The very idea of some some schmo coming up and offering to guide or teach me on a frontcountry mountain sounds ri-goddamn-diculous. But I guess it happens, because Vail Resorts is stepping up efforts to bust underground lessons and guide services on their hill. In a recent undercover sting, they…
Three snowboarders from Colorado are among the qualifiers for today’s Women’s Halfpipe Finals at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event at Mammoth Mountain, the second of five U.S. competitions in the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver: Gretchen Blelier (Aspen) qualified in third, behind Kelly Clark and Hannah…
[jump] This is what I’d wear on the slopes if I were filthy rich, or at least scummily wealthy: At 949 Euros — or $1,367 American — it’s not for the light of wallet. But it is light itself, weighing in at just over a two pounds, and it offers seamless…
Miles from the Village, the 885-acre Blue Sky Basin has been a must-explore-spot for Vail skiers for 10 years. The popular woodsy terrain beyond the mountain’s Back Bowls is blessed with plenty of snow, tight trees, steeps, open powder fields, and even a few groomers. On bluebird day, there are…
Three snowboarders from Colorado are among the qualifiers for today’s Men’s Halfpipe Finals at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event at Mammoth Mountain, the second of five U.S. competitions in the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In Heat One of yesterday’s qualifiers Broc Waring (Vail) and Matt…
Atop Wolf Creek Pass between South Fork and Pagosa Springs is one of the state’s highest (10,600 feet at its base) and oldest resorts (70 years old this season), and lift tickets are just $50. It’s also the snowiest (465 inches a year). And it’s 100% open, there’s plenty of…
Helmet cameras are about to get some company in the first person snow sports video market. Liquid Image, already the makers of a digital underwater camera mask, is unveiling a camera-equipped ski goggle at an electronics show this weekend in Las Vegas. The goggle has a 5-megapixel camera that shoots…
What’s the right age to begin teaching your kids to snowboard? Let’s just say that if, at the end of the day, you ask them what their favorite part was and they say “Falling down!” then you’re probably doing something right. January is Colorado Ski Country USA’s Learn to Ski…
Vail’s Gay Ski Week is back! According to the Associated Press, the days-long celebration of everything gay and ski-y was canceled last year due to the economic downturn. But this year, the economy is apparently healthy enough for Vail to host the event, which is scheduled for January 27 to…
Jason Blevins’ story in Saturday’s Denver Post covered the impact of mobile technology on snow reporting. In the process, it also shined a light on a question raised in the comments of a previous On the Edge post about Bob Berwyn’s firing from the Summit Daily News for after criticizing…
Three days in to the 38-day trek and one of the women had already dropped out. Her hands were frostbitten. She couldn’t continue. The seven other women labored on, and on the last day of 2009 they completed their 562-mile cross country ski journey through blizzards, 80 mph winds, and…
A while ago, I wrote about rescues and who should save you in the mountains. The story arose from an incident on Mt. Hood. One of the overreactions to the deaths of the three climbers has been the idea of mandating that climbers carry personal locator beacons (PLBs) with them…
Saw this story in the Sky-Hi Daily News about these nifty GPS units available for about $20 a day for rent at Winter Park. Dubbed flaiks (and made by the Boulder company of the same name), the gadgets can be tracked in real-time, so the user’s location can be pinpointed…
It’s that time of year again, when every media outlet (including us) floods the Web with their ‘best of this’ and ‘best of that’ lists.Let’s be honest, though. Everyone loves them. They’re fun to read and argue about.Here’s one such list. Let the arguing begin…
Traditionally, New Year’s resolutions are about self-improvement of some sort. Of course, most people fail miserably at them, making me wonder what the point of the resolutions is. But no matter.Why not apply the concept of New Year’s resolutions to outdoor activities? Most people who have a passion for the…
This is our first serving of a semi-regular post about a mountain bar of note…or at least disrepute.We stop in Georgetown for a beer on our way back from Loveland. Downtown, the normally reliable Red Ram is shuttered, with a for-sale sign in the front window. So much for that…
I got my first view of Denver from a train, my first view of a Colorado ski resort from another train. But now it looks like the revived Ski Train to Winter Park will never leave the station: Yesterday, Iowa Pacific called a halt to the season…
So U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn played the role of the Grinch on Christmas Eve eve to Iowa Pacific Holding’s Cindy Lou Who, denying the company’s request for a temporary restraining order to force Amtrak crews to start operating the new Rio Grande Scenic Ski Train on December 27. The…
Officials from Summit and Eagle counties spent yesterday rescuing a man from Quandary, a 14,000-foot peak south of Breckenridge, after he fractured both legs in a ski-gliding-gone-wrong accident, according to the Summit Daily News…
Earlier this month, Eric Peterson wrote about a new iPhone app that turns your phone into a virtual reality display of the ski resort. The video demonstrating its function makes it seem pretty high tech, but it also looks a lot like info overload.Most skiers, however, do like to have…
So it almost goes without saying that Santa Claus isn’t known for being the dude with the most wicked moves on the mountain. He’s better known for superlatives involving his stomach, his speed in a flying sleigh, and his generosity with his stash. But as the following videos attest, Mr…
“We are a local store that could use a leg up this season,” writes Marily Macdonald, marketing coordinator for the Outdoor Divas shops in Boulder and Cherry Creek, just as I’m heading out the door to scrape the snow off my car and scrape together the last of my last-minute…
