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.

Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort
Winter Park Village
Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort Location in Colorado Show map of Colorado Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Grand County, Colorado, USA
Nearest major city	Winter Park, Colorado
Coordinates	39°53′13″N 105°45′45″W
Top elevation	12,060 feet (3,676 m)
Base elevation	9,000 feet (2,743 m)
Skiable area	3,081 acres (1,247 ha)
Runs	167 total 8% beginner 18% intermediate 19% advanced 52% most difficult 3% expert
Lift system	25 total (9 high-speed chairs, 10 fixed-grip chairs, 6 surface lifts)
Snowfall	370 in (940 cm)
Website	winterparkresort.com

The mountain opened for the 1939–1940 season as Winter Park Ski Area[1] 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.[2][3] 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.[4] 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 (and seven "territories") — 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, 435 acres (176 ha) of backcountry terrain in Vasquez Cirque were opened to skiing, although access required hiking from the top of Mary Jane;[5] 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."[6] 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.[7] In 2019 Winter Park Resort was named "Number 1 Ski Resort in North America".[8]