Club Colorado  

We’ve barely made it to the first headwall of the Outhouse on Mary Jane before we’re stopped by an adoring fan.

“Hey, are you, like, Bob?”

Yes, he is.

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Sunlight Mountain Resort near Glenwood Springs, CO

I’m scanning the radio on my car for a weather report as I drive through the quaint mining town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on my way to Sunlight Mountain Resort. There’s a skiff of something resembling snow on the road – just enough to make things extra slippery. I land on a local station just in time for the snow report.

“Sunlight reporting eighteen inches overnight.” says the DJ.

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The vineyard view from my Wine Country Inn hotel room

As I pull of I-70 to find my hotel, I begin to suffer from cognitive disconnect. Just outside Grand Junction, the town of Palisade, Colorado is beautiful, but not in a typical ski-town type of way. And from the looks of things, skiing isn’t the biggest game in town. Red sandstone bluffs frame a valley blanketed with vineyards. The hotel where I’m staying is called the Wine Country Inn. I’m told when at check in that my room has a vineyard view. Don’t get me wrong, I love a glass of wine now and then, but I thought I was here to ski…

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As far as Colorado ski resorts go, SolVista Basin at Granby Ranch doesn’t give up its biggest virtues upon first glance. Initially, you might not see what makes SolVista such a big deal, because the things that make SolVista a big deal are… small.

At SolVista, small is a very big deal

Indeed, some of the ski area’s biggest fans are less than three feet tall. This is a kids’ Mecca, and truly offers something different for families. So I’m letting my new family at SolVista adopt me for the weekend.

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One-point-two seconds. That is the time it takes for me to see a fur coat after stepping out of my rusty Subaru. I’m parked semi-legally in front of the Sky Hotel in Aspen, Colorado. I’m here on a holiday weekend with one goal: to see if it’s possible for the average skier to ski Aspen on the cheap. Here goes…

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In Europe, they ski as a means to eat. That is, you arrive early to the chairlift not because you want fresh tracks, but because you want the best table at the restaurant. Having skied (OK, eaten) at a handful of Swiss and Austrian resorts recently, I can personally attest to the fact that one looks forward to opening the menu as much as they do the trail map.

Here in the States? We’ll cram our jacket pockets full of PB&J’s if it means another lap on a powder day. Lunch? Not if there’s skiing to be done. For many, on-mountain dining carries about as much appeal and sophistication as the plastic tray on which it’s served. But that is all changing, and the American “Ski to Eat” movement is now taking reservations at Telluride.

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Sometimes, even Mountain Correspondents miss snow days. Yes, I missed the last powder day at Durango Mountain Resort, so my goal for today is to be the cruddiest skier on the mountain. I’m going to search high and low for crud, scour the slopes, and enlist the help of a highly trained professional in order to find the stuff. It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be glamorous, but I’m going to do everything I can to find Purgatory’s crud.

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