Colorado Ski Country USA resorts are ready for the 2017-18 ski season with new events and offerings, from new accommodation and dining options to new terrain and chair lifts. Here’s what you’ll find at resorts across the state:
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
With one of the only terrain expansions in the country, Arapahoe Basin is adding 468 new acres over two years with the expansion into the Beavers and Steep Gullies, with 371 acres opening this season. The rental shop completed a remodel and free device charging stations and public Wi-Fi has been installed throughout the base area and Black Mountain Lodge.
Aspen Snowmass
Snowmass will celebrate its 50th Anniversary all season long and a special original price $6.50 lift ticket celebrating opening day on December 15, 2017. Celebrations will also include a 50th Anniversary Golden Gala, monthly firework displays and other festive events. Also being celebrated, the Breathtaker mountain coaster will open in December 2017, dropping guests more than 400 vertical feet on a mile of turning track.
Cooper
Cooper’s new mountaintop yurt lodge will be open all season. With delicious food, drinks and a large deck with stunning panoramic views, it’s a great spot to stop for a bite to eat. Cooper will also host four Moonlight Mountaintop Yurt Dinners on the first Saturday of each month from January through April 2018. The resort will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with a birthday party on New Year’s Eve with cake, balloons, a torchlight parade and more.
Copper Mountain
Visitors can enjoy a new lift and lodge, the Kokomo Express Lift and Koko’s Hut, serving beginner terrain in the West Village,and offering seating, casual dining and more, complete with a large outdoor deck and sweeping panoramas of Copper Mountain and Tenmile Range. Copper is also debuting the Rocky Mountain Coaster with an overall length of 5,800 feet and a vertical drop of 430 feet. Copper’s Center Village will welcome three new restaurants: Toast & Co., a laid-back space for savory breakfast, brunch or evening libations; Downhill Dukes, where the menu features dog-friendly items; and Ten Mile Tavern, an inviting restaurant and taproom featuring rustic modern interior décor, an indoor/outdoor fireplace, walk-up bar and elevated patio space for guests to gather.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort
For the 2017-18 season Crested Butte is enhancing the guest experience for beginners by re-grading the teaching terrain and introducing a new adult beginner area. Guests looking for a break from the slopes can enjoy a slice from the new pizza oven at Paradise on Crested Butte. A new program, CB North Face Guides, will help expert skiers and riders navigate the extreme terrain of the resort including the famed North Face. Crested Butte will host its annual Christmas Eve celebration, an evening complete with a torchlight parade and Santa Claus coming down the mountain in a sleigh pulled by a snowcat.
Echo Mountain Resort
New to Colorado Ski Country USA, Echo Mountain will open for the 2017-18 season with improved access to tree skiing areas at the resort. There will be wider trails to accommodate beginner skiers and riders and a new magic carpet in the beginner area to aid with lessons and those just learning how to ski or snowboard.
Eldora Mountain Resort
Eldora is introducing the brand-new Alpenglow Express six-person high speed detachable lift. This lift will cut a 15-minute ride down to four minutes, making it easier to ski more vertical each day and helping powder hounds catch early morning turns before heading back to the office. The Indian Peaks Lodge will also have free Wi-Fi and a new snowcat will provide a better grooming experience.
Granby Ranch
This winter Granby Ranch is expanding its cross-country skiing trails and adding to its programming, including new snow school lessons with Chris Anthony, an international competitor in both alpine racing and big mountain skiing.
Hesperus Ski Area
Hesperus will install additional lights to increase night skiing terrain for the 2017-18 season. The ski area will re-open the rope tow and install a new yurt, to provide additional indoor space for guests. The rental shop will be expanded and reconfigured for a more customer-friendly experience.
Loveland Ski Area
To celebrate its 80th year of operations, Loveland will offer snowcat skiing in Dry Gulch for the first time this season. Loveland will also continue the popular Mountaintop Matrimony event on Valentine’s Day.
Purgatory
Brand new for the 2017-18 season, Purgatory Resort will have a mountain coaster, which will be accessible from the base area and operate year-round. The coaster will be 4,000 feet in length with a 300 foot-vertical drop, and will feature eight switchbacks and one loop, giving guests another fun activity snow or shine. Purgatory is also expanding its terrain with new intermediate and expert trails on the back- and front-sides of the mountain, and will add new gladed tree skiing. The triple chairlift, Needles Lift 6, will offer a new mid-way loading zone to provide an easier way to access terrain for ski teams, terrain park users, and skiers or riders who want to take laps on the frontside of the mountain.
Steamboat
The Outlaw Mountain Coaster, which will operate year-round, opened September 8, 2017. The mountain coaster will descend more than 400 vertical feet with a riding length of more than 6,000 linear feet, making it the longest mountain coaster in North America.
Sunlight Mountain Resort
New for the 2017-18 season, Sunlight is building on its popular Ski, Swim, Stay Package by adding two new lodging partners in nearby Carbondale, Colorado.
Telluride Ski Resort
Celebrating its 45th Anniversary, Telluride is continuing an ongoing multi-year, multi-million-dollar investment in snowmaking upgrades and technology. In 2017-18 this will include expanding the grooming fleet and investing in a new dual-purpose project that serves as a golf course practice facility in the summer months and a 15-acre terrain-based learning area during the winter ski season. Telluride will also continue refurbishing the Peaks Hotel, the resort’s largest hotel, including upgrades and refinements to the hotel’s spa. For more information.
Winter Park Resort
This winter, Winter Park will expand and improve the Winter Park Express, the train service between Denver’s Union Station and Winter Park Resort that was reintroduced last year. The addition of three First Friday trips will give guests a total of 27 round-trips to choose from. Prices on select departures have been lowered to $29 one-way, providing additional cost savings for those looking to travel to the slopes by train. The Winter Park Village will feature a renovated rental shop and a new retail location. There are two new snowcats to increase grooming efficiency, 4,500 new feet of snowmaking pipe and 15 new snow guns to improve early season snowmaking. A new trail from the top of the Zephyr Express Lift to the Mary Jane Trail will allow easier access from the Winter Park side of the mountain to the Mary Jane side.
Wolf Creek Ski Area
Wolf Creek will open the 2017-18 season with the Lynx Lift, a new covered, conveyor lift that will service beginner terrain, but also help intermediate and advanced skiers access the Elma and Alberta lifts. The Lynx Lift will include an interpretive center featuring the endangered Lynx that has been reintroduced to the area.