One of Colorado's most popular resorts, Breckenridge has expert skiing up to 12,998 feet if you are prepared to hike for it. With the addition of the 307 acres of 'expert only' terrain on Peak 7 a few years ago, Breckenridge now has four mountains, named Peaks 7, 8, 9 and 10. Peak 8, with half of the resort's 2000+ skiable acres, is largely classified as expert terrain. Peak 10 is also mainly for experts, with 63% of its terrain classified most difficult. Most of the gentler slopes are on user-friendly Peak 9 which has almost half of the resort's lifts and snowmaking covering a quarter of its terrain.

Breckenridge is not purpose-built, rather it is an original mining town with 171 listed buildings. The town was founded in 1859 and is the oldest continually inhabited community in the Colorado mountains. As you'd expect, there's a huge choice of things to do off the slope and a vast range of lodging options, with an accommodation capacity of 23,000. The variety of meals served up by the 50 or so restaurants in town is possibly unequaled at a North American ski resort. Dining options include Cajun, French, German, Hunan Chinese, Java, Mandarin, Mexican, Native American, Northern Italian, Organic, Rastafarian, Southern Italian, Sushi and Vegetarian.

Arapahoe Basin is located on the Pacific edge of the Continental Divide and it is one of the highest lift-served ski areas in North America, with a peak lift-served elevation of over 12,000'. With this elevation, A-Basin normally remains open until mid-June and on occasion, even July and August.Majestic mountains surround a natural bowl at the Basin, providing a dramatic setting for skiing and snowboarding above the treeline. The resort is a favorite among skiers and riders who enjoy the warm, sunny days of spring and sometimes even summer skiing.While there are no lodging facilities at A-Basin, accommodations are available at Keystone, six miles west, and a free shuttle bus service is provided between the two areas.

Owned by nearby Vail Resorts, Keystone is usually one of the first resorts in Colorado to open each autumn and one of the last to close. It is also home to North America's biggest ice skating rink (5 acres). The three mountains at Keystone are stacked up one behind the other moving away from the base - an unusual and interesting layout. The terrain gets more challenging the further back you go. The first mountain, Keystone, is largely intermediate terrain. From the peak, the Outpost gondola goes to the middle mountain, North Peak. Outback Mountain, the farthest back of the three features three superb bowls with above tree line skiing. The resort sprawls around the base of the ski area with slope side condos the best place to be for ski in/ski out access. There are over three dozen restaurants in the area and non-ski activities include ice skating and hockey on the mega rink, night skiing and snowboarding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and indoor tennis.

The largest single ski area in the USA with over 4000 acres of skiable terrain, and the most high-speed detachable quads on one mountain in the world, Vail markets itself as 'America's favorite resort.' It is certainly regarded by many as one of the world's top five all-around ski resorts. Vail's ski area is legendary. Stretching for 7 miles (11km) and served by 25 lifts, eight of them express quads, it has over 120 named trails. Expert skiers and powder fanatics have plenty of challenging terrain on Vail's Frontside as well as the seven legendary 'Back Bowls.' For intermediates there's a huge variety of groomed cruising runs. There are numerous beginners slow skiing areas around the mountains and special family skiing areas. The longest run is from Flap Jack to Riva Ridge, a total of 4.5 miles (7.3km). The Frontside terrain is unusualy well balanced with almost a third of the skiing for each category of skier. The resort receives an average of 27 feet of light powder snow each year. The Vail Valley has some 32,000 guest beds in all categories, putting it among the biggest resorts in the world off-slope as well as on. With over 120 restaurants to choose from and more than 225 shops, visitors may be forgiven for not making time to try out the 884 metre long bobsleigh run, where recreational users can record speeds of up to 90 kph. Also to be found around Vail are several art galleries, museums and the opportunity to try ballooning, dog sledding, ice skating and hockey, parascending, snowmobiling, snowcat tours, snowshoeing and telemark skiing.