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At 12,060 feet, Winter Park, Colorado is the highest incorporated town in the United States and home to Winter Park Resort, nicknamed "Colorado's Favorite (tm)". With over 3,000 acres of award-winning landscape, it's Colorado's longest continually running ski resort and boasts an average snowfall of nearly 400 inches. Understandably, winter activities abound.

A family-oriented vacation site, Winter Park Resort operates the Ski & Ride School for all ages and all skill levels. Whether your kids have been skiing or riding for years, or are just learning how to maneuver the beginner's runs, there's a class for them. Another great program - "Just Because I Am Three" - starts little ones, who've never been on skis, with indoor instruction, before moving outdoors to try their new skills in the snow.

Novices can spend the day at Discovery Park, 26 acres of gentle, protected landscape, featuring dual, triple, and quad chairlifts. If you or your kids aren't ready for chairlifts, try the 5 acres of beginner slopes near the Gemini Lift. They offer two moving carpets and a surface lift. Wonder what the half-pipe and terrain park are all about? Sign up for the Parents & Kids Park and Pipe Class. It's a 3 hour special class that gets the family together for a great time on some of Winter Park's best terrain.

You don't have to be an alpine skier to thoroughly enjoy a Winter Park vacation. Naturally, snowboarding and cross-country skiing are quite popular, but the area offers a wide variety of activities for all temperaments and tastes. What could be more fun than an old-fashioned sleigh ride, with a cozy stop for refreshments around a roaring campfire? Or a dinner sleigh ride at one of the local ranches? If that's not your cup of tea, try a dog sled ride through the spectacular woodlands. Non-skiers can take the Zephyr Express chairlift ride to the Sunspot Summit for lunch with their skiing friends.

Vacationers looking for a little more exercise can spend the day climbing up, and sliding down, the Fraser Valley Tubing Hill or head out to one of the local ranches for ice skating and winter horseback rides. If you want a few more 'horses' in your activities, take the snowmobile or snow-cat tours, which include an evening dinner tour from the Winter Park resort that rides up the ski runs. When snow and the great outdoors aren't on your agenda, there's an indoor climbing wall, located in the West Portal Station building, museums, and relaxing hot springs nearby.

If the wide variety of activities for skiers and non-skiers alike weren't enough, the Winter Park Resort recently received an Environmental Achievement Award for it's excellence in pollution prevention and commitment to the environment.

Learn more about this author, Julie G. Hughes.
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