Copper Mountain

This weekend, Burton launches its Burton Mountain Festival, an inaugural tour full of free on-snow entertainment with Burton 2012 product demos, live music, giveaways, mini parks for tiny snowboarders (kids as young as 3 can try snowboarding for free and use Burton's Riglet Reel, a specialty reel attached to the nose of small boards that makes learning easier) and amateur snowboard contests. It starts today, and riders can test Burton's entire hardgoods line — boards, boots and bindings — at no charge. Saturday, Copper hosts the New Year's Eve Rail Jam.

Copper ignites its New Year's Eve with a snowcat parade, fire dancers, bonfires, glow sticks, parties throughout the village and two firework shows. At 6 p.m., Emcee Caliente Cristóbal starts spinning while professionals fire up the entertainment with hot dancing (including poi spinners) and a cosmic fire performance at 7:30 p.m. at West Lake Overlook. The first round of fireworks goes off at 8 p.m. over the small lake. For later partiers, the snowcats roll out a parade down the mountain at 9:45 p.m., followed by fireworks over the mountain at 10 p.m. The Copper Conference Center presents an elegant buffet and live music to welcome the new year, and restaurants around the village offer various specials, including the Double Diamond's filet, lobster, king crab and prime rib feast.

Keystone Resort

Keystone has two bases of celebration: Lakeside Village and River Run. From 5-10 p.m., the ice rink offers champagne ice bars to toast the New Year — or warm up with s'mores kits around the fireplaces. Skate rentals are free if you eat at the family dinner buffet at the Edgewater Café. At 8 p.m., fireworks light the night sky over North America's largest maintained outdoor rink. While you're there, stop in the Keystone Lodge and check out pastry chef Ned Archibald's enormous village, made entirely of chocolate — including a moving gondola and train.

Over at River Run, the fireworks begin earlier, at the top of Dercum Mountain. Head over to the Kidtopia fort near the top of the gondola and pretend to be king or queen of the mountain as a low fireworks display lights up the dragon-themed snow castle at 6 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., join the Keystone Ski School for the torchlight parade, which begins at the top of River Run (accessible from the mid-station of the River Run Gondola).

The big party takes place at Warren Station Center for the Arts with headliners Head for the Hills. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Openers Missed the Boat take the stage at 9:30 p.m., followed by Head for the Hills at 10:45 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance at warrenstationnewyears.eventbrite.com or $20 at the door.

Fort Collins based Head for the Hills fuses bluegrass, rock, jazz and a handful of other genres with four acoustic instruments: guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass. The quartet's unique take on tunes has gained a national reputation for the contemporary roots band that mixes homegrown compositions, traditional harmonies and, of course, its secret ingredient: improv. This year and last, Westword Magazine voted the band best bluegrass in the state, and The Austin Statesman/360 chose Head for the Hills as a SxSW Critics Picks-Must See choice at SxSW in 2011. The band's self-titled release earned a position on the CMJ top 200 national radio listings and No. 29 on Colorado Radio's top 50 albums of 2010.

Mandolin player Mike Chappell says “you never know what you'll find inside” the band's music — it's almost like an intergalactic space cruiser from the 23rd century.

“Our backgrounds are all very diverse musically, so much of the material pulls from many different genres,” he said. “We are always working on new original material and are always coming up with new covers. We strive to make every show a unique experience. Concert-goers can expect a high-energy show with a lot of original material, as well as recognizable cover songs.”

Just up the highway, Arapahoe Basin is hosting one of its legendary Black Mountain Lodge dinners, which has been sold-out for a couple weeks. The full-moon dinners continue monthly in 2012 through April with various international themes; check the Basin's website for further details, and make your reservations soon, as the dinners fill quickly.

Breckenridge

At 6 p.m., the Breckenridge Ski Resort riders glide down Peak 9 in a torchlight parade.

At 8 p.m., Yamn kicks off its all-ages show at the Riverwalk Center (doors open at 7 p.m.). The band will take a break at 9 p.m. so everyone can watch the fireworks over Peaks 8 and 9.

Yamn considers itself “a smooth sonic explosion born in the Rocky Mountains” — Breckenridge, to be exact. Four years after leaving their little mountain town, they've made a name for themselves as trance-fusion rockers. Guitarist Brian Hamilton, drummer Adam Ebensberger, bassist David Duart and keyboardist and guitarist Ryan Ebarb came from different parts of the nation to live the ski-bum life, then relocated to Denver in 2008 to follow their next dream as musicians.

The Yamn experience is all about the live shows, which seduce the senses with hypnotic rhythms, emotional peaks, a wicked light show designed by Paul Whitehouse and a tight personal chemistry that spills over onto the audience as they roll out their crisp melodies and free-flowing jams.

Tickets for Yamn are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Call (970) 547-3100 for more information or to purchase tickets.

For more New Year's Eve parties, page through the Summit Daily calendar and ads to find deals throughout the county; plenty of restaurants and bars are ringing in 2012 with specials.