Rocky Mountain Skiing

Mary Jane is one of Colorado’s finest expert areas, and although just on the other side of the mountain from Winter Park, it seems worlds apart.

Steamboat also offers one amenity that can’t be built or worked into a promotional budget: A real town that existed long before skiers flocked to the area.

Although the lifts at Berthoud are frozen in history (for now) it remains a popular destination for backcountry skiers and snowboarders.

Over the last 20 years, January generally has been a lull period, with usually one monstrous storm.

People who live in the Rocky Mountains are blessed with frequently excellent snow conditions and a variety of terrain, including tracks, trails, backcountry roads and sparsely timbered telemark slopes.

The Loveland/Keystone race to open first has become an annual rite of autumn in Colorado, bestowing “first-to-open” bragging rights to the ski area that can make the most snow the quickest.

I look back up at the summit ridge. What a fantastic scene – deep blue sky, a jagged ridgeline and a white ribbon of snow descending from a majestic summit.