Anyone been to Steamboat/Vail

A snowHead

Morning all

It's going to be a busy year for ski trips! VI for Xmas and now looking at the States for march.

Has anyone ever been to Steamboat or Vail? I've always wanted to go to the States (done Canada) and Steamboat looks amazing but the lift pass is £510!!

It looks like a massive ski area but does anyone know if it's possible to ski in Vail as well if we were based in Steamboat. I'm guessing you can but are there local buses or would you have to hire a car, taxi etc

Thanks for any input!

A snowHead

@Davecon70, I've been to Steamboat, not to Vail. I wouldn't describe the ski area as massive. From memory (it's a while back), I'd covered most of the terrain in a couple of days. I doubt there's convenient public transport to Vail. I think you'd end up taking quite a bit out of your skiing time travelling back and forth, even by hire car. Plus, there's a high pass to get over, which is obviously weather dependent. So, if you're like me and don't mind working on your technique on the same runs (but potentially in different conditions), or finding new ways through trees, etc, I'd stick to Steamboat. But if you like racking up new resorts and new runs…

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Contrariwise, I've been to Vail but not Steamboat. It isn't huge compared to a large Alpine resort. I had a car and went to a number of other nearby resorts. I don't rent a car for the Alps but I think in the USA it's pretty essential.

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thanks for the heads up. I was looking at a package which includes hotel, transfers etc but from the sounds of it the independent route might be better as we can get a car. I've seen there is a mega pass available for 22 resorts but I would only want to stay 2-3 nights per resort then as was thinking 11 nights.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Davecon70, If looking at DIY to Colorado, look at staying in Frisco and travelling to nearby resorts most are within easy driving distance.
Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, A Basin, Copper Mtn, Beaver Creek - all but Copper will be on a Vail resorts pass wink

But unless you can find free parking you will get stung daily at Vail, $25 a day IIRC Shocked

Approx 2 hours to Steamboat from Vail if conditions are good and about the same to Aspen.

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I've been to both. Vail feels bigger and, on the backside at least, steeper ( despite the popular Vail is flat meme). They catch snow differently depending on prevailing wind ( opensnow has the detail) . The drive between them via Wolcott is easy enough although a bit isolated in places ( you avoid Rabbit Ears Pass).

There are places to park in Vail but you need to use your initiative and get there early and you may still be a bus ride away. Short term I think it's better to suck up the cost.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Davecon70, with 11 nights you could have a great time in the resorts on the Vail pass. Get a car from Denver airport and then you have about 2 hour drive. To state the obvious, careful how you go though as you just flown the Atlantic. The suggestion of Frisco makes sense, all the resorts are then a relatively short drive with Vail being slightly longer. Did this trip in January 2007 for my 50th, it was great fun, but bloody cold some days at -30C. They had warning signs out saying Exposed flesh will freeze! I guess March should be warmer.

Only parking we paid for was at vail and beaver creek, like Dave says just pay it and get the convenience of being near the main lift. Copper is small resort compared with the others so maybe give it a miss?

After all it is free

You hit several different areas and stay in Salt Lake or Park City. Both Utah and Colorado should do well this year with a strong El Nino storm track.

Steamboat & Vail are about 100miles apart depending what route you take. You need a Car..

Vail or Steamboat would not be my 1st choice to experience US skiing both places are fake (except downtown Steamboat which is a ways fro the ski area)

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@stanton,

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Steamboat lift passes are particularly expensive. If you need to do Steamboat get one of the Winter Park season passes including a few days at Steamboat. It seems crazy but season passes are often cheaper than a few day tickets if you buy them early. You need a car, but car hire is cheap in the States.
Alternatively get an epic pass or summit local pass, stay in Frisco or Dillon & alternate resorts on the Pass. Despite the anti Vail sentiment here I love the back bowl at Vail.
If you don't want to drive Aspen is a different experience with four ski areas for variety.
All choices are good as you need to do them all one day.

snow reports

Have been to both several times. Now I would just buy the Epic pass and ski Vail/Beaver Creek/Breckenridge/Keystone/A Basin - there's more than enough there and sufficient variety to make the extra journey to Steamboat kind of pointless. If you have to do Steamboat then I think I'd combine it with Winter Park which has a reasonable pass price and arguably the best skiing in the region. Steamboat is disjointed anyway - you have to decide if you want to stay downtown or up at the mountain. Hot springs are really good though. HTH.

