With more than 130 trails, this Colorado resort presents a powder-perfect panorama—and offers a slice of snowy heaven
By Diana Lambdin Meyer
The powder base on the Moose Wallow Trail at Colorado’s famed Winter Park Ski Resort is about 65 inches, and a fresh 8 inches has fallen overnight. At more than 9,000 feet above sea level, the air is crisp and clean and bitterly cold in midwinter, but those are perfect conditions for St. Louis native Jennifer deBerge to do her job.
Chugging along in oversize snowshoes and a bright yellow snow jacket, deBerge is as at home here as she would be at Busch Stadium watching a Cardinals game. As communications coordinator for the Winter Park Ski Resort, deBerge is accompanying a group of visitors on a snowshoe hike, making sure their questions are answered and their experience is pleasurable.
“I love working at a place that people love to visit,” says the 1997 Parkway Central graduate. “Whether this is their first time here or they come every year, it is a trip that they have been looking forward to and planning for some time. I take pride in knowing that I have helped that person create a memory that will be with them for a lifetime.”
It’s a dream job for sure, and one that has captivated the Mizzou alum since shortly after she received her recreation degree in 2001.
Each year, more than 1 million snow skiers find their way to Winter Park, a town founded as a mining community, but now an official “winter park” owned by the city of Denver. Many of those visitors come from St. Louis because of direct flights on Southwest, Frontier and United Airlines, among others. In fact, it’s such a popular destination for St. Louisans that deBerge and her husband soon gave up their small condo and purchased a home to accommodate the huge number of family members and friends who come to Colorado to ski.
But if you’re not in that circle of family and friends, the town of Winter Park and the resort have thousands of rooms available for those drawn to the mountains in the winter. One of the newest condominium complexes is Waterside West, located in the town of Fraser. Built between 2001 and 2006, the accommodations still have that new smell to them, and provide all of the travelers’ necessities and none of those amenities that sound nice but never really get used. Under construction right now for an early 2008 opening are the Fraser Crossing and Founders Pointe condominiums, which will add 194 studios, with one-, two- and three-bedroom units available for vacation rental.
Also under construction, but not available until the 2008–09 ski season, is the Village at Winter Park. If you’ve been to Copper Mountain and enjoyed the many shops, restaurants and activities around the Burning Stones Plaza there, you get the idea of what’s on the way for Winter Park.
Located in the mountains between the Gore Range and the Continental Divide, Winter Park is composed of four front-range mountains that receive an average of 350 inches of snow each year. There are 134 trails in the area, ranging from your basic bunny slope to the neck-breaking double black diamond trail.
Last year, Winter Park added seven trails and several triple chairlifts that shorten travel time for skiers switching up their slopes. New for the 2007–08 ski season is the Panoramic Express, a six-pack chairlift that will hoist skiers to 12,060 feet above sea level—making it the highest high-speed six-pack chairlift in all of North America.
In addition to alpine skiing, snowboarders and snowshoers can find plenty to enjoy as well. The Rail Yard Terrain Park is more than 3,400 feet long and includes a half-pipe, as well as enough roller-coaster lifts and bumps to keep even Olympic snowboarder Shaun White happy.
Snowshoeing is a pleasant alternative to days on the slopes and a quieter way to enjoy the less traveled trails of the mountain. A cardiovascular workout equal to downhill skiing, snowshoeing takes travelers along wildlife game trails and summer mountain biking trails. Guides introduce the basics of snowshoeing and tell about the history and native plants and animals of Winter Park and the Fraser Valley. More adventurous sorts can ditch the guides and go it alone.
Another fun activity is a Snowcat Tour. Slow down for a few hours and ride in a heated vehicle that looks part Caterpillar tractor, part school bus. You’ll see some beautiful scenery and have lots of opportunities to take photos while learning about Gore Range.
If you’d like to try cross-country skiing, you’ll have to travel about 15 minutes north to the Devil’s Thumb Ranch. This resort has more than 65 miles of groomed trails and a spa that’s sure to purge any ache and pain while warming everything from your toes to your heart.
