Echo Mountain Park Freestyle Snowboard and
Ski Area
FEATURED ARTICLES
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Echo Mountain opens it's second year in the expansion mode. When General Manager Doug Donovan opened the area last year his research showed if you wanted a successful snowboard park there were two essentials. Build it on snow and close to a large metro area. He did both, Echo Mountain is 100% snow making equipment and of course he is only 35 miles west of Denver and he is under 100 miles from the other major population centers on the front range. |
 Photo elan Snowboards |
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There is no doubt in the visitors mind who Doug is marketing his freestyle snowboard and ski area too. The young boarder wins hands down. When you arrive you can hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers coming from the music system and of course the abundance of young people. |
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Echo Mountain Park is obviously not trying to compete against the large areas to their west like Breckenridge and Vail etc. As this small niche sports and entertainment park grows the rest of the ski industry is consolidating or fading away. In the mid 1980'2 there were 727 U.S. Ski Areas and last season only 478 opened according to the National Ski Areas Association. Many small areas have shut down for lake of funds to buy the essential ingredient in the now warming winters, snow-making equipment. Anyone who has lived in Colorado for very long has seen the winters at lower elevations grow increasingly warm and there of course is much evidence that we are losing glacier ice every year in Colorado and elsewhere. However, you do not need to worry about snow at Echo Mountain it makes it's own everyday when the average snowfall of 200 inches or so falls short.. The traditional ski market of course is losing customers as the boomers head for the hot tub, restaurants and entertainment rather than the slopes. Older bones I have been told break easier. |
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The park itself is made up of all freestyle areas. Again you can tell this is aimed at young people with (runs) named Mousetrap, Grimace, The Cage and others. This year the Park has added 30% more terrain, over 300 acres under snow, and they have added forty features to the runs. A feature being what gives the board riders their thrills and challenges with things like boxes, rails, jumps and pipelines. If you saw the last winter Olympics or followed local snowboard legend Jeremy Bloom then you have an idea what a feature is. Mr. Donavan likens Echo to a skateboard park under snow. |