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Suggestions for Breckenridge...

Kiber

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Jan 23, 2010
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My oldest daughter is seriously considering U. of Colorado. I was thinking about putting together a school visit / ski trip.... Fly into Denver. Drive up to Boulder. Spend about half-day visiting & touring U of Colorado. Then heading to Breckenridge for 3-4 days of skiing. I've never been to Breck. Anyone have any suggestions... should I target a place downtown Breck and walk to slopes? Should I target a ski-in/out place and walk to downtown? How far would a condo that is ski-in/out be from downtown?

Thanks.
 
My oldest daughter is seriously considering U. of Colorado. I was thinking about putting together a school visit / ski trip.... Fly into Denver. Drive up to Boulder. Spend about half-day visiting & touring U of Colorado. Then heading to Breckenridge for 3-4 days of skiing. I've never been to Breck. Anyone have any suggestions... should I target a place downtown Breck and walk to slopes? Should I target a ski-in/out place and walk to downtown? How far would a condo that is ski-in/out be from downtown?

Thanks.
 
I've been there twice, so no expert, but my suggestion would be to stay slopeside and uber into town. It's not that far, but it just seems easier to do that, rather than drive/uber from in town to the lift with all your equipment. There also is a lift that goes pretty close to in town (walking distance) and has housing around it, so that would be an option.

ETA, I believe that lift is Snowflake.
 
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A ski in out would be fine since you can take shuttles or the gondolas down the hill and the town is right by the gondola and parking lots.
 
I haven't been there in many years. I do an annual ski trip out west and I've avoided Breck due to crowds despite it being a large mountain with lots to offer for skiing, and having a pretty sizable base/village area too. The Summit County CO resorts can get very crowded due to proximity to Denver and easy access via I-70. Breck is one of the closer ones to Denver too. If you are set on going there I'd highly suggest that you stick to weekdays as much as possible, or mentally prepare yourself for long lift lines. Also note that traffic on I-70 can be awful as well, there are lots of weekend warriors commuting to the mountains on Fridays and back to Denver on Sundays. It's much worse in snow and adverse weather conditions. The last time I went to Vail one person tried to fly out of Denver on Sunday night during a snowstorm and his GPS said it would be a 6+ hour drive (normally 2-ish hours). Plan accordingly.
 
I haven't been there in many years. I do an annual ski trip out west and I've avoided Breck due to crowds despite it being a large mountain with lots to offer for skiing, and having a pretty sizable base/village area too. The Summit County CO resorts can get very crowded due to proximity to Denver and easy access via I-70. Breck is one of the closer ones to Denver too. If you are set on going there I'd highly suggest that you stick to weekdays as much as possible, or mentally prepare yourself for long lift lines. Also note that traffic on I-70 can be awful as well, there are lots of weekend warriors commuting to the mountains on Fridays and back to Denver on Sundays. It's much worse in snow and adverse weather conditions. The last time I went to Vail one person tried to fly out of Denver on Sunday night during a snowstorm and his GPS said it would be a 6+ hour drive (normally 2-ish hours). Plan accordingly.

Thanks. Heard same things. That's why I usually like the Utah resorts. I do an annual ski trip out west too. Usually fly into Salt Lake, then an easy 30-60 minute drive to whichever resort. Have avoided the CO resorts for exactly what you outline. But with my daughter really wanting to visit U of CO, it just makes sense to combine the trips. Yes, I should be avoiding the weekends. My prelim plans would be to fly out to Denver Sunday morning. Spend a good chunk of Sunday touring the campus & Boulder. Maybe even staying in Boulder Sunday night. Then hitting Breck for like Mon-Thurs. and probably fly home Fri.
 
