Colorado Spring Skiing in the Rockies
Not to beat a dead horse, but my favorite time to ski in Colorado and specifically Winter Park and Mary Jane Resort is the awesome months of April and March. March is Colorado’s snowiest month and April is true spring skiing with a light jacket and sunglasses. So far this March Winter Park Resort has been getting hit with some very big storms and some great weather.
Here is the snow totals as of March 9, 2010:
| New Winter Park Resort Snow (In Inches) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 hrs | 48 hrs | 72 hrs | Season |
| 5.0″ | 6.5″ | 6.5″ | 218.9″ |
Winter Park averages over 350″ a year so we should be getting some great storms the next six weeks. Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about spring sking in Colorado. So the secret is getting out about the quality of skiing here in the spring.
Did you get a chance to watch the Olympic skiing events? Want to see how well you stack up next to the pros before the snow melts? Bump (mogul) runs can be tough to navigate midseason – the lack of fresh powder (and hard snow) can wreak havoc on your knees – but spring skiing is a great time to take a few turns and work on being able to ski the whole mountain. Winter Park Resort, located here 95 miles from Denver International Airport, is widely considered one of the best places to ski bumps in North America.
To play on Winter Park’s signature terrain, start early and head up the Zephyr Express. Warm up by heading down Outhouse and Mary Jane before heading up a variety of lifts providing access to tight glade runs, hellacious black diamonds and steep bumps. The mountain, however, isn’t all wild ups and downs. Kids ski school and a variety of intermediate terrain provide skiers of all levels with enough options to fill any vacation.
We also have some great music festivals to go along with the great skiing in March and April. At the Winter Park Music Festival for the past 20 years, Winter Park has been inviting young musicians to compete in its organized music competition held over two weekends in April. Judged by professional adjudicators, individuals and groups descend upon the town to perform while capturing some end of season ski and snowboard.
What else is there? Great snow, warm weather and music – Spring skiing in the Rockies is what ski dreams are made of.
