Meetings in Colorado Offer Thrills & Chills

April 21, 2017

Sand dunes in the Colorado mountains

Outdoor activities provide a wide range of exciting options

Colorado is a stunning ode to the glory of nature. It boasts some of the highest mountain ranges in the country—with 53 peaks higher than 14,000 feet, called “14ers” there—as well as deep-blue alpine lakes, surrounded by majestic forests of golden aspen. It also has rapidly flowing rivers, verdant green meadows splashed with brilliant wildflowers, as well as canyons, plateaus, deep gorges and high desert.

Lobby at St. Julien Hotel & Spa, Boulder

Coloradans live outside, both in summer and in winter. It’s very rare, in fact, to drive even a few blocks without seeing people cycling, running, rafting or paddling in summer, or carrying skis, snowboards or ice skates in winter.

Attendees can experience a natural wonderland after meetings, and the increased camaraderie and networking that occurs in such a spectacular environment during the meetings.

Planners can also offer attendees an incredible range of outdoor adventures, for team building and just-plain-fun.

“Colorado is one of the most ‘outdoorsy’ states in America,” says Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “And Colorado meetings offer the opportunity to connect groups with nature and adventure. Our landscape offers a vast range of team-building activities for meeting groups. We are committed to making Colorado the best state in which to ride a bike, and our mountain-, road- and cruiser-bike offerings are unparalleled.

“Your attendees can take in spectacular scenery on an ATV tour. They can hike to the top of one of our 53 peaks higher than 14,000 feet, or trek along one of our gentle trails. They can go whitewater rafting or stand-up paddleboarding. They can go horseback riding just about anywhere, or even play cowboy on a working ranch.”

Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center

Boulder

Colorado Wilderness Rides and Guides

This outfit offers a wide range of four-season wilderness adventures and innovative team-building exercises.

One of its most interesting adventures is a mystery to most of us—snowshoeing. During winter and spring, guides will take your group deep into snowfields that often have no visible trace of human beings.

In addition to viewing trees and plants hardy enough to survive a Colorado winter, your group will likely see wildlife in places such as Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest. Colorado Wilderness Rides and Guides will show you all you need to know before you shove off and will be with you every snow-shoed step of the way.

Another outstanding adventure is introductory rock climbing. Safety is always emphasized: Your attendees will learn some of the basic safety systems and have a chance to climb on some great granite or sandstone.

This 3.5-hour trip will enhance participants’ teamwork while teaching them something about themselves. At popular climbing sites such as Boulder Canyon and Eldorado Canyon, as well as the towns of Golden and Estes Park, your attendees will experience quite a sense of accomplishment.

Colorado Springs

Echo Canyon River Expeditions

Rafting on the Arkansas River, Colorado Springs

Echo Canyon Rafting Expeditions provides family and thrill trips on the scenic Arkansas River. The expeditions pass through the magnificent Royal Gorge or Bighorn Sheep Canyon, with its abundance of wildlife.

The less challenging trips offer opportunities to see spectacular scenery as your group floats through it, including the 1,000-foot-deep Royal Gorge. The Class III and IV rapids, on the other hand, will quicken your heartbeat. Echo Canyon also has six two-bedroom luxury cabins, three one-bedroom cabins and four luxury “glamping” tents.

Seven Falls Soaring Adventure

The Broadmoor, a world-class resort, has just added to its already-huge amenities list. The resort owns nearby Seven Falls, long considered one of the most beautiful sites in Colorado. Now it’s added The Broadmoor Soaring Adventure, which takes you over, around and through the falls.

This adventure offers two courses and 10 ziplines, ranging from 300 to 1,800 feet. Along the way are moderate hiking trails, rope bridges and a controlled, 180-foot rappel with stunning views of the falls and South Canyon below.

Soaring Adventure at The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs

Barbara Logan, vice president of marketing and event services for the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Travel Association, brought 160 board members and their families to The Broadmoor in July 2015. They went on an adventure offered by Echo Canyon River Expeditions.