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Thanks. Heard same things. That's why I usually like the Utah resorts. I do an annual ski trip out west too. Usually fly into Salt Lake, then an easy 30-60 minute drive to whichever resort. Have avoided the CO resorts for exactly what you outline. But with my daughter really wanting to visit U of CO, it just makes sense to combine the trips. Yes, I should be avoiding the weekends. My prelim plans would be to fly out to Denver Sunday morning. Spend a good chunk of Sunday touring the campus & Boulder. Maybe even staying in Boulder Sunday night. Then hitting Breck for like Mon-Thurs. and probably fly home Fri.
I always favor the more remote resorts for my group trips due to crowds, and we always try to ski weekdays as much as possible. My usual routine is to travel on Saturday, ski Sun-Wed, travel on Thursday. There's nothing quite like going to a massive resort and feeling like you have the place to yourself. Big Sky is phenomenal in that regard. I really like the SLC resorts too, particularly Alta/Bird. I feel like those resorts have the best combination of snow, terrain and proximity to a large airport that you can find in North America. One advantage they have is with such a good airport and proximity you can ski the same day you travel if your flights are early/late enough. They even used to offer a free lift ticket on the same day of travel if you showed your plane ticket at the window, but I think that's been discontinued. Alta/Bird fall short in terms of base amenities and nightlife if that's a priority, it's a barren wasteland at the resorts and most people get lodging below the canyon. Terrain and snow are more important to me so Alta/Bird are probably my favorite resorts in the country. Crowds can get bad there too though, especially on a powder day. Traffic on the canyon road can be a nightmare and with the tram offering base to peak vertical at Snowbird it gets packed and skied out incredibly quickly on a pow day from what I've read.
 
take lots and lots of money!! Plus as others have mentioned there is gondola that takes you to the slopes or takes you into town. BTW have you looked into the Cover-19 rules for the slopes? as far as I know, they have not finalized what the rules will be.
 
@sluggo72's point about COVID is valid. I knew a guy that was at Vail on a ski trip when all the ski resorts were shut down due to COVID.

Breck is nice, but I found that it gets pretty crowded, and it's very popular with the younger crowd. You pay a good deal to stay close to Breck, and I didn't think the skiing was all that exceptional.

My advice would be to VRBO or AirBNB a place in Frisco, CO. You can then go to Vail one day (I'd go more, especially if you can handle the back bowls), Beaver Creek one day, and Breck one day. You'll pay a lot in lift fees, and you wouldn't be renting equipment at any particular resort (there are a few places in Frisco that offer equipment rental -- just make sure you either get a vehicle that has bars on it and you bring along ropes/bungies/etc., or get a temporary rack when you rent a car in Denver).

The I-70 issue that @PSUSignore raised is legit, and I've experienced issues with it on several trips, but you kind of have to monitor things and adjust on the fly. I-70 does get closed down in big storms, so monitor the weather and plan which day you're going to which of the aforementioned resorts, and also monitor the weather for when to leave when you're retuning to Denver.

Copper Mt. is also in the area, but I've never skied it so I can't offer any type of thoughts about it.

Have fun.
 
@sluggo72's point about COVID is valid. I knew a guy that was at Vail on a ski trip when all the ski resorts were shut down due to COVID.

Breck is nice, but I found that it gets pretty crowded, and it's very popular with the younger crowd. You pay a good deal to stay close to Breck, and I didn't think the skiing was all that exceptional.

My advice would be to VRBO or AirBNB a place in Frisco, CO. You can then go to Vail one day (I'd go more, especially if you can handle the back bowls), Beaver Creek one day, and Breck one day. You'll pay a lot in lift fees, and you wouldn't be renting equipment at any particular resort (there are a few places in Frisco that offer equipment rental -- just make sure you either get a vehicle that has bars on it and you bring along ropes/bungies/etc., or get a temporary rack when you rent a car in Denver).

The I-70 issue that @PSUSignore raised is legit, and I've experienced issues with it on several trips, but you kind of have to monitor things and adjust on the fly. I-70 does get closed down in big storms, so monitor the weather and plan which day you're going to which of the aforementioned resorts, and also monitor the weather for when to leave when you're retuning to Denver.

Copper Mt. is also in the area, but I've never skied it so I can't offer any type of thoughts about it.

