Winter in Colorado means a season of skiing, and with every coming year, ski resorts look for new ways to improve the skiing experience. In 2014, Colorado’s ski resorts have been very busy with innovation, and many mountains have introduced some really incredible features. It’s hard to get more excited about skiing, but somehow, the resorts keep making that happen.

Exciting for Parents:

via aspensnowmass.com

Do you have a child who has never seen a ski mountain? Then you’re in luck! Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Company spent $5 million redesigning the base of Buttermilk, one of Aspen’s four ski areas, in order to introduce a new area called “The Hideout.” This area will accommodate kids from the ages of 2-12 and will be the new headquarters for kids’ ski school, featuring a 7,500-square-foot-facility with rental shops and play areas.

In addition, Snowmass is introducing four new lanes for snow tubing, and it aims to attract kids between the ages of 4-14. The tubing area will also be used in all children’s ski school lessons. The new tubing area will open officially on December 19.

Exciting for Vampires:

via denverpost.com

Do you dread sunlight? Do you awaken in the evening? Then start getting excited. Last year, Steamboat offered three nights of night skiing every week. For the 2014/2015 ski season, however, Steamboat has expanded night skiing to five nights a week. The night skiing will feature two beginner runs, two intermediate runs, and one advanced run lit up by their state-of-the-art Ultra-Tech™ Lighting. They plan on offering night skiing Thursdays through Mondays between the hours of 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, and that schedule will operate until February 20. From there, the night skiing schedule will continue running during the same days between the hours of 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm until March 30.

If Steamboat doesn’t fit your fancy, however, Keystone also offers night skiing until 8:00 PM.

Exciting for Bikers:

via skicb.com

Have you ever wanted to transform your skis into a snow-friendly mountain bike? Well, you no longer have to wish, because the mountain biking mecca known as Crested Butte plans on introducing biking to their ski slopes this year. The mountain has set up a new program to allow snow bikers to ride and explore their mountain. Guests can explore the new bikes with Crested Butte’s new program, requiring a 2-hour bike licensing lesson to ensure bikers can properly shred down the mountain.

Exciting for Foodies:

via smuggs.com

Have you ever thought of how tasty it would be if a food truck got stranded on a ski mountain? Well start imagining, because that’s now a reality. Ski Cooper will offer an on-mountain mobile food service using the new “Cat Trax” snow-cat (see picture above). It’ll act as a sort of food truck, but instead of serving hot dogs on a city corner, It will be serving hot food on ski runs.

Breckenridge will also be doing a form of this service with the Snowdrifter, which is a trailer towed by a snowcat, and it will make its way around the resort during the 2014-2015 season.

Exciting for People with an Smartphone: 

via mademovement.com

Do you love new information? Do you wish your smartphone talked to you more often? Then look no further. Copper Mountain has introduced Sherpa 2.0 for the 2014-2015 season. What is Sherpa? Well, it allows people to put markers on the ski mountain that inform other skiers about tips, snow conditions, or any other information that is relevant on a ski mountain. Then, it conveys the information to other skiers through audio.

In conclusion, this season is a great time to hit the slopes. Colorado has a wide diversity of different ski resorts, and nearly every resort has a wide array of features to improve the ski experience. There’s something here for everyone, and there has never been a better time to cram everyone in a Subaru and go skiing.

Sam Skelton Chief Technology Officer