Hi! We are contemplating taking our first ever ski/board trip out West, flying in and out of Denver. I am looking for recommendations for ski resorts. We don’t really care about shopping, town nightlife, fine dining or luxury. We are Ohio skiers and simply excited for the snow and for a run that takes longer than 90 seconds, and of course we want to get the most bang for our buck. I will have a teen with me so don’t really need “family friendly” or child centered activities, basically just looking to ski and he snowboards, for reasonable rates. We also don’t need difficult terrain; we’re both intermediate and love long scenic runs not necessarily a lot of thrill/difficult runs. Son would like a terrain park but I have to assume those are a given.
Thanks for recommendations! On my list so far I have: Keystone, Breckenridge, Araphoe Basin, Steamboat and
Copper Mountain.
Copper and Keystone would be least expensive and close to DIA. A-Basin is cheap, but no really close places to stay, although you can look on VRBO. Steamboat is great, but can be a more difficult drive, in my mind, when the weather is bad. When we skiied a lot, we went to Breck - love the town, and great places to rent right on the mountains. But, if you don’t care about the food, shopping and want to spend less I think Keystone and Copper are what you’d want. We always did VRBO - you can usually find a good deal and have a bit more space. Although, there are the chain lodging places just outside of town or in Dillon or Silverthorne that usually have very good rates as well and you could ski at a couple of the mountains from there.
We like Winter Park/ Mary Jane to avoid the Eisenhower tunnel traffic. We’ve found some good vrbo rates at Zephyr (slopeside). But we often prefer more room so pick something further out. Parking at Mary Jane is easy.
We’ve found the biggest variety of slopeside options at Breckenridge.
Staying at Copper Mountain was one of our better ski trips. The condo was so close to the slopes and no hopping on and off buses. At Keystone unless you stay right at the village you will still be hopping on buses. And if I remember correctly to go to another part of the mountain to ski you do have to take a bus. That all sounds fine except when you are waiting at the end of the day for your correct bus to take you where you need to go.
When we stayed at Copper we booked directly through their reservation number but another member of our group booked a nice condo there through vrbo.
I like Winter Park for easy slopes all the way up the mountain. Arapahoe Basin is more geared towards advanced skiers I think, but check. Steamboat is harder to get to but may have more snow, not sure what the conditions are like this season. Breckenridge is a nice town, even if you just want more dining options, not necessarily fine dining.
Steamboat is also lower elevation than the others, and for flatlanders that can make a big difference. You can also fly into Haydon airport and just rent a car there, or take a shuttle and stay at a condo on the hill. Sometimes the tickets are not that much more than just flying into DIA and renting a car. Once you are at the resort (and this is true for Copper and Keystone as well) you don’t really need a car. You can either walk to the restaurants or take a city bus around the village or in Steamboat into town. Steamboat also has a second hill in town for ski jumping and sometimes there is ‘bobsleding’ (it’s really fun).
A Basin is cheaper, but significantly smaller and colder. I don’t think there is anywhere to stay that isn’t 30 minutes away, so every morning you’d have that drive. Keystone has night skiing if that’s of interest. All the resorts have a lot of ‘extras’ like ice skating and tubing, all levels of costs for eating (except ‘cheap’, not much is cheap!).
Thanks! So, it sounds like night skiing isn’t a given? I never would have thought of that. We are used to it being everywhere here, probably because our areas are so much smaller and easier to light, or they need to offer night skiing since the season is so short. What time do most resorts close down for the day? Do you have to pay for a night lift ticket? @twoinanddone
We just spent a week in Steamboat and the conditions were incredible. There is a ton of snow and all the trails are open. The weather was in the twenties/sunny/no wind during the day and with the inversion, my kids were skiing in hoodies and vests. We are from the midwest too where night skiing is a regular thing. Trust me, in Colorado, if you take your 1st run around 8:30 AM, break for lunch on the mountain and take the last lift/gondola up around 4:00 PM, you will be more than happy to hit the hot tub and be done for the day! Steamboat is amazing, it’s our second home, but I would avoid driving there from Denver during the winter. Take the puddle jumper from DEN. Also, as someone above suggested, do be mindful of the altitude and the headaches, dehydration, etc it can cause if you aren’t acclimated. Have a great time!
