Winter Sports

Copper Goes for the Gold

Today In Stoke: Top 5 must-see films at The Summit Action Sports Film Fest in Breckenridge

​Yet another reason to head for the hills this week: The new Summit Action Sports Film Festival in Breckenridge opens tonight at 5 p.m. at Brooklyn's Tavern, 500 South Main Street, with screenings of the People Crew's Cheers and five other ski and snowboard films. The festival continues tomorr ... More >>

Snowboarding angels replace City Hall Nativity Scene: Kenny Be's Fotochop Friday

Snowangel catches big air over City Hall manger scene.​ The holiday lights of Denver's City and County building will stay on through Big Air, but the statues of the nativity scene will be replaced with edgier characters that appeal to snowboarders. A "Living Extreme" decorative theme will focu ... More >>

Today In Stoke: Behind the scenes at the Winter Dew Tour in Breckenridge

Photo by Sarah AustinBreck Freeride team rider Colby West tests out the Dew Tour superpipe​This week, Breckenridge is hosting the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour for the third year in a row. The Nike 6.0 Open runs December 16-19 and, since they've completely redesigned the Freeway terrain pa ... More >>

Today In Stoke: Winter Dew Tour returns to Breckenridge

​Breckenridge is hosting the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour this week for the third year in a row, and the event's Peak 8 festival village opens today. All of the main-event finals action will happen on Saturday and Sunday, but head up today anyway: The format for the Nike 6.0 Open lets new ... More >>

Today In Stoke: Forecast calls for snow all week

Photo via SkiCB.comGreetings from Crested Butte, reporting nearly a foot of new snow this morning.​If you're planning a holiday ski vacation, you might want to go ahead and start it early: It snowed all weekend at most Colorado resorts, and it's expected to keep coming down until Thursday, whi ... More >>

Today In Stoke: Icelantic team set to throw down in Denver Big Air Battle of the Brands

​We'll have some locals to root for when the Denver Big Air competition erects its 102-foot tall monument to skiing and snowboarding in Civic Center Park next month: In addition to the pro athletes invited to the Nature Valley Challenge Big Air Freestyle Ski event on January 25 and the LG FIS ... More >>

Mountain Traffic

​We'll have some locals to root for when the Denver Big Air competition erects its 102-foot tall monument to skiing and snowboarding in Civic Center Park next month: In addition to the pro athletes invited to the Nature Valley Challenge Big Air Freestyle Ski event on January 25 and the LG FIS ... More >>

A Free Ride

​We'll have some locals to root for when the Denver Big Air competition erects its 102-foot tall monument to skiing and snowboarding in Civic Center Park next month: In addition to the pro athletes invited to the Nature Valley Challenge Big Air Freestyle Ski event on January 25 and the LG FIS ... More >>

This Weekend In Stoke: 'One time, at snowboard camp...'

​If you're looking to try something new, this is the weekend for you: January is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month and Winter Trails Month, it's been dumping in the mountains and there are more camps, demos and competitions this weekend than you can shake a snowboard at. Here are a bunch of good ... More >>

Go Big!

​If you're looking to try something new, this is the weekend for you: January is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month and Winter Trails Month, it's been dumping in the mountains and there are more camps, demos and competitions this weekend than you can shake a snowboard at. Here are a bunch of good ... More >>

X Marks the Spot

​If you're looking to try something new, this is the weekend for you: January is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month and Winter Trails Month, it's been dumping in the mountains and there are more camps, demos and competitions this weekend than you can shake a snowboard at. Here are a bunch of good ... More >>

Om The Slopes

​If you're looking to try something new, this is the weekend for you: January is Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month and Winter Trails Month, it's been dumping in the mountains and there are more camps, demos and competitions this weekend than you can shake a snowboard at. Here are a bunch of good ... More >>

SIA Tradeshow and Denver BigAir: Things to do in Denver if you're not a pro or a badgeholder

Britt Chester​ By now you've seen the monstrosity that's been constructed at Civic Center Park. Turns out it wasn't a mini-skyscraper skyscraper after all. It's a ramp, as you can see here in the photo taken just a bit ago from the top of structure by our always intrepid scribe and resident d ... More >>

