Big Adventure We Love: Snowshoe & Fondue In Beaver Creek, Colorado
Beyond the perfectly groomed slopes of Beaver Creek, Colorado, Amiee White Beazley sets out on the ultimate cold-weather, hot-cheese adventure
By Amiee White Beazley
It’s the last run of the day, and my quads are torched. At 7 a.m. that morning, I had rolled out of my warm king-sized bed at The Osprey resort and pulled back the curtain. Just out my window the lift was already running and there was 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I had dressed quickly and run downstairs, where a ski butler handed me my snowboard.
With a White Glove First Tracks pass, I had been one of the first on the mountain, lapping the powder of Larkspur Bowl with my guide, instructor John Bell. After a full day I could easily go back to my room and take a nap, or have a massage, or spend hours in the outdoor heated pool, but there is another side of Beaver Creek I still need to see.
After riding down the mountain to the bottom of Strawberry Park Express lift, I drop my board and swap my helmet for a wool hat, my snowboard boots for waterproof hiking boots, and turn around and walk the 100 yards to the Beaver Creek Nordic Sports Center. There, the center director, Nate Goldberg, is waiting for me with a pair of Atlas snowshoes and Leki poles. I am here to experience one of The Osprey’s rotating lineups of gourmet snowshoe experiences: Shoe and Fondue. For the next 90 minutes, I will be guided along the hidden trails of Beaver Creek, an activity then followed by a fondue-and-wine experience at The Osprey Fireside Grill.
“This is a way to take in all the things you don’t see when you are skiing fast down the mountain,” Goldberg says. “You can experience those senses — the sound of wind through the pine trees or just the sound of silence. You can slow down and really experience the beauty of nature.”
Nick Fickling, our group’s guide, has been taking people through the mountains of the Beaver Creek Resort for 15 years. After a quick ride up the Buckaroo Express Gondola, we slip our feet into our snowshoes and start our hike.
From the time of the first settlers crossing the Bering Strait, there have been those who needed to travel atop the snow in order to stay alive. Although the stakes may not be so dire today, snowshoeing is still used by some as winter transportation, and even more for winter exercise and exploration.
Its popularity is growing among both the young and old looking for areas off the beaten track and for cardiovascular benefits, which I quickly discover as our group makes its way to the top of Nottingham Ranch, the site of the original ranchland that eventually became Beaver Creek Resort. The snowshoes are stable and agile, and soon every pole plant and step is in sync.