Have fun.
to that end...Vail's rules
 
Haven't skied at Breck, but spent 4 days there last summer. Rented a condo at the end of 4 oclock road near where it ends downtown. The 4 oclock ski run was next to our condo and we were 1 block from downtown. Pine Ridge Condos was the name of the place. We really liked it. Nice units, hottubs, etc. 2 min. walk to center of town. Tons of good restaurants and bars w/in walking distance. Our unit was 1 bedroom, 2 bath w/ a pullout couch in the living room.
 
I believe that all Vail Resorts properties are going to require a reservation to ski this year in order to limit crowds due to COVID. So, you may need to book your ski days ahead of time with whatever resort you want to try. In my experience, Vail and Beaver Creek have been much better skiing than Breckenridge, but to each his own.

Also, Steamboat Springs might be a good option. They are owned by a different company than Breck/Vail/BC, so maybe they won't have a BS reservation system. Steamboat is about 3 hours from Denver, as I recall. It is a great mountain, but I haven't been there to ski in a few years.
 
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I believe that all Vail Resorts properties are going to require a reservation to ski this year in order to limit crowds due to COVID. So, you may need to book your ski days ahead of time with whatever resort you want to try. In my experience, Vail and Beaver Creek have been much better experiences than Breckenridge, but to each his own.

Also, Steamboat Springs might be a good option. They are owned by a different company than Breck/Vail/BC, so maybe they won't have a BS reservation system. Steamboat is about 3 hours from Denver, as I recall. It is a great mountain, but I haven't been there to ski in a few years.
Knowing Vail they'll probably charge a reservation fee on top of the lift ticket prices.
 
New Era is correct in that Vail Resorts just announced that they believe in order to operate this year they are going to require access through a reservation system, the news release also stated that priority would be given to Season Pass holders. LET ME BE CLEAR - THIS HAS NOT BEEN FINALIZED. That said, given a normal year - I would tell you to avoid Breck like you would the plague or Covid 19 - whichever you prefer. Simply put, I think Breck sucks - the skiing is not that great (at least in my opinion and I have skied Breck between 20 and 35x over 19 of the past 21 seasons) and the town is just condos and t-shirt shops.

If you still choose to go to Breck - understand that while there is a gondola from town, the gondola stops running at 4:30PM - unlike say Telluride where it is a people mover, the gondola in Breck is a lift. Either way though, town or slopeside, nothing is that far that it cannot be walked/ubered/shuttled.

For skiing, I think Copper skis much better than Breck if you still want Summit county and has slightly less people and I like Frisco better (just a little bit) although it is still a condo town. You can take a bus to Copper or Breck from Frisco if you do not wish to drive. I wouldn't stay at Copper as it is just condos and limited places to eat/drink.

Not mentioned above, at least in what I saw, is Fraser/Winter Park - although I just saw an announcement that they (which means Copper will probably follow) will also be using a reservation system.

Other options - depending on how far you are willing to drive would be Steamboat (although again may require reservations to ski) which is a real town (don't get me wrong they have t-shirt shops and condos as well) but has a ranching history. Winter Carnival is a cool time in the boat. Also, I would mention Salida - but if you go here (really cool little town on the Arkansas River) you will need to drive 30ish min up to Monarch which is still a real Mom & Pop area.

And the end of the day, I hope you have fun where ever you decide.
 
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New Era is correct in that Vail Resorts just announced that they believe in order to operate this year they are going to require access through a reservation system, the news release also stated that priority would be given to Season Pass holders. LET ME BE CLEAR - THIS HAS NOT BEEN FINALIZED. That said, given a normal year - I would tell you to avoid Breck like you would the plague or Covid 19 - whichever you prefer. Simply put, I think Breck sucks - the skiing is not that great (at least in my opinion and I have skied Breck between 20 and 35x over 19 of the past 21 seasons) and the town is just condos and t-shirt shops.

If you still choose to go to Breck - understand that while there is a gondola from town, the gondola stops running at 4:30PM - unlike say Telluride where it is a people mover, the gondola in Breck is a lift. Either way though, town or slopeside, nothing is that far that it cannot be walked/ubered/shuttled.

