Colorado Ski Resorts Offer Spring Break Deals, Special Events, Statewide

Still mulling over where to spend spring break, be it solo, or with friends or family? Colorado Ski Country USA resorts make it easy, with a handy online guide promoting special deals and events statewide throughout March and part of April.

In addition to loads of concerts and fun and endurance ski races at most resorts, there’s also the famed Elk Mountain Grand Traverse backcountry race from Aspen to Crested Butte, and Battle in the Bowls in Aspen Highlands. Crested Butte is also celebrating Colorado Passholder Appreciation Month through March 6; anyone holding a season pass, regardless of resort, can ski CB for $59.

Copper Mountain hosts the Copper Uncorked “working man’s wine festival” on March 10; think affordable vintages, and nontraditional pairings a la pizza, wings, and breakfast burritos. Aspen and Telluride are offering variations on “kids ski and stay free” programs, and Wolf Creek has Local Appreciation Days March 6 and 13, and April 3 and 7. Lift tickets are just $35/adult or student, $29/child/seniors. Get those plane tickets booked now!

[Photo credit: Flickr user Ben Moscona l Photography]

Copper Mountain brings superpipe to Colorado

Much to the delight of snowboarders everywhere, Copper Mountain ski resort opened the first 22 foot Superpipe in the state of Colorado last week, paving the way for future Olympians to hone their skills on its massive walls. The addition of the new pipe further bolsters Copper’s reputation as a great place to learn how to snowboard and ski, with unprecedented facilities that aren’t found anywhere else in the country.

This newest attraction on Copper Mountain is just one more reason the resort will be a popular destination for winter fun. With over 2450 skiable acres and 125 total runs, Copper really does have something to offer skiers and snowboarders of all ages and levels of experience. The resort has also seen more than 40 inches of snow already this fall, which means they have a great base heading into the prime ski season.

The opening of the Superpipe comes just in time for Copper Mountain to play host to the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix snowboarding and freeskiing competition next week. That event, which runs from December 5 – 10, will pit some of the best skiers and riders in the country against one another as they begin to tune-up for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia.

For those of us who can’t make it to Copper at the moment, or would prefer to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground, there is an awesome webcam aimed directly at the Superpipe to keep us entertained. Watching snowboarders zip through the pipe on the cam truly gives you a sense of the scale of this monster. Check it out by clicking here.

Learn to snowboard at Copper Mountain Ski Resort

Located a short drive from Denver, Colorado, Copper Mountain Ski Resort is amongst the premiere ski destinations in all of North America. With 125 total runs, spread out across nearly 2500 skiable acres, and an average snowfall of 280 inches per year, Copper Mountain truly is a fantastic winter playground that is set to open for the 2011-2012 season on November 4th.

One of the top attractions at the resort is the Woodward at Copper snowboard training center, which features a 19,400 square foot indoor training facility affectionately known as “The Barn.” Woodward was designed from the ground up to be a place where snowboarders can improve their terrain park and pipe skills, learning new tricks and acrobatic maneuvers, in a safe and supervised environment.

Visitors to the Barn will discover all kinds of unique training tools designed to help them master whatever skills they’re looking to add to their repertoire. For example, the facility features a long jump that lands in a foam pit 55 feet in length, allowing snowboarders to catch big air, pull flashy moves, and still land softly every time. Other features include plenty of boxes and rails to grind, trampolines to help develop acrobatic skills, and several runs that incorporate Snowflex, an artificial surface designed to simulate real snow. Copper hasn’t reserved all the fun for the boarders however, and skiers can hone their skills in the Barn as well.

The Barn is open every day and offers a variety of training programs ranging in length from a few hours to multi-day camps. If you’re a snowboarder or skier looking to improve your skills or learn new tricks, then you’ll want to see what the Woodward can do for you. Check out the video below to get a sense of what the program is all about, and then head over to the website to find a program that suits your needs.

[Photo credit: Roland Zumbuhl via WikiMedia]


Woodward at Copper Ski and Snowboard Camp from Woodward at Copper on Vimeo.