Breckenridge Poster

This poster has been developed as part of my Colorado Vintage Travel Poster series. Created in Adobe Illustrator, I am able to enlarge and reduce the illustration without loss of quality.

I call this the “travel poster” look which is a simplistic graphic illustration style but with more gradations than the old world travel posters from the 1930’s and 40’s. The process: I first create rough sketches. Then I tighten up each part as a pencil sketch and scan the drawing into the computer. I then use this scan as an underlay importing it into Adobe Illustrator. Each part of the image is created as a shape and eventually I fill the shapes in with color. After the color palette is established, I then create simple gradations to allow the image to have some depth. This piece has been printed as a giclee on watercolor paper.

Breckenridge Ski Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Just west of the Continental Divide in Summit County, it is one of the most visited ski resorts in the western hemisphere. Breckenridge is owned and operated by one of the world’s leading ski resort operators, Vail Resorts, Inc., which also operates other ski resorts in Colorado including Vail, Beaver Creek, and Keystone.

Breckenridge is spread out across the five peaks that make up the southern half of the Tenmile Range.

Peak 10 is the southernmost peak on the mountain, comprising black and double black trails, accessible from the Falcon SuperChair. The advanced terrain on Peak 10 varies, from groomers underneath and near the lift, to glades on the north side of the Peak 10 ridge, and double black chutes on the far south side.

Peak 9 is composed of intermediate terrain, as well as beginner terrain on the lower slopes and chutes on the north face. The second oldest peak, the lower part of Peak 9 is a beginner learning slope, accessed by Quicksilver Super6 and Lift A. On the upper part of Peak 9 are intermediate blue runs serviced by the Mercury SuperChair, Beaver Run SuperChair, and Lift C. On the north side of Peak 9, facing towards Peak 8, are the North Chutes, double black-rated chutes serviced by Lift E. Lift E also functions as an access lift to transition from Peak 8 to Peaks 9 and 10.

Peak 8 is the geographical center of the resort. It also has the widest variety of terrain, from beginner trails to steep bowl terrain. Lower Peak 8 consists of beginner trails, as well as many intermediate trails mixed with some advanced runs. There are four lifts out of the base area: Lift 7, which services a beginner learning area; Lift 5, which services more advanced beginner terrain, the Freeway and Park Lane Terrain Parks, and the Alpine Slide. At the north end of the base area, the Colorado SuperChair provides access to the Vista Haus, central Peak 8, as well as access to the Peak 8 back bowls and Peak 9, while the Rocky Mountain SuperChair provides access to northern Peak 8, the T-Bar, Peak 7, and Peak 6.

Peak 8 is home to some of the premier terrain parks in the country, as freeskiers and riders have their pick of Freeway (black diamond rated) and Park Lane (blue rated) terrain parks, which are home to the 27-person Breck Pro Team, as well as numerous other extreme sports from around the world who use the parks to prepare for such events as The Dew Tour and X-Games. The back bowls, and upper part of Peak 8, are composed of advanced and expert terrain. The Peak 8 back bowl area is composed of expert chutes. The lower part of this area is accessible by the Peak 8 SuperConnect’s midway load station, while the upper part is accessible by Lift 6. Two lifts on Peak 8 go above tree-line: the T-Bar, accessible from the Rocky Mountain SuperChair, services northern Peak 8’s chutes. The Imperial Express SuperChair, reachable from Lift 6, is North America’s highest operating chairlift, and services the Imperial Bowl, the Lake Chutes, and access to the Peak 7 Bowl, which includes some very difficult terrain with slopes up to 55 degrees. Hiking from the top of the Imperial lift allows access to the summit of Peak 8 and a variety of cornices and chutes. It can get very windy and cold at the top, and in poor visibility conditions the peak will usually be closed. The Lake Chutes, a series of daunting chutes with an incline of up to 55 degrees is reachable from the top of Imperial. The chutes are some of the steepest terrain in the region, running vertically for about 400 feet.

Peak 7’s bowls are accessible by hiking from the T-Bar or a traverse from the top of the Imperial Express SuperChair. The lower part of Peak 7 is an area of rolling intermediate trails, groomed nightly. Peak 7’s base area is composed of two large lodges, the Crystal Peak Lodge and the Grand Lodge on Peak 7, and is connected to town by one of two midway stations on the BreckConnect Gondola. Peak 7’s terrain is serviced by the Independence SuperChair. The Zendo lift used to access Peak 6 also begins on Peak 7.

Peak 6, to the north of Peak 7, is also geared primarily to intermediate skiers and riders, but also includes a large amount of advanced terrain and chutes. Access to Peak 6 is provided by the Zendo Chair, originating at the bottom of Angel’s Rest on Peak 7 and terminating at the Horizon warming hut at 10,800 feet. From the Horizon warming hut, the Kensho SuperChair runs above timberline to an altitude of 12,302 feet, providing direct access to intermediate bowl trails, with further access to chutes in the Serenity Bowl (to the south) and Beyond Bowl (to the north) via a short hike from the top.