For skiing, I think Copper skis much better than Breck if you still want Summit county and has slightly less people and I like Frisco better (just a little bit) although it is still a condo town. You can take a bus to Copper or Breck from Frisco if you do not wish to drive. I wouldn't stay at Copper as it is just condos and limited places to eat/drink.

Not mentioned above, at least in what I saw, is Fraser/Winter Park - although I just saw an announcement that they (which means Copper will probably follow) will also be using a reservation system.

Other options - depending on how far you are willing to drive would be Steamboat (although again may require reservations to ski) which is a real town (don't get me wrong they have t-shirt shops and condos as well) but has a ranching history. Winter Carnival is a cool time in the boat. Also, I would mention Salida - but if you go here (really cool little town on the Arkansas River) you will need to drive 30ish min up to Monarch which is still a real Mom & Pop area.

And the end of the day, I hope you have fun where ever you decide.

Thanks. Great stuff. Regarding the 'reservation system'. Usually when we go out West to ski, I book the lodging thru VRBO, then all of the lift tickets & equipment rentals thru the resort itself. Most of these resorts are now thru that "Epic Pass". I just looked at the Epic Pass site, and here is what they state:
> "To allow for physical distancing, we are implementing reservations for our 34 North American resorts to manage the number of guests on a given day. Reservations will be required every day of the season, with our pass holders receiving priority access."

I'm guessing that based on this, as long as I book my lift tickets in advance, I should be good ?? In a way, it might be nice. Keep the lift lines low and keep the trail traffic low too. I see this mostly stopping the walk-ups. People will not be able to just wake up in the morning, and decide "let's go ski ________", because they will not have the reservation ticket.???

Here is the tricky dilemma I have with booking our ski trip. I grew up in PA and spent a ton of time hitting the slopes in the Poconos. In my prime, I was very comfortable Black/Blue trail skier. But moved to Atlanta in '92 and skills were not maintained. Also grew older, and have had knee surgery on both knees. So just can not take the pounding of all day Blacks. Can hit 1 or 2 Blacks, but then knees feel it. My two girls were both born & raised in Atlanta. They get the 1 ski trip per year. They've gotten pretty good. But it's not like they have a ton of access. It's 1 time per year and 3-4 days. They are comfortable on Blues. And will try a Black. My wife is a "hater". She hates being cold, she hates to fall, she hates to not be good at something, she hates her feet in the boots.... She is good with 2 or 3 Green runs and then hit the town for drinks & shopping. Me & my girls usually meet my wife later in day at lodge or in town.

Based on all of that ........ What would you recommend????
 
Travel north to Snowshoe WV! You can drive there, it will be a little cheaper plus it was developed by the same people that did Breckinridge!! ( Vail resorts?). The village is a little Vail, the condos we stayed in at Breckinridge were exactly I mean exactly ( down to the linens and throw pillows) like the ones at Snowshoe!! Only difference you start at the top of the mountain. You girls will love Silver Creek area be right up their alley. Hope to see you there!!
 
Thanks. Great stuff. Regarding the 'reservation system'. Usually when we go out West to ski, I book the lodging thru VRBO, then all of the lift tickets & equipment rentals thru the resort itself. Most of these resorts are now thru that "Epic Pass". I just looked at the Epic Pass site, and here is what they state:
> "To allow for physical distancing, we are implementing reservations for our 34 North American resorts to manage the number of guests on a given day. Reservations will be required every day of the season, with our pass holders receiving priority access."

I'm guessing that based on this, as long as I book my lift tickets in advance, I should be good ?? In a way, it might be nice. Keep the lift lines low and keep the trail traffic low too. I see this mostly stopping the walk-ups. People will not be able to just wake up in the morning, and decide "let's go ski ________", because they will not have the reservation ticket.???

Here is the tricky dilemma I have with booking our ski trip. I grew up in PA and spent a ton of time hitting the slopes in the Poconos. In my prime, I was very comfortable Black/Blue trail skier. But moved to Atlanta in '92 and skills were not maintained. Also grew older, and have had knee surgery on both knees. So just can not take the pounding of all day Blacks. Can hit 1 or 2 Blacks, but then knees feel it. My two girls were both born & raised in Atlanta. They get the 1 ski trip per year. They've gotten pretty good. But it's not like they have a ton of access. It's 1 time per year and 3-4 days. They are comfortable on Blues. And will try a Black. My wife is a "hater". She hates being cold, she hates to fall, she hates to not be good at something, she hates her feet in the boots.... She is good with 2 or 3 Green runs and then hit the town for drinks & shopping. Me & my girls usually meet my wife later in day at lodge or in town.

