Summit County ski areas open access to new peaks while others drop ropes on new trails as holiday season approaches
Lucas Herbert/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
Editor’s Note: Each Thursday throughout the winter, the Summit Daily News will provide a terrain update that will inform skiers and riders on what trails are open at what mountains before they head out to the slopes.
Although the 2024-25 winter season in Summit County got off to a slightly later start than previous years, Mother Nature has quickly made up for it with several powerful storms.
The series of storms the week of Thanksgiving specifically gave Summit County ski areas a huge lift in piling snow up on trails and opening more terrain across the mountain.
Despite Summit County’s last major storm coming over two weeks ago, ski areas have continued to see optimal snowmaking temperatures and an occasional dusting of snow, leading to new terrain coming online for the upcoming weekend.
Breckenridge grows closer to opening all 5 peaks
After beginning the season by opening at 9 a.m. daily, Breckenridge Ski Resort is shifting its lift operating hours to 8:30 a.m. starting on Friday, Dec. 13.
In conjunction with the lift operating hours being pushed up by half an hour, the BreckConnect Gondola moved to an 8 a.m. opening beginning on Friday.
Additionally, Peak 7 opened for the first time this winter season on Friday. For Peak 7’s first weekend, guests can expect to explore the majority of the lower mountain trails from Claimjumper to Monte Cristo via the Independence SuperChair.
Breckenridge will now turn its focus to getting Peak 6 and the Zendo and Kensho chairs open. The mountain operations team at Breckenridge expects to have Peak 6 open by the middle of next week with the Freedom Superchair on Peak 7, as well as Peak 10 and the Falcon SuperChair coming online for the end of next week.
If all goes to plan, Breckenridge could have all five of its peaks open late next week, ahead of the holidays.
“This winter is shaping up to be one of the better starts to the season we have seen in a long time in terms of snow and terrain,” senior communications manager Sara Lococo said.
Keystone gives access to third peak
This weekend, Keystone Resort will open up its third peak of the season — The Outback. Joining Dercum Mountain and North Peak, The Outback will give guests access to intermediate and advanced terrain.
For the peak’s first weekend of the season, guests can explore groomed runs like Elk Run as well as steep, gladed trails like The Grizz.
“While Keystone’s gladed terrain does rely on natural snowfall and has benefited from the recent snowstorms, our snowmaking teams are critical to getting trails like Anticipation and Lower Spillway ready for the public, which make opening The Outback possible,” communications manager Max Winter said.
The Outback is not the only peak that will be seeing openings this weekend. On Dercum Mountain, Keystone’s terrain park teams have been busy moving features over from the resort’s pre-season park location by Acapulco Road to the A-51 terrain park area.
Keystone will open its first section of A-51, Easy Street, later this weekend, with larger features slated in the coming weeks.
Beyond skiing and snowboarding at Keystone, the resort will welcome back it’s World’s Largest Mountaintop Snow Fort this weekend. This year’s fort offers the biggest footprint yet and features slides, towers and even a kid’s snow tubing hill.
Unofficially signifying the thick of ski season, Keystone’s lifts will start spinning at 8:30 a.m on Saturday, Dec. 14. For the holiday season, night skiing will return for the holiday season and weekends starting on Friday, Dec. 20.
Copper green lights new terrain on the east side of the mountain
Copper Mountain Resort is working to move east across its mountain and has several terrain openings planned for this weekend.
The Alpine Lift is slated to open for the season on Saturday, Dec. 14. The lift will give access to Far East, Triple Treat, Too Much and Formidable trails. Additionally, the trails that make up the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center, including Upper Andy’s Encore, Oh No and Rosi’s Run will also open for the season on Saturday.
Uphill access at Copper will begin on Sunday, Dec. 15. During the early season, guests will have before/after hour and daytime access to routes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. Once snowmaking operations wrap up for the season, the standard route hours and restrictions will resume and routes 3 through 8 will return to daytime access only.
Registration is mandatory for uphill access at Copper. Guests must have a 2024-25 uphill armband to access the routes. Uphill access is free for Copper and Ikon pass holders. If someone doesn’t already have an armband from previous season’s, the cost is $5 to purchase. To register in advance and to learn more about Copper’s uphill access, visit CopperColorado.com.
Loveland Ski Area opens Ptarmigan Lift
On Friday, Dec. 13, the Ptarmigan Lift at Loveland Ski Area will open which will give access to Fire Bowl as well as the Turtle Creek Trails.
In addition to Loveland debuting the Ptarmigan Lift this weekend, the ski area has demo days planned throughout the weekend with Grass Sticks, Venture Snowboards and Icelantic Skis offering free demos to all guests.
With plans to open uphill access on Dec. 23, Loveland uphill passes are slated to go online Monday, Dec. 16. All uphill access users are required to pre-purchase and wear an uphill access pass to skin up the mountain.
Uphill access passes are $50 for the 2024-25 season but are included in the cost of all 2024-25 Loveland Ski Area season passes. Season pass holders are still required to acquire their uphill access pass prior to accessing the mountain. At least 50% of proceeds from uphill access pass sales will be donated to the Alpine Rescue Team and the National Forest Foundation.
Arapahoe Basin focused on opening up the Beavers
After opening up Molly Hogan and more green-level terrain last week, A-Basin’s Snowsports School operations will be in full swing starting on Saturday, Dec. 14. The opening of the ski area’s private and group lesson program will open a week earlier than planned and will now be open seven days a week.
To book a lesson, visit ArapahoeBasin.com/lessons/.
In terms of food and drinks at the ski area, Stielhang Hut, the ski area’s upper mid-mountain restaurant, will open Friday, Dec. 13, with specialty sausages, German craft beers, pretzels, strudel and breathtaking views of East Wall.
In the weeks to come, A-Basin’s mountain operations team will focus on getting the Beavers up and running. According to communications manager Shayna Silverman, the area has good coverage from recent storms, but the ski area still needs to see a little bit more snow for the terrain to be durable and sustain the entirety of the season.
Silverman confirmed that the Beavers will be the next terrain pod to open up for the winter season.
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