Keystone's Independence Bowl

Duke Bradford, head guide for Keystone Adventure Tours, believes the coolest thing about Independence Bowl is that it catches so much snow. It's a powder stash because it's one of the snowiest and one of the steepest parts of Keystone. "We like to say you get free refills on a windy day." he says with a laugh.

He adds, "Most of the terrain faces north and northeast so it doesn’t get a lot of wind or sun. And, some really steep sections in Independence Bowl that are right around 35 degrees, so, you get a great combo of good soft snow and steep terrain.

Favorite Lines

"Independence Bowl has four chutes: Revolution, Midnight Ride, Patriot and Liberty. My favorite line is to go top to bottom on Patriot. It’s a good 60 to 70 turns with great rhythm. It starts off steep at the top and mellows out at the bottom giving you something shy of 1,000 vertical feet. Then again, the trees between Patriot and Midnight Ride are pretty sweet, too. It’s an old-growth tree stand, so the trees are spread out, and it has a great, long pitch. You can go top-to-bottom and duck into the trees with a good speed and find some unbelievably, I mean unbelievably, deep snow in there.

"When the conditions are good, Two Of By Sea run in Independence Bowl – the Southwest facing above treeline, wide open bowl– is good. It’s the longest pitch in Indy Bowl, and when we’re skiing (or riding) it, it’s some of the best around. It’s a perfect pitch for nice, solid turns. Not super steep, but not flat and it’s all above treeline with the most amazing, beautiful views. You can get 50 or so turns on about a 25-degree slope.

Guided Snowcat Tours Available

"Indy Bowl is like your own private mountain – but with experienced guides to show you the best snow, the best lines and to pick you up so you skip the hiking. Of course, if you’d like to hike into Independence Bowl, it’s all yours, too. And, it’s worth the 30-40 minute hike. But, better to check out Keystone Adventure Tours – our guided snowcat program. We’d love to show you around."

Contact for more information

For more information about the resort and Independence Bowl visit Keystone Resort.

Patrollers & Locals Disclose the Best Inbounds Extreme Skiing & Snowboarding at Their Resorts

Click on Top Resorts With Inbounds Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Terrain to find more places for expert skiers and snowboarders to enjoy backcountry-style terrain inbounds at ski resorts. If you’re not sure what backcountry skiing and riding are outside ski resort boundaries, visit What is Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding. If you’re going to ski, snowboard, snowmobile or do any other sports in the backcountry when snow covers the mountains, read Surviving an Avalanche, which lists online and other sources where you can learn from experts about the odds of, and skills needed, to help keep yourself out of avalanche-prone areas and tips that may help you if caught in an avalanche.

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Dig This - an Adult Sandbox

You Play With Bulldozers and Excavators in a Kid's Sandbox First At Dig?This

Learn to drive bulldozers and excavators in a Dig This sandbox

Photo courtesy of Ed Mumm

The owner of Dig This, New Zealander Ed Mumm, starts off by showing you how the bulldozer and excavator will act using toys in a tiny sandbox. Then, you are taken outside to the real equipment for a safety and training briefing.

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Learn Extreme & Powder Skiing

Advanced and expert skiers and snowboarders thrive on pushing their limits, but most accept they should learn to ski or ride in deep powder, on steep slopes and through mogul fields before tackling extreme terrain. Routes to learning these skills rarely are taught in traditional ski school lessons.

Here are top places where you can learn how to enjoy powder so deep you need a snorkel, and terrain so steep you get vertigo looking downward. Some programs are within ski resort boundaries, other choices are special camps or heli-skiing weeks taking you to pristine powder in the backcountry.

Aspen Highlands/Jeremy Swanson

Bumps for Boomers runs many powder and mogul clinics throughout the winter on the slopes in Aspen, Colorado. It's a unique style of teaching bumps and powder skiing for older, ageing knees that is extremely effective. These are multi-day clinics.

Tristan Greszko/Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

You may never want to leap into Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, but after taking a Steep and Deep camp you'll be comfortable exploring the Hobacks and other steep terrain at this Wyoming resort. If you don't want to go to camp and your skill levels is appropriate, sign up for one of the resort's guided Backcountry tours.

Vail's Blue Sky Basin/Rex Wehman Photo by Liam Doran

Adventure Sessions at Vail, Colorado, match you with a top guide and a small group of similarly skilled skiers and riders and you'll head toward places that you may not have been before, cut lift lines and pick up tips and technical information along the way.

Portillo, Chile/Kim Reichhelm

Kim Reichhelm offers offers a variety of clinics and ski weeks throughout the winter, including Women's Ski Adventures, Co-ed Steep Skiing Camps and spring heliski trips in Alaska. In the summer, her clinics are in Portillo, Chile.

Former Alaskan Extreme Skiing Champion, veteran of nine World Extreme Skiing Championships and 21 Warren Miller Films, has some adventure camps this winter.? Take a look at "The Italian Wine & Dine Tour with a Skiing Problem" in Italy and "Chris Anthony's Heli-camp Alaska Style."

Canadian Mountain Holidays

Canadian Mountain Holidays offers heli-ski Powder-Intro trips to Powder Master Programs and heli-assisted ski touring trips. CMH has several lodges in the Canadian Rockies. Some you reach by helicopter; others are in towns.

