Colorado Tips and tricks for Breck and Copper you can't get from a trail map?

[CraigH]

The wife and I have a trip planned to Breck and Copper at the end of Feb. We haven't been to Breck in many years and haven't been to Copper. We are both advanced skiers.
I was hoping I could get some tips/tricks about both that you can't get from just looking at a trail map. Ya know, the things the locals know to do. I'm not asking for pow stashes or anything

Things like:

• This peak holds snow better
• This area is gaper city
• This area has great moguls/glades
• Trail map makes this look like X, but it really is more like Y.
• Best apre spot
• Steepest run
• Best carving run
• Go to X when it's snowing or vis is bad
• This area is icey
• This area softens up the earliest
• Basically anything helpful that you learn over time that you wouldn't get in only spending a few days there.

Thanks,
Craig

 

[PinnacleJim]

Since you say its a trip, I assume you are coming from someplace like the east coast or midwest. If so, skiing off the groomed runs and into the bowls is what makes the skiing in the Rockies different. In Breck, that means the High Alpine terrrain - T-Bar, Imperial Quad, Peak 6, etc. When conditions are good, lapping the T-bar into Horseshoe bowl, over to Chair 6 and then up the Imperial, traverse into Whales Tail and then into Peak 7, back to the T-bar to repeat. Copper also has some nice above treeline bowl skiing. Copper Bowl can be hit or miss depending on weather, as it faces south and gets sun, softens and then freezes. Union Peak is well worth the short hike to get to the top as is taking the Storm King T-bar up and then into Spaulding Bowl. I also love making laps into Hallelujah using the Excellerator quad.

 

[Quandary]

Avoid Peak 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 at Breck, they are all very crowded.

 

[Quandary]

après for cocktails, Broken Compass for beer.

 

[mikel]

I would follow this for the latest updates on what's happening and conditions at Copper or Breck

Colorado - 2022-2023 Colorado Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/vail-resorts-announces-opening-dates-snow-falls-in-summit-county-signs-that-winter-is-coming/ Winter is coming. The 1st up high dusting has happened, resorts have announced opening dates, and @nay has posted early season prognostication. Time for the 2022-2023...

www.skitalk.com

 

[Andy Mink]

@Stephen, any suggestions for Breck?

 

[CraigH]

Since you say its a trip, I assume you are coming from someplace like the east coast or midwest. If so, skiing off the groomed runs and into the bowls is what makes the skiing in the Rockies different. In Breck, that means the High Alpine terrrain - T-Bar, Imperial Quad, Peak 6, etc. When conditions are good, lapping the T-bar into Horseshoe bowl, over to Chair 6 and then up the Imperial, traverse into Whales Tail and then into Peak 7, back to the T-bar to repeat. Copper also has some nice above treeline bowl skiing. Copper Bowl can be hit or miss depending on weather, as it faces south and gets sun, softens and then freezes. Union Peak is well worth the short hike to get to the top as is taking the Storm King T-bar up and then into Spaulding Bowl. I also love making laps into Hallelujah using the Excellerator quad.

Correctomundo! Coming from Atlanta. This is great info. Thanks!!

 

[Jim Kenney]

Since you say its a trip, I assume you are coming from someplace like the east coast or midwest. If so, skiing off the groomed runs and into the bowls is what makes the skiing in the Rockies different. In Breck, that means the High Alpine terrrain - T-Bar, Imperial Quad, Peak 6, etc. When conditions are good, lapping the T-bar into Horseshoe bowl, over to Chair 6 and then up the Imperial, traverse into Whales Tail and then into Peak 7, back to the T-bar to repeat. Copper also has some nice above treeline bowl skiing. Copper Bowl can be hit or miss depending on weather, as it faces south and gets sun, softens and then freezes. Union Peak is well worth the short hike to get to the top as is taking the Storm King T-bar up and then into Spaulding Bowl. I also love making laps into Hallelujah using the Excellerator quad.

Good post above!

More Breck tips/photos - here

 

[CraigH]

Good post above!

More Breck tips/photos - here

More great info! Thanks!!

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

I don’t know much about Breck other than don’t go to the bottom. My best days there were trying to keep up with @Doug Briggs. He’s the most knowledgeable guy around about Breck because he has mad skills and goes damn near every day.

