Over the last few years, Vail Snow Daze has evolved into one hell of a party. “The big difference from other years is that this is the first year all the music is free,” says Natalie Fandrey, public-relations manager for Highline Sports and Entertainment. “One reason we’re doing this is…
When Melanie Owen Padilla and Mare Trevathan decided to put on a holiday show — the amusingly titled BALLS! A Holiday Spectacular (PG-16) — they gave their idea an extra bounce. “We just kind of wanted to throw a big, interesting, party-type event,” says Padilla, “so there will be lots…
Snow sculpture, an integral part of Breckenridge’s annual January Ullr Fest for a good twenty years, has come a long way since its early days as a community effort, according to Rob Neyland, a co-founder of the frosty mountain burg’s International Snow Sculpture Championships. But as Breckenridge’s profile rose in…
Celebrity foodie Anthony Bourdain recently appeared on the dignified stage of the Buell Theatre — but the cosmic balance will reassert itself when Bourdain’s polar opposite, Guy Fieri, chews up the Paramount Theatre tonight with his Guy Fieri Road Show. As one of the Food Network’s most visible (read: garish)…
I’ve never launched off a big waterfall in a kayak, but I think I have a vague sense of what it feels like: I once jumped off an 80-foot cliff into a pool of water. (It felt like I unplugged my brain. Also, I had a bruise the size and…
You see Klaus Wolter’s name in the paper every winter. The German native is a climatologist with CU’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences and one of the top experts on El Niño. Since El Niño is back warming up the water in the South Pacific, Wolter predicts,…
Last week, I wrote about some of the atrocities Hollywood had inflicted on the climbing community in their attempts at portraying the dramatic. These movies are so painfully bad, they make you want to throw food at the screen, and the list doesn’t even include all the ridiculous uses of…
We’re just now getting the full scope of everything Simon Dumont got up to last year, now that his footage for Riley Poor’s Transitions, Poor Boyz Productions’ Every Day Is Saturday, and Matchstick Productions’ In Deep has been unleashed on the world (as if winning the Winter Dew Tour event…
This week, Silverton Mountain announced new early season mid-week dates, effective for today’s December 2 opening date, to help meet demand on the Western Slope now that Purgatory has gone to a weekend-only (Friday-Sunday) schedule. If you’re heading to the San Juan Mountains for some of the sickest powder Colorado…
Not far outside of Denver lies the town of Evergreen, a quaint little hamlet probably best known as the place where your parents go to drink when Morrison’s too busy. But Evergreen has more than overpriced Chiantis: Thanks to the excellent stewardship of Jefferson County Open Space Parks and Denver…
Taking advantage of two recent storms, Echo Mountain will open tomorrow with an early-season deal that gets you twelve hours of skiing for just $29. And Echo isn’t just cheap — it’s close. So close, in fact, that you might be tempted to head up for a few runs during…
Gone are the days when burly women skiers and riders needed to make do with poorly fitting gear designed for men. At one time, women athletes could just bask in the condescension from retail stores and gear companies, who felt women didn’t need strong gear because few of them really…
This story in Saturday’s Summit Daily News makes it clear: Aggressive skiers and riders are a higher-priority law-enforcement target in Breckenridge this year, and the Colorado Ski Safety Act will be enforced. But the story also notes that the Breckenridge police department’s jurisdiction ends 150 yards up the mountain, and…
Last week’s Q&A with Mt. Crested Butte Mayor William Buck raised the ire of several of his opponents on the issue of Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s proposed expansion onto Snodgrass Mountain. Buck said that the U.S. Forest Service decision not to move into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process…
Beaver Creek opened last week, much to the chagrin of the dude above. Photographer Soren McCarty captured the fun. See more photos after the jump…
Part of the fun of alpinism comes from knowing its history. Climbing and skiing are both very well-documented, and the stories create a timeline in sport that might be unrivaled by anything except baseball, with its legions of devoted statisticians. The year 1971 proved to be a landmark year for ski…
Hollywood and climbing generally don’t go well together. While there are occasional climbing-themed films that don’t suck, more often than not Hollywood movies centering on climbing are written by some desk-bound moron who probably doesn’t know the difference between an ice screw and an ice axe. The scripts are concocted…
The above trailer for Beyond Midnight: The Grand Traverse, a documentary covering the most recent Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, the annual backcountry ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen, makes me want to see more. Based on mining-era mail routes, the race’s course covers forty miles with plenty of elevation…
The tupperware mountain in our refrigerator is almost as enticing as the high country, where more resorts are open than not at this point. We bring you three of the best for your weekend escape from consumer hell…
Apparently those budget cuts aren’t coming out of the Tourism Department’s free crap fund. Earlier in the week we advised you to sign up for the Telluride vacation giveaway. Today, it’s hats, which the state will generously give anyone who goes to one of the state’s 10 welcome centers. You’ll…
From the outside, the Denver Art Museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building is among the best pieces of Colorado architecture, and its design has many supporters. But Daniel Libeskind’s masterpiece also has many detractors, especially when it comes to the interior. The ground floor, which sets the tone for the rest…
Allen True’s West. Allen Tupper True was Denver’s premier muralist during the first third of the twentieth century. Sadly, many of his commissions have been painted over or were lost when the buildings they were in were demolished. In an act of cooperation, the three big cultural institutions on the…
