In many ways, the beginning of the 2023-24 winter season feels just like any other for Jon Copeland. With over 30 years of ski industry experience, each new season tends to blend together, but this season marks a monumental landmark in his career path: it will be his first season serving as the vice president and chief operating officer of Breckenridge Ski Resort.

Copeland took over the position from former-Vice President and COO Jody Chruich, who served at Breckenridge in that role for the past two seasons. Upon Churich announcing her departure from the ski resort on Oct. 4, the search began to fill the void she left behind. With less than two weeks until Churich was set to take on her new role at Vail Resorts on Oct. 16, Churich and the Vail Resorts hiring team were tasked with finding a replacement that had a passion for Breckenridge and the work ethic needed for the job.

Four days before Churich was set to start her first day as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Resorts’ West Region, Breckenridge announced it had hired Copeland, who was serving as the resort’s vice president of mountain operations at the time. 

In the span of a few days, Copeland quickly transitioned from his mountain operations position — a role that he served for three years — and started work as the new senior vice president and chief operating officer.

“It has honestly been a whirlwind,” Copeland said. “There is a lot of stuff coming at me, which is super exciting and what I crave in learning. There is so much happening right now, especially with the resort opening coming quickly. I am really focusing on trying to pace myself, knowing this is a marathon … not a sprint.”

Prior to working at Breckenridge, Copeland spent his childhood and adolescence years on the central coast of California before he moved to Lake Tahoe.

Having fallen in love with the sport of skiing at an early age, Copeland started to pursue the ski industry as a career path soon after graduating from California State University-Chico with a construction management degree. 

“I knew from the first time that I ever put on skis that this was the coolest thing I have ever experienced,” Copeland said. “As I was studying in one field during college, I was thinking about how I could create the opportunity to live and work in the mountains. During college, I took a part-time job at a ski resort, working in the race department and virtually never looked back.”

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Copeland got his first big ski industry job at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, where he served as the director of ski and board schools. He stayed in that role for over two years before he was promoted to director of skier services at Kirkwood, where he stayed for 11 years.

With a strong desire to run a ski resort some day, Copeland moved to Breckenridge in the fall of 2019.

“I’ve known for 10-plus years that I have always wanted to run a ski resort, but what resort was really important to me,” Copeland said. “It just couldn’t be any resort. The resort I worked at, the community, the mountains, I had to have a passionate feeling about that location and that place. Quite frankly, Breckenridge checked all those boxes. I am super thankful for the opportunity.”

Copeland started in 2019 as the senior director of skier services before moving his way up to be the senior director of mountain operations and eventually the vice president of mountain operations. 

“With the mountain operations team, there are large teams who have a lot of different functions across the resort,” Copeland said of his previous position. “They never have a season off, so you are constantly trying to figure out what to accomplish now while looking at the future.”

In his new position, Copeland will oversee a wide variety of teams while also leading partnerships and engagement with the larger Summit County community. He specifically leads all mountain and base area operations, food and beverage, the resort’s ski and snowboard school, and summer activities and operations. 

Copeland says his goals for Breckenridge are the same that he had in his previous role, and they align firmly with the resort’s longtime vision. 

“That really hasn’t changed, it is just on a much larger scale,” Copeland said. “I want to be able to share my passion for the mountain, teamwork, and provide amazing experiences for our guests and employees — that is super important to me. One thing about these mountain communities is that it takes all of us to be successful here, and I think that it is super important in my role that I am being collaborative, I reach out and I engage with people and try to make sure we all have the same goals in mind in being successful.”

With Breckenridge’s season getting underway on Friday, Nov. 10, Copeland is excited to welcome guests back while also getting more comfortable in his new position.

“Like I said, from the first moment I put on skis I knew it was the coolest thing I have ever experienced, so I want to share that feeling with our guests and employees,” Copeland said. “Every year at this time, there is a lot of excitement and momentum. We have snow finally coming down, and we have cold temperatures.” 

Breckenridge will welcome guests back by unveiling the new Five SuperChair — which will be the first chair to start turning on Peak 8 for the season. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place for the Five SuperChair at 8:50 a.m. before guests on the first chair of the season will start to make their way up the mountain at approximately 9 a.m.

Five SuperChair and Colorado SuperChair will spin throughout opening day with guests able to explore approximately 50 acres of terrain via the 4 O’clock and Springmeirer trails.

Following opening day, Breckenridge will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the BreckConnect Gondola opening at 8:30 a.m., daily. To purchase an Epic Pass or single day lift ticket prior to opening day, visit Breckenridge.com.