Powderhorn and the Boulders Area

[lagoonia]

Every ski season I try to go to a place that I have never skied at and this year I want to try powderhorn for a day or two. I have heard there is an area called the boulders just outside of powderhorn that is a little steeper and might offer a little more challenging terrain than the actual mountain has. Can anyone provide any beta on this area like how to get there and what the terrain is like. Or if there are any other areas you can hike to from the actual mountain that are worth checking out please let me know.

Thanks.

[alacy1]

the boulder field terrain on the west side of the area itself has some good technical and steep spots. although as i recall, it takes a whole lot of snow to even try the section. probably won't be do-able for another couple months at least. take lift 2 to the top, and then head west out of bounds. there are some marked trails.

[Cutch]

The "Far West" as you are refering to is actually in the ski area, and when it has enough snow (which is rare, and some years not at all) the resort opens it up. I would reccomend not going in until they open it, since they are very good at opening their runs when most resorts would say that there is still too little snow. The enitre west end area and lift offer most of the best riding on the mountain, but if you snowboard the catwalks can be very rough. The tree skiing is great and there are numerous boulder fields that need less snow that you can pretty easily find.

You can go beyond the Far West area, but it rarely has enough snow as well, and the amount of traversing you end up having to do isn't really worth it.

[whip]

www.coloradogems.com

or something like that

[Chewbacca]

The past 8 years I've been to Powderhorn the west end has been open. It usually opens later in the season from the rest of the resort.

[Cutch]

The "West End" is open every year. The "Far West" varies. When I lived there the Far West opened 3 times in 7 years. They've been having better seasons the last 4 years.