We went to Vail and enjoyed it. The resort is right beside the Freeway so very easy to access and park. We flew into Denver (my wife from the UK, me from St.Louis, on business). Some of the other resorts in the Rockies are a fair way off the Freeway, which might not be welcome after a transatlantic flight and then a long drive. We hired a self-catered studio but were still able to use the hotel facilities like cinema and restaurants. My wife was pretty jetlagged for about 36 hours after the flight - don't underestimate the combined effects of this and altitude on the first couple of days. On-piste eating was reasonable but it was easy to pay a lot when eating out. Lift pass prices and hire cost were relatively high, but the slopes were relatively empty compared to Europe. The bowl skiing in Vail was different to Alps but very enjoyable. Don't underestimate the time it takes to get off the Freeway and actually to Denver Airport and the car hire return.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Steamboat is 3.5 hours from Denver Airport (on a good day), and is an old town.

A snowHead

A snowHead

On the "fake" thing...

It is actually a helpful comment, as they are kind of synthetic. If you lived there, you'd ride somewhere else. No, really, they're for tourists, the ones with the powder suits with the furry hood decorations. That doesn't mean they're terrible, just that they will charge you a lot of money to park your car and you won't find any real stuff there. "Real" means stuff not specifically built for you. So Whistler is 100% fake, for example. The i70 stuff resorts are pretty Disney, except maybe for some of Aspen and A-Basin and Winter Park... but, hey, just go there and form your own opinion. They are perfectly good places and if you don't go you'll never understand any of this. It's America: you'll have a ball and wonder why anyone goes to France.

For what it's worth if you're serious and you live in Colorado you'd just drive to Utah, but that's unhelpful, and serious people are not the same as people going on holiday. Think Courchevel versus Chamonix.

--
Personally I like Winter Park and it's about as far as I care to drive with jet lag, in the dark, in a storm. And it's got better mogul slopes than the others put together.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@philwig, I agree, Winter Park all the way for me Happy

- The Hole in the wall / Awe Chute area are great fun Happy

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@philwig, so the fake thing is about the architecture, not the skiing itself?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Yeah totally about the real estate. Clue most ski in/out resort villages in North America if not the world are "fake". The nearby towns which share the same names in the west are usually mining or railroad/logging towns and may be tarted up historical.

There is a third class of ski hills without the whole base area village which tend to have more shabby chic lodges and a grungier style: A Basin, Alta, MJ at Winter Park, Loveland, Alpine Meadows, Targhee and Whitewater spring to mind.

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What he said.

As far as the skiing's concerned, it's all Colorado, and nothing wrong with that, although you'd not want to be there in a bad season any more than anywhere else in a bad season. I would suggest riding all the places there, in good snow, then you can be an old fogey like me and pontificate about the finer points of Wolf Creek versus places with escalator access to the piste.

Winter Park: the first time I went there was funded by HP who I think were trying to persuade me to buy something from them. I was with a Finnish sales guy, in the mid 90s. He was slightly surprised English people could ski, even more that some of us snowboarded. I didn't really think about it and inadvertently rode rather harder than he wanted to go. I only found out later that he'd broken some fingers falling down one of those rather steep mogul slopes whilst trying to save his national pride. Oops. Derailleur is less steep but really good for repeated high speed blasts in good conditions - that's my all time favorite there.

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I think there's a continuum from "mom and pop" hills through "destination resorts". It's a little different from Europe perhaps because the hills were developed later, they weren't originally villages, and cars are used a bit more. So even places like Snowbird are mostly commuted to, not destination resorts.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Real US Ski Towns.

Aspen
Tellurife
Park City
Ketchum (Sun Valley)
Whitefish (Big Mountain)
Crested Butte

After all it is free

Real US Ski Towns.

