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

[Iced Down]

my girlfriends in wolf creek right now. she says its awesome. its her 5th time going. Steamboat, and vail are my favorite.

[ladrones]

I would stay in Santa Fe and make day trips to Taos, Ski Santa Fe and Sipapua. Plenty of things to see and do in the oldest capitol city of the US plus the skiing is not all that far away.

[orion]

Keystone and A Basin are my favorite. Stay in Dillon, great city. Wolf creek is great too, stay in pagoda springs at the pagosa springs resort. Mount hood in Oregon is also a good one. I am not a big fan of ski apache or ski Santa fe.

I just got off the mountain night boarding at keystone at 8. be back in Austin tomorrow.

[oldguy]

My son lives in Alamosa,Co,he has been going to Monarch Pass not as many people and lots of powder,their parking lot is at 11000ft.

[boomerball]

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.

which place did you ski out there? my wife & i are wanting to do a ski trip in feb & tahoe area is at the top of the list. we've each skied once or twice back when we were in hs (~15yrs ago) so we're essentially first-time skiers as well.

[John K]

Breck, Keystone and A-basin. You can ski all three on the same pass.

Breck has good alternative things to do in that you can walk the main street for shopping and dining.

Keystone is a small ski village atmosphere but good trails.

A-Basin is pure skiing. Not much else.

If you want to save a few dollars you can stay in Dillon which is between Keystone and Breck.

If flying, it is all convenient from Denver.

When I was living in Georgetown, it was a 13-14 hour drive to Colorado Springs that I usually made 3-4 times a year. Stop for restroom and fuel....Breck is another 1.5-2 from there.

If you want more info, send me a PM and I will see if I can find some brochures or something in town to put in the mail to send you.

John

[Bill]

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.

I've been trying to get an invite to a friend's cabin 'on the way' up the mountains to Tahoe to take out a black bear that's been giving he and his neighbors problems this year, but it did not work out.

Theres caninos on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, I have always stayed on the west (Cali) side near Homewood at another friend's family cabin or done (long) daytrips so I don't know much about the Nevada-side.

Homewood is small, has great beginner lessons (heck, the instructors were able to teach me how to snowboard) and I'm not sure about lodging/ accomodation there, I'd try kayak.com or other hotel web sites.

For a beginner, Sqaw Valley or Alpine or Heavenly would be overkill. The ride up the lift would be awesome, but then you have the "how the heck do I get to the bottom without killing myself" problem on your hands.

Regarding Crested Butte, the elk DO move towards the populated areas during the hunting season for safety and food (and CO DOW has a winter feeding program south of there towards Gunnison), and there are so low numbers of hunters in the National Forest we've gone a week and only seen 1-2 other groups of bowhunters there, and they've always been great people. The few muzzleloaders have been different, but that was just one group of jerks one year- from Missouri and not the locals.

[AZ&F'sDaddy]

I would NOT recommend Taos for a beginner. Greens in Taos would be Blues in Colorado.
My family just got back from Beaver Creek and Vail. There is plenty of easy terrain for beginners and GREAT restaurants.

[El Cheapo]

x2 what "Bill in San Jose" said about Tahoe. Back in 80's skiied everything around Tahoe (Kirkwood, Sierra Ski Ranch, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley, Sugar Bowl, and Boreal). Great fun and AWESOME sights. Ski during the day and hit the casinos and shows at night. Excellent for a vacation!

[hoythunter]

which place did you ski out there? my wife & i are wanting to do a ski trip in feb & tahoe area is at the top of the list. we've each skied once or twice back when we were in hs (~15yrs ago) so we're essentially first-time skiers as well.

We rented a condo with my in-laws right down the street from Heavenly. We had some friends meet us there also and they stayed at the resort at Heavenly. I took lessons as it was my first time in the snow and I thought the (easy) trails at Heavenly were good enough for a beginner, but I don't have anything to compare them to.

My in-laws went skiing the last day we were there at another resort and loved it, but I don't remember where it was at. There was a bus that they rode to get there and back.

[boomerball]

We rented a condo with my in-laws right down the street from Heavenly. We had some friends meet us there also and they stayed at the resort at Heavenly. I took lessons as it was my first time in the snow and I thought the (easy) trails at Heavenly were good enough for a beginner, but I don't have anything to compare them to.

My in-laws went skiing the last day we were there at another resort and loved it, but I don't remember where it was at. There was a bus that they rode to get there and back.

thanks, was kind of debating between squaw valley, northstar, and heavenly. i'm kind of liking the idea of heavenly w/ casinos right there for the evening time.

[roninrus1]

Based on many trips and living 3 years in CO I have skied a bit. But not enough to let it interfere with hunting and fishing. The last couple of hours before a blizzard hits can make some unbelievable dry fly fishing. And interesting drives back to Denver.
But - For first timer and a quick trip, Angel Fire NM has more greens (beginner slopes) than just about anywhere. They used to have "Winter White Sale" between New Years and spring break, don't know if they still do. Great price because it's a slow time for them. Fly to Santa Fe and rent SUV for drive to Angel Fire. Just across a pass from Taos but skiing is much more beginner oriented.
In CO, most of the larger resorts have shuttles to & from Denver airport.
For a short trip Keystone is great and about the closest ski in/ski out to Denver.
Then you hit Copper Mtn, Vail, Breckenridge and others.
There are also day areas like El Dora, Loveland Pass (not Loveland, the city) and Arapaho Basin you can reach from Denver easily.

For the down side, never forget about bumper to bumper stop & go weekend traffic on I-70. And if the weather is bad back getting back to Denver can be impossible, because they will close I-70. So be prepared to call work if stranded on the wrong side of Loveland Pass.

[noskunks]

Breckinridge, there are a ton of things to do if the skiing doesn't work out, and the town has some night life.

[atombomb]

If you really want nightlife, lots of those places are nice... but if you want a ski area
that's not packed to the gills, and has reasonable prices... try Bridger Mountain in
Bozeman, Montana... great place, if she/you have never ski'd it's a great place to
learn... there are some great restuarants and local bars... and check out the
Silver Forest Inn.... It's a great log cabin "bed and breakfast" place, not 1/4 mile
from the ski area... get the top floor room... it has a 300 degree view of the
mountains, great place...

pm me if you have any questions...

[muley4x4]

Wolf creek is probably the best around. Skiing is top notch. Have to stay in either south fork or pagosa springs. Pagosa is a lot nicer. Check it out would be well worth it.