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My friend and I are planning an extended ski trip this winter and do not have the funds to pay for accommodations. I am just wondering if there are many places to park and throw up a tent or just park and sleep in the car with a low probability of being asked/told to leave.

If anyone is aware of how strict the authorities are regarding this issue please let me know. Also, if anyone knows of areas open to camping near Copper, Winterpark, or some other resorts during the winter please let me know. Thanks.

If you can handle tent camping in the high alpine winter, more power to you. I've tried it and it sure gets cold. Most ski resorts are used to people car/RV camping in some of the more obscure side lots, just park out of the way so they can plow at night.

bubba wrote:If you can handle camping in the high alpine winter, more power to you. I've tried it and it sure gets cold.

if you have the right equipment you can do it. a good friend of my boyfriend and mine, camillo, he's climbed K2 3 times and my boyfriend is working on a website for him...he payed my boyfriend with a tent that costs like 3,000$ or around there, it's ridiculous, it can handle like sub zero temps and seriously high winds.

we've yet to use it and honestly i don't know what's it called i just remember my boyfriend going on and on about this tent.

however buying all the right equipment might become more expensive than just getting a hotel room.

You can camp in the Last Chance Parking Lot at A-Basin. My friends did it over Memorial Day during BeerFest and said is was kinda like camping in a dump, but I imagine over the winter it's a much different story. Other than that, I also recommend finding some BLM land.

keep it real!
Don't forget that you have the right to camp in the national forest.
Before you come out here, try to view the old school Warren Miller films.
Those guys set the stage for you.

27 days till snowmaking at Loveland! Some of their seasonal employees live in campers in the top lot at the valley, but I rather prefer my condo 10 miles down the road...

Ha, I've camped in the "last chance" after the beer fest. I figured it was my last chance not to spend another night in the Breckenridge jail

have a wpark/copper pass eh?

copper.. 2.5 miles up 91 from copper is public land.. look left and there are some pullouts. i've passed many slackers camping there when i lived in leadville ;

no pain no jane.... there are many public lands either side of winter park adjacent to 40, including some natl forest campgrounds that will likely be closed. try jones pass, it's 20 min from mary jane over the pass on the traffic (i-70) side of the hill and will be abandoned at dark.... a backcountry access point where you can bark at the moon in the evening- it's about 3 miles off of 40 and they keep the road clean for just about anything to get up there. can't camp in the fraser forest north of winterpark though anymore i don't think, though there is tons more public land in grand county. oh, ya might be able to camp right in the mj lots above the challenger lift... lots of folks do in the spring... never done it i usually head back to the traffic.

don't litter, bring lots of yukon jack and dress warm. don't start a fire in grand county, all the trees are dead from beetles

oh, and if you want summit city, go above skistone up the montezuma road. look for the tent camps of the lifties in the woods. you will see them. about 5 mi from skistone.

watch out for snipes and sasquatch

i camped over night in a-basins parking lot in preparation for gaper day....gaper day turned out to be quite the blur.

Chicalorado wrote:You can camp in the Last Chance Parking Lot at A-Basin. My friends did it over Memorial Day during BeerFest and said is was kinda like camping in a dump........

Sounds like Everest Base Camp!

kimmarielovescolorado wrote:...a good friend of my boyfriend and mine, camillo, he's climbed K2 3 times...

Riiiiiight...... I think this "camillo" fellow is pulling your leg. Nobody has summitted K2 three times. As near as I can tell only two people have summited twice: SHERAP JANGBU (2000, 2001) and Josef RAKONCAJ (1983, 1986).

Source: http://www.adventurestats.com/tables/k2.shtml

"if you have the right equipment you can do it. a good friend of my boyfriend and mine, camillo, he's climbed K2 3 times and my boyfriend is working on a website for him...he payed my boyfriend with a tent that costs like 3,000$ or around there, it's ridiculous, it can handle like sub zero temps and seriously high winds."


whatever...