Based on all of that ........ What would you recommend????

Breck is located at one of the highest elevations in the state, so it tends to be colder than other areas in Colorado. You really might want to look at Vail or Beaver Creek. BC in particular does a lot of grooming of its slopes, which makes many of their blue and green runs very friendly to ski.
 
I agree with the BC recommendation - they groom runs during the day as that is what a lot of their clients are looking for - I have never skied Deer Valley but BC takes grooming and their Blue and Black groomed runs very seriously. They also have some very steep long bump runs and the Rock Creek area (at least that is what I think it is called) off the gate above Rose Bowl can be great powder skiing. There is not much to the town of Avon (below BC) but there would be plenty to do in the BC village for your wife. The only thing is that Eagle county (BC and Vail) are pricier than Summit county (Breck, Keystone in the Vail family or Copper and Abasin in the Alterra (Ikon Pass) extended family).
 
I'm pretty sure Snowshoe was actually developed by Intrawest (company that owned Whistler prior to the Vail purchase). Funny how everything got split up as most of Intrawest (they did not own they leased properties like Copper which is still owned by Powdr Corp and operated under a deal with Alterra).
 
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Breck is located at one of the highest elevations in the state, so it tends to be colder than other areas in Colorado. You really might want to look at Vail or Beaver Creek. BC in particular does a lot of grooming of its slopes, which makes many of their blue and green runs very friendly to ski.

Cool. Thanks for the BC recommendation. I would have never thought of that one.
 
I agree with the BC recommendation - they groom runs during the day as that is what a lot of their clients are looking for - I have never skied Deer Valley but BC takes grooming and their Blue and Black groomed runs very seriously. They also have some very steep long bump runs and the Rock Creek area (at least that is what I think it is called) off the gate above Rose Bowl can be great powder skiing. There is not much to the town of Avon (below BC) but there would be plenty to do in the BC village for your wife. The only thing is that Eagle county (BC and Vail) are pricier than Summit county (Breck, Keystone in the Vail family or Copper and Abasin in the Alterra (Ikon Pass) extended family).

Funny you bring up DV. That has become our go-to. About 4 years ago we tried DV for 1st time. With our dynamics, DV has become the favorite and have gone there each year since. DV has the entire equipment exchange/pick-up down to a science. You get a VRBO within walking distance of either lower or middle mountain, and it's so convenient to just walk over pick up equipment in morning, and drop it off at end of day. We settled on the lower mountain area just because it's an easier drive right into PC. About a 1 mile flat drive from some of the VRBO condos into main street PC. DV has a great mix of green-blue-black runs for everyone.

BC sounds very deer valley-ish.
 
Travel north to Snowshoe WV! You can drive there, it will be a little cheaper plus it was developed by the same people that did Breckinridge!! ( Vail resorts?). The village is a little Vail, the condos we stayed in at Breckinridge were exactly I mean exactly ( down to the linens and throw pillows) like the ones at Snowshoe!! Only difference you start at the top of the mountain. You girls will love Silver Creek area be right up their alley. Hope to see you there!!

Might have to try Snowshoe on a long weekend. ATL to WV is not exactly an "easy" drive. Probably a good 7-8 hours would be my guess. But it sounds nice.
 
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Cool. Thanks for the BC recommendation. I would have never thought of that one.

Depending on where you live, you might be able to get a direct flight to Eagle, which is just west of BC/Vail. There is usually some direct service to and from Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and NY as I recall.
 