Copper offers nice cruisers off the T-Rex lift. Union Bowl is a favorite of mine as is the Sierra lift sorta underneath it. The Enchanted areas are nice tree skiing. If you like meat, Eagle BBQ is worth a go. Ten Mile has a nice beer selection and good food as well.

I highly recommend Outer Range Brewing in Frisco for their beer variety. The fried chicken will put lead in your pencil. I think I could eat it daily and I don’t like chicken…The pickles are fantastic too. Pho Bay in Silverthorne is good if you like pho.

 

[dbostedo]

A few minor things I've learned at Copper that might be helpful:

1) You can traverse skier's left off of Mountain Chief lift (if it's running) the whole way around to ski Buzzard's Alley, and possible find some really nice snow

2) The Lillie G traverse from the top of Storm King T-bar can be worth doing if you want to head down into Copper Bowl, but can be flat to uphill so prepare to skate/pole

3) Hallelujah Ridge can be really nice cruising if you get some fresh snow

4) Three bears lift serves only black (mostly double black) terrain, but if you head toward the single black Summit Stash things get relatively mellow if the snow isn't great (or the steeper runs are too challenging)

There's a bunch of Copper I haven't really explored or that's over my head too, but those are some things others have shown me or I found on days I was there.

I highly recommend Outer Range Brewing in Frisco for their beer variety. The fried chicken will put lead in your pencil. I think I could eat it daily

I'll second this too!

 

[mikel]

The Enchanted areas are nice tree skiing. If you like meat, Eagle BBQ is worth a go.

I am also a fan of Upper Enchanted. Got to have good coverage. Lower Enchanted not so much. And I also agree about Buzzard's the snow is typically pretty good there.

@Drahtguy Kevin have you tried Super Bee BBQ? I've been twice and the pulled pork sandwich is pretty good. East Village upstairs above JJ's

 

[Ken_R]

The wife and I have a trip planned to Breck and Copper at the end of Feb. We haven't been to Breck in many years and haven't been to Copper. We are both advanced skiers.
I was hoping I could get some tips/tricks about both that you can't get from just looking at a trail map. Ya know, the things the locals know to do. I'm not asking for pow stashes or anything

Things like:

• This peak holds snow better
• This area is gaper city
• This area has great moguls/glades
• Trail map makes this look like X, but it really is more like Y.
• Best apre spot
• Steepest run
• Best carving run
• Go to X when it's snowing or vis is bad
• This area is icey
• This area softens up the earliest
• Basically anything helpful that you learn over time that you wouldn't get in only spending a few days there.

Thanks,
Craig

I can comment on Breck.

Most places below the T-bar are gaper central. Peak 6 and 7 specially. Peak 10 has some nice steep groomers and the terrain under the E-chair is NEVER crowded. For a reason, its steep, treed and mogulled up 99% of the time + some stumps and rocks show up if it hasnt snowed in days. The terrain off 6-chair is worthy of exploring and fun. Imperial lift is gaper central because its a novelty and popular for the gram. That said there is some great terrain off of it just be willing to hike a bit. Same can be said of Kensho chair of Peak 6. Be VERY careful when offloading off of Zendo chair on Peak 6. It is always VERY icy and gaper central. Avoid riding that chair with boarders,

The T-Bar is my favorite lift and it provides access to a ton of fun terrain plus it weeds out the riff-raff. lol

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

I am also a fan of Upper Enchanted. Got to have good coverage. Lower Enchanted not so much. And I also agree about Buzzard's the snow is typically pretty good there.

@Drahtguy Kevin have you tried Super Bee BBQ? I've been twice and the pulled pork sandwich is pretty good. East Village upstairs above JJ's

I was in there a few years ago. Can’t remember what I ate. I do remember the mulled wine though. I’ll have to give it a go sometime this season.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Since @Drahtguy Kevin pulled me into the convo, here goes (be sure to expand the quote; I responded to each point.)

