The mountain looking west. In the foreground left are Sun King, Primo and Joslin runs.
Fifty miles from Aspen, near Glenwood Springs, low-key Sunlight Mountain Resort is one year into a three-year, $4 million expansion that adds 100 acres of terrain and a chairlift accessing the ski area’s challenging East Ridge. This winter, Sunlight added five new hike-out runs (they require a 0.28-mile return walk on a service road until the new lift goes in) and an additional 500 vertical feet of black-diamond skiing. The expansion opens up former backcountry runs like Lower Deception, which funnels into what will soon be the new chairlift. Vortex adds a few hundred vertical feet to Teed’s Run. “It’s steep at the top, has a little belly to it in the middle for face shots, and then a nice steady fall-line pitch to the bottom,” says Troy Hawks, sales and marketing director for Sunlight. The new lift will make lapping East Ridge much faster, but Hawks assures Sunlight skiers, “The powder will still last for days, not hours.” Tickets from $68, sunlightmtn.com
Photography by: Courtesy of Sunlight Mountain Resort