Funny you bring up DV. That has become our go-to. About 4 years ago we tried DV for 1st time. With our dynamics, DV has become the favorite and have gone there each year since. DV has the entire equipment exchange/pick-up down to a science. You get a VRBO within walking distance of either lower or middle mountain, and it's so convenient to just walk over pick up equipment in morning, and drop it off at end of day. We settled on the lower mountain area just because it's an easier drive right into PC. About a 1 mile flat drive from some of the VRBO condos into main street PC. DV has a great mix of green-blue-black runs for everyone.

BC sounds very deer valley-ish.
I have heard that before when describing BC - if people have never been there but had been to DV - they would immediately say - they sound similar - grooming is a focus but they have other areas that are steeper/more challenging than their respective reputations would lead you to believe. They also both cater to people where costs is not necessarily the driving factor.

I'd like to ski DV but with the Ikon having partner days at Alta/Snowbird/Brighton and unlimited days at Solitude the probability that I would leave Big/Little Cottonwood Canyon area is remote.
 
Depending on where you live, you might be able to get a direct flight to Eagle, which is just west of BC/Vail. There is usually some direct service to and from Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and NY as I recall.

Not sure if you saw my initial post. This trip is being done to also crank out a college visit to U. of CO for my oldest daughter. We typically do our yearly family ski trip to Utah (Park City & Deer Valley). My oldest is in 11th grade. Apparently U of Colorado has a very good Vet Science program and she wants to visit U of C. So this year, instead of our normal PC/DV trip to Utah, I was thinking of taking day 1 to tour & visit U of CO, then taking last 3-4 days to ski....... So our flights would be ATL-Denver
 
Not sure if you saw my initial post. This trip is being done to also crank out a college visit to U. of CO for my oldest daughter. We typically do our yearly family ski trip to Utah (Park City & Deer Valley). My oldest is in 11th grade. Apparently U of Colorado has a very good Vet Science program and she wants to visit U of C. So this year, instead of our normal PC/DV trip to Utah, I was thinking of taking day 1 to tour & visit U of CO, then taking last 3-4 days to ski....... So our flights would be ATL-Denver

Sorry, I didn't see that. When we come into CO, we have had good luck with the Eagle airport, but I can see why you need to fly into DEN for your college visit. You still could do a one-way into DEN and a one-way back to ATL out of Eagle, but if you can schedule your return flight out of DEN for a weekday, the I-70 traffic shouldn't be too bad. Just avoid a Sat or Sun return. Have a great trip!
 
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Thanks. Great stuff. Regarding the 'reservation system'. Usually when we go out West to ski, I book the lodging thru VRBO, then all of the lift tickets & equipment rentals thru the resort itself. Most of these resorts are now thru that "Epic Pass". I just looked at the Epic Pass site, and here is what they state:
> "To allow for physical distancing, we are implementing reservations for our 34 North American resorts to manage the number of guests on a given day. Reservations will be required every day of the season, with our pass holders receiving priority access."

I'm guessing that based on this, as long as I book my lift tickets in advance, I should be good ?? In a way, it might be nice. Keep the lift lines low and keep the trail traffic low too. I see this mostly stopping the walk-ups. People will not be able to just wake up in the morning, and decide "let's go ski ________", because they will not have the reservation ticket.???

Here is the tricky dilemma I have with booking our ski trip. I grew up in PA and spent a ton of time hitting the slopes in the Poconos. In my prime, I was very comfortable Black/Blue trail skier. But moved to Atlanta in '92 and skills were not maintained. Also grew older, and have had knee surgery on both knees. So just can not take the pounding of all day Blacks. Can hit 1 or 2 Blacks, but then knees feel it. My two girls were both born & raised in Atlanta. They get the 1 ski trip per year. They've gotten pretty good. But it's not like they have a ton of access. It's 1 time per year and 3-4 days. They are comfortable on Blues. And will try a Black. My wife is a "hater". She hates being cold, she hates to fall, she hates to not be good at something, she hates her feet in the boots.... She is good with 2 or 3 Green runs and then hit the town for drinks & shopping. Me & my girls usually meet my wife later in day at lodge or in town.

