Here in Colorado, we love coworking and we love hitting the slopes in the winter time. You don’t often see those two things mix, but California has beaten us to the punch when it comes to introducing them to each other. A recent article from the Vail Daily, through the Denver Post, describes a brand new coworking space by Mountain Lab, an existing space in Tahoe, opening this month at the top of the California Tram at Heavenly resort in Lake Tahoe.

For people who are able to work on their own time, or for people on a ski trip who just need to break away for a couple hours, or even people who just want to be able to say their morning commute to their desk job is a gondola ride up the mountain and their afternoon commute involves strapping on the skis or board, this space is a revolutionary step in the mix of work and play.

A lot of coordination has been put into this endeavor, and Mountain Lab worked very closely with Vail Resorts, which owns Heavenly. Like most coworking spaces, users of the space will have to buy a pass to work there. To get there, though, they will also need to have a lift ticket, as the only way to get there is via the gondola alongside other skiers and snowboarders.

The worldwide coworking boom, along with the precedent that this space sets, will make similar spaces very desirable. People in Colorado and around the world are going to want to be able to break away for a while to take a call, get some work done, or even have a meeting in a quiet place with good reception and reliable internet access. We can certainly envision a coworking space opening up mid-mountain at Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek or Keystone here in Colorado, as several are owned and operated by Vail Resorts. The concept will give remote workers and employees or owners of small businesses much more flexibility to avoid the huge crowds and visit the mountain during the week.

As a renowned company known to offer innovative and high-quality ski experiences, it seems only natural that they would join the coworking industry at the forefront of a new type of working experience - an experience that allows people to enjoy themselves as a break from their workday. The purpose of coworking is to offer the flexibility and affordability to balance life with work, and a space right on a mountain takes it to a whole new level.