Breckenridge Beginner Terrain
Breckenridge is comparable to Keystone when it comes to beginner skiing. It has several learning areas for children, and enough beginner terrain to put it into Colorado’s top 10 beginner ski areas, but it is probably not #1. Beginners are mostly limited to the bottom half of the mountain.
Peak 9 Beginner Skiing & Snowboarding
Peak 9 is a base area where several beginner ski trails converge. The Camelback Platter and learning area are located below the Quicksilver Superchair. There are also usually ski school learning zones for children set up near the Beaver Run Resort, located just uphill from the base of Peak 9.
Outside of the Camelback learning zone, the trails are easy, but can be busy. This is an area where a lot of skier traffic gets funneled down from the upper mountain area.
Above: a learning zone outside of the Beaver Run Resort that is set up for the ski school children. The photo below looks down a beginner ski trail as it winds towards the bottom of Peak 9.
Camelback Platter & Learning Area
The photo below shows the Camelback Platter and beginner skiing zone. The surface lift runs along the skier’s right, and a fence separates the area from the Quicksilver ski trail on the left. This area has a gentle slope, and it is open to the public, but snowboarders might have a tough time riding the surface lift.
Eldorado Platter & Carpet Beginner Learning Area
The Eldorado learning zone is a beginner skiing area that is located mid-mountain on Breckenridge’s Peak 9. The area has its own surface lift (they call it a platter because of the disk) and a covered carpet lift. The trail is well-separated from the rest of the resort by the surrounding trees.
Snowflake & The Peak 8 Beginner Terrain
The Snowflake beginner ski trail descends the mountain alongside a row of slopeside ski homes. The Snowflake trail is easy and unlikely to have any moguls. This is a good side excursion for beginner skiers and snowboarders who are moving between Breckenridge’s peaks.
The Lower 4 O’Clock ski trail DOES NOT bring you to the base area of the Snowflake lift. It does bring you near there, and the trail maps show that trail going by in close proximity, but you would not want to take the Lower 4 O’Clock trail with the intent of taking the Snowflake lift back up.
Trygve's Platter
Heading up the Snowflake lift, you will cross above the Trygve’s Platter and learning hill. This is a short, fenced off beginner area with one surface lift. This area is easy to access from the Rip Tide lift. This beginner’s area can be seen in the photo below.
The beginner ski trails on Peak 8 are easy-going. Four O’Clock and Springmeier both begin their descent from Vista Haus as intermediate trails, but they are relatively easy, and they quickly turn into green circle runs. The photo below shows Powerline on the right, and Springmeier on the left just above the Peak 8 base area. The Grand Lodge on Peak 7 is seen in the distance.
About 1/2 dozen trails all converge on the Peak 8 base area, including several beginner ski trails. Crescendo can be seen in the center of this image, running beneath the Colorado Superchair. Springmeier is located to the looker’s left of that trail.
Expect this area to get busy. This base area takes on all of the traffic from the free gondola that runs between the town and the Peak 8 base. A significant amount of the upper mountain traffic also comes down through here.