The mix of purpose-built ski resorts, old mining towns, snow-covered peaks, alpine meadows and crystal lakes that make up
Summit County
lie alongside I-70, around seventy miles west of Denver. Before white settlement, the Ute hunted here every summer: the swanky Keystone Ranch Golf Club now occupies the meadow where they pitched their tepees. During the late nineteenth century the county witnessed several gold-mining booms; dilapidated
ghost towns
cling to the mountainsides, but one settlement that survived is
BRECKENRIDGE
, whose streets are lined with brightly painted Victorian houses, shops and cafés. This is the liveliest of Summit County's four towns;
FRISCO
, stretching sedately along a quiet valley, appeals to those looking for a less hectic pace. Both the other towns,
DILLON
and
SILVERTHORNE
, are dull, though the latter contains dozens of cut-price factory outlet stores. The villages at the resorts of
Keystone
and
Copper Mountain
are also unexciting.
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