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Wax your skis, break out the Hawaiian-print shirt, and come get lei’d: this is a different kind of harvest party. Loveland Ski Area closes for the season on May 5, but will host one last shindig—the Annual Corn Harvest—this Saturday, April 27.
Take morning turns on the corn (that’s ski-speak for the much-loved coarse and granular springtime snow), then relax on deck, where you can grab a beer from New Belgium Brewing and dress up your Great Range Bison burger or brat. The end-of-season celebration also hosts a gear raffle—which includes a chance to win skis, backpacks, gloves, poles, shovels, and probes—a ski tour of Loveland, and live music performed by local bluegrass band Rapid Grass.
Proceeds benefit Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), which forecasts weather and avalanche conditions and provides avalanche safety classes. In the 2012—13 winter season, there were 25 avalanche-related deaths in the United States, and according to the CAIC, there were more than 50 such fatalities in Colorado between 2002 and 2012. Earlier this month, five five snowboarders lost their lives when they were caught in an avalanche on Loveland Pass—a reminder of why the CAIC’s work is so important.
Get-Involved: All you have to do is bundle up and come out to ski the corn. Don’t have a Loveland ski pass? Purchase the whole bundle—beer, lunch, a raffle ticket, and ski area day pass—for $60. If you have a season pass already, you’re in for just 30 bucks.
Image courtesy of Loveland Ski Area