Based on all of that ........ What would you recommend????
I do the same... booking a short term rental and getting lift tickets and ski rentals on my own. STRs sometimes have pretty unforgiving cancellation policies, make sure you do your homework. With COVID, I am holding off on making any ski trip plans until later than usual. Our trip might not happen this year at all. If so, it would be the first time we'd miss the trip in nearly 15 years.
 
A lot of good input here. Breck can be super crowded, but that might be suppressed this year with reservations. Breck is nice for being a real town and not a manufactured one like Vail and most of the rest. I'm sure there are some ski in/out options, but they would be very high $ and go quickly. I echo the Copper recommendation as that is my go to place being a day tripper. If I were staying the week, also consider Crested Butte, Steamboat or Telluride and avoid some of the crowds and traffic.
 
A lot of good input here. Breck can be super crowded, but that might be suppressed this year with reservations. Breck is nice for being a real town and not a manufactured one like Vail and most of the rest. I'm sure there are some ski in/out options, but they would be very high $ and go quickly. I echo the Copper recommendation as that is my go to place being a day tripper. If I were staying the week, also consider Crested Butte, Steamboat or Telluride and avoid some of the crowds and traffic.

Love CB... cool little town on Elk Ave and good ski in/out options plus their advanced terrain is excellent
 
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Might have to try Snowshoe on a long weekend. ATL to WV is not exactly an "easy" drive. Probably a good 7-8 hours would be my guess. But it sounds nice.
OMG - no, don't do this. It would be a miserable experience - that's a long, hard drive and Snowshoe on a weekend is just as crowded as any of the closest resorts to Denver. Plus, you could get rain, sleet, ice, etc.

Go west, young man!
 
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Funny you bring up DV. That has become our go-to. About 4 years ago we tried DV for 1st time. With our dynamics, DV has become the favorite and have gone there each year since. DV has the entire equipment exchange/pick-up down to a science. You get a VRBO within walking distance of either lower or middle mountain, and it's so convenient to just walk over pick up equipment in morning, and drop it off at end of day. We settled on the lower mountain area just because it's an easier drive right into PC. About a 1 mile flat drive from some of the VRBO condos into main street PC. DV has a great mix of green-blue-black runs for everyone.

BC sounds very deer valley-ish.
Kiber - I was thinking about skiing this weekend - Copper and Breck both posted pictures of dustings on the 10 mile range on Saturday morning so winter is coming (I wasn't sure I would ever type that after the hottest August on record and not being outside because it was like breathing in a pack of cigarette smoke) but another option for you - given what we have been discussing and your statements for your likes and the fondness for DV - check out Snowmass. Ski-in/ski-out options and buses every 20 minutes to Aspen and back if you wanted to do that for dinner/walk around town, large and relatively uncrowded with long groomers of all ability levels as well as some challenging terrain. Also, if your knees are up for it and you have a day to go steep - Highlands is legit!
 
Kiber - I was thinking about skiing this weekend - Copper and Breck both posted pictures of dustings on the 10 mile range on Saturday morning so winter is coming (I wasn't sure I would ever type that after the hottest August on record and not being outside because it was like breathing in a pack of cigarette smoke) but another option for you - given what we have been discussing and your statements for your likes and the fondness for DV - check out Snowmass. Ski-in/ski-out options and buses every 20 minutes to Aspen and back if you wanted to do that for dinner/walk around town, large and relatively uncrowded with long groomers of all ability levels as well as some challenging terrain. Also, if your knees are up for it and you have a day to go steep - Highlands is legit!

Thanks again. I took some of the earlier advice and looked a bunch over the weekend at Beaver Creek. Ouch.... you guys were not joking about CO being expensive. Kind of nuts. I usually book a condo thru VRBO. Like I mentioned in previous post, about 4 years ago Deer Valley became our "go to" destination. I consider DV the kind of "up-scale neighbor" to Park City. I usually get a very nice condo either mid mountain or lower mountain. Both give you very short walks to the lifts (like a 100 yard walk), walk to restaurants, bars, lodges. And Main Street in down town Park City is about a 2 mile car ride. Uber is about a 5 minute Uber ride. ..... I'd said Beaver Creek was about 2X's Deer Valley on the lodging. For what I pay for a 2BR/2B condo about 100 yards from lifts at DV, I 'd be talking a 1BR/1B unit at BC with comparable distance to the lifts. I'm now actually debating making this 2 separate trips. I trip just out to visit U of Colorado. Fly into Denver on a Friday, tour around UC and Boulder all day Fri/Sat and then fly back Sunday. Then, do Utah/DV on our regular family ski trip.
 
