Snowboarding in Colorado, once a prime route for teen rebellion in dress and action, today is definitely mainstream. Those teens — both guys and Shred Bettys, as the gals are known — who took up snowboarding in the late '80s and '90s now are riding with their kids.
As with skiing, there are different styles of riding. Free-riding is all-mountain snowboarding on the slopes, in the trees, down the steeps and through the moguls. Freestyle is snowboarding in a pipe or park filled with rails, fun boxes and other features.
Colorado snowboarding parks are designed for specific skill levels, from beginner parks with tiny rails hugging the ground to terrain parks with roller-coaster rails, fun boxes and tabletops for more experienced snowboarders.
Whether you're a first-timer or already comfortable going lip-to-lip in a pipe, there are classes and special clinics for you at Colorado's ski and snowboard resorts. A lot of Colorado resorts offer multiday clinics, so if you're headed to ski country this winter, consider wrapping your vacation dates around a Colorado snowboarding clinic.