Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25232
ยท . . . . . . . . . > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Big Burn, the Cirque and High Alpine. The highest point on the mountain is the Cirque, an open alpine bowl with steep chutes leading down into scattered trees. The Cirque has no lifts in the bowl, but can be accessed from the Big Burn Chair, skier's left from the top with a short hike. On the other side of the Cirque is the High Alpine summit. It's worth having a plan in your head to avoid the frustrations of traverses and cat-tracks; spend some time checking each area well before you move on. It's also worth making back-up meeting plans, as once you lose people there's a damn small chance of stumbling across them again. Season , Mid Nov- Mid April Summit Elevation (feet), 12,510 Vertical Drop (feet), 4,406 Terrain (acres), 3,010 Green/Blue/Black (percent), 7/55/38 Annual Snowfall (inches), 300 BUTTERMILK. Buttermilk is one of the best learning ., mountains in the world. It features one half-pipe and one park _ e a ASPEN HIGHLANDS. Highlands has only 714 acres of W rideable terrain but is the locals' favorite and on powder days it's an assured bet for fresh . It's the mountain to freeride if you get bored at Snowmass. The new Highland bowl features expanded expert terrain, and a new base village has increased food options, retail stores and lodging. Season: Mid Dec-Early April Summit Elevation (feet), 11,675 Vertical Drop (feetL 3,635 Terrain (acres), 714 Green/Blue/Black (percent), 20/33/47 Annual Snowfal l (inches), 300 A V BEAVER CREEK A riding combine with a hot halfpipe and thick corduroy pistes and BEAVER CREEK, CO Beaver Creek resort is less flashy than Vail, but hard-core tree V Beaver Creek is no poor cousin. Three or four days after a big dump, pockets of thigh-deep snow are still waiting for the kiss of a board. And despite the two million skier days recorded at Vail and Beaver Creek each season, in the trees you might as well be stranded in the Antarctic circle for all the crowds you'll be fighting. Locals boast that lift lines don't happen on the mountain except for a few days over the holidays. Beaver Creek's Perfect 10 allows vacationers to ski 10 days at Beaver Creek or its sister resorts Vail, Breckenridge and Keystone , as well as Arapahoe Basin , for less than $32 a day throughout this season. 8 a 54 Telephone: 970-845-9090 Website: www.beavercreek.com Snow Report 800-427-8308 Season, Mid Nov- Mid April Ticket Price, $52 Summit Elevation (feet), 11,440 Vertical Drop (feet): 4,040 Terrain (acres): 1,625 Green/Blue/Black (percent), 34/39/27 Annual Snowfal l (inchesL 330 Directions, Fly into Vail/Eagle County Airport and drive 30 min- utes to the resort. A Celebrating 40 years of skiing with this season, Breckenridge Ski V Resort's vision for the next 40 is embodied in a Master Plan cur- BRECKENRIDGE BRECKENRIDGE, CO rently before town officials. Proposed is a gondola linking the 'W1 valley floor to base areas at Peaks 7 and 8, along with approxi- for advanced boarders, as well as a smaller teaching park for those just learning. One of its best kept secrets are the stashes of powder on black diamond runs and gladed trails days after a storm. It is the least challenging of the three areas and attracts beginners, families and snow-walkers on big feet. However, it does have the best funpark in the Aspen area and consequently draws plenty of snowboarders, even though the 420-acre moun- tain doesn't have too much else to offer non-beginners . Season, Mid Dec- Early April Summit Elevation (feet), 9,900 Vertical Drop (feet), 2,030 Terra in (acres): 420 Green/Blue/Black (percent), 35/39/26 Annual Snowfall (inches), 200 mately 500 residential units. Breck has received many acco- lades for its outstanding pipe and park action, and has been named home to the country's best Super Pipe and second-best terrain park. As part of Vail Resorts, Breckenridge is part of an unprecedented array of winter vacation options on a single lift ticket. Telephone: 800-789-SNOW Website: www.breckenridge.com Snow Report: 970-453-6118 Season, Early Nov-Late April Ticket Price, $57 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,998 Vertical Drop (feetL 3,398 Terrain (acres): 2,043 Green/B lue/Black (percent): 14/26/60 Annual Snowfall (inches), 300 Directions: Fly into Denver international Airport and drive 2 hours west to the resort. a COPPER MOUNTAIN W SUMMIT COUNTY, CO Copper Mountain is naturally segregated into a hierarchy of beginners in the west, intermediates in the center and experts in the east. Most of the expert runs are above the tree-line, off the front and back sides of Copper Peak and Union Peak. There are wide open bowls and trees to play in on the front side. A draw- back is the lack of serious steeps which can bog you down on deep powder days. Telephone, 800-458-8386 Website: www.coppercolorado.com Snow Report: 800-789-7609 Season: Mid Nov-Late April Ticket Price: $55 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,313 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,601 Terrain (acres): 2,450 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 21125/54 Annual Snowfall (inches): 280 Directions: 1 hour 15 minutes west of Denver International Airport. W CRESTED BUTTE, CO Crested Butte kicks