Summer Stashes: Blue Peak, Colorado

By this point in the summer, photographs of steep South American couloirs and idyllic New Zealand peaks are probably filtering through your Instagram feed. With sweltering summer heat and the end of Fourth of July festivities, you may have admitted defeat, tossed your skis into the closet and traded them in for your mountain bike. But rest assured—there’s still plenty of summer skiing to be had without spending your life savings on a plane ticket to the southern hemisphere—you just have to be willing to work for it.

Here’s the first installment from A Skier’s Guide to Summertime Stoke. All summer long we’ll be sharing from our list of enough summer ski zones to keep you satisfied until the snow falls.

BLUE PEAK: EASY ACCESS TO CORN SNOW BLISS

Eliana Mallory and Phillip Jeffreys rip down 1,615 vertical feet of corn. [Photo] Mirte Jeffreys

LOCATION: Blue Peak, Aspen, Colorado
SUMMIT ELEVATION: 13,711 feet
WHEN TO SKI: June and early July
MORE INFORMATION: Blue Peak is located right off the top of Independence Pass on the western side of the Continental Divide. To access the peak, park at the turnout on Independence Pass Road, also known as the “Upper Hairpin.” Learn more about various ski routes off Blue Peak at backcountryskiingco.com.

“When we arrived at the summit, there were gorgeous 360-degree views of snow-capped mountains. We descended some of the softest corn snow I have ever skied. The face of Blue Peak is super open, making it easy to carve huge, arcing turns.” —Eliana Mallory of Aspen, Colo.