HIT THE SLOPES CLOSE TO HOME Snow Creek gives skiers and snowboarders a place to practice.
For Kristen Smullins, the fun was all about practicing on the terrain park. It was there that the 2006 graduate honed her snowboarding skills on rails, jumps and quarter
pipes.On regular runs, however, Smullins would simply point her board down the hill and arrive at the end in about a minute.
Smullins worked at Snow Creek Ski Resort for the two seasons before she graduated. Local skiers and boarders don't have to make the trek through western Kansas to the peaks of Colorado. Just northeast of Leavenworth on Highway 45, Snow Creek is only a day trip away.
For a beginner it offers the chance to try something out, learn how to negotiate a run, while the advanced skier or snowboarder can, like Snullins, practice
not her thing, so the disappointment of the run itself left her not wanting to go back.
SNOW CREEK PRICES AND TIMES
Despite the lack of size on the hill (the lifts for the runs take you 1100
Nelson also says terrain parks are
"It's just so small and the run, especially for a skier, is short. It would be good for someone who has never done it though, before going to Colorado," Nelson says.
Monday through Friday
12 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturdays
9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sundays
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
One day snow pass:
$36
One day snow pass
plus ski or snowboard
rental: $61
their moves on the terrain park.
Evening sessions, Monday through Saturday 4 p.m.to 9 p.m. Snow pass:$26 Snow pass plus rental: $51
But if you're a veteran skier expecting a run that rivals Breckenridge, you may be let down. Emily Nelson, 2005 graduate, was disappointed the first time she visited Snow Creek.
Midnight sessions,
Friday and Saturday
10 p.m. - 3 a.m.
Snow pass: $23
Snow pass plus rental: $48
feet, while rising in elevation a paltry 300 feet) the ski park is increasing in popularity and business each year.
Snow Creek will expand this year with Tornado Ally, a 600 foot tubing run set off to the east of the primary skis runs.
More efficient and expensive snow making machines have created more efficient and expensive snow, which has increased business, Joan Falk, lodge administrator, says. The Snow Creek snow makers have learned better ways of positioning the machines so the wind will dust the mountain with more snow of a higher quality through the years.
For snowboarders and skiers, especially those who have the level of expertise required for using the terrain parks, Snow Creek can serve as an interim alternative before going out west. The target date for opening the park is Dec. 16. Just be glad it's a hill — this isn't the Rockies.
"Just like with anything, over time, you get better at it and the technology gets better," Greg Ackmann, a snow maker, says.
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