WINTER PARK — The only person who would be surprised by the rush to buy some of the 3,300 tickets for the Winter Park Express ski train the day they went on sale in August is someone who has never ridden it.
Although not usually one to plan ahead, my own memories of the train’s stunning clandestine route were enough for me to reserve seats for a February train on that hot August day.
Since it started in 1940, the ski train has carried generations of skiers from Denver’s Union Station to the base of the slopes at Winter Park. Before the dark day in 2009 when insurance issues stopped the train, only a World War had interrupted its service. (WWII created a coal shortage that shut the train down from 1942 to 1947).
When my mother-in-law recalls how much fun she had riding the ski train in the ’50s, the excitement in her face reveals the teenager she was at the time. I can see her and her friends gathering their wooden skis, paying their $2 for a lift ticket and lining up for one of the three T-bars or four rope tows that served the resort at the time.
I remember that excitement from my own trips as a child, when I thought it didn’t get any better than being able to drink hot chocolate and play cards with my brother on the train after a full day of skiing. As an adult, looking out the window instead of down at her cards, the ski train revealed another side of the mountains — the inside of them.
After sliding quietly across the plains northwest of Denver, the train disappears behind the south end of the Flatirons. The two-hour trip takes passengers through 56 miles of silent scenery a world away from Interstate 70. Out the large windows are frozen creeks, fields of untouched snow and wildlife unaware of the humans passing by.
Of the 30 tunnels on the route, the 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel is the longest, and it brings the greatest reward at the other end. The ski mountain fills the windows on the left side of the train as the whistle heralds its arrival. Once there, skiers gather the equipment they will need for the day and pack away the snacks and beverages they brought for après (coolers are allowed) and make the less-than-100-yard walk to the lifts.
One of the only downsides to traveling by rail is that trains are pretty particular about leaving on time. This causes problems for fashionably late folks like myself. The train leaves at exactly 7 a.m., and then itap gone. Since I live in Fort Collins and have anxiety issues, I’ve always stayed overnight as close to Union Station as possible before catching the train.
In the waning days of the ski train, that meant the historically awesome Oxford. I set two alarms and asked for a wake-up call (yes, they still do those) before my last trip. The Oxford is still a good choice, but with the opening of the Crawford Hotel, you can stay in the station. Those interested in extending their train experience to the night before can stay in a Pullman Room, a modern take on the private sleeping train car.
I plan on not sleeping well the night before my family boards the train in February, but because of excitement, not anxiety. I can’t wait for my daughter’s to experience the ski train; I just hope they enjoy it half as much as their grandma did.
Winter Park Ski Train: Tickets are still available for this year’s ski train. Check dates at:
Oxford Hotel: 1600 17th St., Denver. 303-628-5400;
Crawford Hotel: 1701 Wynkoop St., Denver. 720-460-3700;. The Crawford offers ski train package deals: .
