Where the skiing is in ‘a completely different world’

On her first-ever ski trip to North America, Helen Coffey falls in love with the wide open spaces served up in Breckenridge and Vail in Colorado

Caterwauling my way down a wide, open plain, I was shrieking and whooping uncontrollably as I made bouncy turns through the softest, lightest snow imaginable, spraying arcs of champagne powder as I went. There was not a single soul in view other than our small posse of five skiers and Matt Belleville, long-time ski instructor at Breckenridge and mine of local knowledge about this Colorado resort. It was a classic bluebird day, the kind you see on magazine covers more frequently than in real life, not a cloud in the sky and a foot of fresh snow beneath our feet. And, while the elements are the same as those in Alpine resorts – sky, snow, slope – I was finding skiing in the United States a completely different world.

This was my first-ever ski trip to North America, my first outside Europe, in fact, and, though excited, I wasn’t expecting there to be a whole lot of difference to be honest. Boy, was I wrong.

What we were heading down would be classed as off-piste in Europe. Matt had led us to this secret powder stash by heading right from the top of the Imperial chairlift at 3,950m, passing several chutes (the American name for couloirs) and bowls marked on the piste map, before hiking up a little to access our hidden treasure. But in the US, it’s all fair game.

Matt explained that everything within the ski area boundary is avalanche protected and regularly swept by ski patrollers, and I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom, seeing endless possibilities opening up before my skis. One has to physically leave the ski area via gates in the boundary in order to access the true backcountry – when you’re on your own – but there’s nothing ambiguous about it. And being able to roam free and explore anywhere, carte blanche, was for me a novel and exhilarating experience.

Rewind two days and, en route to Breckenridge from Denver airport, I was already struck by how different the whole ski holiday experience is this side of the Atlantic. This was no packed transfer bus overseen by a harried tour operator rep, but

Breckenridge, above and right, has a laid-back charm and offers some superb skiing