Summit County Locations

I'm photo guiding for someone on Dec 30th. I'm looking for a good sunrise location and a good sunset location near Summit County or Vail. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that you have. Thanks.

I should also add that these locations need to be easily accessible.

I didnt check it out, but when driving back from Rifle the other day noticed Dillon is a nice clean sheet of ice right now--might make for an interesting sunrise/set.

Last weekend Lake Dillon was full of snow. When did you drive by it?

i was there on the 17-18th, i noticed the ice on the southern side coming in to Frisco.

There aren't alot of easy spots for what you're asking in Summit County.

A few I can think of are:

Just over Hoosier Pass shooting towards Lincoln and Bross. (technically Park County)

Loveland Pass, but the best spots require you climb the 1/2 mile or so up the ridges

Downtown in Breck if you can balance the lit buildings with the ambient around sunset.

Maybe you should hire a guide.

Okay, now that I stated the obvious, if you head uphill from Breckenridge to the Boreas Pass x-c ski trailhead, you can walk up the road just a short distance and have some pretty clean sunrise views of the Tenmile Range. Also good views up that road just after sunset to get Breck's lights with some sky glow. The Fremont Pass area is pretty killer for sunset, as is, of course, the area around Clinton Reservoir and, if your client is up to it, the hike up to Mayflower Gulch, although snowshoes would probably be needed for that.

Thanks Todd. That second reply was more helpful. I had Lake Dillon and Mayflower Gulch in mind but I wanted to see what other ideas were out there.

i would plan on some good weather locations and bad weather locals. if its cold and windy, i would suggest staying in the trees.

one of my favorite places is up in montezuma and peru creek. or maybe down the blue river a little ways.

if the weather is good, you can get a wonderful sunrise shot of the ten mile range from just south of the dillon marina. or you can go up to panorama point on swan mtn road.

ute pass rd has some great views of the gore range. you are looking west so take your pick on the sunrise or set.

there are some very nice ice falls along I-70 just east of vail. i've always wanted to explore them, but was always just passing through.

green mtn reservoir looking towards the gore range is a good sunrise shot. but i haven't seen the level of the ice lately. it could be ugly if its sunken.

summit lake on top of loveland pass. there is a small road just south of the summit. its covered in snow now, but you could park on the main road and walk the 100 yards up.

by far my favorite location is mayflower gulch. but its not as easy to get to.

i would suggest scouting out some of the locations before you take your client. some of them are hit or miss. i hope this helps.

josh

I thought about the Boreas Pass and Mayflower locations too but thought both might exceed your definition of "easy". Unless there has been alot of recent snow, Boreas pass gets packed hard fast and you can walk up to the viewpoints without snowshoes.

If we're opening these types of locations...

I've also shot from Emerald Point on Swan Mountain Road overlooking Dillon Res. It has a nice view over the lake and 10 mile range. I've done it in summer but would expect it is no trouble in winter.

I've also shot across Dillon from the location south of the Dillon marina described by Josh.

I hesitated to mention the Summit Lake on Loveland Pass because there is no parking there in winter, its on a hairpin turn and when I've seen it, the lake is buried in snow in winter. I like that spot in summer though.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to scout out some of these locations tomorrow.

The Dam Road near Frisco has some nice late afternoon shots across Dillon Res looking south toward Mt. Guyot & Bald Mt. Peak One and the Tenmile Range can also be viewed from along this shoreline. This is a better look when the lake is not frozen over, nice reflections.

There is a road heading east from about the middle of Silverthorne that gains a lot of elevation and gives a nice view of Buffalo Mt. and the Gore Range.