Category Archives: Resorts

Skiers, snowboarders get a lift for less this month at Mountain High

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Mountain High is taking up to 50 percent off the price of its lift tickets during February.

Express Pass Holders may use the coupon code FEBEXPRESS to receive an adult 8-hour lift ticket for $39. The discount is available through Feb. 28, but not valid President’s Day weekend, Feb. 16-18.

For those who don’t have an Express Pass, if they purchase an adult 8-hour lift ticket by Feb. 15 they will receive a free Express Pass plus a bounce back voucher for $39 that will be good for use on their next visit. The same restrictions apply for the bounce-back voucher (valid through Feb. 28, except Feb. 16-18).

Mountain High’s Express Pass is the most sophisticated and environmentally-friendly lift ticket in snowsports, says resort spokeswoman Kim Hermon. The reusable, hard-plastic card can be encoded time and again with almost any Mountain High lift ticket and benefits include:

  • $10 off 8-hour, 4-hour and night ticket options, non-holiday.
  • Free 8-hour ticket (non-holiday) after every four visits.
  • Track days ridden, total runs, vertical feet and more.
  • Guarantee reservations in case of a sellout.

Forecasters are calling for a snowy month ahead, with off and on storms.

“February is likely to be a stormy month especially in comparison to the quiet January we’ve just seen,” says Chris Manly from Snowforecast.com.

Information: www.mthigh.com 

Shuttle between North Lake Tahoe ski/snowboard resorts — for free

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A free ski shuttle is now ferrying visitors among nine North Lake Tahoe resorts.

The pilot program, which runs on weekends and holidays through March 31, aims to get skiers and snowboarders out of their cars and reduce travel hassles.

Participating resorts are Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Northstar California, Homewood Mountain Resort, Sugar Bowl, Donner Ski Ranch, Boreal, Soda Springs and Royal Gorge.

For the schedule and details, go to www.laketahoetransit.com.

Snowbird buried under 3 feet of fresh powder

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Another major storm has left more than three feet of snow blanketing the Snowbird ski resort since Sunday.

Photo by Matt Crawley, Courtesy of Snowbird Ski Resort

“In about 50 years, I’m going to be telling my grandkids about this storm,” said Jodie Stackhouse, a guest who was snowboarding Tuesday morning. “I could really use a snorkel out there!”

The Little Cottonwood Canyon resort has received 222 inches of snow this season, and more snow is in the forecast through Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service.

“Skiers and snowboarders are thrilled to have such amazing conditions,” said Dave Fields, vice president of resort operations. “The snow is waist-deep, but blows over your head when you are skiing down the mountain.”

Information: www.snowbird.com

Airbags prove a useful training tool for X Games competitors

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Bobby Brown slides down the hill after wiping out in the men’s ski big air finals at the Winter X Games. The use of an airbag in training can help develop the body mechanics needed for big tricks, but it also increases the risk for athletes striving for glory in action sports now defined by increasingly technical and dangerous tricks. (Photo by Daniel Petty/The Denver Post)

By Jason Blevins
The Denver Post

Backflips are taking over skiing and snowboarding. Spinning double and triple-corked trickery was the golden ticket in every competition at last weekend’s X Games in Aspen.

The sketchy-to-learn tricks have expanded the training toolbox for athletes to include massive airbags.

Superstar Shaun White honed his triple-cork on a private airbag at Breckenridge. His airbag training at a private pipe at Silverton Mountain in 2010 greased his way to Olympic halfpipe gold that year. Today, the massive bags aren’t just for the pros but also the young aspirants nipping at their heels.

“It’s just changed everything. It’s so valuable and such a great in-between step, that difficult step between imagining a new trick and actually doing it. Now we can have the luxury of taking that step and not get hurt,” said Aspen’s Gretchen Bleiler, who sessioned an airbag at Mammoth Mountain ski area two weeks ago as she regained her snowboarding pipe form after suffering an eye injury while training on a trampoline.

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How many vertical feet did you cover? Kirkwood feature keeps skiers honest

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Kirkwood Mountain Resort has installed the company’s first solar-powered radio frequency (RF) reader to enhance the guest’s experience with EpicMix, Vail Resorts’ proprietary online and mobile application that rewards users for challenges completed, lifts ridden, and days and vertical feet skied. The reader takes advantage of Kirkwood’s legendary hike-to, inbounds terrain, and is located in the Covered Wagon area of the resort, along the southeastern-most boundary on the backside.

“We have so much inbounds terrain here that is truly special, I think this remote reader is the perfect way to bring EpicMix to life at Kirkwood,” said Casey Blann, Kirkwood’s vice president and general manager. “Our visitors are some of the best skiers and riders around and we wanted a special way to recognize them for doing extraordinary things.”

There are two custom pins explorers can unlock at the Covered Wagon reader. The first is called “Pushing Boundaries” and awards the guest 200 points for reaching the reader for the first time. The second is worth 250 points and is called “CW10.” It is awarded for visiting the reader 10 times in one season. In addition to being remote, this reader is also unique in its user experience.

