This Standard Colorado Ski City Simply Turned the State’s First Licensed Darkish Sky Vacation spot

The favored ski city of Breckenridge, Colorado, simply turned the primary mountain ski resort neighborhood within the state to change into darkish sky licensed.

The designation, which was bestowed by DarkSky Worldwide in July 2025, was awarded as a result of city’s efforts to guard “its distinctive alpine nightscape and pure atmosphere for present and future generations.” The certification adopted years of labor, together with adopting a strict exterior lighting ordinance, changing outdated avenue lamps, and requiring new development to adjust to darkish sky requirements.

“The Rocky Mountain cities of Colorado supply immense pure magnificence, particularly relating to the evening sky,” Michael Rymer, the communities program supervisor with DarkSky Worldwide (and a Colorado resident), mentioned in an announcement. “With Breckenridge’s work as an Worldwide Darkish Sky Neighborhood, the city hopes to guard and protect the evening sky for residents and guests, now and into the longer term. We at DarkSky Worldwide are excited to certify a major vacationer vacation spot that may spotlight the wonders of darkish skies to guests from all world wide.”

Breckenridge is dwelling to the favored Breckenridge Ski Resort and sits at a base altitude of 9,600 ft. The world boasts greater than 5,000 acres of open house and 65 miles of trails, in keeping with DarkSky Worldwide, drawing out of doors adventurers and vacationers on the lookout for stunning vistas and a slower tempo. Past snowboarding, fashionable actions embrace snowshoeing within the winter or mountain biking and alpine slides in the summertime.

Kelly Owens, the mayor of Breckenridge, mentioned within the assertion “the certification not solely honors our long-standing dedication to environmental stewardship, nevertheless it units the City up for a extra sustainable and economically resilient future.”

Owens added: “Stargazing, training, and accountable tourism are actually a part of what makes Breckenridge shine—below the celebrities.”

Breckenridge will not be alone. Communities internationally have began recognizing how the glow of synthetic mild disrupts not solely our view of the cosmos but in addition the crops, animals, and ecosystems which have lengthy relied on Earth’s pure rhythm of day and evening. In 2001, Flagstaff, Arizona, turned the world’s first worldwide darkish sky metropolis. Since then, the motion has grown to greater than 200 locations licensed in additional than 20 international locations on six completely different continents with even airports becoming a member of in.

Along with its new darkish sky designation, Breckenridge was acknowledged as having one of many high 100 inexperienced tales on the earth final yr by Inexperienced Locations Worldwide.