The wife and I have a trip planned to Breck and Copper at the end of Feb. We haven't been to Breck in many years and haven't been to Copper. We are both advanced skiers.
I was hoping I could get some tips/tricks about both that you can't get from just looking at a trail map. Ya know, the things the locals know to do. I'm not asking for pow stashes or anything

Things like:

• This peak holds snow better I'd say all of them (above treeline) catch a lot of snow during non-snow times; it blows in over the 10 Mile from Copper. Second answer: North facing.
• This area is gaper city yes
• This area has great moguls/glades American has a nice intermediate mogul field; it's right under C-chair, for better or worse. Peak 9 has lots of low angle glades.
• Trail map makes this look like X, but it really is more like Y. I get what you're looking for, but the map does a pretty good job representing the area. Maybe the runs under E-chair look short but they're not.
• Best apre spot My back porch; I'm not one for going out.
• Steepest run For length AND pitch, CJs is a contender; there are plenty of shorter, steeper runs
• Best carving run My go-tos are Claimjumper in the morning; mellow and some nice rolls. Centennial is nice with some pitch although Doublejack, Cimarron are really nice, too. They race FIS SGs on Cim.
• Go to X when it's snowing or vis is bad Kind of a no-brainer: trees. But which ones. Every peak has its share.
• This area is icey The top 50 meter of Dukes.
• This area softens up the earliest I'm assuming spring; most of the area has an eastern exposure so the low areas almost everywhere get soft early in the sun.
• Basically anything helpful that you learn over time that you wouldn't get in only spending a few days there.

Thanks,
Craig

All that said, I like to lap Claimjumper waiting for T-bar to open (or other high terrain). I prefer the upper mountain with it's chutes and gulleys and steeps.

 

[Cameron]

The runs off of Sierra are my favorite at Copper and Copperoplois off of Excellerator is great cruising too.

 

[Wannabeskibum]

Good post above!

More Breck tips/photos - here

In addition to what @PinnacleJim mentioned, I also like the double diamond terrain off the E-chair and it is easy to get back to peak 8 using the mid-station load on the Peak 8 Interconnect lift.

 

[Wannabeskibum]

The wife and I have a trip planned to Breck and Copper at the end of Feb. We haven't been to Breck in many years and haven't been to Copper. We are both advanced skiers.
I was hoping I could get some tips/tricks about both that you can't get from just looking at a trail map. Ya know, the things the locals know to do. I'm not asking for pow stashes or anything

Things like:

• This peak holds snow better
• This area is gaper city
• This area has great moguls/glades
• Trail map makes this look like X, but it really is more like Y.
• Best apre spot
• Steepest run
• Best carving run
• Go to X when it's snowing or vis is bad
• This area is icey
• This area softens up the earliest
• Basically anything helpful that you learn over time that you wouldn't get in only spending a few days there.

Thanks,
Craig

Here is another Breck tip for you -- unless you can meet up with @Doug Briggs - if you and your wife are advanced skiers - sign up for an all day Elevate group lesson. These are lessons for levels 7,8,9 and if you are level 9 - you will probably be in a group of 2 or 3 other skiers with the instructor. I can vouch for several of the instructors who get assigned to these lessons. You will essentially get a guided ski experience through the terrain already mentioned but more importantly - you will hit that terrain when the conditions are optimal for that day. Note that the high alpine across peaks 8,7, and 6 have multiple exposures and also depending on prevailing winds some sections will be wind scoured, some will be wind buffed, and some will be deep with deposited snow. Don't forget to stay hydrated as if you are lapping any of the high elevation lifts (imperial chair, t-bar, or peak 6) you will be skiing at between 12,000 and 13,000 feet.

 

[PlainsSkier]

Andy's Encore-Oh No-Rosi's Run is my favorite cruiser, love to hit when it freshly groomed early to get a good warm up in. After that I guess it depends on the conditions and the crowds. I do avoid the Timberline area which gets congested, it is an intermediate area but if you take a wrong turn you can end up there from upper areas on the mountain. I do like the three bears lift, have had a lot of fun lapping it on a powder day. Sierra area is another fun spot that others have mentioned. There are still a few areas I need to explore more at Copper.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

On Saturday mornings at breck they load about a bazillion ski school kids onto the trams before normal folk.

take it easy on the post ski beers, sleeping and skiing at 10k aint no joke.