Winter Park ski fanatics return season after season for the fresh snow, relatively uncrowded trails, beautiful setting, and skiing terrain that challenges skiers regardless of experience. The Winter Park ski season runs from mid-November to mid-April, and Winter Park ski trails have lots of choices for all skill levels. Winter Park ski terrain covers 3,060 skiable acres, including 143 designated trails and 1,212 acres of off-piste terrain, including Vasquez Cirque and glade skiing.
The park operates 25 lifts, including two high-speed lifts for six people and 7 high-speed quads, giving it an uphill capacity of 36,920 skiers per hour. Winter Park Resort received 378 inches of snowfall during the 2008-09 season and consistently has the highest snow fall of any Colorado resort.
Photo Credit: bgraun
Winter Park operates a fenced-in 20-acre Discovery Park for beginning skiers, with its own lift and gentle slopes where children and adults can get on the slopes for the first time. Trails like White Rabbit, Jabberwocky and Butch's Breezeway help intermediate skiers develop advanced skills.
Over half of the runs in Winter Park are rated “most difficult” for advanced skiers. In total, there are 61 black trails, with most found on Mary Jane mountain and the newly developed Vasquez Cirque off-piste area. The most difficult run is considered to be Hole In The Wall, but the non-stop moguls of Drunken Frenchmen and Outhouse also call for advanced-intermediate and expert skills. Recently developed, Vasquez Ridge added several intermediate and expert runs, including the long and pleasing Stagecoach and Sundance trails. On the other side of Winter Park from Vasquez Ridge, the Zephyr Express lift reaches several advanced-intermediate and advanced runs that are rarely crowded.
