Breck vs Vail

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iskibad

Member
I am thinking about moving to Breck or Vail for the winter. I have a job that allows me to work at either location. I am in my late 30's and I am wondering what the pros and cons to the 2 mtns are and trying to decide which is a better fit. I really like the vibe of the "Old Town" in Breck, but, the terrain at Vail is probably better. Last element is meeting other people...and chicas in their late 20's - 30's are more what i am looking for (not that there is anything wrong with young girls, i just don't wanna be creepy lol).

Thanks!!!
 
The only good thing about Breck is their park. Other than that the mountain is pretty flat. Vail on the other hand has more of a variety of terrain and is a better mountain if your looking for trees, steeps, etc.
 
I lived in Vail for one season, Breck for the last 10 yrs. I think breck and vail are really pretty similiar terrain wise. Vail is bigger but really not very steep or technical same as breck. Both mountains are fun once you learn how to ride them, definitely not the craziest terrain but enough to keep some pretty talented skiers around for life.
As for the towns it really bothered me when I lived in Vail that you can hear the highway from just about everywhere, kinda ruined the mountain feel for me. Both places have fun bars, restaurants and people, but Breck just felt a little more real to me. I'm sure you'll not regret moving to either town! Have Fun!
 
yeah vail and breck are pretty mellow. breck is more for cruisin and park. vail is mainly groomers and pow and trees
 
Vail is huge, better free rideBreck is more spread out and not much to offer besides park. Lake chutes are sick but thats about it for free ride.
 
threads. i would say base somewhere in summit, get an epic pass and ski both, but breck as your daily and vail as your once in awhile. that is my plan anyway.
 
Thanks for all the replies!!! One of my big concerns with Breck is the lack of mountain "feeling" with the highway being right there. I don't ski as much park as i used to, so the idea of more free-ride rettain in Vail sounds good. this is a harder decision than i thought it would be. any more feedback would be greatly appreciated, especially more recon about the demographic of the people at both areas.

Thanks
 
vail has the highway right next to it not breck, you're a good 15-20 minutes from the interstate at breck. neither is amazing for freeride in bounds but both have good out of bounds, though vail is better and its not really a question. both are also close to better freeride mountains with beaver creek 10 minutes from vail and abasin half hour from breck. breck does have the best park in the world, so there's that. i can say on the towns because i havent really spent much time in vail other than skiing, but i'd think they have a little older crowd in the vail-eagle-avon area, but then again im not sure. breck crowd is mostly in their 20s.
 
Skiing wise... Breck is only good for the park...Vail has a pretty good park but 10 times better mountain. Snow Quality, amount of snow, weather, terrain, crowds, and Size are all in Vails favor...
Life Wise... Vail is pretty mellow... Not too many huge partys and shit like that... Breck most likely has a better night life. But you could leave this winter with an STD..Just sayin..
For me Vail takes the cake...
 
yea, i was vague...
im not a park skiier - freeride is more my style. the backbowls at vail are unmatched and the sidecountry at both vail and beaver creek is sick. plus even though peak elevation at breck is higher, i always feel like vail has dryer, lighter snow.
vail sub-culture is sick too. two of my good friends live out there and once you get to know the local crowd, you realize they're hard core.
 
One of the draws to Vail is I have alot of "friends-friends" living out there who would be able to get me acclimated quickly.
 
if your in your late 30's your probalabbly wont be skiing much park but i love breck because i think its layed out fantastically at vail you'll find yourself skiing a gnarly run and then end up on a catwalk for 15 minutes to get back to the lift. I would ski breck over vail anyday
 
Are you more worried about the riding or the living situation? Because that's your trade-off.

Vail is going to be better for riding (assuming you're not a park rat). It's secluded but it's also right off the highway, so it's kind of noisy no matter where you are.

Breck's terrain is fun if you know where to go, but a lot of people complain about it being flat. On the other hand, it's more of a real "town" than a ski resort off the highway, and a lot of other towns are easily accessible.

Either way there's a trade off, so I think you'd be happy no matter what.
 
i lived in breck and got pretty tired of the mountain by the end of february. the park was definitely awesome, but the days i did go to vail mad me wish i had lived there instead
 
instead of breck and vail go to keystone and get a bit of both. sick ass park, noice tree skiin, bowls are pretty sick with cat rides for like 10 bucks
 
i definitely think you would have a better time living in vail...the terrain is better in vail and the "nightlife" in breck isn't worth the trade-off. don't take offense to this, but based on your age you'd probably get tired of breck's scene pretty fast in general.
 
I've had some deep ass days at Vail for sure, but Breckenridge, finding pow is like finding caviar at a free buffet. My two biggest complaints about Breck are that a lot of it is really flat and it gets crowded as fuck. Not saying that Vail doesn't get crowded too, but its big enough to spread the crowds out so its generally not that bad.
 
Thanks for all the input...if vail mtn had the "real town" that breck does that would prob be best of both worlds for me. i am probably leaning towards vail for now...any more input is appreciated, and wherever i set up shop i'm sure will be a good time!
 
I preferred Vail. I didn't go out of bounds at Breck but I found the actual ski area to be pretty boring. Vail seemed to have a lot more to offer... The back bowls, while pretty mellow are tons of fun to rip big wide turns down when its dumped and there are some good freeride options accessible by lift and/or a short bootpack and theres some fun options up on Blue Sky.
Beaver Creek was by far my favourite of the CO resorts I've skied but you wouldn't want to live there and its only a short trip from Vail anyway. I'd say go to Vail and then ski Beaver Creek a few times a week.
 
I'd choose Vail. It gets more snow, there's awesome back bowls, the park aint bad, and if you want to get crazy you can go to their backcountry area, where there are plenty of scary lines and a shit ton more snow than inbounds. People often say it's not a real town, but it is just as real as other mountain towns. The one downside is that it lacks some older architecture, but there's a large group of 20 and 30 somethings that make it home. The bar scene is second to none, save for maybe Whistler. It's a real chill, laid back atmosphere and really easy to meet people. The highway kind of sucks, but it's really not that big of a deal. It's also warmer, and less windy then Summit County. I absolutely love Vail. And Beaver Creek is one of the most underrated mountains in the US. There's less bro-brah going on in Vail than Breck, and it has more varied terrain.
 
Nice choice going with J5 as the music selection...

https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/content/viewvideo/id/413507/search_string/breckenridge/

 
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