Looking at taking a quick trip somewhere Dec 30-Jan 3 and would like some thoughts on +/- of where to go out west for a low budget intro to big mountain skiing & riding for my sons. The older is very good, running all of the steeps and trees at Smuggler's Notch in Vermont, comfortable in all of the trees and steeps at Timberline. Younger is, as expected, a solid blue+ on hard pack and anything goes in powder. I am using my airline miles, so can fly into most any airport, but trying to stay as economical as possible on lift tickets and accomodations. Not wanting to make the big trip to Whistler quite yet (saving that for a full week trip in the coming years), but most anywhere else is an option. Also, rental car rates will be in play. Ideal would be somewhere with some open bowls for them to experience. The younger will be on a snowboard, so want to avoid places like Vail with its flat traverses.
Mook, believe the Wasatch have received about 2.5 feet of snow in last two days. You might consider going to Salt Lake City. There are cheap motels in the SLC suburbs like Crystal Inn that are not far from places like Snowbird and Brighton. Airfares are a bit high this year to most western destinations, but SLC is competitive. Park City also has good snow right now and $40 bunk beds at Chateau Apres Lodge two blocks from lifts. The elevation in PC is not bad, making it a good choice for short term visit when they have decent snow. All the UT ski areas are closer to airport than CO areas, and most lower elevation too.
Brighton is especially snowboarder-friendly and I always wanted to stay slopeside there at relatively inexpensive, but spartan Brighton Inn, where they offer ski and stay packages.
It may be a bit out of the way but Telluride is a great place where you can have both reasonable accommodations and great skiing in addition to a variety of terrain. I was there a couple of years ago and loved it. I know some of the hotels in the village of Telluride go for as low as $120 a night and walking distance to the Coonskin and the commuter gondola. You don't have to drive anywhere once you get there. But getting there is a bit out of the way, you fly into Montrose or Denver.
Two kids and 5 days --> minimize travel time. i'd also vote wastach. otherwise, its normally a lot cheaper to fly into Denver and at Jan 8 you should not have crowds anywhere. spend the first night in a budget motel near the airport to check the altittude and then drive up to winterpark or summit county rental. you can ski 3 or 4 days and then zip home. if you can do trees at smuggs then no problem out there. have fun.
pagamony wrote:
Two kids and 5 days --> minimize travel time. i'd also vote wastach. otherwise, its normally a lot cheaper to fly into Denver and at Jan 8 you should not have crowds anywhere. spend the first night in a budget motel near the airport to check the altittude and then drive up to winterpark or summit county rental. you can ski 3 or 4 days and then zip home. if you can do trees at smuggs then no problem out there. have fun.
Salt Lake is hard to compete with. You are within 30-60 minutes from 9 ski areas. Alta is reporting 144” for the season.
Lotsa Utah lovers on this board. Nothing wrong with that, the Wasatch is great. But if you are using FF miles, sometimes the seats just aren't available into SLC. And some folks just might want to go somewhere other than Utah. So I will take the bait and suggest competing options.
If you can get seats into Denver, you can stay quite cheaply in Golden/Lakewood (west side of Denver), from which A-Basin and Loveland are only an hour away (mostly on four lane btw) and the other Summit County areas (Copper, Breck,Keystone) are only another 20 mins. You can also look at lodging options along I-70 though likely more pricey.
Also consider Reno/Tahoe. Reno has a fair bit of air service and hotels, and Tahoe is quite close with lots of ski hill choices.
Boise is pretty good for getting last minute award seats (I have 20+ years experience with that effort) but there aren't a ton of inexpensive places to stay in/near Sun Valley. Rental car prices there can be hit or miss too.
Wild card: Portland/Mt Hood. Probably relatively easy to get award seats to Portland, lots of lodging, and Mt. Hood w/ 3 ski areas (Mt Hood Meadows, Skibowl and Timberline) is only 60-90 mins away depending on where you stay.
All of the above have good open bowl skiing and have been dumped on so far this year.
thanks everyone! Looked over the options and hit a deal flying into Colorado Springs using miles, got mid size SUV with AWD for $18 per day through Thrifty (that was a BIG savings), and to top it off, contacted friends in Salida and have a place to stay free. Going to hit Wolf Creek, Monarch and Copper, but keeping options open to follow the snow. Whole trip, including lift tickets, for under $700... even including airport parking!!! Taking oldest son only, younger one wants to do this trip next year alone with me. Woo hoo!!!
Grew up skiing Monarch. Love love love that hill. Deep snow and no crowds. I am jealous.
Could one of us take younger son's seat?
:-)
Those 3 areas are widely separated and not close to Colo Springs either. You'll be doing a lot of driving in a short trip. I'd go with just one, maybe 2 areas. Monarch is closest, and it is a great hill. Monarch and Wolf Creek will be uncrowded, copper will be crowded until Jan. 2.
Cooper or Copper? Cuts down on the driving a bit; but still a lot of driving.
solid plan. i'd likely just stay at monarch. cooper is not really worth the extra drive on short trip. good luck.
don't know why i read the 8th when you wrote the 3rd.
mook21 wrote:
Going to hit Wolf Creek, Monarch and Copper, but keeping options open to follow the snow.
Enjoy the trip. Remember that the holiday crowd will still be in town thru at least the morning of the 3rd. New Years weekend crowds are actrually bigger than Christmas crowds. That being said, I'd avoid the big "name" areas (Breck, Copper, Keystone, etc). If you decide to venture further north to follow snow, Loveland and A-Basin would work, and you could orobably stay at the Super 8 in Georgetown for under $60/night. Georgetown to Loveland is maybe 15 minutes on I-70. The Basin is maybe 25 minutes away via Loveland Pass (I-70 to Colorado 6 westbound). Also, you can still get a lift ticket deal at the Basin: adult 3 days for $149, and kids thru age 14 3 days for $99..
Check at food stores in the Springs (King Super or Safeway) for other lift ticket deals.
If you decide on Monarch (probably a good choice on a holiday weekend), check the Monarch website for lodging deals:
http://www.skimonarch.com/lodging/
Remember that Crested Butte is only about 75 miles from Monarch. to give you yet another option.
If you want a non-skiing diversion, the Great Gorge is maybe 60 miles east of Monarch, and the train ride through the gorge starts in Canon City 10 miles further east.
Denis wrote:
Those 3 areas are widely separated and not close to Colo Springs either. You'll be doing a lot of driving in a short trip. I'd go with just one, maybe 2 areas. Monarch is closest, and it is a great hill. Monarch and Wolf Creek will be uncrowded, copper will be crowded until Jan. 2.
Salida is close to Monarch, it's not far from Crested Butte, either.
