Breckenridge Ski ResortFive peaks, 187 trails, and the highest chairlift in North America at 12,998 feet

Breckenridge opened on December 16, 1961 — the same year the town of Breckenridge celebrated its hundredth birthday as an 1859 gold-rush settlement on the Blue River. Sixty-five years later it's a 2,908-acre, five-peak resort spread across Peaks 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the Tenmile Range, all served by 35 lifts on a single Epic Pass.

Peak 8 is the historic core (the original chairlift went up here in '61) and home to the Imperial Express SuperChair — at 12,998 feet, the highest chairlift in North America, opening up Imperial Bowl, Whale's Tail, Lake Chutes, and the bootpack to the 13,000-foot crest. Peak 9 is the family side, with one of the deepest beginner zones in Colorado. Peak 10 is the locals' steeps. Peak 6 added 543 acres of intermediate-to-advanced bowl skiing in 2013, and Peak 7 fills the bowls between 6 and 8 with high-alpine cruisers.

The Breck Connect gondola — free, eight-passenger, dog-friendly — runs from a parking structure at the edge of town directly to the bases of Peak 7 and Peak 8 in twelve minutes. The 4 O'Clock Run drops 3.5 miles from Peak 8 all the way to Main Street. Below the slopes, a twenty-two-block Victorian downtown anchors the experience: 200+ restaurants and bars, the Country Boy gold mine ten minutes away, and one of Colorado's longest ski seasons running into May most years.