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Ah, winter. When the snows come, it's time to get out the old cross
country skis and head up into the mountains west of Boulder. Cross country
skiing is a great winter outdoor activity--more natural and cheaper than
alpine skiing or snowboarding and more exciting than snowshoeing.
This page is a collection of resources for cross country skiing in and
around Boulder, CO. This collection is by no means complete, but is as
accurate as I have been able to make it. Please feel free to send
suggestions, corrections or
comments to me via the contact page.
(Most recently updated on May 4 2008 [Added Magnolia map].)
Above is a map of trailheads to cross country ski areas. Below is more
information. All pictures are about 200K in size and were taken in
early March, so are not indicative of snow conditions at other times.
- In and around Boulder (back to map)
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Mostly in parks, especially North Boulder Park, after we get a good dump. Conditions info
here. Note that this is mostly skate skiing.
- Moffat Tunnel
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There are actually two things to do here. You can go up the Heart Lake
trail which is steep and narrow in spots but I have seen people ski
there. The other option is to go up Rollins Pass.
- Brainard Lake back to map)
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Take the peak to peak highway north to Ward. Just 10 -20 yards past the
exit to Ward, take a left and go as far as you can. This road can be icy.
Here's a
map.
Lots of skiable terrain. Anything that can be hiked can probably be
skiied. Hear that a car shuttle from here to the Sourdough Trail by the CU
research center is a good day.
Images
- Sourdough trail (by CU research center) (back to map)
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Take the peak to peak north from Nederland. About 20 minutes before Ward,
take a left into the CU Research Center. Drive for about 5-10 minutes,
then take your first left into a large parking lot (with bathroom
facilities).
To ski, cross the road you came in on, then head up the sourdough trail.
Tends to be pretty sheltered from the wind. Went skiing here in Nov and
the conditions weren't too bad. If you follow this trail north, eventually
you'll end up at the Brainard Lake trailhead.
Images
- Rollins Pass (back to map)
-
Take the peak to peak south from Nederland. In downtown Rollinsville, just
across from the grocery, turn left. Follow this road for about 6 miles.
You'll cross some railroad tracks, and then, about a quarter mile on,
there's a pulloff to the right. Park there, and head up the Rollins pass
road.
Some exposure to wind, though it tends to drift. Great views. Mild,
constant grade. This is a gentle uphill slope, exposed in places. Snowmobiles
sometimes too.
Images
- CU research center / Niwot Ridge (back to map)
-
Follow above directions (for Sourdough) but
continue on the road past the parking lot to the end of the road.
To ski, head towards the right side of the Station, and continue up the
dirt road.
The road is steep at the start and also just before it ends. The road tends to have relatively poor
coverage in places (exposed, windblown). Luckily, there are snowmobile trails that wind through the
woods on either side of the road. These trails loop back to the main road.
The first one is on your left as you head uphill.
In addition, the road is almost groomed by the snowcats of the folks who
are doing research. If it's just snowed, it can be a nice ski down.
Images
- Rainbow Lakes Junction (back to map)
-
Follow above directions (for Sourdough) but take your second left. You
actually need to park away from the junction as you can't park right at the
trailhead. You can sometimes park on the south side of the road a bit away
from teh junction.
Did this once, it was a bit windblown but was a nice gradual slope.
Images
- Peaceful Valley/Camp Dick
-
I visited this in Feb of 07, and there was a ton of snow. Peaceful Valley
is a camping area closer to the Peak to Peak, and Camp Dick is further
in (about 1.25 miles). There was so much snow we skiied on the road.
Very nice ski through a beautiful valley. There was not a ton of parking
available, as the entrance to Peaceful Valley was closed.
- Caribou
Never been. - Hessie / 4th of July Road (back to map)
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From Nederland, head to Eldora (the town) and drive through it. At the
end of the road (where the plow stops), turn around and gear up. You are
skiing up the road to both Hessie and 4th of July. When you get to a fork
in the road, the left fork takes you to Hessie, the right to 4th of July
trailhead. Here's a map.
Hessie is level for a while, then has a pretty heinous hill
that tends to get windblown. 4th of July is usually pretty good, but is
either all up or down, not much level terrain.
Images
- West Magnolia
(back to map)
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Just west of where Magnolia Road intersects the Peak To Peak Highway, there
is a number of mountain bike trails. You can park just off the Peak To
Peak, and wander around back there. I was just up there and the coverage
was pretty good, but we did a lot of circling around (make sure you take a
good look at the map at the trailhead). It's not bad for a 1-2 hour
romp in the snow.
A better option is to drive on the road heading off to the left (south) as
you pull off the Peak To Peak. This road is plowed (there are a number of
houses back here) and you can follow it back to 2-3 trailheads. The
coverage was good, and you can hop on roads (355 in particular) that take
you all the way to Rollins Pass, or just back to the YMCA camp 'Ora-Penn'.
This page has some maps of
the West Magnolia mountain bike trails. Here's a 150kb picture of the
trailhead map. I marked some of the trailheads with a red dot.
- Eldora Resort
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Has its own trail network (not free) and also connections to Jenny Creek
trail and some old CMC hut (free). Here's the Eldora Nordic Center website.
- Beaver Reservoir / Coney Flats
Never been. - RMNP
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Never been XC skiing here. Went snowshoeing by Bear Lake and it was a
good time. Rocky Mountain NP
website. Here's a survey of XC
ski trails in RMNP.
Links to informative websites (these open in a new window)
Books
- Peak To Peak: Colorado Front Range Ski Trails
- Winter Trails Of The Front Range
Places (in Boulder) to rent XC skis and snow shoes
Contributors
- Ian Sprod for comments
- Jimberg for the use of his GPS
- LA for the use of her digital camera
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