Run of the day at Breck: Contest Bowl Mar. 27, 2013

Do you like to challenge yourself while skiing or snowboarding? If you are a skier or boarder who craves the steep runs, you’re going to love this. Today’s Run of the day at Breck is Contest Bowl. This double black diamond bowl, located on Peak 8, features three main runs called, King, Queen, and Joker.

Terrain

Contest Bowl certainly earns the classification as a double black diamond. While some bowls at other resorts feature a much more mellow pitch, this run is very steep with lots of technical terrain features. At about 40 degrees in steepness and various rocks and trees to either avoid or blast off of, Contest Bowl is the adrenaline junkie’s dream.

One of the main features to look for is Joker Rock. Joker is the run on the skier’s left side and it features two rocks that are basically stacked on top of each other. When there is enough snow, you can send it from the top rock over the bottom rock. The Colorado Superchair unloads directly below contest bowl, giving skier’s a grand audience as they conquer or get conquered in Contest. The run out is short and fast, so be sure to maintain your speed throughout.

Best time to go

The best time to hit Contest Bowl is after fresh snow of course. Even on those spring days where the snow becomes sun baked in most bowls, this run has a little bit of tree cover to shade it from the sun. Also, given the wind patterns, Contest Bowl tends to get refilled with snow from other areas on a regular basis. Who doesn’t love free refills?

Getting there

You can access Contest Bowl from either 6-Chair or the T-Bar. From the top of 6-Chair, make a sharp skier’s left traverse and cross over Upper 4 O’Clock. You will see a clearing in the trees with a sign for Contest Bowl. From the top of the T-Bar, you’ll want to avoid dropping into Horseshoe Bowl. Take Alpine Alley to Upper 4 O’Clock and look for the sign on your left.

Go ahead, take the challenge, step into Contest Bowl.

–Chris Burton

One Response

1. Wynn Miller

   If you are a skier or boarder who craves the steep runs, you’re going to love Contest Bowl.

   On April 3, 2013 at 11:50 pm · Log in to Reply