Winter Park Resort


Winter Park Resort is an alpine ski resort in Winter Park, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains. Located just off U.S. Highway 40, the resort is about a 90-minute drive from Denver, Colorado.
The mountain opened for the 1939–1940 season as Winter Park Ski Area and was owned and operated by the city and county of Denver until 2002, when Denver entered into a partnership with Intrawest ULC, a Canadian corporation headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, which operated the resort until Intrawest was acquired by Alterra Mountain Company in 2018. For nearly 70 years, a popular way for Denver residents to get there was via the Ski Train, which arrived at the resort's base area through the Moffat Tunnel. Ski Train service ended in 2009 but returned as the Winter Park Express in 2017. Winter Park Resort is home to one of the world's largest and oldest disabled skiing programs, the National Sports Center for the Disabled.
The resort consists of three interconnected mountain peaks — Winter Park, Mary Jane, and Vasquez Ridge — which share a common lift ticket. Mary Jane, opened in 1975, has a separate base area and is known for its moguls, tree skiing, hidden huts and generally more difficult terrain. It encompasses the above-tree line terrain of Parsenn Bowl. Vasquez Ridge, opened in 1986, offers intermediate terrain and mogul runs. In 1997, of backcountry terrain in Vasquez Cirque were opened to skiing, although access required hiking from the top of Mary Jane; the 2006 relocation of the former Outrigger triple chairlift to the backside of Parsenn Bowl provides an easier escape back to Mary Jane after descending Vasquez Cirque.
Since taking over operation of the resort, Intrawest has made several changes to the mountain's infrastructure, renovating the food services in the West Portal base lodge, opening new lifts in 2005 and 2006, and publicly announcing plans for a new base village to include hundreds of new condominia, a parking structure, a "Village Pond," and a "family swim center," all accessible via a new open-air gondola known as "The Village Cabriolet." However, while this change has benefitted the economic development of the town and the resort, it has also been a threat to the existing historic resort base. The historic Balcony House remains under threat of demolition. This historic building was designed in the Googie style of architecture, which was a popular style in the 1940s to the 1960s.
In an attempt to make Winter Park into a year-round resort, the resort operates the lifts during the summer months for mountain biking. The Arrow chairlift also services an alpine slide in the summer, and the base area features miniature golf, a climbing wall, and other diversions. While the Winter Park area is also a popular destination for golf, there are no golf courses located at, or operated by, the resort itself. Winter Park boasts the most extensive lift access summer mountain biking trails in Colorado.
In 2018 Winter Park Resort was named "Best ski resort in North America" as voted by the readers of USA Today. In 2019 Winter Park Resort was named "Number 1 Ski Resort in North America".

Statistics

Elevation

Trails

Winter Park Colorado
Lift NameTypeManufacturerYear BuiltNotes
The GondolaTen-person gondola liftLeitner-Poma2018-
Village CabrioletEight-person gondola lift:Leitner-Poma2008-
Panoramic ExpressSix-passenger high-speed detachable chairliftLeitner-Poma2007When opened, it was marketed as being the highest high-speed six pack in North America, a title it retained until the Kensho SuperChair at Breckenridge Ski Resort was built in 2013.
Super Gauge ExpressSix-passenger high-speed detachable chairliftLeitner-Poma2005
Eskimo ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1999
Gemini ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1993
High Lonesome ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1991
Olympia ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1996
Pioneer ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1986
Prospector ExpressHigh-speed detachable quad chairliftPoma1994
ArrowTriple chairliftYan 1979
Eagle WindTriple chairliftYan2006former Outrigger chair
EndeavourTriple chairliftPoma1993
SunnysideSix-passenger high-speed detachable chairliftLeitner-Poma2019
ChallengerDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1974
DiscoveryDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1984
Galloping GooseDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1974
Iron HorseDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1974
Looking GlassDouble chairliftRiblet1966
Pony ExpressDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1974
LariatRope TowPoma2002
SpiritPlatter surface liftPoma2004
CometConveyorMagic Carpet2019
MeteorConveyorMagic Carpet2019

Former lifts

Winter Park Colorado
Lift NameTypeManufacturerYears of OperationNotes-
SunnysideTriple chairlift1989-2019Replaced with high-speed, detachable, Six-Pack lift
ApolloPlatter liftLeitner-Poma2004-2009-
ApolloDouble chairliftRiblet1969-1998-
CometT-bar lift1957-1977Replaced with Arrow triple-
EskimoDoubleRiblet chairlift1963-1990Replaced with Eskimo Double-
EskimoTriple chairliftYan1990-1999Replaced with Eskimo Express; Relocated from Zephyr-
GeminiDouble chairliftMiner-Denver1969-1993Replaced with Gemini Express-
High LonesomeQuad chairliftPoma1985-1991-
HughesDouble chairliftRiblet1962-1993-
MeteorT-Bar liftSwiss1957-1977Replaced with Outrigger triple-
OlympiaDouble chairliftHeron-Poma1971-1996Replaced by Olympia Express-
OutriggerT-Bar liftSwiss1948-1978-
OutriggerTriple chairliftYan1978-2005SBNO from 2003 to 2005; relocated to Vasquez Ridge and operates as Eagle Wind-
ProspectorDouble chairliftRiblet1963-1994Replaced with Prospector Express-
Summit ExpressHigh-speed quad chairliftPoma1985-2005This lift now runs at the Mission Ridge Ski Area in Washington state. Replaced with Super Gauge Express.-
TimberlineDouble chairliftHeron-Poma/Thiokol1992-2007Relocated from Sol Vista Basin ; replaced by Panoramic Express-
ZephyrTriple chairliftYan1983-1990Replaced with Zephyr Express-
Zephyr ExpressHigh-speed quad chairliftPoma1990-2018Replaced with ten-person The Gondola-
Bob WoodsT-bar lift1940-1969Replaced with Apollo double-

Historic Trails

During Winter Park's 75-year history, many individuals have made significant contributions to the development and image of the ski area. Several ski trails have been identified on the resort's website as "historical trails," and even more exist on the mountain. A commemorative sign, with a brief narrative about the individual's contribution to the ski area, has been installed along each historical trail. Listed are both the run and in parentheses the lift that reaches them: