Top outdoor ice skating spots in Colorado

Grab your grandmother or your sweetheart. Hold hands and glide on some ice. From lakes to the town square, Colorado offers great ice skating options.
By:
Nov. 16, 2023

‘Tis the season to put on a hat and mittens and grab some ice skates.

A boy ice skates on a pond in the mountains. He's grinning and his parents are smiling in the background.
Colorado offers wonderful places outdoors to skate from mountain lakes to town centers and even the airport. Photo: Getty Images.

What better way to enjoy the holidays than finding a beautiful spot outside to glide and twirl, or if you’re just learning, to shuffle and giggle a bit?

Even if you’re not a pro, plenty of fun awaits you. Chances are you can find a pick-up broom hockey game or a young figure skater practicing jumps to inspire you. Grab your grandmother or your sweetheart. Hold hands or the side of the rink for support. Then enjoy taking a few spins as pine-scented breezes turn your cheeks red at these top outdoor skating spots.

A young couple holds hands and skates at the Parker Ice Trail in Discovery Park.
Grab your sweetheart. Hold hands and take a spin on some ice. This couple is enjoying the Parker Ice Trail. Photo courtesy of Jim Ott, Town of Parker.

Afterwards, get Zen as you sip a cup of hot cocoa and watch the mesmerizing Zamboni transform rutted ice into a perfectly smooth surface for the next session. Both skating and the peace of watching others on the ice are great for the mind and body.

Here are some of our recommendations for the top outdoor ice-skating spots in Colorado.

Ice skating on Colorado lakes

Evergreen Lake

You’ll love the world’s largest Zamboni-groomed outdoor ice rink. It’s spacious: 8.5 acres with several sections for hockey games and calmer areas for kids and other recreational skaters. Evergreen is busy and fun, with skate rentals and other equipment available at the beautiful Evergreen Lake House. Depending on the temperatures, Evergreen Lake could open soon. Updates are available online, or you can always call the skating hotline at 720-880-1391 for up-to-the-minute conditions.

And if you’re looking for a fun family celebration for New Year’s Eve, check out the annual Evergreen Ice Fest. This family-friendly event is held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 at Evergreen Lake. Tickets are available to purchase on the day of the event on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Dorsey Lake, Estes Park, YMCA of the Rockies

This pond is in a lovely location bordering Rocky Mountain National Park. The ice typically freezes in mid-December and stays safe through mid-February. For guests staying at the YMCA, there’s no charge for skating or skate rentals. Others can purchase day memberships to skate on the pond and participate in other activities at the Y. Call to check on conditions: 970-586-3341, ext. 1104.

Keystone Lake

Keystone is another lake that gets the Zamboni treatment. So you can expect a nice, smooth surface on this 5-acre pond. Plus, you get beautiful views of the mountains and ski slopes around you, and there are plenty of restaurants encircling the lake for après-skate fare.

Keystone Lake boasts separate hockey and recreational areas, and you can even rent hockey sticks and pucks to go with your skates. For updated skating information, call 970-496-4386.

Try skating on a unique ice trail

A child holds onto a green plastic walker as he learns to skate at the Parker Ice Trail at Discovery Park.
Learning to skate is easy and fun at the Parker Ice Trail at Discovery Park. Photo courtesy of Jim Ott, Town of Parker.

Parker Ice Trail at Discovery Park

What, you might ask, is an ice trail? Imagine skating on a frozen canal in Amsterdam. No, Colorado doesn’t have canals that freeze. But the town of Parker drew inspiration from frozen rivers and canals, and instead of creating an ice rink, Parker’s recreation gurus thought outside of the box, or outside of the rink in this case. They have created one of the only ice trails in the U.S.

The Parker Ice Trail is a 20-to-25-foot wide ice path that meanders for 450 feet through Discovery Park, reminiscent of a frozen river or canal. The Ice Trail is open every day in the winter. Staffers are always on the trail to help teach little ones to glide and tighten up laces when necessary. There are fire pits along the trail where skaters can warm up by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

Ice skating at Colorado parks

Skate in the Park – Colorado Springs 

Skating in downtown Colorado Springs’ Acacia Park is a lovely way to enjoy time on the ice throughout the holidays.

The Ice Pavilion, Roosevelt Park, Longmont

If you’re looking for an old-fashioned experience on the ice and plenty of pick-up hockey games, Longmont’s Ice Pavilion is a great choice.

The IceBox – Fraser

The Fraser Valley in Grand County has long been dubbed the “icebox of the nation.” So, where better to have an NHL-sized, partially enclosed, naturally frozen rink? The skating rink is located in a 40-acre park just outside of the town of Fraser in the Fraser Valley Sports Complex. The rink is known as The IceBox, and it offers plenty of open skating along with hockey games throughout the winter.

Downtown Denver Rink in Skyline Park

The skyscrapers will surround you as you take laps on this small rink in the middle of downtown Denver. Each day brings different activities. Skating is free. Rentals are available for a fee and if you’re lucky, carolers will serenade you as you enjoy a loop or two.

Ice skating in town centers throughout Colorado

At dusk skaters glide around an ice rink in the town center at Beaver Creek, one of the top outdoor skating spots.
Beaver Creek boasts a beautiful outdoor skating spot in the heart of its village. You can enjoy a day on the slopes and then an evening gliding around the rink. Photo courtesy: Beaver Creek.

Beaver Creek Village

Talk about idyllic. You can enjoy a day on the ski slopes. Then, you can stroll to this lovely outdoor skating venue in the middle of Beaver Creek’s European-style village. It’s especially fun to skate when big, fat snowflakes are falling all around you. But here’s a fun fact. Beaver Creek offers a rare chance to ice skate outdoors in the summer. Check it out during any season.

Old Town Square – Fort Collins

Christmas lights are strung across an empty ice rink in Old Town Fort Collins, one of the top outdoor skating spots..
Old Town in Fort Collins sparkles during the holidays with a skating rink. Photo courtesy: City of Fort Collins.

The skating rink in Fort Collins’ Old Town is not only charming. It’s also a bargain. Admissions and skate rentals are both free. This lovely outdoor venue is open Fridays through Sundays with extended holiday hours.

WinterSkate, Historic Downtown Louisville

Imagine a Courier and Ives print showing the most beautiful aspects of winter. You’ll see that image spring to life. The Louisville’s WinterSkate features traditional holiday music, free horse-drawn carriage rides, free parking, a warming hut and a 6,500-square-foot rink.

 

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About the author

Katie Kerwin McCrimmon is a proud Colorado native. She attended Colorado College, thanks to a merit scholarship from the Boettcher Foundation, and worked as a park ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park during summer breaks from college. She is also a storyteller. She loves getting to know UCHealth patients and providers and sharing their inspiring stories.

Katie spent years working as a journalist at the Rocky Mountain News and was a finalist with a team of reporters for the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of a deadly wildfire in Glenwood Springs in 1994. Katie was the first reporter in the U.S. to track down and interview survivors of the tragic blaze, which left 14 firefighters dead.

She covered an array of beats over the years, including the environment, politics, education and criminal justice. She also loved covering stories in Congress and at the U.S. Supreme Court during a stint as the Rocky’s reporter in Washington, D.C.

Katie then worked as a reporter for an online health news site before joining the UCHealth team in 2017.

Katie and her husband Cyrus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, have three children. The family loves traveling together anywhere from Glacier National Park to Cuba.