I have an important birthday coming up in 2027 and my hope is to leverage this milestone into a group ski trip to Colorado or New England. My preference is for the former, but given the costs involved of flying out west, driving north instead may be more practical.

I think there would be 3-6 of us total with at least three of us coming from the Mid-Atlantic.

Skier profile: 40-50ish y/o dudes who only get out 1-2 annually in Mid-Atlantic. We can hold our own on Eastern hardpack, but anticipate getting lessons for real snow.

Colorado

Fly into Denver on a Sunday or Monday

Rent a car that can carry 4 people, plus luggage. I think we'd rent skis in Colorado.

Stay in Denver area the first night - get a little acclimated to altitude

Travel to resort area - would likely stay off mountain, probably two to a room

2 - 3 days on the mountain

I think we'd probably get season passes since lift tickets are so expensive, but open to other ideas.

Distance from Denver isn't primary consideration, but going all the way to Steamboat might be too far. 

What's a ballpark figure per person to make this happen?

New England

If Colorado is cost-prohibitive for the group, I think pivoting to Vermont is likely. Maine or NH would be under consideration as well.

We'd likely drive up and consider renting skis to take with us, rather than get them in Vermont if it's cheaper.

Same general idea, stay off the mountain, 2 to a room.

Probably not take lessons.

No car rental.

How much less expensive would New England be?

We did something fairly similar last year to Vail / Beaver Creek. We opted to fly into Eagle Pass to avoid road closures and rent a car.

Sat - travel day

Sun - Vail

Mon - BC

Tue - Vail

Wed - travel day

I think I spent about 1500 without lift tickets ( I had an Epic Pass last season) 

Lodging was about 600 per person for 4 nts.

Flights were around 480 with bags. United from PIT connect in DEN.

The rest was food/beverages, Uber and airport parking.

There was a FREE shuttle but IMO it was a pain in the ass so we used Uber.

That was our 4th trip to Summit Co and it seems to get more expensive each time.  Our gang jokes that the days of 100 per night for lodging are long gone. 150 per night was a stretch and a shuttle / uber from the lifts.