Fresh snow expands terrain offerings at Summit County ski areas as peak season looms

Breckenridge Ski Resort/Courtesy photo
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 before they head out to the slopes.
With ski areas in Summit County often staying open for eight months out the year, it can be easy for the Colorado winter season to feel endless. This winter however, the first part of the season has seemed to fly by.
Although the first two months of the season in Summit County did feature a heavy storm in November, avid skiers and riders know that the best days of the season are still yet to come.
As ski areas inch closer to entering peak season, more terrain is expected to come online ahead of the upcoming New Year’s Eve holiday weekend.
Keystone unlocks Bergman Bowl
After seeing 4 inches of fresh snow, Keystone is rolling through the holidays with improved conditions.
Due to the influx of fresh snow and ideal snowmaking temperatures, Bergman Bowl is open to the public, offering high Alpine terrain and powder fields to nearly all ability levels.
The Keystone mountain operation teams are continuing to make progress on the rest of the resort’s high Alpine and hike-to bowls. The resort anticipates opening Indy Bowl in the coming weeks. The opening of Indy Bowl is then expected to be followed by the hike-to North Bowl terrain in The Outback.
Since Erickson Bowl directly faces the sun, Keystone will need a few more storms before the terrain is ready, but the resort is keeping a close eye on conditions so that it can open all five of its high Alpine bowls as soon as possible.
For New Year’s Eve, Keystone will offer a full night of events. The fun will officially kick off with night skiing from 4–7 p.m. which will then be followed by a glowstick parade and a firework show at 7 p.m.
Night skiing will be an option for guests every night this week through New Year’s Eve, and will then run weekends and holidays until March 29.
Breckenridge opens 6-Chair
Gifted with 5 inches of snow on Thursday, Dec. 26, and over 7 inches in the last week, Breckenridge Ski Resort is offering about 2,000 acres of terrain across its five peaks.
On Friday, Dec. 27, Breckenridge will add a new lift for guests to explore in 6-Chair. The addition of the lift will give guests access to more of Breckenridge’s high-Alpine terrain on Peak 8.
The new snowfall over the last week is expected to aid ski patrol as it looks to open Intuition and Beyond Bowl as well as hike-to terrain access on Peak 6. Breckenridge expects the bowls and the hike-to terrain on Peak 6 to open soon.
With a storm capable of producing more than a foot of snow in the forecast for this weekend, Breckenridge will look to get the rest of its high-Alpine terrain and hike-to terrain open, including the highest chairlift in North America — Imperial SuperChair.
Loveland drops ropes to several trails
Over the last week, Loveland Ski Area has opened Cat’s Meow, Tiger’s Tail, Busy Gully, Holy Cat and Bennett’s Bowl.
Cat’s Meow, Tiger’s Tail, Busy Gully and Holy Cat are all trails off of the Chet’s Dream lift and are located in an area known as the “steeps”. Bennett’s Bowl on the other hand, is located off of the Ptarmigan Lift and offers high-Alpine bowl skiing.
In addition to the trails listed above, Loveland opened up Rainbow Trail over at Loveland Valley, and the team is planning to open Fire Cut rail off of Ptarmigan on Friday, Dec. 27.
“We received 6 inches so far this week, and it’s still coming down,” director of marketing and communications Loryn Roberson said. “We’re optimistic at the forecast with 15 additional inches expected to stack up over the next four days.”
In the coming weeks, Loveland will look to open up Lift 4 and its corresponding terrain.
Copper Mountain close to being fully open
Copper Mountain Resort is off to a great start to the season. After recording its second snowiest November on record and surpassing 100 inches ahead of Thanksgiving, Copper continues to remain in an ideal spot for this point in the season.
“Copper Mountain is just a few trails shy of fully open,” communications and philanthropy manager Olivia Butrymovich said. “Some new snowfall will help us fill in some of the steeper terrain on the mountain. It’s really been a monumental start to the season, and we couldn’t be more appreciative of our teams for all the hard work they have put in to get us to this point.”
Due to the heavy snowfall earlier in the season, Copper will not have any major openings for the Christmas holiday weekend, but uphill access will open in full at the resort starting on Friday, Dec. 27.
Like previous years, there will be twilight access on routes 1 and 2 and daytime access on routes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Registration is mandatory for uphill access at Copper, and 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.

A-Basin dining options now fully open
After dropping ropes to the The Beavers last week, A-Basin does not expect to have any major new terrain openings for the upcoming weekend.
However, with Summit County seeing new snow on Thursday, Dec. 26, there is a possibility that runs open up in the Pallavicini and The Beavers terrain zones.
Although A-Basin will most likely not be offering any new terrain for holiday guests to explore, the ski area’s myriad of dining options are now open for the season with their full menus and regular schedules.

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