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They also have some challenging
tree-skiing at Eldora, not very extensive but very steep and tight turns
required. I ended up hugging a tree at times! Eldora is about
45 minutes scenic drive out from Boulder or Denver and well worth a few
days visit if snow conditions are good. We stayed at Breckenridge for another 4
days and skied Breck and Copper Mountain both of which are huge and
provide excellent skiing for all levels. (CM is relatively
cheap at $59/day regular pricing) The 'beginner-level' members
of my group particularly valued the high capacity fast 6-man superchairs
with safety rail and foot rests and slow mounting/dismounting facility
and the very long green and blue runs to practice on.
The Breck and CM snow conditions were
quite good with a 20+" base for the daily pisted greens, blues and
'blacks' (=reds). At Breck, the unpisted double-diamond blacks were
heavily mogulled but only the Peak 10 blacks were unpleasantly chopped
and icy. The steep double diamonds at the top of the T-bar were
well covered with soft snow and were a joy to ski.
The bowls reached on foot were a
disappointment, being sparsely covered and wind-crusted and not worth
the huge effort involved. The "windows" tree skiing was as
good as Eldora but much more extensive if hard to get to.
If you encounter the
informally-named "Eric's Run-out" follow the "Upper"
branch as the lower one seemed to end in the creek! The double
diamond chutes accessed from E-lift were good fun and not too heavily
mogulled but very worn at the bottom.
Post-holiday, the local supermarkets
(Safeway, King-Sooper, etc) are selling discount tickets for
Breckenridge again, at $59 vs window prices of $71. For the holiday
season I bought $7-discounted tickets for Breck and Copper Mountain via
the Livewire tickets machine at Maison de Ski off the I70 en route to
Breck. (Slightly cheaper than the 7-day advance sale Peak
tickets).
Breck also offer a late arrival
"twilight" ticket for $31 after 2pm and a half day post-12pm
for $43 in holiday season (presumably less out of season). All the
bus services around Breckenridge town and from Frisco 20
minutes down the valley are free and frequent (max 20 minute service
interval around town, 5-10 minutes continuous between the free skier
parking lots and the lift base areas).
I had wondered whether it would be
practical to be based at Frisco instead of in Breckenridge itself and
the answer is yes, with or without a car but you would be cut off from
the wide range of good eating places in Breck unless you bus back in
again for the evening.
At Breck we stayed at the Fireside Inn
on a B&B + afternoon tea/coffee & cake basis. The
proprietors are Brits, Andy and Nicky. Andy is ex-Army. They are a
charming and helpful couple and the ambience is very cozy and friendly
with a mixture of groups, families and singles of all ages. Not
expensive and highly recommended. http://www.firesideinn.com
Breck Eating: personal recommendations:
Breckenridge Brewery: 6 oz Steak + huge green salad with dressing for
$10.75, for those on Atkins (14oz steak available for $19!) very noisy
music pub/micro-brewery atmosphere. Mega TV sceens showing 'the game' .
30 minutes to get seated at 8pm.
Red Orchid Sechuan and Peking Cusine:
Huge portions of a range of excellent dishes for about $14 each (we
could only eat about half and took doggy bags for lunch next day!)
My Thai: cafe style eating of authentic
Thai food, first rate. Your choice of 'hot': USA Hot, UK Hot and Thai
hot!
I plan to go back to Breck next year
for a 10-day trip in Jan/Feb period when there should be more powder
about. We didn't have the energy to try Keystone night skiing under
floodlights but a Breck + Keystone twilight ticket for $31 might be a
good option for those who can't get up in the morning!
Regards Paul
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