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I’vebeenheli-skiinga few timesandcat-skiing
several timesbutusually just foronedayper trip,
and I’veneverhad togo faroutofmyway froma full-
service resort.Andyes, it isawesome—becauseof
all thatpowder. I’dfindmyself laughinghalfway
downbecause I couldn’tbelievemygood fortune.The
averageheli-skiingoperationputsacoupledozen
skiersperday inanareaseveral times thesizeof
Vail (thenation’s largest single-mountainski resort).
Not tomention, there’salsoapermanentgrinonmy
facewhen I’mskiingpowder like that every run.
“Youmightgo toTelluride, getacoupleofdays in
at the resortandsay, ‘Hey, let’s tryheli-skiing tomor-
row,’”saysDanShermanofSki.com.That’swhatPat
Gallagher, afinancial executive inNewYork, did. “I’d
alwayswanted to tryheli-skiing, but Iwasnotabout
toditchmy familyandgooff onaweek’svacation I
mightnot evenenjoy.Wewereall inJackson, and I
learnedyoucouldheli-ski by theday, right from the
resort.Conditionsweren’tgreaton the trails— it
hadn’t snowed inawhile—so I tried it.Therewas
somuchacreageandso fewpeople thatwestill had
untrackedpowder from the last storm, overaweek
before, every run. Itwasmybest ski dayever.”
Iwent cat-skiing for thefirst timeadecadeago
and thechange inequipment since thenhasbeen
phenomenal. “Tenyearsagoskiingwasdivided
WINTER 2012
celebratedliving.com
54
SKIING
Powder to the People
CAT RANCHES
Luxury needn’t take a backseat when you’re travers-
ing uncharted terrain. Several upscale dude ranches
in Colorado offer winter guests private cat-skiing.
The Lodge and Spa at Three Forks Ranch
, a five-
star property on the Colorado/Wyoming border with
just 15 guest rooms, has 200,000 acres for its snow-
cats (threeforksranch.com).
Devil’s Thumb Ranch
Resort & Spa
, nearWinter Park, also offers guests
full-day cat-skiing nearby (devilsthumbranch.com).
And the highly regarded
C Lazy U Ranch
(pictured) in
Granby has private cat-skiing (clazyu.com).
