Outdoors & Rec

Is it us, or do these folks have a slightly skewed understanding of how large rocks work?…

Forget the traffic on I-70 and the hours-long liftlines at Keystone. Head out for a long weekend this winter to poach the secret stashes at Colorado’s small-time mom-and-pop resorts. There’s Cooper (not Copper!), Monarch, Sunlight, the bad-boys down by Telluride and more. Everybody would love to ski Aspen — there’s…

Snowshoeing allegedly has merits of its own — REI calls it “one of the fastest growing sports in Colorado” and my folks are nuts for it — but for me its real value has always been as a stepping stone.I grew up snowshoeing/snowboarding in the Colorado backcountry alongside a few…

I don’t know why anyone would want to do 10,000 squat thrusts in a day — guess some people are just gluttons for punishment.  But that’s exactly what I decided to do a few years ago when I decided to learn to telemark at the oft-overlooked California resort of Kirkwood…

A great shot of A-Basin, which is making the beige of Officeland even less palatable. Photo from Josh Gray’s Flickr. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…

Copper Mountain is doing its opening Lift Off! weekend up right this weekend, November 6-7, with the premiere of the new Teton Gravity Research flick RE: Session on Friday and a screening of Matchstick Productions’ In Deep on Saturday, plus chair prizes and aprés ski parties all weekend and a…

Judging by the video above, Shaun White woke up one day and said, “I would like a private, giant half-pipe in the San Juan Mountains, accessible only by helicopter.” And Red Bull said, “How giant would you like it?” More dramatic foreplay can be found on the Project X website…

Keystone’s Dercum Mountain got 8 inches of snow in last week’s storm, and it’s been cold enough to get the snow machines cranking. Which means the resort will be opening on Thursday, November 5. You can preview the product above in this hyperactive clip from the summit, taken from October…

And sort of unathletic…

Taking on a hut trip in Colorado’s backcountry is truly the adventure of a lifetime. Out there in the middle of nowhere, under Orion’s Belt by night and Colorado’s sheltering blue skies by day, you somehow get closer to the source. But you’d better come prepared, lest you end up…

A climber dangling in Red Rocks, courtesy of lastbeats’ Flickr page. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…

We live in a cartoon paradise. It snowed two feet along the front range this week, and it might hit 60 degrees over the weekend. Still, make your backcountry plans with caution. The month of October has already seen an unusually high number of avalanches: five triggered by skiers and…

We get it. You’re in a hurry. You want your exercise. And ripping down the narrow-gauge trails at Matthews Winters at 30 miles an hour is just fun. But get this: Next time you come screaming around the corner and expect me and my dog to jump out of the…

And that’s why you didn’t…

They say that all racks are created equal, but it’s simply not true. You can go low-profile, high-rise, low-fi or high-tech, depending on how much you want to spend and how much patience you have to install the sucker. Back in the day, we’d strap a ski rack onto our…

A climber on Boulder’s second Flat Iron, courtesy of Chad Podoski’s Flickr pool. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Three to Ski, where we recommend the, umm, three best hills for you to hit up this weekend, by ski or snowboard. This week, by default: 1. Wolf Creek: We’re getting some snow this week (had you noticed?), but Wolf Creek is getting absolutely…

Sniagrab’s basically a bust since Sports Authority took over the castle. But it’s going on until November 18, so you may still be able to snake some decent ski deals, including some of Volkl’s best offerings for the season. I stopped by about a month ago to take a look…

From proforged’s Flickr feed: A look at what Vail will look like soon, thanks to dumpage like yesterday. To have your photos featured in Morning Dew, send them to edge@westword.com or post them to the Westword Flickr pool…

“This is pure snow! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is?”– Charles De Mar, Better Off Dead (1985) The chase for Colorado’s white gold gets more serious when there’s pure powder to be had, but after taking the summer off Colorado’s core addicts will…

Send video of your own outdoor exploits to edge@westword.com…

With all eyes on the ski season, heading out for a desert-duster trip to Moab may seem like a pipe dream, something for next year’s calendar. But while you might get a little snow in your camp, you can still take advantage of plenty of great cool-weather hiking and biking…