Winter Park became the sixth Colorado ski resort to open this morning, when the resort’s lifts started turning at 9 a.m. (Wolf Creek also opened today, bringing the total to seven). Winter Park is running three lifts up the mountain: Arrow, Endeavor, and Gemini. The lifts serve four trails: Larry…
Hold on to your butts, powder hounds: Freaking Alabama has a ski resort (they currently have a zero inch base and also offer golf and horse riding). Wisconsin has 24 ski resorts to Wyoming’s eight. Think Colorado has the most ski resorts? Not even close–New York has the most, and…
Wild news breaking today: Intrawest is selling Copper Mountain to Park City-based Powdr Corp, with plans to close the deal as soon as next month. Intrawest, based in Vancouver, owns nearly a dozen other resorts around the world, including Winter Park and Steamboat Springs here in Colorado, but has been…
A telemark skier in the backcountry, making us all look bad. Photo courtesy of agrinberg’s Flickr stream. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…
Telemark skiers are a funny breed. How else to explain the passion of people who are pursuing a turn invented in Norway in the 1860s that amounts to genuflecting your way down the hill?…
Okay, so it didn’t even miss a single winter, but the news that Phil Anschutz was pulling the plug on the Ski Train because it wasn’t making money — although it never made any money — was met with a collective groan.But the company that operates the Rio Grande Scenic…
Here in Colorado we’ve gone and confused our gods, what with all our prayers for snow in the high country and the ones we’ve been sending up on behalf of our hockey team to help smite our enemies: It’s been nearly a decade since we’ve been able to say our…
Somewhere, someone is resting. And she probably earned it. Photo courtesy of weiglen’s photostream. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…
The Winter Dew Tour doubles back to Breckenridge to kick off its second season in December with the Totino’s Open, and we just got hold of a roster of the first round of pre-qualified athletes confirmed for the competition:Last year snowboarder Danny Davis won the Superpipe Finals at the Breck…
Just in time for Veterans’ Day, Intrawest announced this week that they’ll offer discounted season passes for both active military and vets. That means if you’re serving or you’ve previously served, you can shred Winter Park, Copper Mountain, or Steamboat for a cool $219. To be fair, most resorts already…
It was so nice Wednesday that I bagged work after lunch and headed down south to Palmer Lake for a hike up to the reservoirs above town. I met a buddy for the trek up to the second reservoir — about 1.5 miles with a fairly abrupt 600-foot gain –…
You pick up produce at your local farmer’s market, support your local arts and crafts fairs, shop exclusively at local indie books and records stores, and generally buy local whenever you can. So why are you riding a snowboard made in China when some of the best boards in the…
Each weekend, we’ll tell you the which mountains most deserve your attention. We’re up to six resorts open now, and most of them offer top-to-bottom skiing at this point. Still, after that massive storm a couple of weeks ago, the weather has been decidedly uncooperative…
See more photos below. Skiers flocked to Breckenridge today for opening day, enjoying four runs with three operating lifts, soft snow, clear skies and temps in the 50s.The day began as any good day should: with free pancakes. The pancake/waffle breakfast at the Bergenhof, at the bottom of the Colorado…
A hike through the Wheeler Geographic Area in Rio Grande Natioal Forest. Photo courtesy of taoboy49’s Flickr feed. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…
As that flaky white stuff starts to pile up on roofs and in back yards, Denverites turn their heads toward the hills, sniffing out winter adventures while they wax their skis and boards in anticipation. The Edge, Westword’s annual winter activity guide, is here to help. Whether you’re returning to…
Below you’ll find a blizzard of the season’s best activities and events. For more information on individual ski areas and resorts, see The Edge, our annual winter guide. November Aspen Shortsfest 2010: Accepting submissions of live-action, documentary and animation short films and videos for the 19th annual international competition in…
I happened upon ColoradoSkiHistory.com on the intertubes last night and found it pretty addictive. I got especially hooked on the comprehensive ski lift database, with stats on every lift in the state, and the “Lost Resorts” coverage. Random stuff I learned: Defunct Colorado resorts outnumber operating ones 145 to 30,…
In this week’s Westword, I wrote about the Adventure Film Festival in Boulder this weekend (and the tragic death of AFF founder Jonny Copp in an avalanche earlier this year). The AFF has a full schedule of great films this weekend — including First Ascent: Point of No Return, a…
Recession or not, Colorado’s ski resorts were plenty busy this off-season. The cranes that went idle in Dubai and Vegas were still running in high gear at many of the base villages, and the list of on-mountain improvements is long. In my estimation, the top five improvements at Colorado resorts…
A momentarily abandoned mountain bike somewhere over the Tennessee Valley. Photo courtesy of jaydoubleyougee’s Flickr page. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…
Have you ever skinned your way up a hidden backcountry stash, only to wipe the stinging sweat from your eyes and think to yourself, “There’s GOT to be a better way!”Um, there is: Ken Block’s Subaru WRX-based Trax ST1 is probably the fastest snow cat ever built, and roaring along…
