Downtown Colorado Springs isn’t just about stores, restaurants and nightclubs; outdoor enthusiasts can hop on the Legacy Loop trail system that rings the area, ice skate at Acacia Park in the winter or rock climb at the indoor CityRock venue.

Starting next year, downtown also will give them a chance to ski the slopes — albeit in virtual fashion.

Lemon Lodge Ski Bar, a new indoor entertainment venue, will offer a high-tech ski and snowboard simulator when it opens at 111 E. Pikes Peak Ave. in downtown’s core. The location is the former home of Josh & John’s ice cream, which moved two years ago to North Tejon Street in downtown.

Matthew and Melanie Hexter, the husband-and-wife team that operate Evergood Adventure Wines in Palmer Lake — which offers wine made from lemons, not grapes — are targeting a Feb. 1 opening for their Lemon Lodge Ski Bar.

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The Hexters were celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary at the downtown Mood Tapas Bar in June when they began to brainstorm about opening a tasting room in the central business district, Matthew Hexter said.

Their 18-year-old son, Lincoln, an avid backcountry skier, had another idea — make the venue experiential by adding an Olympic-caliber ski simulator.

Matthew, who taught the couple’s six kids to ski, said he and Melanie were intrigued by the concept and began to explore the idea.

In September, the Hexters purchased a ski and snowboard simulator from SkyTechSports, which manufactures and sells interactive sports simulators worldwide from its offices in Los Angeles and Munich, Germany.

The simulator will become the centerpiece of the Hexters’ downtown Lemon Lodge Ski Bar, which also will offer Evergood’s wine cocktails, beers found at ski lodges around the state and a small food menu, Matthew said.

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The Hexters’ agreement with SkyTechSports gives them the exclusive rights to offer the simulator for public use in Colorado Springs and within a 15-mile radius, Matthew Hexter said. Lemon Lodge Ski Bar also will be the first location in the state with a SkyTech simulator for general use, he said.

On a SkyTech simulator, skiers and snowboarders buckle in their boots — which they bring with them or rent — onto a platform that will move them from side to side in front of a large screen that displays ski slope imagery and re-creates the sensation of gliding down hill.

“Some of the ski simulators have, like, a carpet, and you just kind of ski the carpet,” Matthew said. “This actually will put you in your ski bindings and move you side to side. In front of you is a massive panoramic screen that is integrated with the ski machine, so you can ski world-class resorts from all over the world.”

In addition to choosing locations, skiers and snowboarders can dial in different types of ski surfaces, he said.

Each ski or snowboard session on the simulator will accommodate a single participant, Melanie said. Sessions will last 15 to 20 minutes; the cost still is being determined, she said.

After they open, the Hexters plan to add an adaptive platform that will allow wheelchair users, those with cerebral palsy and others to use the simulator.

Lemon Lodge Ski Bar will be decorated with exposed wood, a river rock fireplace and comfortable leather seating, conjuring up images of an East Coast ski lodge, Melanie said.

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Why the East Coast? Matthew grew up in Ohio and learned to ski at resorts in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and northern Michigan, she said.

“When he visualizes what the interior looks like, he pictures rustic,” Melanie said. “He pictures kind of old school — the Killington-Stowe (Vermont), Lake Placid kind of places versus a lot of the lodges that we find here that are very updated, ski in, ski out, Hiltons and Hyatts and glammy and glitzy. This is just going to be much more rustic.”

In addition to the indoor bar, the Hexters hope to rebuild a sidewalk patio. The building’s large front window, meanwhile, will allow passers-by to catch a glimpse of skiers and snowboarders in action on the simulator.

The Hexters chose downtown for their venue because of its growth and several revitalization projects that are underway in the area, Matthew said.

Thousands of apartments have opened, are under construction or on the drawing board in downtown, which also is home to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, the Weidner Field multipurpose outdoor stadium and four new hotels.

Melanie said she and her husband also hope the simulator will provide a sense of Colorado to visitors who might be staying in town for a business meeting or other event.

“People come in town for a business meeting, they come in town for conventions and they’re done at 4:30 or 5,” she said. “And they walk in the hotel lobby and say, ‘I’ve got two nights here, what should I do?’ This is what they should do.”

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The Hexters want to make the simulator sessions as authentic as possible, Matthew said.

Olympic skiers and racers in downhill and slalom events, especially in Europe, are accustomed to hearing the sound of cow bells, which are rung by appreciative spectators whose clapping and yelling can be muffled by mittens and scarves. At Lemon Lodge Ski Bar, simulator participants will receive their own yellow cow bells, inscribed with the words, “I earned my cow bell,” Matthew said.

“Kind of a fun, little souvenir,” he said. “I envision us making a lot of noise. There’s going to be a lot of cow bells ringing and people are going to be walking by, going ‘what is that?’”