Picturing Travel Anew, Post-9/11

Therapeutic geothermal mineral waters in the Rockies have attracted soakers for centuries, starting with the Utes, who frequently visited them for physical and spiritual healing. These days, people often seek them out after a day on the slopes or adventuring in the backcountry, Or you can soak for the sake of soaking by taking an 800-mile Colorado Historic Hot Springs Loop for the ultimate in relaxing road trips.

If the Telluride Bluegrass Festival has been on your bucket list, there’s still time to cross it off in 2025. Zach Tucker, vice president of the fest’s production company Planet Bluegrass, tells The Denver Post there are “a fair amount” of tickets still available for this year’s event at shop.bluegrass.com. That includes passes to two campgrounds outside of downtown Telluride. The fest (June 19-22) is one of the town’s most popular summer gatherings, welcoming about 12,000 people per day to enjoy live music in the scenic box canyon.

Each month in Colorado, and every season, offers a chance to experience something that is definitively of this place. Sometimes this means a local festival or annual event, but often it’s just planning to take advantage of the season and be wowed. Here’s an adventure agenda for you — with a few suggested alternates and fun add-ons: January: Ice climbing in Ouray There’s no better place to fully embrace winter than in Ouray, especially during the annual Ouray Ice Festival.

If you can pull yourself away from skiing or snowboarding, consider taking a few hours to visit a museum on your next ski adventure to restore your body and fuel your mind. Colorado is home to 28 ski areas and resorts, each with a fascinating backstory. These places have a rich history, from being the homelands and hunting grounds of the Ute, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne Native American Tribal Nations to the influx of silver and gold miners to the settlement of homesteading ranchers and cowboys and the development of ski areas by post-war veterans of the 10th Mountain Division soldiers of World War II.

Organizers campaigning to unionize ski patrollers are touting their momentum following the settlement of a strike at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort and a vote last week in favor of forming a union at Arapahoe Basin. A-Basin patrollers voted to become part of the CWA 7781 United Mountain Workers, which will negotiate a contract with Denver-based Alterra Mountain Company and A-Basin officials.

Despite evacuations of a gondola at Winter Park and a lift at Telluride last month, along with several recent incidents of people falling from chairlifts, accidents related to mechanical failures are exceedingly rare, according to the state agency that regulates and inspects ski resort lifts. More than 180 people were evacuated from the Winter Park gondola on Dec.