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Aug 28, 2023

New downtown bar is home to Colorado's first and only Olympic

Reporter Cheyenne Caudle snowboards on the SkyTechSport simulator at Lemon Lodge last month. Ski down the Alps or snowboard across PyeongChang — all without leaving Colorado Springs. Welcome to Lemon

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Cheyenne Caudle snowboards on the SkyTechSport simulator at Lemon Lodge last month.

Ski down the Alps or snowboard across PyeongChang — all without leaving Colorado Springs.

Welcome to Lemon Lodge, a new downtown bar that’s home to Colorado’s first and only Olympic-caliber ski and snowboard simulator.

“The sensation is so real, people get lost in it and they forget they’re indoors in 72 degrees,” owner Melanie Hexter said.

The German-made SkyTechSport simulator used at Lemon Lodge is the same model that the USA ski team uses at its training center in Park City, Utah, Hexter said. Only a handful of models exist in the U.S., most affiliated with snow sport shops.

“As far as locations like ours, there’s nothing else in the U.S.,” Hexter said.

Lemon Lodge owner Melanie Hexter poses for a portrait last month. The wine bar was designed and decorated to have a rustic East Coast wooden lodge atmosphere. Complete with a fireplace, board games and comfortable seating, she hopes that customers will experience a homey feel when they walk in.

The simulator provides realistic mountain conditions, with adjustable snow settings and a variety of courses — choose between eight international ski resorts, including Beaver Creek. The machine responds to weight and movement, and it can be adjusted to reflect fresh snow, icy snow and slushy snow.

“When you combine the changes on the surface with the screen, somebody could come in here every week for a year and have a different experience,” Hexter said.

Lemon Lodge, 111 E. Pikes Peak Ave., is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Visit lemonlodge.com or call 719-256-0355.

The new ski bar, which opened in July, aims to provide the full lodge experience. With a fireplace, comfortable seating, rocking chairs and even some board games, Hexter hopes for a homey feel.

“We just want to create a lodge ambiance, not what you find in Vail that’s like furry chairs and diamond sparkles, but like rustic East Coast wood, like an old-time lodge,” she said.

The bar offers lemon wine from Evergood Adventure Wines, owned by Hexter’s husband, Matthew. In fact, the winery was the inspiration for the Lemon Lodge.

A flight of Evergood Adventure Wines is prepared for a customer at Lemon Lodge. Evergood Adventure Wines are made from lemons, not grapes, and have winter snow sport-themed names such as Skier Pee and Snow Bunny.

The couple were celebrating their anniversary last summer in downtown Colorado Springs when they began thinking about opening a wine bar for their lemon wine. When bringing the idea to their kids, they received an unexpected response.

“We said ‘What would you think if we’d open a wine bar?’ And they basically rolled their eyes and said ‘That is so boring,’” Hexter said. “We said ‘OK, how would you make a wine bar not boring.’ And our son who’s now 19, without skipping a beat, said ‘You’d add a ski and snowboard simulator.’”

But, not just any simulator.

“He pulls out his phone and whips up as video of this model,” Hexter said. “He’s like, ‘Colorado would laugh if it wasn’t real.’ So last summer, we started pursuing the company that makes this in Germany.”

After trying the model out, the couple was convinced.

“My husband and two of our kids got the chance to try one out that was privately owned, and they walked away so impressed,” Hexter said. “They’re 15 minutes in and their legs are burning, it just really feels like I’m skiing. It’s the actual sensations of on mountain in a virtual immersive setting.”

Outside of lemon wine, the lodge will also sell beers from ski towns around the country, Hexter said. The bar is featuring four beers from Oregon.

“We want to kind of cycle those through, so in the fall we may do something from Lake Placid or from Lake Tahoe,” Hexter said.

To contribute to the experience, Lemon Lodge is equipped with an array of cowbells. Each table has a cowbell, and guests are encouraged to ring the bells for accomplishments.

“In the ski racing community, you ring cowbells because you can’t clap in mittens,” Hexter said. “We have cowbells on almost every table as a way of cheering when anybody has a small accomplishment, like they let go of the bar for the first time, or when they have a major goal like they get up to 50 kilometers per hour.”

Each first-time skier or snowboarder gets awarded with a Lemon Lodge cowbell to take home, Hexter said.

An array of rental boots available to customers sit on shelves at Lemon Lodge. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette)

So, how does the simulator work?

Well, you can opt to bring your own ski boots, or you can rent boots from the lodge. Oh, and don’t forget to wear calf-high socks (although the lodge sells those too).

The family-friendly lodge offers 20-minute sessions starting at $50 by appointment. A 20-minute session is equivalent to about a half-day on the slopes.

“We just had a guy that skied something like 8 miles in 20 minutes. His quads were burning,” Hexter said. “Your cardio is maxed, it is so many turns.”

Eventually, the lodge plans to host leagues and have memberships and kids classes. The lodge is also planning on getting an adaptive platform for guests with mobility disabilities.

“We can’t wait to make that available,” Hexter said. “We’re going to be able to be a super inclusive place, so people with a lot of different challenges can have the thrill of being on mountain.”

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