Thanks again. I took some of the earlier advice and looked a bunch over the weekend at Beaver Creek. Ouch.... you guys were not joking about CO being expensive. Kind of nuts. I usually book a condo thru VRBO. Like I mentioned in previous post, about 4 years ago Deer Valley became our "go to" destination. I consider DV the kind of "up-scale neighbor" to Park City. I usually get a very nice condo either mid mountain or lower mountain. Both give you very short walks to the lifts (like a 100 yard walk), walk to restaurants, bars, lodges. And Main Street in down town Park City is about a 2 mile car ride. Uber is about a 5 minute Uber ride. ..... I'd said Beaver Creek was about 2X's Deer Valley on the lodging. For what I pay for a 2BR/2B condo about 100 yards from lifts at DV, I 'd be talking a 1BR/1B unit at BC with comparable distance to the lifts. I'm now actually debating making this 2 separate trips. I trip just out to visit U of Colorado. Fly into Denver on a Friday, tour around UC and Boulder all day Fri/Sat and then fly back Sunday. Then, do Utah/DV on our regular family ski trip.
dont know where you start from, but I just got tickets on Frontier from Cincinnati OH for January for like $75!!
 
I always favor the more remote resorts for my group trips due to crowds, and we always try to ski weekdays as much as possible. My usual routine is to travel on Saturday, ski Sun-Wed, travel on Thursday. There's nothing quite like going to a massive resort and feeling like you have the place to yourself. Big Sky is phenomenal in that regard. I really like the SLC resorts too, particularly Alta/Bird. I feel like those resorts have the best combination of snow, terrain and proximity to a large airport that you can find in North America. One advantage they have is with such a good airport and proximity you can ski the same day you travel if your flights are early/late enough. They even used to offer a free lift ticket on the same day of travel if you showed your plane ticket at the window, but I think that's been discontinued. Alta/Bird fall short in terms of base amenities and nightlife if that's a priority, it's a barren wasteland at the resorts and most people get lodging below the canyon. Terrain and snow are more important to me so Alta/Bird are probably my favorite resorts in the country. Crowds can get bad there too though, especially on a powder day. Traffic on the canyon road can be a nightmare and with the tram offering base to peak vertical at Snowbird it gets packed and skied out incredibly quickly on a pow day from what I've read.
I second Alta/Bird, but that doesn't help this guy.
 
dont know where you start from, but I just got tickets on Frontier from Cincinnati OH for January for like $75!!

Airfare is not issue. I live in ATL, so getting decent flights to anywhere from Atlanta is easy. It's the lodging. Maybe I am spoiled. I try to get a condo within about 100 yards of lifts, town, shops, restaurants..... that is very easy to do in the Park City / Deer valley area.
 
Airfare is not issue. I live in ATL, so getting decent flights to anywhere from Atlanta is easy. It's the lodging. Maybe I am spoiled. I try to get a condo within about 100 yards of lifts, town, shops, restaurants..... that is very easy to do in the Park City / Deer valley area.

Never been there but it's on my list since it has an old school feel... but anyone know Eldora ski resort? Close to Boulder ... Probably doesn't have a town but not sure about lodging, etc.... Just a thought since it's about 20 miles from the town of Boulder
 
Thanks again. I took some of the earlier advice and looked a bunch over the weekend at Beaver Creek. Ouch.... you guys were not joking about CO being expensive. Kind of nuts.

Kiber, you might find better rates at Edwards or Avon, which are towns near BC. But if you want to stay on the slopes, maybe Keystone (1 hour from Denver), Winter Park (1 hour from Denver), Steamboat (3 hours from Denver), or Crested Butte (4 hours from Denver) would have more reasonable rates.
 
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