“I think Colorado is a great place for meetings,” she says, “because of the opportunities to bring your attendees together on outdoor adventures. We went rafting on the Arkansas River with Echo Canyon. And I believe it really built our teamwork and camaraderie.

“I was delighted to see our attendees talking about the trip for days afterward, and showing each other photos. Colorado’s loaded with adventure opportunities…and opportunities to bring your attendees together in an experience that’s really an experience!”

Denver

Epic Sky Trek

This is a one-of-a-kind experience on one of the best aerial-trekking courses in the United States. Offered by Castle Rock Zipline Tours, Epic Sky Trek is an aerial trekking course on three different levels. Your attendees will need teamwork to navigate its 110 challenges. The course involves hanging, climbing, stepping, jumping, balancing, handholds, and coordination on ropes, ladders and elevated plank walkways. Attendees have great opportunities to coordinate in negotiating all these elements.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver

This iconic 70-row amphitheater, surrounded by gigantic sandstone formations that change color with the sun, has hosted performances by the world’s greatest entertainers (including the Beatles, on August 26, 1964). But locals and visitors alike have turned this performance venue into a physicalfitness course in the daytime. Attendees will see scores—perhaps even hundreds—of people running up and down the stairs. Several outfitters offer interesting team-building exercises.

Fort Collins

Front Range Ride Guides

You can’t go to Colorado without trying mountain biking. Front Range Ride Guides will give your attendees an up-close-and-personal riding experience through the Front Range. The company specializes in bike outings through some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States—around snow-capped mountains, along rushing streams and through wildflower-dotted meadows, with some offering rare sightings of Bighorn Sheep and other wildlife.

Bring your camera: You won’t want to miss the jaw-dropping photo opportunities.

Windtracker Balloon Adventures

Windtracker Balloon Adventures can bring your people up into a world of soft breezes, silence and out-of-this-world colors. The rides take off at sunrise as rays bathe the Front Range in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors. Attendees watch as the sun slowly illuminates the natural features and wildlife below, and creates a panorama of what seems like half of Colorado. They’ll emerge from the balloon invigorated and excited, having formed bonds that will carry over when they’re back at the office.

Grand County

Powder Addiction

Skier at Grand County Powder Addiction

Grand County, located about an hour west of Denver, is a hotbed of adventures. Powder Addiction takes skiers away from the madding crowds and into isolated deep-powder slopes at altitudes of up to 12,500 feet. Groups access this silent world in a snowcat, a sort of combination tractor/bus that goes where other vehicles fear to tread.

Up there, the snow is thick, soft and fresh, and the dominant sound is silence. You don’t see other skiers’ tracks in the snow, because no one’s skied on it before. You’ll go into areas unknown to most folks…and enjoy an experience unknown to most folks. Rusty Spurr Ranch

At Rusty Spurr Ranch, your attendees can participate in a real cattle drive! Wranglers will teach them how to gather and drive a herd on 10,000 acres of pristine open land. Then they will have a home-on-the-range experience in an area featuring varied landscapes, including sagebrush plains as well as pine- and aspen-covered hills.

Attendees will drive the cattle across lands offering extraordinary views of three mountain ranges. Cattle drives are great team-builders, and your attendees will enjoy a homemade meal to celebrate the “drive” back at the ranch. The activity is available June 1–Sept. 30.

Moose Meeting Room at Grand Lake Lodge

Grand Junction

DoubleTree Hilton Hotel Grand Junction lobby

In far-western Colorado, your group will find Powderhorn Mountain Resort, where it will run out of time long before it runs out of winter activities. There, they can fly toward the sky in the Flat Top Flyer, which takes ski-lift speeds to new levels. In addition to regular runs, there are three networks of cross-country trails. Your group can learn to snowshoe, take a run in a snowmobile, feel like a kid on skates at Glacier Ice Arena and try icefishing. Attendees can go sledding nearby, enjoy a tubing hill and try fat biking on an all-terrain bike.

