Advice needed on family ski trip

[anjur]

Hello,

For the first time my wife and I are going to a ski trip with our 4 year old daughter. We are pretty much going to spend all our time with her, so going somewhere where lift tickets are $100+ per day doesn't make much sense.

So we don't want to pay much for lift tickets (or apres ski options), but wouldn't mind spending money on ski in / ski out and a place where we could cook our own meals.

We are flying from San Antonio, TX, so most likely destinations are CO and NM.

Places that I am thinking of are such as Powderhorn CO (where I have already been - but I would like to go to a different place). One recommendation was Riudoso, but I heard they often don't have enough snow. Loosely we are planning to go between 12/15 and 1/3.

If you have any suggestions, we would sure appreciate it

Regards
AJ

[zlathim]

Hey, if you are gonna travel by plane anyway, why not go a little further to some of the best skiing in the world in Utah? Brighton is a good resort, I've never been, but some of my friends highly recommended it. Check them out at the following link:

http://www.go-utah.com/Brighton-Ski-Resort/


From their site:

Brighton boasts 21% beginner, 40% intermediate, and 39% advanced/expert runs providing a unique skiing or snowboarding experience for everyone in the family.

Hope this helps!

[anjur]

Thanks for the advice!

[Tench]

Aj,

Go to www.ripleysadventures.com or call 877-752-6754 they are the best in planning ski vacations, they will set up everything from airfare to lift tickets and they know what they are talking about, and they have the best deals of anyone!!

[zlathim]

Originally Posted by anjur

Thanks for the advice!

Anytime!

[mortabunt]

If your daughter does not have separation problems, you can put her in a ski nursery and take her out for a run or two at the end of the day. My dad that the first time I went skiing at age 4.

[yarddog313]

If you go to Utah you should check out Powder Mountain. It has a wide range of skiable terrain for all levels. The tickets are also relatively cheap for both day and night skiing. I went to Utah last year and to be honest, Snowbird was way out of my level. I'm used to hard pack not pow or soft groom, but when I got to Powder I had a blast and even learned how to ski pow a bit. They also offer cat skiing if you find some time to ski a bit without your daughter. Check it out at http://www.powdermountain.com/

[sleepyme]

Try to search for sites that would
surely answer your question. But
if I were to suggest a place for a
family ski trip, I would hardly suggest
that you go to Lake tahoe at homewoods.

[Carlskilover]

You could check out winter park in CO as it has pretty good pricing, its family friendly, plus you can get an adventure pass that give you access to every attraction there

[ColoradoSkiDude]

Originally Posted by anjur

Hello,

For the first time my wife and I are going to a ski trip with our 4 year old daughter. We are pretty much going to spend all our time with her, so going somewhere where lift tickets are $100+ per day doesn't make much sense.

So we don't want to pay much for lift tickets (or apres ski options), but wouldn't mind spending money on ski in / ski out and a place where we could cook our own meals.

We are flying from San Antonio, TX, so most likely destinations are CO and NM.

Places that I am thinking of are such as Powderhorn CO (where I have already been - but I would like to go to a different place). One recommendation was Riudoso, but I heard they often don't have enough snow. Loosely we are planning to go between 12/15 and 1/3.

If you have any suggestions, we would sure appreciate it

Regards
AJ

Do some internet research. Snow.com – it isn’t the cheapest but probably has all the options. I’d recommend the Breckenridge ski school for your daughter. I don’t have any kids, but my sister really liked how they treated her two kids – then at ages three and four. It was a fortress ski camp (i.e., no interlopers allowed into the ski school area) and lots of games and they even feed them lunch. If it got too cold or the kids didn’t want to ski, they went inside for games, a nap, or whatever (yes. Good, clean fun). Left the parents to have a worry free day on the slopes. Kids came back wanting for more skiing.

Sounds like you want to do this cheap but don’t know how cheap you want to be. There are many options….

Lift tickets are expensive. Keeping to snow.com will probably let you ski at their areas under one lift ticket (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Arapahoe Basin**). If you plan to go around to various ski areas in here in Colorado then stay in Frisco or Dillon. Beaver Creek and Vail: Fantastic skiing and your daughter will have a blast. But $$$$$. Multiple day lift tickets can offer a savings, but not much.

How much do you want to drive? If at all….Vail is the best place I think to just stay. If you want to drive, then Frisco and Dillon are good places to look for lodging. Within a 30 minute drive are: Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone. Add 30 minutes to the drive and you have Vail, Beaver Creek, and Loveland.

If you REALLY want to go cheap, ski at Ski Cooper and stay in Leadville. If you are any kind of accomplished skier, you’ll ski the place out in a day. But, like Beaver Creek, there is only one base area and it is hard to get separated. Yes, it is a good place for your daughter to learn. If you are staying in Colorado for a long time, how about a split vacation? Ski Cooper/Leadvillle to get your ski legs back and lessons. Then, Vail/Copper Mountain/Beaver Creek later on? Note: In your Internet research, the Delaware Inn or Delaware Hotel will come up – be careful. Nice place but there is no elevator in the hotel and all the rooms are upstairs. Yeah, one, two, or three flights of stairs to get to your room.

