Advice on Colorado Ski Resorts

Benny Profane wrote

It's still there, you know. You just have to earn your turns. Many people use it. Nice parking lot at the bottom.

http://berthoudpass.org/tag/backcountry-skiing/

Good place to learn serious backcountry skills.

Last time I was there we hiked it...

Colorado was a BC disaster for a while this winter..  Bad layer F'd everything up...  

snoloco wrote

Colorado looks like a much better option than Utah.  

Snoloco, you and your parents should look into this deal, the Intrawest Passport.
Somewhat similar to the Mountain Collective concept, the passholder can ski 6 days at 6 different resorts (Winter Park, Steamboat, Stratton, Mont Tremblant, Snowshoe, Blue Mountain).  For a family such as yours, the first adult passport is $549 (let's say your dad), the second adult is $399 (your mom), teens are $199 (you), kids under 12 are free. No blackouts.

The $1147 cost for you and your folks is in line with (or less than) what you'd pay for 5-day passes on your Colorado vacation (I just priced 5-day passes at Breck at $460 each for 13 yrs old and up), but you'd get the bonus of 6 free days at  Stratton (or any of the other mountains).  Something to think about...

Here's the hitch.  The initial pricing on those passports was only good through March 14. They're not available now, but Intrawest's website says they will again be offered as of April 14 (presumably at a higher price).

This deal could make Winter Park or Steamboat a very attractive option for your family.  If you go this route, your Pop can buy me a beer at the Gore bar for all the $$ I saved him .

If I was going to do a trip out west with my family next winter, I'd consider going this route and skipping the Gore season passes.  We could do 6 easy day trips to Stratton (90 minutes from home), two 3-day trips up to Tremblant, and the trip to Winter Park or Steamboat.  My family's cost (based on the early pricing) would be $948 (both kids are under 12).  That's about half the price of our Gore passes - plenty of money left in the budget to buy Price Chopper discount tix for Gore / WF or whatever.  I might be talking myself into this...

snoloco,

If you want to ski more than one resort/area in your Colorado trip and don't mind not lodging on the mountain, Frisco, CO is a great little town. I spent 1 1/2 days there two weeks ago visiting a friend following some work related travel, and was impressed how many great ski areas within a very short 30-40 min drive (some are about 15-20 min) (assuming no weather situation):

Copper Mtn  (7 miles)
Breckenridge (11 miles)
Keystone     (12 miles)
A-basin (17 miles)
Vail   (27 miles)
Beaver Creek   (37 miles)

(Breckenridge, Keystone, A-basin, Vail, and Beaver Creek are all on the Epic Pass (and there is a 4-day Epic pass)).

I did Beaver Creek the first full day, Keystone on the second 1/2 day, leaving the mountain at 11:30am to catch a 4pm return flight out of Denver (less than 90 min. drive). No problem with traffic midweek before rush hours. All assuming good weather...

I just mapquested the driving time between SLC and some Utah resorts and Denver and some Colorado ski resorts.  Also, I looked at the trail maps more closely and there is more intermediate terrain and groomers than I thought at some mountains.  Park City looks like an attractive option and is only 45 minutes away from SLC airport.  There is tons of intermediate terrain off the King Con and SilverLode lifts as well as in McConkey's Bowl.  The Canyons is even closer at 35 minutes and has some great intermediate terrain as well that is spread out throughout the whole mountain.  These two resorts could easily be done in 1 trip since they are so close to each other.