Telluride

For snowboard and trick skier enthusiasts Telluride provides some of the best riding in Colorado. The Air Garden Terrain Park, the largest in the southwest United States, has more than 8 acres (3 ha) of terrain and 23 hits of berms, banks, tabletops and pyramids as well as new sliding rails. And there’s Ute Park with its freestyle terrain with halfpipes and other features.

For free riders, Telluride’s slopes are freeriding par excellence—check out the steeps, cliffs, and chutes on Gold Hill. A no-nonsense way up is to take Lifts 8 and 9 rather than the gondola, and then hike up to find your preferred chute, glade or open meadow. East and West Drain are two natural pipes with great tree riding.

All in all Telluride is snowboard friendly, making it easy for snowboarders to cruise around and with only a few cat tracks, boarders do not usually have to worry about navigating long, flat areas. However, due to Prospect Bowl’s natural, rolling terrain snowboarders may find it difficult to maintain speed in certain areas.