Courtesy Vail Mountain

Face shots like this one on closing day -- and more than two more feet of snow since Sunday -- inspired Vail to open up for an additional weekend.

Never mind those epic closing-day celebrations last weekend at Vail, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, and Powderhorn: All four resorts have announced they'll be spinning the chairlifts again this weekend and reopening Friday, April 19 through Sunday, April 21, to make the most of massive dumps of late-season snow.

See also:
- Best of Denver - Best Place to Train for the Winter Olympics: Woodward at Copper
- Best of Denver - Best Halfpipe: Vail
- Best of Denver - Best Terrain Park 2013: Breckenridge

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Photo by Tripp Fay, courtesy Copper Mountain

A competitor at Copper Mountain's Eenie Weenie Bikini Contest foreshadows the end.

The 2012-2013 ski and snowboard season begins winding down this weekend -- with the first round of closing-day parties at Ski Granby Ranch, Powderhorn and Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort -- despite the fact that snow conditions are actually quite good, with more snow in the forecast. Here's a rundown of when and where to get your last licks in over the next month.

See also:
- Best of Denver 2013 Readers' Poll: Meet this year's Sports & Recreation winners
- Competitive skiing kept Army veteran Joel Hunt from going downhill
- Level 1 Productions' Sunny wins Movie of the Year at 2013 Powder Awards

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All photos by Christopher Morgan.

Art of Winter, Denver's annual snow-inspired art fest, kicked off in LoDo on January 25, and it will remain open to the public for three weeks of cold weather and cool art. Westword photographer Christopher Morgan captured these shots of ski and snowboard art (and enthusiasts) during the opening days of the exhibition. Continue reading for the highlights, and visit out full Art of Winter slide show for more photos.

See also:
- Slide show: The Art of Winter
- Win tickets to Westword's Whiteout Fashion Show!
- Something Independent's Art of Winter auction closes this weekend

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All photos courtesy of Tripp Fay, Copper Mountain.

Oh, Colorado -- you trickster! Just when we started sneaking some summer wear into our freakishly good-weathered January days, you pulled the plug and reminded us what those jackets are for. But at least you also gave the mountains some fresh powder. Over the past 24 hours, Copper Mountain raked in four inches of white, and to celebrate the resort's official snow day, employees shared these smiley snow porn scenes with us. Keep reading for more photos of what winter in Colorado is supposed to look like.

See also:
- Ruby Hill Rail Yard back in action as a winter playground, lack of winter notwithstanding
- Level 1 Productions' Sunny wins Movie of the Year at 2013 Powder Awards
- Colorado ski-porn purveyors nominated for 18 Powder Awards

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Colin Bane

Ruby Hill Rail Yard at Ruby Hill Park opened Monday.

Denver hasn't had enough of a snow dump this winter for a proper sledding run, much less urban snowboarding jibs, but -- thanks to last week's temperature drop and a special agreement with Denver Water to facilitate artificial snowmaking -- the Ruby Hill Rail Yard ski and snowboard terrain park officially opened on Monday. The Rail Yard will be open daily during Ruby Hill Park hours -- starting at 5 a.m., with lighted night riding available until 9 p.m. -- from now until all the snow is gone.

See also:
- Level 1 Productions' "Sunny" wins Movie of the Year at 2013 Powder Awards
- So-Gnar Snowboard Camp Tour and Shred Circuit contest highlights from Loveland
- Experts agree: Made-in-Colorado snowboards are the best

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Photo courtesy GoBreck.com

In a year of big ski-town anniversaries -- including a 40th bash at Copper Mountain, 50th anniversaries at Vail and Steamboat and Eldora, the 75th anniversary celebration at Loveland, and the upcoming 100th anniversary of Steamboat Springs' Howelsen Hill -- the wildest party of all just might be this week in Breckenridge, where the town is marking the 50th anniversary of Ullr Fest. The festival, which dates back to 1963, is a downright pagan paean to Ullr (rhymes with "cooler"), the skiing, hunting, badass god of Norse mythology who has been adopted as the patron saint of winter revelry.

See also:
- Get the edge on winter fun with The Edge!
- Experts agree: Made-in-Colorado snowboards are the best
- Folsom Custom Skis, RMU, Icelantic dominate Freeskier Top 10 "Microbrew" list

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So-Gnar

Pat Milbery shows his So-Gnar Snowboard Camp Tour crew how it's done at Loveland

The burgeoning multi-media empire known as So-Gnar puts on awesome events like the So-Gnar Snowboard Camp Tour and Shred Circuit contest series, then turns around fun little video edits within days to help fuel the stoke. Last week we previewed the kickoff to the 7th annual Snowboard Camp tour at Loveland, which doubled as the second stop of the 2012 Shred Circuit series; today we've got the highlight reel (and, for good measure, the full 35-minute edit of So-Gnar's 2012 film The Good, The Bad, and the Gnarly).

See Also:
- Kids can shred on the So-Gnar Snowboard Camp Tour
- Get the edge on winter fun with The Edge!
- So-Gnar and CoalaTree team up with Michal Menert for Shredded Beats: Japan

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BackcountryMagazine.com

Euphoria Splitboard by Venture Snowboards.

We've been championing the local shred-stick economy as it has grown over the past few years, and not just out of sheer locavore pride. This year several national media outlets have taken notice, too: In "Gear of the Year," Men's Journal just proclaimed that the Odin by Venture Snowboards is the Best for Backcountry -- "honed in Silverton, Colorado, home to some of the continent's gnarliest terrain." And that pronouncement prompted us to take a look at some of the other accolades that Colorado-based builders have earned this season.

See also:
- Best of Denver 2012 Best Board for Locavores: Never Summer Proto CT
- Get the edge on winter fun with The Edge!
- Craft breweries and the ski and snowboard industries make fresh tracks together

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Courtesy Copper Mountain

Copper Mountain's pouring 72-cent beers from 1 to 5 p.m. and hosting a '70s costume contest at 2 p.m. Saturday, December 8 -- both nods to the the resort's fortieth birthday, with a special appearance by Neil Diamond tribute band Super Diamond to complete the circa-1972 vibe. The resort is also offering $40 lift tickets, $40 Woodward at Copper Intro Sessions, $40 off Ski & Ride School Lessons, $40 rentals for two, and other discounts over the weekend.

See Also:
- Get the edge on winter fun with The Edge!
- Ski porn pioneer Roger Cotton Brown on fifty years of filming at Vail
- Loveland Ski Area opens for its 75th anniversary season

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Photo by Chris Faronea, courtesy So-Gnar

A competitor at the 2012-2013 Shred Circuit opener at Copper Mountain

"We wanted to do a super affordable snowboard camp for kids that is all about creativity, having fun, and getting to ride with some great pros, something parents could really get behind," says Golden-based pro snowboarder Pat Milbery, who is getting his 7th annual So-Gnar Snowboard Camp Tour underway this weekend at Loveland, the first of thirteen camp stops across the country. The tour, formerly known as the Mighty Midwest Snowboard Camp Tour, now spans from coast to coast and even makes a stop in Japan in February, and runs in parallel with So-Gnar's Shred Circuit contest series.

See Also:
- Get the edge on winter fun with The Edge!
- So-Gnar and CoalaTree team up with Michal Menert for Shredded Beats: Japan
- The latest skate videos from Royal Stain, Meta Skateboards, Crisis, FOZine

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