February 28, 2005 – More than 1,000 people, mostly from the greater Denver/Boulder area, enjoyed a day on snowshoes in the Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday for the 10th annual Winter Trails Day at the Estes Park venue. The event was coordinated by the Estes Park Resort Association.

The majority who attended were first time snowshoers. Winter Trails is a consumer outreach component of Winter Feels Good, the national public awareness campaign that promotes the health, fitness and social benefits of snow sports organized by SnowSports Industries America.

The Estes venue capped off Winter Trails for the 2005 season as most events were held on or close to the “official” date of January 8, 2005. The program is designed to introduce new people to snowshoeing and/or cross country skiing at as many of the nearly 100 locations nationwide offered both activities this year.

Reps from Atlas, Mountain Safety Research (MSR), Redfeather and Tubbs provided snowshoeing demos free. W.L. Gore & Associates, official outerwear sponsor for Winter Trails, offered a Gore-Tex jacket give-away. Snowshoemag.com was on hand to help promote the event. REI from the Boulder/Denver area provided expertise and hot chocolate to a crowd that grew so large at one point that the U.S. Forest Service had to turn cars away due to lack of space for parking.

Claire Walter, author of The Snowshoe Experience and Snowshoeing Colorado, was on hand for a book signing and Colorado snowshoe guru Dave Felkley offered helpful tips to event participants.