Seems like we all know someone who knows someone that’s making headlines. Something like that “6 places removed” or whatever. Well for us in Winter Park, we are celebrating the success of Ryan St. Onge! During the Free style skiing men’s aerials he finished 2nd qualifying him for final rounds.
From Ryan’s home page we learn he did his first quadruple twisting triple back flip at age 5. And it didn’t matter one bit that it wasn’t planned. Sounds like he was a natural from the start. Ryan’s parents Cary and Sara, moved their family to Winter Park when Ryan was 8, where he got his start. Well now he is proving himself at the Olympics and we all wish him the best! Good Luck on Thursday Ryan!

Hey, if Ryan wins a medal on Thursday at the Vancouver Olympics, we’ll offer a weekend special “buy 1 night get the 2nd night at half off!” Only for the weekend of Feb. 26. Must reserve inadvance! 800-824-8438 and mention our Ryan’s Blog!

Fraser Valley has long awaited the opening of the Metropolitan Rec. Center scheduled to open December 18. Typically, locals rely on the outdoors for activities, fitness workouts and all else that falls under the catagory of exercise. It’s a badge of honor that we wear to claim the valley, as mother nature intended, as our ‘fitness center’.

On the other hand, as temperatures dip to the negative and wind chill drives blinding ice pellets into our faces, it is exciting to have such a state of the art indoor place to release our pent up energy!

The Center offers a 4 lap lane swimming pool with low diving board and race platforms, lazy river, water slide, water play area, whirlpools, fitness floor, climbing wall, indoor track, basketball court and so much more. There will be the option for personal training, group workouts, learning clinics and exercise related networking.

The Center will be open for day guest visitation and is certainly available to our guests here at BVC. It’s only 1 mile from our property located at the opposite end of town. Stop by the front desk to get a discounted day pass!

Beaver Village is tweeting with Twitter! Keep up with “what we are doing” as the year progresses. Travel tips, thoughts, plans, weather, and deals to come! Join up and follow us and we will follow you!

Well our last weekend that the ski season was open at Winter Park, April 19, went out like a whiteout! We had over 3 feet of snow on Friday and Saturday that proved an epic powder experience. You could even call Saturday “local’s day” because I-70 was closed until the afternoon hours! C-lot still proved to be the place to “party-on” and ski crazed fans lined the parking lot with campers, barbeque grills and kegs despite the knee deep white stuff. Hands down, we say Winter Park is the best place to hang it up for the season. We are already planning on opening day for next season November 18 and praying to the snow gods for bountiful snow storms!

It’s bright and sunny here now and we thrill at the site of the melting snow because it means mountain biking, music festivals, river rafting and all the summer good stuff is close around the corner! Can’t wait to get on the river!!

The Cabriolet is Winter Park’s gondola shuttle from outlying parking to the entrance of The Village. We recently had the chance to act like a tourist and experience the whole thing when we had company visiting on the Wells Fargo Weekend. Everywhere we went it was packed! We don’t think the economy was hurting this weekend! We rented skiis from Christy Sports and drove up to the parking area across from the Resort where we took the bus shuttle over highway 40 to the Cabriolet. The ride was short and the Cabriolet was fun. We enjoyed the scenery and the sunny blue skies! The kids thouht it was the coolest ride of the whole day. Interesting perspective. We skied the Panaromic Express, the new lift and terrain at Winter Park as of just last year. What great runs; you get to the top of the Continental Divide and can take your choice of blue or black runs back to the lift. After skiing, we stopped at Lime Mexican Grille and enjoyed a margarita which was very tasty! The improvements at the base are a long awaited and welcomed addition to the skiing experience and we had a great time. Despite the new activity, we know Downtown Winter Park is still where it’s at. Following our ski day we enjoyed shopping at Cooper Creek Square and dinner at the new Star of India Restaurant. What a great place! Hey, even though Winter Park is small, we like to eat! You can have Italian, Chinese, Japenese, Indian, Mexican, and All American BBQ all within a 4 block radius! We have lived here over 20 years and it’s still fun to take a new perspective and enjoy our town from a guest perspecitive.

The Village at the base of Winter Park is moving along and in addition to Lime Mexican Grille, there is the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe. The two restaurants add a nice apres ski feeling to the end of the day and offer diverse and yummy menus for guests to enjoy as they head back to the Cabriolet and outlying parking. There is also a retail store “Shirt Off My Back” where visitors can pick up a quick memento of the fantastic visit to Winter Park Resort. We look forward to next season with more additions!

Beaver Village Condos is on the complimentary shuttle route to and from the ski resort! Enjoy the most convenient drop-off and pick-up locations right from your front door for free!

Yep, $10,000! It’s easy and no strings attached. When was the last time you were in Winter Park? Learning to ski as an Eskimo? A fabulous Blues Festival? Some wild bachlorette party? Well c’mon back and earn your local’s key to the city! Shopping participating businesses in Winter Park earns you discounts, specials and key cards with a secret code on the back to enter in the contest to win $10k. Visit the Winter Park Welcome Back campaign to learn more and to get started. Stay at Beaver Condos for 2 nights or more and get your first key! At the end of the WP ski season in April, 2009, four random winners will be drawn and one of them will win the $10k. Why not you? More keys= more chances to win the money! So, give us a call and make your reservation to ski, party or whatever you like, with the added bonus of winning a cash prize! 800-821-8438.