Thanks @BSL1199 glad to hear your trip was great. I guess I need to research how to acclimate, besides drinking water. And yes, I’m sure I’ll be exhausted, I was thinking more we may do a later afternoon break and then head back out for night but maybe not…I’m getting older and have a harder time seeing during night skiing.
Hello again! We’ve settled on Keystone and now I’m wondering about renting a car. I’ve read about some shuttles from DEN to Keystone, but I’m wondering about dining. We’ll have a condo but will probably eat dinner out each night. Are there places to shuttle to for dinner, or will we need a car for dining options? Only staying like 4-5 nights, and I bet that on-resort dining is pretty pricey. Other than dining though, I don’t know that we would need a car…we don’t like bars, shopping, spas etc…we’d be pretty much ski and veg in the room.
If you’ve settled for Keystone, I am too late with my advice - but if you get sick and tired of prices charged by the Vail Resorts (Keystone is one of them), next time consider a place that is beautiful, inexpensive, and almost always overlooked by visitors from out of state - Loveland (skiloveland.com). You can sleep in Silver Plume or Georgetown, and ski for $42.50 a day if you purchase their 4-pack tickets ($169 for 4, no blackout dates). A lot to enjoy, the views are endless, hardly any crowd, free parking, unpretentious restaurants; the lifts may be slower but it just gives your legs more time to rest.
For this trip, do rent a car in Denver, Breck is worth visiting, as mentioned before, and if you don’t mind a 90-minute drive one evening, you can go to Glenwood Springs, probably the best hot springs in the US, certainly the largest.
For dining, the mall in Silverthorne has several cheap and decent dining options.
Thanks @ArtsyKidDad , haven’t booked anything yet so it’s still an option! Keystone has a 4 day pass for $249 which isn’t bad, but the idea of less crowds and lines sounds great. We’ll be super impressed by any mountain skiing and don’t need bells and whistles, but we do need a good selection of blue runs. Thank you, will check it out!
@TS0104, just a disclaimer: this is a resort with a strong “local hill” vibe, the opposite of fancy. But it is a local hill in Colorado, so the size, and variety are all there. I discovered it only a few years ago but now I return there every year, to ski 2-3 days out of my ~25 days total.
Blue runs are plentiful, and you may be tempted to try some black ones too - many of them, especially those from the ridge at the top have just 1-2 tough turns, and then become pretty mellow (when the visibility is good, the ridge is a must-see place on the Continental Divide, directly above the Eisenhower Tunnel!)
I’m surprised Keystone has such a great deal, when Vail 1-day ticket is $200+ but still, lodging prices in Keystone will be quite different than in those small towns east of the tunnel.
Enjoy Colorado, and try Utah next time - cheap lodging in SLC, tons of food options and attractions, some of the best and most plentiful snow on earth.
When we started going to Colorado skiing back when the kids were young, as a family we had two preferred areas. One, we’d stay in Aspen and ski Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, and Buttermilk. We really enjoyed being able to go to different mountains depending on our whims. Most of our time was spent on Sowmass because we loved the length, number, and variety of runs. We spent the least time at Buttermilk—but we also went in spring, so being lower elevation, it was often too sloggy.
Our other favorite area was Summitt County. We’d rent a house/condo and ski Copper, Breckinridge, Keystone, occasionally Vail, occasionally Deer Mountain. We found we spent most of our time at Cooper, Breckinridge, or Keystone. Again, we liked having various mountains to choose from. .
These were GREAT family trips—with aunts, uncles, and cousins!
We were much less satisfied with Steamboat, only having one mountain to explore. Same with Telluride.
Thanks all, in a late development we are now considering Heavenly at Lake Tahoe (DH won’t be skiing a lot and has a friend near the area). Thoughts? Would it still give us our “out west” skiing experience or is it a bad idea to come out West and not go to CO or UT?
Thanks for everything so far! It sounds like there are many great choices!