The search for snow turns to the other side of the Rockies

By HAMISH PEARSON

Say Colorado and the first vision is millionaire-covered mountains where fashion competes with the skiing and prices read like altitude levels.

Yet safely tucked away 108km north-west of Denver is a surprisingly homely and down-to-earth resort named Winter Park.

New Zealand's paralympic ski team often camps and trains here during the southern summer. It has not a snowflake of pretension nor a rhinestone-studded ski-suit in sight.

The snowy playground opened in 1940 as, literally, a winter park owned by the city of Denver, and it has built its reputation on family skiing. The tradition endures as the area is equipped with a restaurant and health clinic.

Trails are named after Alice in Wonderland characters and mothers rent beepers so they can be paged when their babies are ready for lunch.

Yet the steeper, bumpier Mary Jane mountain (part of Winter Park) attracts a different brand of skier. A typical customer: the 24-year-old snowboarder with a passion for pickup trucks, cheap beer and on-mountain keg barbecues.

This year the crowds will be spread over more terrain because of the 180ha Vasquez Cirque which opened last November. It offers more challenges for the advanced to extreme skier who is looking for backcountry conditions. Winter Park now has terrain which caters to every kind of skier and is described as champagne snow on a beer budget.

The nearby villages of Winter Park and Fraser (five and 10 minutes from the mountain base) provide accommodation, shopping, nightlife and leisure activities.

If skiing isn't your preferred form of transport, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and dogsledding are great ways to view beautiful lakes, forests and wildlife such as coyotes, elk and moose. Snow-tubing (careening down a slope in a rubber tube) is popular and local guides guarantee a catch if you try ice-fishing. At the end of the day, soothe your bones in one of the many piping hot thermal springs.

The season begins in the middle of next month and the zany end-of-winter rituals (cardboard box racing, skiing into lakes) are held near the end of April.

For New Zealanders, the Winter Park and Fraser Valley areas of Colorado offer a complete winter experience away from the hype and prices of Vail and Aspen. The locals are helpful, salt-of-the-earth folk and accommodation can suit all budgets.