Pricing is out for Telluride ski season

by Tom Johansmeyer on

It’s hard to think about the slopes right now. The sun is beating down, and sweat is a part of daily life. But, there are a few people out there whose minds still drift to mountain tops and a chill in the air. Well, we just got a step closer to ski season: Telluride Ski Resort has announced its season pass rates for the coming winter. And, they’ll look pretty familiar. The resort has decided not to raise rates this year. In fact, you could spend less this year, depending on how you buy.

Four adults can purchase their season passes together during the annual Pass Sale and get an extra year’s reprieve. An individual will spend $1,198 for the full season, but if four get together, they can pay the 2007 rate of $988 a person. The only catch is that you need to do it between August 3, 2009 and October 30, 2009.

The savings is stretched even further when you realize that you get more for your money this year. Gold Hill Chutes 2-5 are opening this year, terrain that skiers have been dying to access, with chutes dropping 1,600 vertical feet. To “control the terrain,” as they say, the resort has enlisted the help of two WWII howitzers.

Take THAT, terrain!

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The resort‘s CEO, Dave Riley, says, “Our goal is to create attractive pass options for our core customers.” Yeah, the savings pretty much drives that message home. He continues, “With new terrain opening this year, and Revelation Bowl and Palmyra Peak opening the last two seasons, this is a wonderful opportunity to experience what Telluride has to offer.”

Are these just words? Well, when you consider that an single adult pass represents a savings of 35 percent relative to regular season prices, and the deal for four will cut the price almost in half, Riley’s putting his money where his mouth is.

Now, if only winter would hurry up and get here!

Summer snow-tubing at Keystone Resort

by Tom Johansmeyer on

With the hot summer sun beating down on me, I actually start to miss winter. But, when that brisk chill turns into relentless cold, I start to think in the other direction. The Keystone Resort has found a way to give you the best of both. This summer, it will be the only resort to offer snow-tubing. Yes, you can roll around in – and glide on – the cold white stuff in July and August.

Keystone’s Adventure Point will offer two lanes of snow every Wednesday through Sunday this summer, from 10 AM to 2:30 PM, as long as the snow lasts. Each guest can spend $25 to get a one-hour tubing session with unlimited runs (including gondola rides up the mountain).

“With the success of the tubing hill in the winter, we wanted to try and offer our guests a unique and fun experience by tubing on the snow during the summer,” said Matt Hoover, tubing hill manager at Keystone Resort. “It’s definitely summer time here at Keystone, but at our high altitude we can offer the best of both worlds to give guests an unforgettable on-mountain experience this summer.”

Not far away, you can still hit the usual summer activities in Keystone, including the bike park (the River Run Gondola will take you back to the top), with an unlimited mountain biking season pass costing only $299. and, be sure to grab a meal at the mountaintop Alpenglow Stube and Der Fuondue Chessel. Everything tastes better at 11,444 feet.

Five national parks to hit this weekend

by Kraig Becker on

Yesterday we mentioned that the National Park Service has waived all entry fees to every national park this weekend, and while that may increase the crowds in places like Yellowstone and Yosemite, there are still plenty of great parks that you can visit that will remain quiet. Here are five suggestions on where to take dad this weekend and still avoid the crowds.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Located in the southwest corner of South Dakota, Badlands National Park offers spectacular scenery and a surprising array of activities to keep you occupied. The windswept landscapes range from towering jagged rock spires and winding canyons to open grasslands and and miles of prairie. The Badlands also contain a huge fossil bed dating back more than 30 million years, giving visitors the opportunity to peek back in time to an era when long extinct animals still roamed the area. Today, the park is home to a large herd of bison, plenty of big horn sheep, and the endangered black footed ferret, amongst other species of wildlife.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
The National Park system is home to one of the most spectacular cave systems found anywhere in the world in the form of Carlsbad Caverns, located in the far southeast section of New Mexico. With its 94 individual caves, carved from the limestone that is prominent in the region, the Carlsbad Caverns are otherworldly in their beauty. The underground labyrinth is filled with narrow, twisting passages as well as large chambers and open passageways. Perhaps the most spectacular is the Big Room, which is 8.2 acres in size, handicap accessible, and well lit with electric lights. The more adventurous will want to sign up for one of the tours that will take them deeper into the Earth, where they’ll make their way with headlamps into seldom visited dark crevasses.Crater Lake, Oregon
Located deep within the Cascade Mountain range, Crater Lake was formed when water from retreating glaciers in the last ice age, filled in the caldera of an extinct volcano. The lake is six miles across and more than 2000 feet in depth, making it the deepest in the U.S. It also happens to sits at the middle of 250 square miles of pristine wilderness that is the perfect outdoor playground. Hikers and backpackers will find plenty to love on the spectacular trails, and SCUBA divers have been known to plunge deep into the lake’s crystal clear blue waters. In the winter, the hiking gives way to skiing and snowshoeing as well.

Congaree, South Carolina
South Carolina is home to the remains of the largest old-growth floodplain forest in North America. Conagree National Park covers more than 22,000 acres and is home to 75 species of ancient trees, earning it a designation as a International Biosphere Reserve. Visitors can stroll beneath one of the world’s highest natural canopies along 20 miles of trail. But to really explore this park you’ll want to break out a canoe or kayak, and paddle deep into the interior. The park offers free guided tours on most weekends, although an advanced reservation is required. Birdwatchers will enjoy Congaree as well, with its plethora of birdlife, and white tailed deer, raccoons, and otters are also frequently spotted.

Great Basin, Nevada
Don’t be fooled by the desert location of Great Basin National Park, it is far from a dry, dead wasteland as many believe. In fact, the park is alive with plants and animals, and is accented by snow capepd Wheeler Peak, which stands over 13,000 feet in height. The best way to explore Great Basin is on foot, and there are plenty of great hiking trails to take you past the parks top attractions, such as the 5000 year old bristlecone pine trees and the six-story tall Lexington Arch Trail. If you do go to Great Basin, be sure to stick around after dark, as the view of the night sky is spectacular, with the Mikly Way on full display.

These are just a few of the many national parks and monuments that will be fee free this weekend. To find others, be sure to head to NPS.gov to checkout the options close to you.

15 Great Mountain Vacations

by Kraig Becker on

The U.K. based online magazine Wide World launched at the beginning of May, and is already building a library of good content for adventure travelers and outdoor enthusiasts. The articles vary greatly in subject matter and include an interview with free diver Sara Campbell, a look at the world’s toughest race, and a growing collection of gear reviews.

One of the feature articles is of particular interest for travelers, offering up 15 amazing mountain trips from around the globe that will give you something to do at altitude even in the summer. Some of the locations on the list are amongst the most famous mountaineering communities in the world, each well known for offering a range of outdoor adventure activities.

For instance, Chamonix, France appears on the list, and during the winter, the famous mountain town is filled with visitors looking to take advantage of the best skiing and climbing in Europe. But during the summer months, those crowds vanish, leaving one of the world’s best outdoor playground virtually deserted. Sitting at the base of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe, Chamonix gives easy access to some of the best alpine hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking found anywhere.

The other locations on the list are just as impressive, and each offers its own unique mountain activities. Some are great paragliding destinations, others offer horseback riding, rafting, fly fishing, and more. Most of the locations are in Europe and North America, with Queenstown, New Zealand being the lone exception. Any one of these mountain escapes would make a great getaway for anyone still looking for summertime fun.