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BOYD: Mountains beckon with flurry of fun

By Tom Boyd, Special to the Rocky

Published January 5, 2009 at 6 p.m.

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There are two ways to get to the top of Keystone's Bergman Bowl: The first is to pony up for a snowcat ride to the top of Independence Bowl and then traverse west. The second is to heave the skis up onto the back and hoof it. Having recently chosen the latter, I was able to spend a greater portion of my 40-minute hike with burning lungs, contemplating how utterly dry the Colorado air can be in midwinter.

Dry? Yes. Hard to breathe? Yes. But on cold, sunny days, Colorado's winter air is almost entirely free of obstructive moisture molecules - making for the kind of views that will put the best HD DVD players to shame.

This is true in the day and, as they know in Aspen, at nighttime as well.

The beneficial side of clear night air will not go unnoticed at this year's Winterskol celebration in Aspen, which takes on an astronomical theme Thursday through Sunday. The 58th episode of this quirky event has borrowed its starry demeanor from the United Nations, which designated 2009 as the Year of Astronomy.

Live music, rail jams, and other events at all four Aspen mountains (Ajax, Snowmass, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk) will be interwoven with displays, artwork and lectures on the night sky. Clouds willing, the show should keep the town rocking from dusk until dawn and again from dawn until dusk. For more information, call 970-925-1940 or visit aspenchamber.org.

Aspen's Winterskol hasn't shined as brightly as the ESPN X-Games competition in recent years - which is part of the reason the elder festival has maintained its charm. If a big-time, big-television, three-ring-circus-style event is the target, then the X-Games certainly shoots straight this January when it overtakes Buttermilk mountain (and the rest of the Roaring Fork Valley) Jan. 22 to 25.

Finding lodging can be difficult during the Games, but getting into the event for a front-row view of legendary riders like Shaun White, Gretchen Bleiler, Travis Rice, Daron Rahlves and Tanner Hall is fairly easy and admission is free. For information, visit expn.com.

Only Breckenridge's Ullr Fest (through Saturday) can stack up to the X-Games when it comes to pure party power. Breckenridge has long been proud of its ability to escalate mountain nightlife to new, often tottering, heights, and Ullr Fest is the apogee of all things Breckenridge. An annual toast to the Norse god of Winter, libations flow liberally throughout multiple events, which include the Main Street Parade, an ice skating party, and the Ullympics. For more information call 800-936-5573 or visit gobreck.com.

If January is a melee of major events, Steamboat enters the fray with something more on the "western" side of "country and western." Their grand-slam MusicFest (through Saturday) includes six days, 30 bands, and more than 50 shows under a really big tent. Event passes start at $199; for more information, visit themusicfest.com.

Steamboat also continues its long-standing, trademark tradition of mixing rodeo and skiing when it holds the 35th annual Cowboy Downhill. The event is held each year during the National Western Stock Show in Denver. More than 100 cowboys registered for the Stock Show sally up to Steamboat on Jan. 20 to participate in rodeo/ski racing hybrid events on the slopes of Billy Kidd's hometown. For more information, visit steamboat.com.

The most anticipated event in Ouray each year is the Ice Climbing Festival Friday through Sunday at the inspired, man-made ice climbing park in Ouray. Crafted by slow-dripping water, the Ouray park has been heralded as one of the best by the ice climbing community, and the festival is a grassroots, small-town way of celebrating Ouray's remarkable centerpiece. The event hosts international ice climbers plus clinics, gear demos, and various creative parties at neighborhood bars. For more information, visit ourayicefestival.com.

The event calendar at Vail and Beaver Creek almost never lies dormant, especially in the heart of winter. Although no particularly large events pop up on the January calendar, the Wednesday night Streetbeat free concert series continues each week in the Village, and the Heavy Metal Weekend (Jan. 24 and 25) brings metal casting artists into the streets, where bronze and iron will be cast nightly. For more information, visit artinvail.com.

January is a bustling time in the Rockies and probably the best time to mosey into the hills to sample a bit of the mountain lifestyle. Between major events, however, I recommend taking time to hike to the top of the nearest peak on a clear, cold day. It's an event that's almost always available, it's free, and it will improve almost anyone's January outlook.