Sunlight Mountain Resort – A BraveSkiMom.com Review

I love how Colorado Ski Country refers to Colorado’s smaller ski areas as Gems. It’s because they are, and Sunlight is one of them. I was prepping an article but BraveSkiMom.com already wrote it and it’s good!  There is also a great piece from WestElkProject.com on a Freeskiing comp recently held there- Click this link to read it. I have spent plenty of time tooling around this mountain and in my opinion it is down right fun. Here is her review:

When I think of Sunlight Mountain Resort, two memories immediately come to mind.

The first is from 30 years ago. Our junior ski team was competing at Sunlight in theBuddy Werner League championships. While we were excited about racing, we were more excited to ski Ute, a 2.5 mile run which claimed top honors as the longest ski run in Colorado.

My second memory is from only 6 years ago. Our youngest son was also competing in theBuddy Werner League championships, now known as the “state race.” He won. He got to stand atop the podium, arms outstretched like an Olympian. To celebrate he went to the terrain park. Long story short, we ended the day at Ski Patrol, his nose bleeding and his face banged up. The ski patroller on duty gave him a beautiful polished rock. My son still has this rock.

Accidents are no fun, but the Sunlight Ski Patrol quickly took away the hurt.

So what do these stories have to do with skiing at Sunlight Mountain Resort today?

Actually a lot.

Let’s start with terrain.

Long Runs, Long Views

Like many of Colorado’s smaller resorts, the Sunlight map is covered in blue and green trails. There are three lifts at Sunlight, one of which goes to the top of the mountain and another goes about two-thirds of the way up. There are gentle wandering greens off of both lifts, perfect for building beginner confidence while providing big mountain views.

Although other runs have bested Ute for top honors as Colorado’s longest ski run, this long rolling trail glides remains a local favorite, with “shooting the Ute” a favorite way to end a long ski day.

Rolling Blues With Short Bursts of Bumps and Trees

Fifty-five percent of the terrain at Sunlight is intermediate and many of these runs are immaculate, perfectly groomed cruisers, like White River and Cornice. Joslin, which doubles as the race course, is especially fun, with some nice rollers and a bit steeper pitch.

None of the blue runs is exceptionally long and many of them connect back to the mid-mountain Primo lift. But there are many options for mixing it up. On the west side of the mountain, skiers and riders can intersperse groomers with short bursts of moguls and glades. Charlie’s Glades between Cornice and White River is a great place to practice dodging trees, while skiers need to bring their “A” game to venture into the super tightJoslin Glades.

We hit Sunlight on a day with one inch of new snow. After cruising around the mountain and getting the lay of the land, we took Cornice down to Frying Pan Alley, one of six advanced trails that run out near the Tercero chair. At 2:00 p.m. our tracks were the first of the day. A week after the last big storm, the snow.. Keep Reading, Click Here

~BraveSkiMom.com

Photo Credits: braveskimom.com

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