butt. It's steep, it's ungroomed, it's steep, a CRESTED BUTTE A it's packed tight with cliff jumps and radical tree runs and it's V steep. The Butte is unreal after a fresh snow. The local riders are O hot and don't give a damn what you ride on so long as you go big. The Banana Funnel is the striking pyramid peak which dom- inates the base area. The Silver Queen Express Quad accesses the peak and the more cruisy groomed trai ls in the middle of the mountain. On the eastern side is the notorious North Face ter- rain which is a traverse from the North Face poma. The bowls, glades and avalanche run-outs on this side are just a shade off vertical and boost Crested Butte into the elite stratosphere. It's one big free-for-all on and off the mountain with some degrees of nudity involved during the last day of the season (naked-rid- ing). Look for killer deals all year as Crested Butte celebrates its 40th anniversary this season. Telephone: 800-544-8448 Website: www.CrestedButteResort.com Snow Report: 888-TO-POWDER; 970-349-2323 Season: Mid Dec-Mid April Ticket Price: $53 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,162 Vertical Drop (feet): 3,062 Terrain (acresH ,058 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 14/32/54 Annual Snowfall (inches): 298 Directions: Fly into Gunnison Airport and drive 30 minutes north to the resort. A LOVELAND V GEORGETOWN, CO Loveland is known as one of the gems of Colorado ski country. back for more. Telephone: 800-736-3754; 303-571-5580 (Denver area) Website: www.skiloveland.com Snow Report: 800-736-3754; 303-571-5554 Season: Mid Oct-Early May Ticket Price: $42 Summit Elevation (feet): 13,010 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,410 Terrain (acres), 1,365 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 17/42/41 Annual Snowfall (inches): 400 Directions: one hour 30 minutes west of Denver International Airport. A V KEYSTONE DILLON , CO Keystone opened its lifts to boarders in the 1996-1997 season- they were lining up at 2 am on opening day to be the first. The ski area is vintage Colorado with curving trails cut into a series of forested ridges. The north face of Keystone Mountain is mostly an interconnecting web of intermediate trails but the terrain in behind has the goods, with some easy hikes opening up a vista of sick trees and big cliff drops for hucksters. Despite a late awak- ening, Keystone is definitely the low down with boarders and has the best halfpipe in Summit County. Keystone is your one-stop resort with everything available on the mountain, and is great for a family destination with affordable learn to ski programs. Telephone: 800-427-8308 Website: www.keystoneresort.com Snow Report: 800-427-8308 Season: Late Oct- Mid Apri l Ticket Price: $55 Summit Elevation (feet): 12,200 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,900 Terrain (acres): 1,861 Green/BI ue/Black (percent): 12/34/54 Annual Snowfal l (inches): 230 Directions: Drive 70 minutes west of Denver International Airport. V DURANGO, CO Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort is not the most challeng- _ PURGATORY AT DURANGO MOUNTAIN RESORT ing mountain in the Colorado area, but with the college town of Durango 25 miles down the road, the population remains healthy. If you're a beginner to intermediate snowboarder, you'll have a great time here and room to push yourself. Black runs make up 26 percent of the resort but most of these are short and mogul- covered so serious freeriders may get frustrated . Purgatory rates consistently at the top for weather, possibly one reason why the resort's Star Safari stargazing program is so popular. The resort offers quite a deal with its total adventure ticket-with the pur- chase of a four day or more lift ticket, customers can exchange one day of skiing for backcountry Cat skiing, tubing, snowmobil- ing, or any of the other various activities. New for this season, Purgatory has added a 6-person superchair lift. Telephone: 800-525-0892; 970-247-9000 Website: www.durangomountainresort.com Snow Report: 970-247-9000 Season: Late Nov- Early Apri l Ticket Price: $50 Summit Elevation (feet): 10,822 Vertical Drop (feet): 2,029 Terrain (acres): 1,200 Green/Blue/Black (percent): 23/51126 Annual Snowfall (inches): 260 Directions: Fly into Durango-La Plata County Airport and drive 45 minutes to the resort. V STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO Steamboat is made of four peaks: Thunderhead, Storm Peak, A STEAMBOAT A As one of the oldest resorts in the state, Loveland constructed V 10,600 feet and the main exit to Steamboat's various backcoun- try stashes. Each peak has its own variety of freeriding and air- A Sunshine Peak and Mount Werner, which is the highest at V its first rope tow in 1936, and has been a prime learning area ever since. The mountain gets tons of snow due to its prime loca- tion right on continental divide. The great snow, wide-open bowls and expert terrain keep serious skiers and riders coming able terrain while all the north-facing slopes share good high- speed aspen tree riding. You can put your money on a good snow- fall here, especially in the cold months of December and January. Steamboat has turned its half pipe into a super pipe this season. The pipe has 15-foot walls and is 550 feet long, making it one of