Year round activities: Breckenridge Event Calendar

Hibernating is for bears

Winter is filled with things to do in Summit County. Skiing – eight ski resorts are within an 80-mile radius, Cross-country Skiing, Sledding, Snowmobiling, Skating, Snowshoeing, and being out in the clean crisp air filled with festivities that spice up the season: Christmas, Ullr Fest, Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Competition, Spring Massive.

In Summer, we celebrate the Fourth of July in a big way and keep the party going until Octoberfest. Music pours out of the Riverwalk Center all summer long from two classical orchestras, and Silverthorne and Dillon host other groups of professional musicians. The Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge and the Lake Dillon Theatre in Dillon produce a full season in both winter and summer.

Breckenridge Ski Resort has grown up around a historic mountain town, so Breckenridge real estate that includes ski-in or ski-out is more interesting than many ski towns, with a trail system that brings town to the mountains and vice-versa.

Breckenridge Ski Resort was the No. 1 most popular resort in the country for the 2006/7 season. Ski Magazine rated Breckenridge No. 7 in the readers’ survey, this year -- in the top 10 for the past three.

There are also seven cross-country ski centers in the county: Breckenridge Nordic Center, Gold Run Nordic on the Breckenridge Golf Course, two at Keystone Resort, Copper Mountain and the largest maintained trail system at Frisco Nordic Center on the Peninsula. Back country skiing and snowmobiling or dog sledding is permitted on most of the national forest trails.

A Torchlight Parade down Peak 9 by the Breckenridge Ski School ushers in the new year and a new season of festivities. Each January the town puts on Ullr Fest, a fun event that celebrates the Norse god of snow, and the International Snow Sculpture Competition. I often work on the Breckenridge Team sculpture and it is one of best times I've every had. It's hard work for the competitors, but great for visitors. At the start, there are just several tall blocks of snow, but the teams transform them into works of art. It's fun to come back day after day and see how the sculptures are coming along. The last day when they are finished it's fantastic, and I always wish they could stay up longer.

Pro skiers and boarders come to town for competitions every winter, carnival or Mardi Gras celebrations spring up, and Breckenridge makes a point of keeping people entertain through April with Spring Massive. April snow is often fantastic for skiing; better in Breckenridge and A-Basin than just about anywhere else in North America because the mountain is at such a high altitude.

The summers in Breckenridge are unparalleled with beautiful sunny days and crisp nights. Hiking, mountain biking, road biking, tennis, golf, fishing, white water rafting, concerts at the Riverwalk Center or sitting on a deck enjoying fabulous food, wine or a favorite beer watching the sun go down on the Ten Mile Range make summer the best you will find anywhere.

In the bigger picture, Breckenridge has an ideal location it. I can go south a half hour by car and be in rural Colorado at a friend’s ranch branding cattle, or drive a little over an hour to Denver and experience tremendous events at Red Rocks, the Rockies stadium, the Pepsi Center, the new Denver Art Museum, Performing Arts Center or the Bronco's stadium. Denver has even built a new stadium for the Colorado Rapids, a professional soccer team. From Breckenridge, it's easy to take in any world class sporting event or experience just about any world class culture you can imagine.