Sports activities abound this winter

Need an excuse to head up to the mountains this season? Here are five events at Colorado ski resorts that are sure to keep you entertained throughout the 2004-2005 ski season.

31st Annual Bud Light Cowboy Downhill

Steamboat Springs

Jan. 18

An event that always coincides with the Western Stock Show. Cowboys compete in a downhill ski competition. More than 100 of the best professional rodeo cowboys compete as some of the cowboys strap on skis for the first time.

The Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championship

Breckenridge Ski Resort

Jan. 25-30

Teams from around the world compete in this event, creating mammoth works of art from 12-feet-tall, 20-ton blocks of snow.

ESPN's Winter X Games

Aspen Snowmass

Jan. 29-Feb.1

Aspen Buttermilk Mountain will host for the X Games for the fourth consecutive year.

Winter Gravity Games

Copper Mountain Ski Resort

March 3-6

For the first year Copper Mountain hosts this extreme ski and snowboarding competition

Eenie Weenie Bikini Contest

Copper Mountain

April 2-17

Copper's end-of-season blowout returns for its fifth year with three weekends of free, live bands, entertainment and on-hill events including the infamous Eenie Weenie Bikini Contest, where ski and snowboarders compete in their swimsuits.