PS- Beaver Condos is participating in the promotion but is not hosting the contest; all contest rules, regulations and prizes are governed by the Winter Park Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce.

For all those ski bums and board freaks who have waited for the ski season to begin, it’s finally here! We look around and wish there was a little more snow but, what the heck, some years’ are like this! We all know the big dumps are just around the corner and in a polite way, the lack of big snow allows us to get our ski legs back under us. It’s lovely weather out and feels so good to be back in the swing of things. If you haven’t hooked up with a pass yet, check out
Winter Park Ski Resort!

I went out this past Saturday just to make sure my board, boots and bindings were ready, of course I needed to make a few adjustments; but, it was great to have the time and enjoyable weather instead of losing out on a great powder day! Parkway was wicked! Can’t wait to hit Outhouse!

This evening shot of Winter Park Resort is from the Crooked Creek Saloon in Fraser, where the local crowd hangs.

We have as a nation survived the Presedential Election of 2008! We won’t make any comments as to one opponent or the other; our comment is only to the effect of “phew!” it’s over and we can move forward!

It is a perfect day today with the collective sigh of relief also comes a welcome change of the weather with about 3″ of snow at Winter Park Ski Resort and more on the way over the weekend. Looking forward, every historic data statistic and report encourages us that “Joe the Skier” (which might be you!) is still planning a ski trip sometime this winter. In the gallery of needs vs wants, to the average ski guest, ski vacations fall into the need catagory! So, with that in mind, we look forward to a cautiously optimistic busy ski season! Bring it on!

Thought you would like to know; Winter Park is welcoming several new restaurants to town like the Sushi King (now our 2nd Sushi restaurant), the Star of India and Tabernash Tavern! New ski rental and retail businesses include Grand Sports, Epic Mountain Sports and Ski Broker. New at Winter Park Resort, will be the Cabriolet skier shuttle lift and the long awaited Village at the base. Despite economic upheaval we are gearing up for a terrific year and want you to be a part of it.

Beaver Village Condos is offering specials ranging from discounts to free nights. We value our loyal visitors and will combine promotions if you have stayed with us in the past. Our team wants you to know we will help make this the best vacation ever as it has certainly been a year we all deserve a vacation. Give us a call to talk shop at 1-800-824-8438; we are open from 8am-6pm until Nov 19, Ski Resort Opening Day, then we are open 8am-10pm through the winter.

As always, thank you for your support!

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life was introduced to Grand County last year and is back this year. Our reservations manager’s family has been touched terribly by cancer and when she found out that the American Cancer Society was trying to start up the Relay for Life in Grand County she couldn’t help but get involved. The inaugural year of the event went well and its second year is shaping up to be much bigger as more and more people get involved. We are also proud to say that the General Manager of Beaver Village Condos, Kristy Meyer, is a team captain and the reservations manager is on her team AND many employees are donating to their fundraising efforts. Beaver Village Condos is also an event Sponsor!

Relay participants help raise money through donations and sponsored “laps” to create awareness to support the American Cancer Society in its lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer. After fundraising, teams then gather at the local High School for a fun-filled event. One person from each team is on the track at all times for 24 hours in a row; all night-because cancer never sleeps. There is a carnival-type setting with activities and games throughout the event; however, the Relay isn’t just about games and walking around the track. It is mostly about remembering those that we have lost and honoring those that battle the disease and are fighting for their lives. There is a lap to honor survivors and a Luminaria ceremony where bags that bear the names of those that we walk for are placed around the track and candles lit to light our way and remind us of why we are there.

If you would like to learn more, particpate or make a donation of ANY size, please visit Relay for Life, American Cancer Society or call Sandy Clem at 970-531-2654.

The event is at the High School in Granby on August 2nd at 6pm. Everyone is welcome to come out and see what it is all about. It is sure to be a memorable and beautiful night in the mountains!

A couple years ago, Winter Park Town committed to enhancing a park in downtown that all visitors and locals can enjoy. The park is still under construction as of July 18; but, is due to be finished soon. There is a fun skateboard park with dips, rolls and bowls-plus bench areas to hang out and watch. There is a stage for music and entertainment at the base of a grassy ampitheatre. There is a picnic pavilion and winding walkway around the park. And best for the kids, there is a playground with swings, slides, and climbing nooks. It’s a big deal to the local community to have such a nice area as the anchor to our downtown. From the park, you can walk to all the shops and dining establishments as well as stop by our Visitor Center. Many of Winter Park’s special events and music festivals are held here creating a bustling and fun Main Street that invites everyone to join in. The town’s gardening crew has enhanced the downtown with beautiful hanging baskets, landscaped medians and mini sidewalk gardens. We have come a long way from a dusty little 2 lane highway on your way to somewhere else! Come visit Winter Park and see for yourself! We are only 67 miles from Denver area, a roundtrip you can make on “Less than a tank of gas!”