Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Welcome to
Colorado
Spectacular vistas, endless powder runs and mountain towns
with echoes of the Old West. Colorado is a place that has
forever beckoned people to adventure.
Mountain Bliss
The best known of the Rocky Mountain states, with the highest concentration of peaks
above 14,000ft, Colorado owes its public adoration to the mountainous backbone that rises
and rolls from the Front Range westward. But there are also mesas, desert canyons and
sagebrush hills. Some 300-plus sunny days per year contribute to hiking, biking, river run-
ning and rock climbing that's unrivaled anywhere in the US West. Even during the peak
summer season, when millions of tourists flood the state, visitors can still find solitude at a
remote mountain lake or meadow, or atop a craggy summit. In Rocky Mountain National
Park, the state's premier attraction, there are dozens of backcountry hikes and campsites
that see few visitors - unless you count that moose or family of foxes that wandered by.
Ski Country USA
With heavy snowfalls and light powder, the long winters of the Colorado high country are
the stuff of legend. Hares and mountain lions leave white tracks, boarders and skiers weave
through pine forests and open bowls, and hearth fires roar in mountain lodges. With the
longest ski run in the USA (Vail), some of the highest snowfall (Wolf Creek), and le-
gendary ski-parking-lot BBQs (Arapahoe Basin), Colorado may have the best downhill ski-
ing on earth. Remarkable cross-country and backcountry terrain bring a whole other dimen-
sion to winter - one where lift lines don't exist. If you're among the hard core, you can
make turns from Halloween until early June. Iconic resorts like Aspen, Vail and Telluride
attract visitors in droves, and after the last lift, parties kick into gear.
