skiing
Eldora Mountain Resort: Braving the Elements
Not all ski days are created equally and sometimes–no matter how great the resort–the weather just doesn’t cooperate. Thus describes last Saturday on the mountain. My husband was on a winter campout with the Scouts while my kids and I opted for the more sane option: skiing Eldora Mountain Resort. Or so we thought. Eldora is a true local’s mountain. You won’t see fur collars or high-speed lifts here. Eldora is for the purists, where brown-bag lunches reign and the RTD “N” route conveniently delivers oodles of skiers from downtown Boulder 21 miles up the canyon to the base, avoiding the I-70 gridlock. With just 680 skiable acres, this resort is about quality, not quantity as upslope snow storms provide sensational snow, backed ...
Mom Memories: Introducing me to one of my great loves
I heard a story from my mom the other day that I’d never heard before, and it connected a lot of dots for me in terms of how I came to love skiing. Turns out, my mom planted the seed that made our family’s love of skiing blossom. The story went like this…When my parents were very first married, it was my mom who decided she and my dad would learn to ski, having both grown up in Ohio, skiing was not nearly as accessible as it is today for my kids growing up in Colorado. So, as the story went, my mom said she went out and bought some really expensive boots for my dad, a really expensive jacket, really expensive pants, and really expensive bindings, and for skis, she bought some El cheepos out of a barrel of random mismatched skis, because she had been told to invest in boots and everyt...
Ho, Ho and Snow: Your Guide to the Holidays at Colorado’s Mountain Resorts
You know good ol’ Santa Claus’ HO HO HO? I’m switching it up for SNOW SNOW SNOW, which is all I want for Christmas. For the first time in a few years, we are staying in Colorado for the holidays and hitting the slopes with our family is at the top of our list. Three years ago, we skied Loveland Ski Area on Christmas Eve day. I thought my husband was crazy for even suggesting a quick trip to the mountains the day before the biggest holiday of the year but it was a great way to decompress and my kids had a blast skiing with Santa. We’re making it an annual tradition whenever we’re in town. Here are some Christmas happenings at Colorado’s ski areas and these are only the beginning. Many are also offering firework and torchlight parades to celebrate New Year’s ...
Mommy & Me Ski Class at Echo Mountain (Win it!)
There are Mommy & Me sign language, yoga and swim classes but why should it stop there? At Echo Mountain it keeps going—straight down the mountain in their Parent and Me private ski lessons for 3-year-old skiers and his/her parent. The concept is brilliant and simple: Take a one-hour lesson with your child to prepare them for group instruction by age 4. I learned to ski at a one-lift hill in Canada and there is a special place in my heart for small resorts. In addition to proximity to Denver (just 35 miles away outside of Evergreen), Echo Mountains is also about affordability and offers great ski school packages, terrain parks, and night skiing until 9 p.m. five nights a week. Oh, and the free parking in the small lot and lack of stairs in the lodge were awesome, too. If you’ve ever w...
Colorado Skiing Makes Me Happy to be Home for the Holidays
Confession: I was moderately depressed last year when I was unable to spend Christmas with my family in Canada. But let’s face it: there are worse things than spending Christmas in Colorado. And so my family of four opted to start a new tradition: We went skiing the day before Christmas at Loveland Ski Area. It was fantastic for a few reasons: * Colorado’s resorts are the very epitome of a winter wonderland. * My children exerted all their pent-up “Santa’s coming” energies on the slopes. They were passed out by 8:30 p.m. * Santa visited Loveland’s ski school and skied with the kids. Note: My 5-year-old daughter made sure to give him a thorough interrogation that he, indeed, was just Santa’s helper because surely the true St. Nick would not be slack...
Family Travel: Confessions of a Ski School Dropout at Granby Ranch
I love skiing and even made a living promoting its virtues at a popular Utah ski resort. But I terminated my love affair with the slopes when I had children. Or rather, it fired me. There were a number of different reasons: cost, breastfeeding, babysitter hassles, I-70’s gridlocks and those $400 ski boots that no longer fit because pregnancy had inflated my feet an entire size [insert sob here]. Oh, and my snow pants are too small. But that is a different issue entirely. After a few years of darkness, I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel: my firstborn is old enough to learn to ski! So when I heard about Granby Ranch’s fourth annual Kids’ Totally Insane Winter Blast at Granby Ranch, I jumped at the opportunity. I figured I could swallow my pride long enou...
