Estes Park – Rocky Mountain National Park Ski Vacation Guide

Estes Park, Colorado is a village that is frequently known as the Gateway to the Rockies. Surrounded by Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest, the town of Estes Park, Colorado is a great place from which to enjoy the grandeur of the natural world. While there are many ski resorts in the area some distance away, people who go to the town of Estes Park to ski are generally more interested in cross-country skiing or in taking advantage of the all-natural ungroomed trails on the mountains in the National Park.

Ski Sundance Mountain

Sundance Mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park is an example of a great place where you can enjoy downhill skiing in an adventurous environment. Without paying for chair lifts and lodge rental fees you can have a great ski experience on the ungroomed mountain side. Skiing on Sundance Mountain is fun for people who have some experience with skiing and are comfortable with skiing in an environment that is not necessarily designed with people’s safety in mind—be careful and be prepared!

The trails through the Estes Park area are frequently for cross-country skiing and people enjoy a true back-country experience, which is not delimited by ski resort markers or visited by a crowd of tourist skiers. By going to Estes Park you can enjoy the quiet, serene beauty of the winter and have a more natural cross-country skiing experience where you may not know exactly where you are going and you can discover what is out there on your own.

Off the Mountain

The town of Estes Park, Colorado is a relatively quiet one, but you can enjoy various restaurants and nightlife activities. A quaint Colorado town, with a lovely towntown area full of shops with local owners, artist studios, restuarants full of spirit and delicious cuisine. For a great time in a rugged part of the country, Estes Park will not disappoint—the town of Estes Park will give you access to a new world of experiences!

Estes Park – Rocky Mountain National Park Snowboard Vacation Guide


Estes Park is a quiet town that lies on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. This small Colorado village has been called the Gateway to the Rockies, and the reason for this is that the town makes an easy base from which you can explore a number of beautiful mountains, ridges, trails, and forests. Estes Park is a bit far from the nearest large ski resorts, but people come out here so that they can get away from all of that and enjoy the beauty of the natural world. If you are looking for a trailblazing experience with a little different pace from your ordinary snowboarding adventure, Estes Park is the place for you!

Cross-Country Skiing

Right around the town of Estes Park you have immediate access to the Rocky Mountain National Park and the Roosevelt National Forest. In the Roosevelt National Forest you can enjoy beautiful trails during the winter which are perfect for cross country skiing. The Roosevelt National Forest is a great place to enjoy the beauty of nature, go animal watching, or just explore a more rugged part of the country.

Snowboarding

The Rocky Mountain National Park is a place where, if you are feeling particularly adventurous and you want to try something different ,you can enjoy downhill snowboarding on the open parts of the mountain. No one will tell you how and where to ski—it’s up to you and your friends to locate the best places, hike up to the top of the mountain yourself (no chair lifts since you are out in the middle of the real back country!) and make your way down virgin slopes which are not specially treated, delimited or groomed. If you have the skills to handle a rough and tumble snowboarding experience mountains such as Sundance Mountain are perfect for you.

The best way to find great trails and runs in a place like this is just to go out with your board and look for yourself. A tip that you might take, though, is to look for the tracks of other snowboarders and skiers when you are going along the Old Fall River Road. Follow the tracks and you can find some of the parts of the mountain that are more traveled than others. Few things can compare, however, to the thrill of locating a part of the mountain that is not accessed by anyone else’s tracks—a part of the mountain to call your own!

Hangout & Hookups

After you finish your snowboarding for the day, the town of Estes Park makes a great base for you to rest, recuperate and enjoy various kinds of restaurants and local attractions. While it may not be the huge tourist attraction as many of the other places in the state of Colorado, Estes Park is a great place to go when you are in the mood to enjoy a change of pace and a different sort of snowboarding experience from what you can get at a winter resort.

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