Wolf Creek Extends Season
The 2007-08 winter has been so generous with snowfall in southwestern Colorado that Wolf Creek (tel. 970/264-5639; www.wolfcreekski.com) has extended its season by a week through Sunday, April 13, plus the following two weekends, April 19-20 and April 26-27 and also dropped its lift ticket price to $27 a day. Wolf Creek traditionally closes in early April. Never because of a lack of snow (465 inches in an average year), but because the two nearest cities with significant populations are Colorado Springs (192 miles) and Albuquerque (212 miles), and luring skiers has been difficult; apparently not this year, though.
Telluride Extends Hours
Meanwhile, Telluride (tel. 800/778-8581; www.tellurideskiresort.com) in the same general region of southwestern Colorado has extended its hours, operating Chairs 1 and 10 until 4:00pm daily. The resort offers some amazing end-of-season packages that begin at $119 per person, double occupancy for five nights of lodging and a four-day lift ticket. Telluride closes for the season on April 6.
Bye-Bye Purgy's
Elsewhere in southwestern Colorado, Durango Mountain Resort (tel. 800/982-6103, 970-247-9000; www.durangomountainresort.com) wraps up the 2007-8 season with the final brews and grub at Purgy's, a funky and enduringly popular pub at what was the original base lodge from the earliest days of the ski area, then called Purgatory. Now partway through a $100 million base village under construction at the base, the resort is building a new Purgy's as part of the development.
Colorado Moves to Reprise Ski-Theme License Plate
In 1959, Colorado issued a license plate bearing the slogan, "Colorful Colorado," and a skier figure. Half a century later, Colorado Ski Country USA (www.coloradoski.com) is spearheading a campaign to revive a snow-sport-themed tag and is collecting e-signatures in an on-line petition to be submitted to the state Department of Revenue. Resident or not, you can see a prototype, which features both skier and snowboarder figures at www.coloradoskiplate.com. Neighboring Utah issues plates with the slogan, "The Greatest Snow on Earth," and Colorado also wants to reinforce its image as a ski state with such an optional plate.
Avoid I-70 Traffic With a Sunday High-Country Stay
Breckenridge (www.breckenridge.com) and Keystone (www.keystoneresort.com) offer a bargain late-season "Super Sized" lodging package (tel 877/SUPA-SIZE or 877/787-2749) that enables skiers and riders to avoid Interstate 70's almost inevitable Sunday afternoon eastbound traffic jams. Stay at select hotels and condominiums for $79, based on availability, enjoy dinner at a resort restaurant and head for Denver or Denver International Airport on Monday morning.Jackson Hole: Website Follows the Tram's Progress
Jackson Hole, Wyoming (tel. 800/DEEP-SNO, 307/733-2292; www.jacksonhole.com), which has been tramless (or tram-free) since it decommissioned its 40-year-old tram at the end of the 2005-06 ski season is installing a much-anticipated, state-of-the-art tram to debut in December 2008. Midway through the two-year process, the resort has launched a dedicated website (www.tramformation.com) just to track the construction of the most spectacular on-mountain transformation of the resort from its mid-20th century appearance and facilities to the 21st century. The base area has been undergoing a spectacular makeover with a user-friendly base village with elegant new hotels and a fine base village. The new tram will be larger (100 passengers), sleeker (aerodynamic-looking cars with big windows) and faster (9 minutes for the 4,139-vertical-foot ride to the top of Rendezvous Peak). But the Teton views en route and from the summit, and the enormous (and mostly enormously challenging) terrain it accesses, can't be improved upon.
Marmot Basin Operates Through Early May
Marmot Basin (tel. 866/952-3826, 780/852-3816; www.skimarmot.com) within the boundaries of Jasper National Park is so far north in the Canadian Rockies that much of the terrain is above the treeline -- not so pleasant on blustery, stormy mid-winter days but idyllic in spring when the sun is high and open-bowl skiing is at its best. Half of Marmot's eight chairlifts unload above the treeline. In fact, the Knob chair is completely above the trees. Marmot regularly operates into May.
Talk with fellow Frommer's readers on our Winter Sports Message Boards today.
