Winter Park, CO

An awesome mountain with lots of terrain and super close to Denver.  You can avoid a lot of the I70 traffic by heading to WP but you’ll have to go over a monster pass that sometimes can be closed due to heavy snowfall.

Overnight Parking – You can park right in G lot overnight.  There will definitely be other people there.  Maybe you get snowed in, maybe you don’t.

Bathing – They have a very nice rec center on the way to Fraser called the Grand Park Community Recreation Center.  I think it was like around $10 for entry but I don’t remember exactly.

Happy Hours – The best on-mountain beer is at Winter Park.  At the base of Mary Jane you can get $3 drafts of any domestic or Colorado beer.  I think the Idlewild Brewery had a good Happy Hour and the Irish bar had a decent one too.  The Winter Park pub has some good deals and is frequented by the locals and ski bums.

Coffee – I think we did Mcdonald’s here mostly but I don’t really remember.  They have several but I will have to check them out.

Miscellaneous – Winter Park is a great mountain that usually has good snowfall and is close to Denver.  It’s a pretty unpretentious town that doesn’t cater to families (good) and its pretty inexpensive as far as ski towns go.  You’ll notice a lot of Aussies but they’re usually fun and harmless.

Random musings – Whenever I see a guy pizza-ing down some blue with a brand new Arc’teryx jacket and some rental Kaestle’s I always look for a guy in blue jeans, no helmet and sunglasses blasting down snow-filled moguls on an old pair of K2’s. I feel there needs to be some balance in the world.  Also the first guy probably drinks Zimas and pees sitting down while the latter slams bud diesels.

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