"We may ski a lot of people," Rust says, "but we're so big that we can tuck them away. There's plenty of room for everybody."
General Information: www.vail.snow.com; 970-476-5601.
Location: 120 miles west of Denver via I-70, exit 173, 176 or 180.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Snow Report: 970-476-4888.
Lift Rates: TBA.
Terrain: 5,289 skiable acres with 193 trails; 18 percent beginner, 29 percent intermediate, 53 percent advanced/expert. Base is 8,120', with a 3,450' vertical rise; summit: 11,570'.
Winter Park Resort
For Chris Koch, manager of the Adult Ski and Ride School at Winter Park, the resort is all in the family: His father learned to ski again at Winter Park after he lost his leg, and he passed on his affection for the place to Koch. (This will be his father's 27th season at Winter Park; he teaches part-time on weekends.)
"Everybody knows about the bumps," Koch says. "It's easy to come and learn to ski the bumps or explore your bumps skills here, more so than at any other mountain." And with the beetle-kill mitigation and thinning and reforestations of certain areas, Koch thinks that the tree skiing is going to be noticed soon. "Especially on the Mary Jane side, it's just become incredible," he says. "It's kind of a hidden secret still."
Koch likes to hit Left Hand off the Eagle Wind lift. "On a powder day, you can't beat it," he says. "Some nice ski terrain, kind of gladed tree skiing, and it's an area that doesn't get a ton of traffic, so you can keep finding powder stashes all day long in that area.
"Outhouse, of course, is one of my favorite bump runs," he says. "But also, on the day after a storm, if you want to ski the bumps and want powder, the snow is not as tracked up on the Winter Park side as it is on the Jane. That's where the locals go first, so the snow doesn't get eaten up on the Winter Park side as quickly."
The resort is also adding an arcade in the Village this year, so parents can grab a brew at the Cheeky Monk while the kids play. And in the kids' Ski and Ride School this year, everyone is taking part in the Flaik GPS Tracking System, which allows them to log on to a website and see exactly where they skied and the vertical feet they put in. "It's also a way to increase the level of safety," Koch points out. "If for some reason a child gets on a different run, we know exactly where they are." Adults can rent Flaik GPS systems from the Mountain Adventure Center, too.
General Information: www.skiwinterpark.com; 970-726-5514.
Location: 67 miles northwest of Denver via I-70 west to U.S. Highway 40 (exit 232).
Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends and holidays.
Snow Report: 303-572-SNOW.
Lift Rates: TBA.
Terrain: 3,060 skiable acres with 143 trails; 8 percent beginner, 17 percent intermediate, 19 percent advanced, 53 percent most difficult, 3 percent expert. Base is 9,000', with a 3,060' vertical rise; summit: 12,060'.
Wolf Creek Ski Area
Wolf Creek gets 465 inches of natural snowfall each year — and local skier Stephanie Jones appreciates it. "It's such a great mountain because of its terrain," she says. "It's got a high-speed quad lift for beginners that you can take kids on, it's got lifts for backcountry so you can access any style of terrain. And it's got a peak above treeline that you can hike to."
Her kids' favorite trail to hit is Thumper; the family usually skis off the Raven lift when they have the little ones along. Jones's picks to ski with her husband are Horseshoe Bowl, Alberta Peak and the Knife Ridge Chutes. And the two-mile-long Navajo Trail is an easy route from summit to base that offers some of the same spectacular views as the more difficult runs.
"It's just a great family-owned ski area," Jones says. "It's really friendly, the lift tickets are inexpensive, and you get a great value for your price. There are fourteen local-appreciation days, and the snow is unsurpassable. It's just the lightest, deepest snow around."
General Information: www.wolfcreekski.com; 970-264-5639.
Location: 300 miles southwest of Denver in the Rio Grande National Forest, U.S. Hwy. 160, between Pagosa Springs and South Fork.
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Snow Report: 1-800-SKI-WOLF.
Lift Rates: Adult day pass: $52.
Terrain: 1,600 skiable acres; 20 percent beginner, 35 percent intermediate, 25 percent advanced, 20 percent expert. Base is 10,300', with a 1,604' vertical rise; summit: 11,904'.
