Even the most basic and easy of runs, the bunny slopes, have something more challenging just a short distance above them – right there, visible and tangible, calling upon you to improve your skills so that you can rise to that next level. And yet, somehow, even if you go too far up the mountain for your skill level, bite off more than you can chew, Breckenridge remains forgiving, seems willing to allow you to fail on your way to greater success.

Discover Breckenridge ski vacations including lodging, lift tickets and area activities.

Perhaps that’s a bit too abstract or assoteric, and yet there’s a special something that keeps people coming back year after year. Some of them even like the combination of excitement and calm stillness in this part of the Rocky Mountains enough to move to Breckenridge. While it’s as friendly as any tourist town should be, the friendly vibe isn’t the draw. Maybe it’s the town’s own steadfastness, the way that it continued on in its own way despite the mountain’s rise in popularity. Whatever it is, millions upon millions of people have visited this big mountain and its little town, and it has left its mark on them in return.

Not everyone goes to Breckenridge to ski. Some come for summer activities, some for the crisp, clean mountain air, some for the beauty… but it seems most end up skiing anyway. That too should tell you something.

From the front side and lower areas of the peaks, to the waist-to-shoulder deep powder that blankets the slopes after a good solid heavenly dump, to the back bowls, with their near-vertical precipices and thinly concealed hazards, Breckenridge is a mountain that simply demands to be explored by skis. In just one run, you can find yourself twisting, swiveling and turning your way through a mammoth field of bumps, enjoy a few moments of relief as your tips chatter and skitter at a popular crossing, and then launched into aerials that cause time to slow for you. Stop a moment, take in the beauty of the mountain you’re standing on as well as the one opposite, then glide on over to a gentle downward pathway that eases its way down and around the descent. Cut back to a sharper angle just in time to put on speed enough to carry you through to the lift, where you’ll ride up and do it again… but take different paths this time.

Perhaps it’s simply the many paths one can take and combine and follow that make Breckenridge a favorite ski vacation destination.

VIDEO: Breckenridge Ski Resort – Opening Day!

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Breckenridge Ski Vacations submitted by John Taylor