We're at the top of the Breezeway chairlift at Monarch Mountain for a long-standing tradition: A group run with the skiers and snowboarders who have ridden here together through the pre-dawn darkness on a bus from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Bruce Fanning started doing this in the 1980s. Other traditions associated with the bus rides have fallen by the wayside, most notably the drinking, smoking and rowdiness that, according to legend, once led the state patrol to send an undercover trooper on one of the trips.
"Back then the buses were out of control," said Fanning with a laugh.
But the group run down the mountain, like the bus trip itself, endures.
Great deal on wheels
Every other Sunday during the heart of ski season, the Snowbus rolls out of town at 6:30 a.m.
Radio station 94.3 KILO organizes the trips. In exchange for on-air promotion, Monarch provides the lift tickets, and Mom's County Kitchen provides lunches.
The riders' $45-a-head price pays for the bus, driver, gas and insurance, said KILO marketing director and DJ Zakk, who goes by his first name only.
Tickets go on sale about two weeks ahead of time and sell out quickly.
Zakk said KILO could probably fill more buses.
Hop on the Snowbus for one of the best ski deals around
via kansascity.com
