3 hours Ago By John Meyer
(Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
Only three miles from Main Street in downtown Breckenridge there is a trailhead that leads not only to backcountry joy, but a greater appreciation for the town’s 19th century mining history.Following the path of an old railway line, the Boreas Pass ski tour begins at 10,350 feet, 750 feet above town, and ascends 1,200 feet over six miles to an 11,500-foot pass on the Continental Divide. From there it descends to the town of Como in South Park.
When I ski it in silent solitude, I imagine the chug-chug-chug and whistle blasts from steam locomotives of the Denver, South Park and Pacific narrow gauge railway that operated the line from 1882-1937.Skiing all the way to the pass and back makes for a challenging day, but going halfway is a wonderful six-mile tour with a handy turnaround landmark: A water tank that served trains that connected Breckenridge to Denver only 17 years after the Civil War.The Boreas Pass ski tour follows a 19th century narrow gauge railway route which ran from Breckenridge to the town of Como in South Park, a 20-mile journey.
(John Meyer/The Denver Post)The Boreas Pass Tour is one of my favorites, especially on full moon nights when the lights of Breckenridge twinkle below as seen from an overlook near the trailhead. Above them tower the snow-capped peaks of the Tenmile Range, glowing softly in the moonlight. A nearby fourteener, Quandary Peak, also can be seen with a beautiful, soft light.
I need to emphasize that this tour is doable for families, because the ascent grade had to be suitable for the trains that ran on it. We skied it as a family when our kids were little. The three-mile ascent to the water tank only ascends about 530 feet, and it’s a very gradual, consistent climb.
The trail also is comfortably wide; it’s open to automobile traffic in the summer and makes for a gorgeous drive during leaf-peeping season.The water tank is a great place to stop and eat a pack lunch. Soaring nearby is a Summit County landmark, Bald Mountain (usually referred to as Baldy) which tops out at 13,700 feet.
Hardy souls can ski the six miles to the pass, where there are two structures dating back more than 140 years that have been restored to serve as backcountry huts. One was the railway’s “Section House,” which was built in 1882 for railway workers and their families. It sleeps 12.
The other, known as Ken’s Cabin, sleeps two or three and dates back to the 1860s when the route over the pass was a wagon road. They were restored in the 1990s and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are owned by Summit Huts, but reservations are made through 10th Mountain Huts.
Boreas Pass was the highest rail station in the U.S. when it was completed.
According to a U.S. Forest Service pamphlet, the Boreas Pass station had a telegraph office and a stone engine house with a coal bin, a water tank and a turntable.
A passenger depot was built in 1898, and there was a post office from 1896-1906.Today that route offers exquisite solitude. The last time I was there, on a Saturday morning last month, six inches of snow had fallen overnight.
It was a powder day, and I have no doubt Breckenridge was teeming with skiers and riders. I skied for more than two hours and saw only 10 other people.The Boreas Pass ski tour east of Breckenridge offers gorgeous views of Bald Mountain, a 13,700-foot peak that is distinctive for miles around.
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