Today in Stoke: Nature Valley Ski Big Air Challenge at Denver Big Air

​The 100-foot launch tower erected in Civic Center Park for the Denver Big Air competition will see its first official action today at 5 p.m. (doors open at 3:30 p.m.) for the Nature Valley Ski Big Air challenge, a Battle of the Brands format that will pit the ski teams from Icelantic, Line Sk ... More >>

Last Night: Thrills and spills at Denver Big Air

Photo by Kate LevyThe Armada Skis team (left to right: Spencer Milbocker, Alex Bellmare, Ben Moxham) wins the Nature Valley Big Air Challenge on the Denver Big Air ramp ​Let's face it: If you build a 106-foot launch tower and then send competitors -- some of them as young as 14 -- careening do ... More >>

Wes Selby: Colorado's X-Games underdog

Wes Selby.​At this weekend's X-Games in Aspen, all of Wes Selby's competitors will be paid to race in the Snowmobile Snocross. Selby, however, is essentially paying to compete. Raised in Granby where he still lives, Selby is the only privateer racing in the Snocross Sunday.

Last Night: American snowboarders get trounced at Denver Big Air

Photo courtesy US Ski & Snowboard AssociationZach Stone (Canada), Rocco van Straten (Netherlands), and Michael Macho (Austria) on the podium at Denver Big Air​More than 14,000 snowboarding fans turned out for the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup Big Air competition on the Denver Big Air ramp in Civi ... More >>

The top five locally made snowboards at the SIA Snow Show (plus a couple of sweet pairs of skis)

Photo by Sarah AustinNever Summer Snowboards co-founder Tim Canaday shows off his 2011/2012 line at the SIA Snow Show​We sifted through a mess of 893 snow sports brands representing at the SIA Snow Show to find the Colorado companies we love most, then asked them to show off their best boards ... More >>

Over the weekend: The Winter X Games wrap up at Buttermilk

Sebastian Toutant's decision to skip Denver Big Air pays off in X Games gold​Denver Big Air organizers at the Denver Sports Commission and the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup were right to be upset that top riders like Canadian Sebastian Toutant (aka "Seb Toots") stood them up in favor of getting i ... More >>

Today in Stoke: SIA Snow Show actually makes it to the snow

Photo by Colin BaneVenture Snowboards onwers Lisa and Klemens Branner at Winter Park during SIA Snow Show's On-Snow Demo Days ​Now that the SIA Snow Show is officially over, after two days of on-snow demos at Winter Park following the trade show at the Colorado Convention Center, it's hard to ... More >>

Today in Stoke: Live your Winter X Games dreams at the Aspen/Snowmass Open

​The park and pipe crew at Buttermilk is a well-oiled machine after a decade of hosting the Winter X Games, making crazy stuff like Torstein Horgmo's triple flip, Kelly Clark's 1080 and Shaun White's tight pants possible, year after year. And the best part? Each year, Buttermilk's left with a ... More >>

Colorado's top skiers and snowboarders rock Winter Dew Tour in Utah

AlliSports.comBreck Freeride team member Eric Willet, center, wins Men's Snowboard Slopestyle at the Toyota Challenge in Ogden, UT​Breckenridge Ski Resort is getting a good return on investment from its Breck Freeride Team and its stepped-up park & pipe programs: Yesterday, Breckenridge snowbo ... More >>

Today in Stoke: U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships at Crested Butte this week

​Crested Butte Mountain Resort celebrates 20 years of hosting the U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships this week, a truly extreme action sports event that predates the X Games and other extremism in sports lexicography by about four years. The resort bills itself as "the birthplace of Big Mou ... More >>

This Weekend in Stoke: $5 lift tickets and the top 5 ways to celebrate Spring

​Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is? Echo Mountain is celebrating its 5th birthday party this year with $5 Friday night lift tickets for the next five weeks, tonight through April 18. And wait, there's more! Echo's annual Liptricks Not Lipstick terrain park contest ... More >>

Today in Stoke: Winter Park hosts 2011 U.S. Alpine Championships today through April 3

​The 2011 U.S. Alpine National Championships kick off today at Winter Park with the Men's Giant Slalom Nationals, and continue through the weekend with Women's GS tomorrow, Men's and Women's Super G on Saturday, and Men's and Women's Slalom on Sunday.

