History
The mountain opened for the 1939–40 season as Winter Park Ski Area [4] 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. [5] [6] For nearly 70 years, a popular way for Denver residents to arrive 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. [7] Winter Park Resort is home to one of the world's largest and oldest disabled skiing programs, the National Sports Center for the Disabled.
During Intrawest's stint operating the resort, they 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 a new base village with hundreds of condominia, a parking structure, a "Village Pond," retail space, and an open-air gondola known as "The Village Cabriolet." [8] The historic 1955 Balcony House was listed as one of Colorado's Most Endangered Places by Colorado Preservation, Inc. [9] [10] This historic building was designed in the Googie style of architecture, which was a popular style in the 1940s to the 1960s.
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, 435 acres (176 ha) of backcountry terrain in Vasquez Cirque were opened to skiing, although access required hiking from the top of Mary Jane; [11] the 2006 relocation of the former Outrigger triple chairlift to the backside of Parsenn Bowl (now called Eagle Wind) provides an easier escape back to Mary Jane after descending Vasquez Cirque.
Beginning with the 2013-14 season, the resort was divided into seven "territories". [12] The three peaks — Winter Park, Mary Jane, and Vasquez Ridge — are each considered their own territories. Parsenn Bowl is now considered its own territory separate from Mary Jane. The remaining three are Vasquez Cirque (the backcountry terrain behind Parsenn Bowl), Eagle Wind (the glade below Vasquez Cirque), and "Terrain Park" (the various terrain parks across the mountain). [13]
Winter Park is a year-round resort; the resort operates the lifts during the summer months for mountain biking, hiking and sightseeing. 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. [14] In 2019 Winter Park Resort was named "Number 1 Ski Resort in North America". [15]
Winter Park hosted the NCAA Skiing Championships in 1956, 1959, 1972, and 1977. The team title went to Denver in 1956 and Colorado took the latter three.
In 2025, Winter Park Resort features 23 lifts with an uphill capacity of 40,000 riders per hour, 171 runs of varying difficulty (8% beginner, 18% intermediate, 19% advanced intermediate, 52% advanced, and 3% expert), a longest run of 7.89 km, and 7 terrain parks. [16]
8% beginner 
18% intermediate 
19% advanced 
52% most difficult 
3% expert 