*** Ahhh. A-Basin. In most Colorado (and probably Utah) ski areas, the greens are comparable to blues on the eastern slopes (or so I have heard). At A-Basin, the greens are like black runs back east. The blues are very challenging, and the blacks look like your kitchen wall (steep-like 90 degrees steep, white, and bumps on them – well, maybe spaghetti sauces blotches too).

The weeks leading up to Christmas are good skiing here at low cost. Once you hit past Dec. 18th watch for the customary bump in lodging prices. I have been skiing the past five years +/- 5 days from December 10th at Vail and the whole mountain was open and awesome snow and no people! Vail has a good kids program too I have heard but if it is anything like Breckenridge’s then you should have an awesome time.

If you are looking for a great (and I mean great) vacation, then Vail and Beaver Creek would be your best bets. At beaver Creek, all the easy stuff is on top. Yes, it is going to be expensive but you won’t be driving around a lot as Vail Village of Lionshead has about everything you need in the world of Apres Ski and restaurants (and a free bus system around town - $5 of so to go out of town to Beaver Creek).

Special Note on Winter Park, Steamboat, Telluride, and the Aspen Area: These are destination resorts. You put your credit card down once and settle the bill when you depart. Why? Because these places are off the beaten track:

Winter Park/Steamboat: If you drive, Berthoud pass can be a b*tch or nightmare depending on your winter driving skills. They both have GREAT skiing, but once you get there, you won’t want to go anywhere else. Telluride: do a MapQuest. You can fly into there, never skied there, but it looks awesome. You won’t want to drive anywhere else. Aspen area has four ski areas. Keep you busy for a week. But somehow that town always tells me in the ether of the cosmos that I don’t belong here. Powderhorn and Sunlight may be good options too. I “did” Powderhorn in June, on the second day of a seven day, 420+ mile bicycle tour – that day was from Grand Junction to Delta over Grand Mesa – I call it The Big Grunt (www.ridetherockies.com – 2005 edition). Looks nice from what I can surmise (no snow then) but you’ll be bored in a day I think.

Getting there: You can fly into Denver airport and take the Colorado Mountain Express (www.ridecme.com) to the ski areas or fly directly to the Eagle County Airport (airport code EGE) about 30 miles west of Vail. For lodging, try Orbitz.com, Bookit.com, and the various hotel sites (Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Starwood). Note: Be careful, the actual town of Eagle is about a 30 minuet drive from Beaver Creek – there is a Comfort Inn there – reasonably priced, but touts itself as a “ski hotel” but it’s a disappointingly long slog to the ski areas from there. Frisco, Dillon are better choices – do your internet homework – options are abundant. For instance, how about VRBO.COM and see it you can rent a house and cook most meals in?

Lesson Planning: yeah, your four year old needs lessons. Guess what? You guys need them too. They use a grading system if one to nine here in Colorado for ski lessons and I took three level seven and one level eight ski lessons last year (my wife and I consider ourselves level eight skiers) – and that was with 35 days of skiing this past year (an a broken fibula for me – sucked – it would have been a 45 day plus ski year). Take your lesson the first day or so of your trip – you’ll have tons of knowledge to carry you through the remainder of your trip so you’ll have even a BETTER time! (OK, I betcha you are “old” too – well, I am 52 and put 3000+ miles on a road bike each year during the summer months – yeah hills too – and love to ski! )

I have never been to Utah. People tell me it’s great. So, someone from Utah will have to chime in here….

Drop me a Private Message if you have more questions about Colorado. If you ski in Colorado, drop me a line, I’d be honored to ski with you guys for a day or so….

ColoradoSkiDude
Colorado Springs, Colorado

[secretharbour]

I would like to recommend Grand Cayman Resort is the famous and over forty floor plans and a large variety of choices for location, style and views.

[Jehnavi]

Only been skiing in spring a few times, years before family life, I could use some advice on spring skiing in April this year. I know it can be a guessing game of where is going to be the best runs but does anyone have any good ideas of whats been hot and fun in recent years past? I was thinking Vail? Then again I love snowbird but husband is comming and he has only been skiing a year. my 6 yr old has been skiing 2yrs. What about Big sky? I was at Squaw a couple of years ago and it got very crowded on some runs by mid day. I am just comming off trip to steamboat. If anyone has ideas or stories would love to hear em'.

[SkiSilverthorne.com]

I know it's a little late to answer this one, but April is my favorite time of year to go. There are less crowds, the snow is great, and the temperature isn't so cold at Breckenridge.

[golfskipackage]

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[p00dub]

SolVista (formerly Silver Creek) is a great place for families. Not many people know about it. Very nice ski-in, ski-out homes, short lift lines - and Winter Park is just down the road if you are looking for more terrrain.