Unlike most EpicMix readers, which don’t require the user to do anything special to record data, guests must intentionally approach the reader and come within five feet in order to be read.

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Big mountain for a small price at Mammoth Mountain

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California’s only real big-mountain experience, now offered at small-mountain prices. For $199, adults get three days of lift tickets good for use 3 out of 4 consecutive days.

During this promotional sales period, through Feb. 10, the $66 Threedom Tickets are the best lift ticket value. Tickets can be used anytime through April 21, excluding Feb. 16-24.

Here’s the fine print: Skiers must purchase online or at Call Center, up to noon first day of use. Not available at ticket window. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Cancellation, credit and refund policy does not apply. Sale price applies for adults and seniors.

Information: www.mammothmountain.com

Kirkwood is a favorite with skiers in Lake Tahoe

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Kirkwood receives the most annual snowfall in the Sierras. (Photo courtesy of Kirkwood Ski Resort)

By Marlene Greer

Improving your skiing is all about taking a new skill and being able to use it on a smooth groomed run or a steep pitch. Especially if you’re zigzagging through trees or bounding through a gully.

And Lake Tahoe’s Kirkwood Mountain Resort has what it takes to get skiers and snowboarders moving across the mountain.

“What is brilliant about Kirkwood is the natural terrain of the mountain allows that natural progression to take place,” said Nick Brittain, a college student from New Zealand who was spending his summer break teaching at Kirkwood’s Learning Center.

The beginners’ terrain is a mix of wide groomed slopes of varying pitch, a set of funny bunny rollers, and little gullies with treacherous names like Ditch of Doom and Ditch of Gloom.

“We start at the magic carpet,” Brittain explained. “Our first aim is to move from the carpet to the chair lift, then from less gradient to higher gradient to off-piste. We build their confidence. What we love is involving different terrains and seeing skill level improve. Kids absolutely love those terrain variations.”

So do his adult students.

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Shaun White slides into X Games slopestyle and superpipe finals

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Shaun White competes in men’s snowboard slopestyle at the X Games on Thursday in Aspen. White qualified for the finals by placing seventh. (Photo by Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

By David Krause
The Denver Post

ASPEN — With some of the more exciting qualifiers rolling through Thursday afternoon to open the X Games, crowds were looking to the skies on a regular basis.

With only one finals event Thursday at Buttermilk Mountain, the opening day for the X Games features plenty of qualifying runs down the superpipe and the slopestyle course for the men.

Shaun White squeezed into the slopestyle finals, advancing for the first time since 2009 when he won gold. White qualified seventh Thursday after two runs in the elimination round.

Later in the evening, White, who has won the past 11 superpipe events he’s entered, put down a basic first run and earned 87 points, which was tops for the round. However, he dropped to second overall after Iouri Podladchikov, know better as I-Pod, had an 87.33-point run in the second round.

White had a chance to best I-Pod, but White bottomed out on his first hit of the second run.

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Lil’ Air Kid’s Freestyle Competition set for Feb. 9 at Homewood

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The Lil’ Air Festival is returning to Homewood. Geared toward kids 12 and younger, this event will take place in the beginner Happy Park and offers great visibility for parents. Awards will be presented for best trick, best fall, and other “award-winning” moves.

Both skiers and snowboarders are welcome, and registration begins at 9 a.m. at Homewood’s North Lodge the day of the event. Helmets are required.

Registration is $10 and competitors are eligible for a discounted $15 lift ticket. Bring the camera for this exciting and fun kids event!

For more information, visit the Snowbomb-Homewood Lil’ Air Event page.

Torin Yater-Wallace returns to X Games halfpipe as ‘veteran’

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Torin Yater-Wallace has the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in his sights as he throws tricks that include the first-ever 1800 in competition. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

By Jason Blevins
The Denver Post

Torin Yater-Wallace in 2011 was the youngest athlete to medal at the Winter X Games at age 15. Two years later the halfpipe phenom is a battle-scarred, heavy-medaled veteran.

After a momentous 2012 that included the first-ever 1800 thrown in competition and gold medals at both the Europe Winter X Games and the first World Cup contest of the 2012-13 season in New Zealand, the 17-year-old is still on track for an explosive performance in halfpipe skiing’s debut at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

This week Yater-Wallace will announce a sponsorship deal with Red Bull — but he keeps the Target lid — and returns to the halfpipe for his third X Games at Aspen after surgery to repair his shoulder.

Joining him in the halfpipe this show are his best pals, 18-year-old Aspen native Alex Ferreira and Crested Butte 16-year-old Aaron Blunck. The contest will highlight the newest-school halfpipe skiers and weathered patriarchs of pipe Simon Dumont and Tanner Hall.

“We have always skied together, and they have supported me so much in the last two years, and now seeing them get this opportunity, it’s just awesome,” Yater-Wallace said of his friends during a phone interview this week. “My first X Games was terribly nerve-wracking, so I kind of know what they’ll be feeling. I think it will definitely loosen it up, just to be hanging with good friends at the pipe. It could feel like just another day, you know.”

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