Today In Stoke: Ruby Hill Rail Yard ski and snowboard terrain park now open

Colin Bane

Opening day at the Ruby Hill Rail Yard Terrain Park

​Don't feel like sitting in ski traffic to ride the rails? The Ruby Hill Rail Yard Terrain Park at South Platte River Drive & Florida Avenue opened on Saturday with rails, slider boxes, jumps and open slopes for sledding and learning to ride.

Bob Holme, who oversees the terrain parks and freestyle programs at Winter Park Resort, supervised the layout of the park. Winter Park is a presenting sponsor of the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, in partnership with Denver Parks and Recreation, Christy Sports, Johnson Controls, Denver Water, Choose Outdoors, Northface and S.O.S.

Colin Bane

Ruby Hill Rail Yard is open until February.

​We checked it out on opening day, before it actually snowed for real on Sunday (as we reported last week, Ruby Hill will be using approximately 1 million gallons of water for its artificial snowmaking this season, through a special agreement with Denver Water). The verdict? It's pretty fun for what it is. Even better? We could watch kids wreck themselves all day, every day, and never get sick of it.

Via Denver.gov:

Ruby Hill will be open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Christy Sports will provide free ski and snowboard rentals starting Friday, January 14, 2011 on Fridays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for kids ages 8 - 17. Equipment rental requires a release and waiver completed by a parent. Forms will be kept on file at Ruby Hill for the season, so only one release needs to be completed by each participant.