Daydreaming about boarding before work or taking the kids skiing on a school night? Now that the Ruby Hill Rail Yard is open for its 12th year, you no longer have to dream.
Denver’s rail yard is the country’s only free urban terrain park, made possible through a collaboration between Winter Park Resort and Denver Parks and Recreation.
Denver quickly embraced the escape — the first experimental year in 2007 drew 3,000 skiers and snowboarders. When 6,000 people showed up to the terrain park during year two, the rail yard earned its annual status. While Denver Parks and Rec doesn’t track attendance anymore, officials say it has likely only continued to grow.
“It’s gotten more and more popular over the years,” parks spokeswoman Cyndi Karvaski said.
Winter Park loans out its snow machine to Ruby Hill, which covers about an acre in 2 to 3 feet of man-made snow. They then eke as much time as possible out of that snowpack thanks to design and science. The yard’s northeastern exposure helps shield the white stuff from the midday sun, and the higher water content in man-made snow prolongs the melt-out even more.
This winter’s record warm temps did set back snow production from the usual late December start time to the first week of January. But Ruby Hill Rail Yard’s 2018 season actually opened earlier than recent years, just beating out 2016 and 2017’s Jan. 12 opening dates.
Ruby Hill Rail Yard even added more boxes this year — 13 to start, up from the usual eight to 10. (However, if the thermometer rises too much, the park will have to remove a few to accommodate.)
As for when the rail yard’s season will end in February, it all depends on the weather.
“The snow and the cold actually helps to keep the railyard,” Karvaski said. “We give it that first little push, the weather keeps going.”
If you go
Ruby Hill Rail Yard, Florida Avenue and South Platte River Drive, Denver. Open every day, 5 a.m.-11 p.m. (lights are on from dawn to 9 p.m.); 720-913-1311; denvergov.org
