measured before being sifted, just as the three of us walked onto the gondola, as leisurely as stepping into an elevator.
A couple entered after we did, also at a relatively casual pace, and we jostled for position in the roomy cabin. Meant for eight, the gondola had no problem accommodating the five of us and five pairs of skis, with room for stretching our legs. We settled in for the 10-minute ride to the base of Breckenridge Ski Resort's Peak 8.
The trading of basics (we are from Denver, they are from London, we come to the mountains nearly every weekend, they come to Colorado every winter) led to the inevitable question on both sides: Where is our favorite place to ski?
If Lisa had her way, she and husband Seb would spend their entire Colorado vacation in Breckenridge. "This is our fifth year here; we just love it," Lisa said. "It has such a great town, and the on-piste runs are so lovely, and if you go up high, the off-piste-like stuff is quite fabulous too."
They've checked out several of the other resorts around Colorado, and have decided that Breckenridge is their favorite.
"Seb always wants to see if there's anyone famous in Vail," Lisa said, "but who gives a pooh about famous people? I want the, what are you always saying? The powder, and I want to be able to breathe. I don't want skiers piled on top of me. I let him have his Vail day, but the rest of the time we're right here."
Hitting Higher Ground
Right here at the moment happens to be the base of Peak 8, where the gondola, called BreckConnect, has the capacity to dump out about 2,800 people per hour. The group clumps off the gondola and up the ramp toward the complex of buildings and lifts, where we wish Lisa and Seb a powder-filled vacation.
They plan to spend some time warming up on the lower slopes before heading over to Imperial Lift, which reaches 12,840 feet, making it the highest lift in North America. There, they will look for that "off-piste-like-stuff" -- the European version of backcountry.
We'll stay on the lower, exploring mostly greens and blues, because we are at three levels of skiing ability -- my having just learned to ski again after 11 years of snowboarding, spending the day with one daughter, a beginner-intermediate after also switching from snowboarding, and one daughter who confidently skis the blacks.
Here, we can find terrain parks at the Freeway Super Park and Pipe, as well as a smaller, more kid-oriented version at the bottom -- the ideal place for beginner and starting-over skiers to practice getting some air and playing in the half pipe, secure in the knowledge that most of the others here are learning too.
It's that variety -- and we've only just touched on Peak 8 here, never mind Peaks 7, 9 and 10 -- that has made us fall in love with Breckenridge. It's easy to navigate, family-friendly and famously snowboarder-friendly, although the number of skiers proves there's room for both.
The town, founded in 1859, has a real-town feel, with restaurants in a variety of price ranges -- actually quite a few reasonable ones considering this is a resort area -- and a scene that's still far shy of pretentious.
Lofty Views Too
The gondola, which opened at the beginning of this year and cost $17 million, is Breck's new pride and joy. It will have set the standard for avoiding interference with wetlands by spanning 720 feet in one section, and it makes two turns, both in the midst of some impressive real estate, which many suspect was the reason for the thing in the first place. BreckConnect will go all the way to the terminal at Peak 7 in 2008.
The gondola is a sweet, scenic way to get up to Peak 8, not to mention back down again. When we finish for the day, the brit couple met on the way up are nowhere to be seen, but they had told us that they might be found at the Maggie in the Village for make-your-own bloddy Mary's, or Downstairs at Eric's, where Seb watches sports and Lisa likes the Bass ale on tap. And they might run into a few fellow Brits there, especially considering London is the third-largest population visiting Breckenridge from outside Colorado, after Chicago and Texas.
"Breckenridge often feels like its full of people, but not crazy crowded," Seb said. "Sometimes there's a wait at some of the little restaurants, but we always get in."
After dinner, we wander Main Street, where the Christmas lights still twinkle aound the outlines of buildings and trees, giving the chilly air a warm glow. Enough people stream along the sidewalks that we jostle for space, but not so many that we don't recognize our new Brit friends coming out of Eric's.
"Hello, hello!" Lisa calls. "Did you have a good day?" We did, and so did they. "Going back out tomorrow?" Oh, yes, all of us. We wished each other well, and went our separate ways.
Such a small-town moment, right there on Main Street, Breckenridge.