This Weekend in Stoke: Cruisin' for a bruisin' (and a brewsin') in Spring ski season

​Damn ams! The USASA Nationals competition moves from snowboarding to freeskiing this weekend at Copper Mountain, with opening ceremonies on Saturday and competition running Sunday through Wednesday, pitting amateur skiers against each other in Superpipe, Slopestyle and Skiercross events. An ... More >>

Today in Stoke: Copper Mountain, freeskiing capital of the world?

​Last week the International Olympic Committee officially announced that Ski Halfpipe will debut as an Olympic medal sport at the 2014 Games in Sochi. That's big news for one local ski resort: For U.S. athletes the road to Sochi will begin at Copper Mountain, host of the first Olympic qualifie ... More >>

Three Colorado athletes named to first-ever U.S. Freeskiing National Team

​The new U.S. Freeskiing National Team announced its first official team roster today, following April's news that Ski Halfpipe will be an Olympic medal sport at the 2014 Games in Sochi and that Copper Mountain will host the first Olympic qualifier for the event in December 2013. Three of the ... More >>

International Olympic Committee brings Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle to Winter Olympics

​Yesterday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board approved the addition of Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle events at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The announcement came yesterday from the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa, and follows an April announcement tha ... More >>

Grand opening of Trestle Bike Park at Barnum Park North delayed to August 6

​Commuters passing Federal on 6th Avenue on their way into Denver may have noticed construction on what is shaping up to be an epic new mountain bike and BMX skills park, designed by Gravity Logic and pro rider John Cowan. The park will be operated by Winter Park's Trestle Bike Park crew in pa ... More >>

Vail Resorts sways Shaun White with an Epic Pass in undisclosed (probably epic) deal

Photo courtesy Vail Resorts​Shaun White picked up his Epic Pass yesterday after signing on to make Northstar-at-Tahoe his home resort and agreeing to represent all six of the Vail Resorts properties (including Vail, Beaver Creek, and Breckenridge here in Colorado) in what Vail Resorts CEO Rob ... More >>

Skiers may scoff, but snowboarders are finally being accepted by the slopes' old guard

Photo courtesy Vail Resorts​Shaun White picked up his Epic Pass yesterday after signing on to make Northstar-at-Tahoe his home resort and agreeing to represent all six of the Vail Resorts properties (including Vail, Beaver Creek, and Breckenridge here in Colorado) in what Vail Resorts CEO Rob ... More >>

The $1.2 million Big Air won't be back in 2012

Photo courtesy Vail Resorts​Shaun White picked up his Epic Pass yesterday after signing on to make Northstar-at-Tahoe his home resort and agreeing to represent all six of the Vail Resorts properties (including Vail, Beaver Creek, and Breckenridge here in Colorado) in what Vail Resorts CEO Rob ... More >>

Colorado Snowboard History Museum: The Westword exhibit

​This week's cover story on the new Colorado Snowboard Archive collection at the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum, and the history of the effort by snowboarders to get respect alongside skiing, sent us digging through our online archives dating back fifteen years as we covered the subject from ... More >>

The Edge: Westword's winter activities guide helps you sort out the 2011-2012 season

​Welcome to the online version of The Edge 2011-2012, Westword's annual insider's guide to winter activities. This season has already seen plenty of snow, and that's just the beginning, as the 25 resorts profiled below have added new terrain, lifts, features, events and restaurants. To sort it ... More >>

Five best places to catch the U.S. Ski Team in Colorado

Colin BaneBode Miller lets loose over the new U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper​If you live in Colorado and love alpine ski racing, get ready for a season of unprecedented access to the best of the best, thanks to Tuesday's grand opening of the new U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mount ... More >>

Signal Snowboards brings iShred Steve Jobs tribute to Loveland

​Signal Snowboards has built a special tribute to Steve Jobs, complete with an iPad mounted in the nose of the board and a glowing LED Signal logo in the aluminum base (similar to Apple's iconic MacBook laptops). To test it, the California-based Signal crew brought the iShred to Colorado for s ... More >>

