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Mother Nature has begun to smile upon on the West, particularly the northern and central Rockies where significant amounts fell on resorts from Alberta to southern Colorado.

Both the Epic Pass and Ikon Pass streamline skiing and riding costs during the winter. Now that summer's here, they switch gears to make warm-weather times in the mountains more affordable, too.

Aspen Mountain will once again offer skiing and riding as part of continued summer operations this weekend, Jun. 8-9, with 130 acres of terrain on a 58-inch base depth.

Aspen Mountain will open for summer operations Memorial Day Weekend May 25-27 with skiing and riding. In addition to opening 130 acres of skiable terrain, Memorial Day Weekend marks the start of Aspen Mountain’s summer operations with access to sightseeing and food/beverage options at the Sundeck restaurant. There will be a live DJ outside on the deck Saturday and Sunday.

April has arrived at that means it is time to break out the sunscreen and coolers for fun days in the sun at your favorite mountain resort. SnoCountry took at look at some of the happenin’ events around the country this April.

In the late 1800s, as gold miners moved through the Colorado Rockies, they came upon the would-be ski resort of Aspen, with Mount Sopris as its crown jewel. The land was rich, but also sacred to the indigenous Ute tribe, who cursed their visitors out of despair. Anyone who slept in the shadow of Mount Sopris would be doomed never to leave.

There’s no shortage of luxurious hotels in the West that will indulge your every need. SnoCountry took a look around and came up with a quintet of the hotels that coddle and pander with the best.

Summiting a 14,000-foot peak is a popular pastime in Colorado, since 56 of the 68 14ers in the continental U.S. lie within its borders. And a handful are close enough to cop in a single day.

Sunrise on Mt. Mansfield from Sterling Pond. (Sunrise Mountain Guides)

Backcountry and sidecountry ski touring are all the rage now, but heading out of bounds without some experience can be at best a frustrating undertaking and at worst a dangerous one. SnoCountry.com has found the prefect combo of ski hotels that not only offer the comforts of a destination resort, but guide service to bring your adventure goals to reality.

Sun Valley set to go with early discounts. (Sun Valley/Facebook)

Once the snow begins to fly, skiers and riders make plans to get up into the hills as soon as possible – and stay there as long as possible. As a result, many Rocky Mountain resorts lay out early season ticket and lodging deals.

Snowmass Base Village gets new life. (Snowmass Village/Facebook)

There’s lots going on at Snowmass this summer as ownership works to finally build out the resort base area and to establish the Colorado mountain as a major summer destination.

64 oz. Gnar Burger at Squaw (Rocker@Squaw/Facebook)
Few foods capture the spirit of skiing and snowboarding as much as the venerable hamburgers, and resorts town eateries tout all manner of this longtime mountain favorite.

The ultra-relaxing, body-balancing Signature Massage at Mirror Lake Inn will warm, ease, and relax sore, tense muscles. (Mirror Lake Inn)

A massage at the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid left me so relaxed that I survived an Olympic bobsled run later that day.

In the summer, Colorado resorts become a hub for warm-weather fun both around the base areas and on the mountains. 

Ski and snowboard instructors at Beaver Creek are set to schedule a vote on unionizing, after garnering the requisite number of signatures for an election.

Vacationers often take a day off from skiing or snowboarding during their vacation to check out what’s happening off the slopes.

X Games Aspen 2016 will feature 16 hours of extensive coverage and live content distributed on ESPN, ABC and across multiple digital platforms from January 28 – 31. 

Ski patrollers at the newly merged Park City Mountain narrowly voted Dec. 15 to form a union in order to “have a seat at the table” in wage and working condition negotiations with owner Vail Resorts.

It was hardly the Victory Podium that could have been for Americans in Aspen at the Winternationals — Audi FIS World Cup Giant Slalom. With victory just a few gates ahead and a big lead in the second run, the USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin made a totally uncharacteristic mistake, caught an edge and crashed, giving the win to Switzerland’s Lara Gut. Lindsey Vonn lost her left ski in the first run, but wasn’t hurt. But it was, in her words, “super annoying.”

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame has announced the names of seven people elected to the Hall’s Class of 2015. Those who will be inducted in the coming year are: freestyle skiing world champions Genia Fuller and Bob Salerno; longtime ski industry leader David Ingemie, veteran magazine publisher Henry Kaiser; Olympic snowboarding medalist Chris Klug; adaptive skiing innovator Jim Martinson, and the late Edgar Stern who developed Deer Valley Resort.