REGIONALS SHOWS WHY RESORT IS SO POPULAR
Snow dumped and dumped, like it would never stop. The only two roads to the resort were closed, and the Masters Western Regional races were supposed to start the following day. Hundreds of competitors were already on their way. One racer had to sleep in a Wendy's between Denver and Winter Park.. Another cursed the snow while waiting at Steamboat and slept in his car. But Masters racer Rick Slabinsky, determined to get to Winter Park in time for the Masters Western Regionals super G, jammed up the long Berthold Pass ahead of the closure in his SUV while two other racers in the car screamed continuously at him to slow down.
No way. One by one, "Slabby" overtook the snowplows that are assigned to declare the road open or closed. He passed 17 of them, pulling in front of the lead plow, swerving around and over the new avalanche that closed the road minutes after he bulled through---the last vehicle to make it to Winter Park for the next 24 hours.
"We had racers stopped everywhere, all over Colorado," said Bill Skinner, head coach of the Park City Masters program.
But when the roads were cleared, they came. Masters racers, who, instead of lamenting that their super G Championship race had to be canceled, went out and skied thigh-deep powder; tourists who reveled in the resort's terrain and the nearness of the quaint railroad town. Despite the movie-star fame of Vail and Aspen, Winter Park is still Colorado's most popular resort.
Jenn Beberge, the resort's marketing coordinator, says, "Winter Park is the closest major destination resort to Denver, it’s only 67 miles from Denver. We have five separate areas. There is Winter Park – long groomers with a lot of intermediate and beginner slopes, Mary Jane--famous for its bumps, Parsenn Bowl--which has tree skiing and a wide open bowl at the top of the mountain, Vasquez Ridge- tree skiing with intermediate terrain, and Vazquez Cirque--that has extreme skiing, and lots of double black diamonds."
The resort offers a few other attractions as well. There is the popular ski train, which leaves Denver at 7:15 a.m. for a relaxing two-hour ride through beautifully dramatic mountain scenery, taking jubilant skiers and snowboarders to a stop near the base area, closer than the parking lots. Round trip tickets cost $49 (call (303) 296-4754 for info and reservations).
There is the town of Winter Park, quaint and friendly, with lodging so reasonable, you can get a room for less than $50. Beberge says, "The cool thing is, you’re staying beside where our locals actually live. Winter Park locals actually reside there, so it’s great for guests to actually mix and mingle in the same location."
The shuttle system makes a car unnecessary. Frequent busses go to and from the resort from 8:00 a.m. until 10:30 at night, stopping at every hotel, condo and restaurant, both in Winter Park and nearby Frasier. Winter Park is an old railroad town, rather than the silver mining town usually found at western ski resorts. It has quaint old houses, and modern sushi bars. It's not at all like Aspen or Park City; no $10,000 fur coats are offered for sale in any shop window; it's a town for real people, not millionaire tourists.
In fact, there's a secret way to get a room in Winter Park at the rustic and funky Viking Lodge, with its hot tub and game room, for $39. But since this information is not general knowledge, it will only be given to those specifically requesting it in an email to the editor: wina@adventuresportsweekly.com
Meanwhile, event organizers are discovering the delights of Winter Park. At the same time that the Masters Western Regionals brought hundreds of competitors to race down the long slopes of Meadows and Hughes, USASA was holding a Superseries Superpipe and Slopestyle contest on another part of the mountain. The baggy pants set mixed with the speed suit crowd at the base and on the main lift, but after each got off the lift, they never saw each other again.
The magnificent efforts of the race crew from the Competition Department allowed events to go on despite the huge fall of powder that had to be removed from competition sites with rakes and skis. The quality of the race department make future, bigger events a certainty.