Looking to make some turns and hit some rails without braving the I-70 traffic? We’ve got great news for you.
Aided by a recent cold snap, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, a free skiing and snowboarding terrain park in Denver, Colorado, opens this weekend according to local media reports.
Started in 2007, the free terrain park will welcome the first skiers and riders of the season on Sunday, January 26th. Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) and the nearby Winter Park Resort work as partners to make the complimentary intercity skiing and riding happen.
This season, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard will offer free snowsports equipment rentals from 4 to 9 p.m and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The park is open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m, with lighted night skiing and snowboarding available between 4 and 9 p.m.
The DPR hopes the Ruby Hill Rail Yard will operate until March, weather and conditions permitting.
“As one of DPR’s signature amenities, the Ruby Hill Rail Yard is dedicated to providing accessible outdoor recreation for Denver residents, making it easier than ever to enjoy winter sports in an urban setting,” DPR said in a news release.
Participants don’t ride chairlifts. Instead, at the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, you hike to ride the rails and boxes. A little walking hardly dissuaded Denverites from making use of the free jib features, though. During the park’s inaugural, experimental season, it drew 3,000 skiers and boarders, according to the Ruby Hill Rail Yard Facebook page. The following year, participation grew to over 6,000 people.
According to DPR’s website, Winter Park Resort’s staff contribute technical park-building know-how to the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, which is city-owned. 5820 reports that the resort also supplies snowmaking equipment to the park each season. A group of over 35 volunteers work at the Ruby Hill Rail Yard all winter long.
The Ruby Hill Rail Yard will host several free community events this season:
Burton Mystery Series – Saturday, Feb. 8
Snow Pirates Co. Event and Competition – Saturday, Feb. 22
CoreNation Rail Jam – Saturday, March 1
Denver Learns to Ride Day – Last Saturday before Rail Yard Closure (TBD)
More must-reads:
Mason West is a talented prospect of the future for the Chicago Blackhawks, but it appears he may look to leave hockey for big opportunities in football. The Chicago Blackhawks landed Anton Frondell with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, but it was perhaps their second first-round pick that drew the most intrigue, as they drafted centre Mason West out of the USHL. That pick was intriguing for many reasons, with the 6-foot-6 centre having potential with his talent and his physicality, but now, the team may be in danger of losing the talented 17-year old. According to a report from The Athletic, the No. 29 overall pick has been drawing interest from several NCAA programs to join their team as a football player. Standing at 6-foot-6, the Minnesota native is a star in both hockey and football, tallying 49 points in 31 games at the high school level while also being a star Quarterback, and after putting up 9 points in 10 USHL games with the Fargo Force, the future is bright for him in both sports. Ultimately, at 17-years of age, the future is very bright whichever way West ends up going, but given that the Blackhawks used a first-round pick on him in this past seasons draft, they're clearly confident that they can not only keep him in hockey, but make a good NHLer out of him moving forward.
It seems like Green Bay Packers players have a lot of love for Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark. The Packers recently posted a video of Green Bay players sharing their favorite female athletes. They provided a wide variety of answers, but Clark was among those who got named multiple times. Punter Daniel Whelan, linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, defensive back Evan Williams, and quarterback Malik Willis all mentioned the former Iowa Hawkeyes sniper as their pick for favorite athlete in women’s sports. It also shows just how incredibly popular Clark has become. Although she’s missed multiple games and remains sidelined due to a groin injury, she continues to spark conversations. The first-overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft has averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.0 rebounds through the 13 games she’s played so far with the Fever in the 2025 season. Green Bay Packers players also have non-Clark picks for favorite female athlete Apart from Clark, other female sports stars picked by Packers players were three-time WNBA Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson and another WNBA legend in Maya Moore. Packers quarterback Jordan Love, meanwhile, chose his wife, volleyball star Ronika Stone. Former boxing champion Claressa Shields, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, USC Trojans star hooper JuJu Watkins got mentioned, too. But the most popular pick was none other than arguably the greatest female athlete of all-time, tennis icon Serena Williams, who won a total of 23 singles grand slam titles during her astonishing tennis career.
Shortly after the Cleveland Browns traded up in the fifth round of the 2025 draft to take Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with pick No. 144, multiple members of the NFL community strongly suggested that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam essentially forced Sanders on general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski. The fact that Sanders is clearly Cleveland's fourth-choice option at the position behind fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, veteran Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett during training camp has done little to quiet such chatter. While speaking with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Haslam insisted that Berry was responsible for the drafting of Sanders. Haslam added that Stefanski will ultimately decide which quarterback starts Cleveland's regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. For an article published on April 28, Browns insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand wrote that the club's desire for "attention" was "one of the reasons [the Browns] drafted Sanders after previously selecting quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round for football reasons." Some thought in the spring that the Browns could be selected for the 2025 edition of the "Hard Knocks: Training Camp" show, but that assignment instead went to the Buffalo Bills. Pickett is spending the final days of July recovering from the worrisome hamstring injury he picked up this past Saturday. Sanders should receive additional valuable reps during training camp practices with Pickett sidelined, but Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated was sure to say on Monday that the former Colorado star "isn’t going to start" Cleveland's Week 1 game against Cincinnati. If Pickett can't participate in Cleveland's joint practice with the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 6, Flacco almost certainly will end that day as the favorite to get the nod for the matchup versus the Bengals. Interestingly, Haslam indicated on Tuesday that he wants both Gabriel and Sanders to take snaps in meaningful games against live defenses before the Browns have to determine what they will do with their pair of 2026 first-round draft picks. Berry said ahead of the final weekend of July that he's willing to stash Flacco, Pickett, Gabriel and Sanders on the active roster for Week 1. It sounds like Haslam would have nothing to do with such a decision, regardless of what certain fans and analysts want to believe about how Berry and Stefanski view Sanders this summer.
The New York Mets, despite plenty of ups and downs, have been one of the best teams in all of Major League Baseball so far this season, but they know they will need to stay healthy in order to stay at the top of the NL East and make a push for a World Series. On Tuesday night, the Mets suffered a significant injury. During the fourth inning of a critical series against the San Diego Padres, star outfielder Juan Soto fouled a ball off of his foot and was pulled from the game with a foot contusion. After the game, Soto gave an optimistic update on the status of his foot, via SNY. “I think it’s gonna be good,” Soto said. “I think it’s gonna be good. We’ve just got to get the swelling down. Whenever the swelling is down, I think we’re gonna be fine. X-rays are negative, so it’s a good sign. We’ve just got to wait for the swelling to come down and go back to where I’m at.” Soto also addressed his pain level after the game, after appearing to be in a world of hurt when he went down on the field originally. “It’s actually numb,” he said. “I don’t feel anything right now. It’s getting a little stiff but we’re gonna see in the morning how it goes.” Soto has been finding his stride of late for the Mets after some rocky moments earlier in the season, so New York will want to have him back in the lineup as soon as he can possibly get out there. For the season coming into Tuesday, Soto had racked up 25 home runs and 62 RBI. He was hitting just .249, but was still an on-base machine with an MLB-leading 84 walks. The Padres went on to beat the Mets very comfortably in a 7-1 blowout on Tuesday night, but New York still sits in the top spot in the NL East by a half-game over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets and Phillies are two of the best teams in baseball, so the health of a player like Soto can go a long way toward deciding who comes out on top.
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!