Aspen
Tellurife
Park City
Ketchum (Sun Valley)
Whitefish (Big Mountain)
Crested Butte

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Steamboat Springs existed before skiing. The town is authentic enough. The base area not so.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Interesting thread, was just trying to figure steamboat vs wolf creek for thanksgiving. Had already picked steamboat town over base area, can't take those condo city developments. Anything else authentic under 4 hours from DIA i should think about ?

snow reports

My OH and I did the Frisco/Epic pass thing for 11 nights over Christmas a couple of years ago and had a great time. Took one day trip to Aspen, rather than Steamboat, to ski the Highlands Bowl - a long drive but worth it. We're doing Christmas and New Year in the US again this year and trying something slightly different - 2 nights in Vail, 4 in Aspen and 4 in Crested Butte - another option to think about.

Steamboat is a nice mountain - it's actually the first place I ever skied - but I'd echo others who say it's not that huge and it's unusual for CO in being so far from other resorts.

If you're looking for somewhere to stay in Frisco, the Frisco Inn on Galena is lovely, conveniently located, and run by incredibly nice people.

November the 15th

DAVECON................ Any notion of trying to span Vail and Steamboat in a day - on a day in, day out basis - ain't a good thang. No shuttle.

Bones alluded to considering being in the greater Frisco region and using that as a base and that is fully sound advice. Within one hour of Frisco you have seven stations which include Loveland, A-Basin, Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge, Cooper (small, cheap but beautiful and overlooked!) and Vail. I'd put Steamboat a solid two PLUS hours (safe drive) from Frisco. Breckenridge is only ten minutes away as are Keystone and Copper from Frisco.

Look into passes that are available to Europeans and fudge factor what works best for you.

I am wishing my dear friend the West Coast a solid year. Too many have no idea about just how phenomenal theskiing is out there.

You know it makes sense.

@Davecon70,

As Lechbob says, you can buy a season pass for Winter Park that includes (6 days at) Steamboat. The cost is €599, so well worth a look. That would give you a good excuse to go to Winter Park as well, which is excellent. I've not been to Steamboat, although we've been to Winter Park twice and would definitely go back. The snow quality was excellent and we had the place to ourselves at Feb Half term.

The Rocky Mountain Super Pass is the one you'd need - details on the Winter Park Website.

But as others have said, the Breckenridge area season pass is a real bargain. We've bought one for £380 pp for our 24 night trip in February!

The Winter Park price applies only until 23 November however, so you'll have to get moving! Toofy Grin

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

ANyone worked or lived in Steamboat for a season? Have an offer for 2016/17. Any hint's/tips to get the best out of it?

A snowHead

Join pugski and pm Ron who is a local. Shocked

A snowHead

Thanks Dave

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@philwig, @PaulC1984,

Another vote for Winter Park. As @Lechbob & @Bergmeister point out, the early-purchase seasons pass is WAAAAY cheaper than a multiday-day pass. (and there are a number of seasons pass options). You can buy it on line (you need to send a photo file for the pass) and pick it up on arrival. Also, WP is an excellent mountain, often overlooked by the Vail/Breckenridge/Beaver Creek aficionados.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I have skiied both the Boat and Vail. I slightly prefer Vail and Beaver Creek is better still as it is usually less crowded. But coming from Europe you will be gobsmacked by the lack of crowds and if there are lift lines you will be amazed at how well they are managed. No Italian kids pushing through at knee height followed by momma.

Do some serious research on the different lift passes.

If I start my annual 3 week ski trip to the Rockies this year in Colorado I will buy the Epic local pass for $609 I get

Unlimited, unrestricted skiing or riding at Breckenridge, Keystone, Wilmot, Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton and Arapahoe Basin with limited restrictions at Park City, Heavenly, Northstar & Kirkwood. Also includes a total of 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek with holiday restriction

But read the small print carefully as some passes require a pick up in person at some ski shop before Dec 1st or some similar nonsense.

You'll need to Register first of course.

stanton:- No I'm not a US citizen but have sponsorship from an employer so just have to pass the interview at the US embassy to get the H2B visa. Awaiting next move.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

If you are thinking of being some kind of saisonaire then the Boat will be a much better choice IMHO. Lots of locals and ski workers live in town.

Vail on the other hand has sky high accomodation rates so most ski workers commute in daily from places like Fresno.

After all it is free

TQA:- Steamboat it is.

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This is an old thread from 2015...

And Vail has "expired"

Help!!

Anyone been to Steamboat/Vail

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