Looking into going skiing??? Have some ????'s

[cpr1979]

Never been and me and my fiance are looking for a northern vacation. Maybe not so much skiing but she's 25 and never seen snow. Any suggestions are where to go for a long weekend to get her the feel of a real winter

[dclass]

We just returned from Steamboat, Co. last week. Skiing was so so, not a lot of snow yet(of course it snowed a ton the day we left).
If you are interested in just seeing snow and a little bit of skiing, i would try out Keystone, Co., its about 2.5 hours from Denver and easy to ski and always has snow.
There are some great places in New Mexico as well, Angle Fire and Ski Apache, but nothing compares to Colorado!

[onetime]

Winter park is pretty nice

[peon]

I agree, New Mexico is good for quick getaways but Colorado is 10X! I would suggest http://www.wolfcreekski.com/index.asp we went last year for the first time. The prices were reasonable ~$50 per person per day. If you go a day and don't like it then Pogosa Springs is just down the road and they have hot springs to lounge around in. As far as the skiing they have a lot of everything.

[mosey381]

Wolf Creek, southwest colorado 69" of snow

[jdubuzz]

We gone to Taos Ski Valley the past couple of years. This year we are probably just going to run out to Ruidosa to Ski Apache.

[Bily Lovec]

make sure you have GREAT health insurance and you both can afford to be off work for 6 weeks...

I used to fly in/out of Denver Co weekly and shared every ride with Texans in casts

[Atfulldraw]

I used to go every year, sometimes twice a year.....here's my list.

Taos is one of my favorite places.

Aspen if you just want to go see how the other half lives. (although for skiing, the mountain is really advanced...)

Snowmass is right up the road and is much more of a party atmosphere.
Keystone is pretty much the same, but pretty reasonable.
Monarch is also pretty good and fairly reasonable.
Crested Butte isn't too bad of a drive for Texans and is a pretty great place ot spend some time in the winter.
Telluride if you wanna go see some serious competitive skiing -- lots of qualifying goes on there.
Arapahoe Basin is cool for a day -- you can just pull your vehicle up and tailgate at the bottom of the slope. Might see a keg or two in the parking lot....
Winter Park is also a great place.
For a family atmosphere, it's hard to beat Powderhorn, although there's not much else there. Lots of wildlife though.
Vail is the place to go if you want to do some shopping and eating with a variety of places to ski for all levels.
Durango is a great small town atmosphere -- Purgatory is the place to ski there.

I think I've hit most of the big ones and lots of the smaller ones.

If you are young and wanna try snowboarding, some places are better than others for that.

Come to think of it, I've never really had a bad time skiing

[nando]

I agree, New Mexico is good for quick getaways but Colorado is 10X! I would suggest http://www.wolfcreekski.com/index.asp we went last year for the first time. The prices were reasonable ~$50 per person per day. If you go a day and don't like it then Pogosa Springs is just down the road and they have hot springs to lounge around in. As far as the skiing they have a lot of everything.

Wolf Creek gets a TON of snow, that's one of the places I grew up skiing.

[Matthew]

We're headed to Telluride next week, and Breckenridge in Feb.

Summit County is an easy trip. 1.5hr from Denver, and you have a choice of several resorts. Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mtn, A-Basin, etc.... It's pretty economical too.

[Zen Archery]

For newbies Ski Sante Fe is a really nice small resort that you def. can't get lost in and not very big or intimidating. Stay away from mountains with multiple basins it can get confusing and frustrating especially when you think you are going one way and end up somewhere else. Ruidoso is also simple. Not that well groomed but easy. There is a place west of Winter park that basically has 2 mountains. Tiny but I cant remember the name. Good luck, its a blast.

[Bonesplitter]

I second Keystone and winter park.

[Bill]

Crested Butte isn't too bad of a drive for Texans and is a pretty great place ot spend some time in the winter.

That's where I elk hunt CO. Do you realize you can hunt the back of the ski resort in Sept and the elk are right there in the National Forest?

I never tried skiing, I went straight to snowboarding. The board is attached to the boots, and instead of having 4 things to worry about loosing skiing, there's only 1.

Fly to Reno NV and rent a car to Lake Tahoe. Ski Homewood, it's an easy place with lessons, and the view of Lake Tahoe is something you'll never forget.

[hoythunter]

We went to Tahoe this year in February for a week. Scenery is awesome and there's more to do there than just skiing. It's the only place I've been to with snow, so I can't compare it to the Colorado destinations, but we had a great time and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

[Atfulldraw]

Do you realize you can hunt the back of the ski resort in Sept and the elk are right there in the National Forest?

That's the only reason I know anything at all about Powderhorn.

We used to take the snowcat trail up to our favorite areas.

My understanding is that most ski slopes are Nat. Forest and the ski operator only leases a small portion at the bottom where the buildings/lifts are located.