A site created by Wayne Nicholson, an avid backcountry skier who enjoys watching videos of people skiing on Youtube. The videos he's collected show some serious backcountry skiing around the world and a few crashes. In the website's Learn to Ski section, there's a video with tips on skiing extreme steeps and powder.

Alaska/Mike Overcast

This company offers a year-round range of adventures with world-class athletes. Top among the trips are heli-skiing in Alaska, skiing steeps in Jackson Hole and tackling European slopes. Many of the adventures are customized for guests.

Book a clinic or private with Powder Extreme if you want to learn how to ski and snowboard off-piste and in powder in Verbier, Switzerland. Powder Extremes specialists coach first-time off-piste skiers and snowboarders, as well as experienced off-piste skiers and riders who want to challenge couloirs and cliff drops.

Steamboat/Courtesy Larry Pierce

Here's a list of extreme skiing slopes within ski area boundaries at major North American resorts, including Heavenly Resort, Aspen Highlands, Whistler and Steamboat. The descriptions come from local expert skiers who volunteered inside tips for challenging these extreme chunks of inbound terrain.

No one should venture into these steeps and glades unless they are sure they have the skills to handle the terrain. These resorts offer clinics to teach adventurous snow sliders ways to handle ungroomed terrain.

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How to Get Your Passport Fast

On Tuesday, July 13, 2010, new passport and passport renewal prices take a bit jump!

On June 28, the State Department published its Schedule of Fees for Consular Services - which includes passport fees - in the Federal Register. When the changes takes effect July 13, an adult passport will cost $35 more than today. (The price jumps from $100 to $135). A minor's passport jumps from $85 to $105. Currently, you would pay $75 to renew a passport but on July 13, the price jumps to $110. Just need extra visa pages? You don't have to pay for them now, but after July 13, they will cost $82!

An adult passport card jumps from $20 to $30, and a passport card for a child increases from $10 to $15. Passport cards can be used for land border crossings to Mexico or Canada.

Time to check the date your passport expires? Keep in mind many countries require a passport be good for at least six months from the time you enter a country. I almost got caught, so I had my passport renewal expedited and you can too. You just need to be willing to pay a bit more (or a lot more if you're in a hurry).

How to Get Your Passport Faster

Rush My Passport expedites passport applications, passport renewals and visas for a fee. The fee depends upon the turn-around time for the document - which could be as little as 24 hours for a renewal. RushMyPassport.com "walks" your passport application or passport renewal application through the system and dramatically decreases the time from applying to having that critical travel document in your hands. It costs considerably more, of course. But, when you discover a spouse's passport has expired and you're leaving for Europe in three weeks, this option becomes much less expensive than canceling a trip. (Keep in mind, too, that some countries will not let you in if your passport expires within six months of the date you are traveling.)

Where to Go for Details

You can also get your passport faster directly from the U.S. Government by paying an expedite fee and carefully following the directions. You must put "Expedite" on the envelope so the application is routed correctly and pay a fee. It's also suggested that you include an overnight envelope for the fastest return. For details visit How to Get Your Passport in a Hurry. Specific instructions also will be on the application for your passport or passport renewal.

Not sure what's involved in getting a passport? Watch this How to Get a Passport video.

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Free Interactive Maps to Plot Travel in Cities & Wilderness

Use the free PDF Maps app to download your choice of thousands of maps. Even offline, you can then track your travels whether biking in foreign countries, hiking through the wilderness, or plotting the distance between Big Ben and the Tower of London to decide if you want to walk or take the Underground.

You must have access to the Internet to download maps but once downloaded the maps stay interactive when you're offline, so you can measure distances, drop waypoints, and see where you are on the map via your phone's GPS.? This app to download offline maps is for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

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Free Ski & Ride Terrain

Ruby Hill Rail Yard, a free urban ski and ride terrain park in the heart of Denver opens Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008, and expects to remain open for at least a month, if not longer. The terrain park in Ruby Hill, just outside downtown Denver, features six rails of varying configuration and skill levels.

Recommended hours for urban skiers and snowboarders to play in the park are from dawn to 9pm daily. Every Monday through Feb. 18, from 3-8 p.m., Snowsports Outreach Society and Thriftystick Board Shop will offer "Jibbing for the Kids" -- snowboarding lessons and rental equipment for teens. On opening day, and on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12, (both Tuesdays), there will be snowskate demonstrations.

Last year some 3,000 urban youth and adults came and played in the free urban ski and ride terrain park, and hundreds took the free "jibbing" lessons. The Rail Yard, hosted jointly by Winter Park Resort, the City of Denver, and Denver Parks and Recreation Department, is open for the second year in a row.

For More Details

For hours, a map with the location and a list of ongoing activities visit Denver's site for Ruby Hill Rail Yard, or Winter Park Resort's Ruby Hill Rail Yard site.

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Do You Do Agri-tourism? Visit a Working Ranch or Farm

Agri-tourism vacations are a quietly growing style of trips.? You can stay on a farm and simply relax in a rustic atmosphere and watch the farmers work, or you can help with anything from milking cows to herding cattle.? On the Villard Ranch in Colorado you can participate in some of the activities featured in a segment of the Dirtiest Jobs television show.? On this sheep ranch you can help herd sheep and eat with the ranch hands, or just hide away in a sheepherder's wagon in a setting so remote only the stars above provide light.

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