Copper Mountain opens first 22-foot superpipe in Colorado for 2011/2012 season

Zach VanCamp/Copper MountainSkiers will be turning the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix -- formerly for snowboarders-only -- upside down​Copper Mountain opened its Olympic-sized 22-foot superpipe on Friday, in time for athletes competing in the The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Sprint U.S. G ... More >>

This Weekend in Stoke: Birds of Prey World Cup and the Hartford Disabled Sports Spectacular

​The wind beneath your wings! The Birds of Prey World Cup -- the only men's FIS World Cup alpine skiing event in the U.S. this year -- begins today at Beaver Creek, with the Men's Downhill competition beginning at 11 a.m. and a U.S. Ski Team autograph session tonight at 5 p.m. Tonight is also ... More >>

Shaun White wows on Winter Dew Tour: Top moments from Breckenridge

Alli SportsShaun White sends it in Superpipe finals on Saturday at the Nike Open at Breckenridge​Shaun White's tight pants: After just four days on his snowboard this season, White dominated the Superpipe semifinals on Friday with a nearly perfect score of 98.00. In finals on Saturday he launc ... More >>

Happy Birthday To Breck

Alli SportsShaun White sends it in Superpipe finals on Saturday at the Nike Open at Breckenridge​Shaun White's tight pants: After just four days on his snowboard this season, White dominated the Superpipe semifinals on Friday with a nearly perfect score of 98.00. In finals on Saturday he launc ... More >>

Vail Resorts Epic Pass holders get snowed by Montana rustlers

MT, not CO.​While Colorado skiers keep watching the skies and the weather reports, hoping to see some of the white stuff, other states aren't sitting idly by on their snowboards. Montana's Big Sky, for example is trying to rustle Colorado skiers...by honoring the Epic Pass issued by Vail Resor ... More >>

Snow shortage postpones Junior Freeskiing Tour stop in Crested Butte

Snow Show fashion.​A blizzard of snow business is about to hit Denver with the start of this week's Snow Snowconvention, and it's now snowing in the high country. But it's too little, too late to keep the Junior Freeskiing Tour on schedule.

The Art of Winter, SIA and the Winter X Games take over Colorado

​Recent powder dumps across the state couldn't have come at a better time: This week the entire snow sports industry is in town for its annual SIA Snow Show confab at the Colorado Convention Center and related Mile High Snow Fest events all over town, all the top pros are in Aspen for the Wint ... More >>

Colorado's smallest ski companies are going big

​Recent powder dumps across the state couldn't have come at a better time: This week the entire snow sports industry is in town for its annual SIA Snow Show confab at the Colorado Convention Center and related Mile High Snow Fest events all over town, all the top pros are in Aspen for the Wint ... More >>

X Rated

​Recent powder dumps across the state couldn't have come at a better time: This week the entire snow sports industry is in town for its annual SIA Snow Show confab at the Colorado Convention Center and related Mile High Snow Fest events all over town, all the top pros are in Aspen for the Wint ... More >>

This Weekend in Stoke: Make the most of Denver's dump

Make a run to Echo Mountain, where 24 inches of new snow overnight make it the best powder pick in Colorado today​To make the most of your snow day today, believe it or not, you're going to want to stay fairly close to home: Denver got more snow than most of the ski areas, and you might find m ... More >>

New Colorado skier death brings season total to ten: On track for a record?

​Update: Yesterday, we reported about the rash of skier deaths in Colorado this year -- nine of them by our count. But after the post went live, we learned about yet another death yesterday, bringing the total to ten.

Paraplegic skier Josh Dueck learns Sit Ski backflip at Woodward at Copper

​Salomon Freeski TV's clip of paraplegic skier Josh Dueck hucking the first-ever Sit Ski backflip has us as stoked as any other trick we've seen filmed this season. Dueck -- formerly a competitive freestyle skier before a T11 spinal chord injury in 2004 -- won bronze in the Mono Skier X event ... More >>