The only US ski resort where you can arrive by train
Jump on the train at Denver’s Union Station and get off at this alpine resort town which has two mountains, 171 trails and 23 lifts.
At 6.38am, my phone dings. It’s my husband texting from our train’s on-board bar. “Bloody Mary or coffee?” “Both,” I reply, glancing at our scarecrow-haired children chattering excitedly about the journey ahead.
We’ve arrived at Denver’s Union Station as a glorious sunrise saturates the skies to climb aboard the Amtrak Winter Park Express, snaring the last table in the coveted Sightseer Lounge. Its oversized windows are perfect for what lies ahead.
We’re headed to Winter Park, just over 100km northwest of Denver, and we’re doing it the fun (and easy) way. This “ski train”, the only one of its kind in Colorado, runs Friday to Sunday throughout the season, departing Denver at 7am for the two-hour journey, and arriving back at 6.40pm.
Passengers might be heading to the ski fields for the day or, like us, staying longer. Either way, the mood on board is merry. Sienna-filtered plains fill the windows as our affable conductor narrates the journey. “This is one of those moments where you can look forward and see your future with clarity, folks,” he intones as a clickety curve reveals a new vista.
Higher we go, the sandstone shards of the Flatirons reaching heavenwards as the snow builds from smatters to swathes of whipped-cream white. The background chatter fades as the journey becomes almost ethereal, light flickering over the alpine beauty.
We enter the Moffat Tunnel, a pioneering feat of engineering completed in 1928 that takes us under the Continental Divide before spitting us out high under the bluebird skies of Winter Park.
This resort is well known in the US but feels like a bit of a secret compared with Aspen, Vail or Steamboat. Its proximity to Denver has long attracted weekend city escapees, but the crowds at the base disperse easily across the slopes.
The village, with its gabled shopfronts, cherry-red Adirondack chairs around firepits, and wagons of bundled-up kids, has a small-town sweetness to it that belies the expansiveness of Winter Park’s terrain. The resort encompasses two mountains – Winter Park and Mary Jane – with 1247ha of skiable ground, 171 trails and 23 lifts, including the new, high-speed Wild Spur Express. It sprawls across seven distinct areas, from the cruisy, groomed runs of Winter Park territory, to the vast wilderness views at Parsenn Bowl, over to the quad-burning moguls of Mary Jane, named after an ambitious local “lady of the night”, who is believed to have bought or received part of this land as payment for services rendered.
While there are multiple accommodation, dining and drinking options in the village, this isn’t what you’d call a party town, although the margaritas at Lime Cantina could certainly get one started. It has a chilled, come-as-you-are vibe, and the focus is definitely on great skiing and riding. Goodys does a brisk business in breakfast crepes, and a lolly shop sells chocolate “Bison nuggets”. There are pizza and taco joints and the self-pour Sundog Taproom, plus Vertical Bistro & Tap serves Swedish meatballs and elk tenderloin with a red wine and blackberry agrodolce.
We find the liveliest buzz at our digs, the new A-Frame Club, a short shuttle ride from base. Its restaurant, The Grill, is set within a sleek yet cosseting saloon featuring curved leather lounges, designer fireplace, shaggy rugs and hanging plants – think Tarantino-cool meets plush Bond alpine lair, imbued with a laid-back warmth. Come evening, it fills with diners enjoying the likes of beef short ribs with bone marrow emulsion, damn good burgers, and pommes frites with a decadent truffle aioli, all under the watchful gaze of a taxidermied bear named Tommy, and a doe-eyed buck our kids christen Sheila. Friendly bar staff mix a mean Old Fashioned and happily locate an NRL game on TV for my footy-tragic husband (they also, dangerously, serve “cabin-ready cocktails” to go).
Portland-based Skylab Architects was tasked by Zeppelin Development to create the 31 sculptural A-Frame cabins. Clustered in groups along wooden boardwalks, their steeply pitched roofs point to skies that deliver about 9m of snow each season (the 2023-24 season was Winter Park’s second-longest on record, lasting through Memorial Day weekend at the end of May).
Cabin interiors continue the ode to 70s alpine chic, with original posters of glam ski bunnies, bold graphic rugs, soaring glass windows and Malm fireplace. Birch and cedar walls impart a tactile warmth and connection to the snow-dolloped forest outside. Downstairs comprises kitchenette, bathroom and lounge area leading to a small deck. A clamber up steep stairs (the kids sleep downstairs on the foldout couch) is rewarded with an airy, serene sleeping nook with treetop views and soaking tub.
Mobile rental outfit Ski Butlers arrives like angels at our lodgings, bringing gear based on pre-supplied measurements, gently tweaking to fit and explaining we can call any time for assistance. We’ll return it all when leaving our next destination, Steamboat. Hallelujah.
The next few days are a relaxed ride of sunshine and heavy snow, confidence-building ski lessons and cruisy, let-loose sessions, paced with fun diversions for all. On our first evening, we ride the Gondola up for a Snowcat and S’mores tour, learning about Mary Jane’s spicy life, the hardships of railroad building, and the local wildlife.
We purr through the snow to reach Lunch Rock lodge at sunset. Soft fizzing pinks and oranges bathe the Bear Claw formation over on Parry Peak in alpenglow so magical it remains my screensaver months later. Another afternoon we board the Village Cabriolet to the snow tubing park, where our children disappear into the white amid heavy snowfall, delighted shrieks piercing the soft quiet.
Far better skiers than I will wax lyrical about the bumpy splendour of Mary Jane, or the thrilling chutes and tree glades on offer. The beauty of Winter Park is that it’s truly welcoming: to beginner and advanced; young, old and young-at-heart. Up at Sunspot for mountaintop apres, I approach the bar as a live band gets the crowd stomping their boots. “Got any ID?” the bartender asks. Young at heart, indeed.
In the know
Travelplan has a variety of Winter Park ski packages that include accommodation, lift tickets and airfares.
Bookings are required for the seasonal Amtrak Winter Park Express (seats are not allocated); tickets go on sale in November.
Nikki Wallman was a guest of Colorado Ski and Travelplan.
If you love to travel, sign up to our free weekly Travel + Luxury newsletter here.
