It’s mid-February, and Western ski resorts are set to celebrate warmer weather, longer days and festive nights by staging everything from Mardi Gras carnivals and spring festivals to other upbeat events.
New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro are more famous for their carnivals, but Angel Fire, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone, Red River, Snowmass and Vail are ready to launch their own brand of Mardi Gras frivolity.
Angel Fire‘s five-day fete Feb. 20-24 combines the “world’s second-smallest” Mardi Gras street parade, grand ball, costume contest, mask-making party and live music with on-mountain bead tossing by skiers and snowboarders. 1-800-633-7463; www.angelfireresort.com
Keystone says it has one of the Rockies’ biggest Fat Tuesday parties…Â More info
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Shaun White, 22, the champion snowboarder and skateboarder known for his shock of curly red hair, does not know the meaning of off-season. After winning the slopestyle and superpipe at the Winter X Games last month in Aspen, Colo., he came to New York to compete in the Red Bull Snowscrapers event on Feb. 5. (NBC will broadcast it at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.) Though Snowscrapers took place on a specially built 90-foot-high ramp in East River Park, it was business as usual for White…Â More info
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Burton Snowboards and Stevens Pass are teaming up to bring you the 2nd annual Burton & Stevens Pass Women’s Only Snowboard Retreat! Don’t miss this chance to take your snowboarding to the next level and share a weekend with a great mix of women from across the Northwest (and beyond!)
Join us on the hill Saturday and Sunday Feb 28th & March 1st for 2 great days of riding & camaraderie – there will be Burton Team riders as well as professional instructors from …Â More info
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Persistence is the key.
Getting up when you fall, trying again when you fail.
“Who can tell me something you’ve been persistent about?” asked Megan Skiles, 24, of the 34 kids sitting in a circle in the snow at the base of Bolton Valley Ski Area in Vermont.
They look like any group of young snowboarders decked out in the latest Burton gear, but looks, as we know, can be deceiving. These kids can’t afford snow sports or the gear, much less bus fare to the mountain. In fact, some live in homeless shelters, others live in group homes …Â More info
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