Guest room at Clarion Inn–Grand Junction

Manitou Springs

Pikes Peak Cog Railway

The atmospheric old town of Manitou Springs is filled with colorful shops and galleries, an old Russianstyle church and 100-year-old, multicolored wooden artists’ studios clinging precariously to the sides of forested cliffs. Groups start the Pikes Peak Cog Railway trip up the 14,115-foot mountain in deep-green forest and pass through a variety of ecosystems, in which they’re likely to see wildlife.

The Cliff House at Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs

At one point, the train tilts dramatically to the side, and attendees look into a mammoth valley that appears to be on the side of them, rather than below. At the top, there’s a tiny restaurant (with hot doughnuts), a shop and a view into seven states.

Telluride

Telluride Adventures

Your attendees can actually climb a waterfall of ice with Telluride Adventures. This company specializes in unique winter sports such as ice climbing, backcountry skiing (where yours are likely to be the only ski marks in sight), snowshoe tours and winter hut trips.

For the ice-climbing adventure, groups use ice axes, crampons and harnesses to climb natural wonders such as 300-foot Bridal Veil Falls and Ames Falls. They receive comprehensive instruction, and are accompanied by guides. Not many people can say they’ve gone up a waterfall!

Vail/Beaver Creek

Sage Outdoor Adventures

Sage Outdoor Adventures takes attendees into the backcountry on a snowmobiling foray they’ll long remember. The company’s vehicles traverse a private mountain with more than 100 miles of trails, and its courses offer deep powder, stunning views encompassing seven different ranges and genuine bonding experiences—all in a trail system that’s actually larger than the Vail ski area.

Your attendees will whiz past forests, meadows and high ridges, among other things—and they’ll all be talking about the amazing experience long after the meeting ends.

Downtown Vail

Adventure Ridge

Located on Vail Mountain, Adventure Ridge enables your group to try the little-known sport of ski biking. It’s part sledding, part skiing and part biking—and it’s easy to learn. Participants strap mini skis onto their boots, enabling them to make turns, and ride a bike with two blades, instead of two wheels. In addition, Adventure Ridge also offers nighttime ski biking into a silent wonderland filled with stars

Virtues of Team Building

“Outdoor adventures in Colorado can do great things for team building and group cohesion,” says Doug Price, president and CEO of Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Hiking to the summit of one of our 14ers and biking down one with a paved highway are great for promoting teamwork and camaraderie.

“Whitewater rafting is the ultimate team sport, with each person pulling their weight and contributing to the success of the journey. Rock-climbing and ice-climbing develop trust and problem-solving skills, critical success factors in business. And skiing and ziplining experiences help create lasting bonds.”

The Man Who Made Vail

Pete Seibert

Pete Seibert passed away in 2002, but the town and ski resort he created is one of the most popular skiing areas on Earth.

Seibert was a native of Massachusetts who discovered the magnificence of Colorado while training there with the famed 10th Mountain Division during World War II, before shipping out to Italy. After the war, he returned to Colorado, where he became a competitive skier. In 1957, Seibert and rancher Earl Eaton climbed Vail Mountain, and soon after they decided to build the most beautiful ski resort in the world.

They succeeded in building what could arguably be given that title. The resort they built at the base of the mountain opened in December 1962, with lift tickets priced at $5. It didn’t take long for Vail Resort to become world-famous, both for its ski runs and its beautiful European village. Now, people come from all over the world— including notable skiing spots in France and Switzerland—to ski there and to bask in the village ambience and the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

Now, Vail is one of the largest ski resorts in the world, with more than 5,200 acres of groomed trails, seven back bowls (wide, often-empty bowl-shaped slopes) spanning 7 miles, and ski runs for every level of skill. It’s the third-largest mountain ski resort in the United States, and the 11,570-foot peak offers views that will take your attendees’ breath away.