Trip 2024 - Winter Park, Breck & Jackson Hole

A snowHead

Howdy

Looking now at 2024 as not managed to get away again this season. Haven't been to any of these and we mostly look for accessible off-piste, lots of snow, reasonable apres and good food. Not bothered about gnarly blacks through chutes though we do them when presented. Fly into Denver and stay for a couple of nights then head to each resort. Which would be a must as a snowboarder and which not? We were thinking to transfer back to Denver and fly to JH and perhaps rent a car for the CO resorts and stay in each resort.

As a reference we were in Whistler this Feb and it was epic and since its our 2nd time we wanted a new resort and CO has been on the radar for a while. We've already been to Utah and Japan so not looking anywhere else atm.

Thanks y'all!

A snowHead

Odd combination being a mix of Epic and Ikon resorts ( in the US passes do matter costwise) and not logically adjacent.

It is possible to take in a number of resorts in a longer trip if you don't mind driving a lot but the whole flying up the Jackson and back seems to add cost and inefficiency to me. I've looped DEN - Winter Park- Steamboat- Jackson - Deer Valley- Solbright/Altabird- Moab-Aspen- Copper- DEN and you could do a credible Colorado Epic trip Breck/Keystone - Vail/ Beav- Crested Butte - Telluride.

Snowboarding/ skiing doesn't matter except for DV & Alta obviously.

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

Thanks mate. The snowboard thing is to avoid too many flats and t-bar resorts. With the passes the deals are out now until 16 April with 10 buddy tickets included and looking at Ikon 4 days $439 makes it around $1000 for passes now. Madness really unless going for more than 3 weeks.

So Vail, Breck and one other may be doable which is a shame as I wanted to go to winter park and esp. steamboat in the past. TSA do their catague shoot there and seemed to have epic pow.

So the question left is which resorts are a must if coming over from UK?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Jackson Hole has the best terrain of the NA resorts I’ve visited and is a fun place

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We did a number of trips to CO on both Ikon and Epic passes - both are worth while and probably worthy of more than one trip.
With Ikon you could do Winter Park, Steamboat and Copper - all 3 of which are great and I particularly liked Winter Park, the MJ area with powder field up top then down into the trees.
With Epic you have a lot of freedom along I70 - Keystone, Breck, Vail, Beaver - personally, I liked Breck the best although Vail seems to get the best reviews - I found it very confusing to navigate although there is a bowl out back, Blue Sky Basin I think, which is good with the right conditions.
Don't miss out on a day trip to A-Basin while you're there - sweet little resort and has the earliest and latest season of all I70 I believe.

Summit Express will get you from DIA to most of these resorts and then there are local buses running about and you can book shared mini bus for further travelling - you really don't need a car (I've been to CO 5 times now and never hired a car). Even going from WP to Steamboat, we hired a taxi at about 150USD - which is still cheaper and easier than having a car - Especially when you're not used to winter mountain driving

You truly can't go wrong with any of these - they're all class resorts but its a 3 week effort in my view to get the best out of it.
If you need anymore info, let me know.

You'll need to Register first of course.

US skier here....

I'd try to avoid going up or down I-70 (highway from Denver to Keystone/Breck/Copper/Vail) on the
weekends - almost always crowded.

Avoid US holiday weekends - Martin Luther King (3rd weekend Jan) and Presidents Day (3rd weekend
Feb) - higher prices and crowds.

I think you have the right idea with an Epic Local Pass and a 4 day Ikon Pass - you can do 4 days at
Steamboat and then have options for the Epic resorts.

Copper sells a 4 day Copper-only pass if you want to go there. There are generally specials for Copper
as we get closer to the season.

Liftopia is a consolidator site to potentially get cheap lift tickets.

Beaver Creek has much to offer and is usually less crowded than Vail.

Ground transportation is mostly hub and spoke from Denver to the various resorts. There may be some
options to go between resorts with private companies, and also there is a public service called Bustang
that goes between some resorts. A lot of this stuff gets reshuffled each year so you may not be able to
lock in your transportation until after the summer. Even if there are options, they won't run that frequently.

Jackson Hole (and Big Sky) are excellent but self-contained, and you would have a travel day (or if the
weather is bad, maybe more than one).

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

@Snowshoer, I've never done Big Sky and its on my list - what are your thoughts on it? I think I have just one more "big trip" left in me and then I'll probably slide my days out in Europe.

After all it is free

Big Sky is a pretty large ski area esp since they merged with Moonlight Basin some years ago, with plenty
of terrain for all abilities, even double diamond.

Deceivingly easy to get to - connect into Bozeman from many major US airports, an easy 45 minute drive
with no passes to cross, with some beautiful scenery along the Gallatin River. But because of that, tends
to be less crowded than most other major resorts. On Ikon Pass so you could potentially explore other
resorts, but Big Sky is kind of by itself. Bridger Bowl is a local resort in Bozeman that's not too far away.
There is also a lovely X-C/snowshoe/dogsled resort called Lone Mountain Ranch nearby.

Yellowstone Park is ~45 minutes away (West Yellowstone entrance) and offers snowshoe/X-C/snowmobile
possibilities for a day off.

Lodging is pretty high-end, and you will pay. A bit farther away in the Meadow area, you may find some
more reasonable options. Mainly condos and houses, just a few hotels.

I believe, that after all these years, there is still not a full-service grocery store in Big Sky. You buy most
of your groceries (assuming you're self catering) coming out of Bozeman. There are a few restaurants,
and a little nightlife, but this is mostly a family ski destination.

Thanks guys very useful info. We're still fleshing this out ATM but a spanner in the works is the COVID restrictions. As I see it we still can't enter USA without all the jabs which none of us have. Any real time info on this?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

So if you want to go you get jabs - simples innit

snow reports

I'm not sure how much this will help you but based on Colorado resorts that I have personally skied, these are my favorites (and I'm thinking of them from the skiing experience... the terrain, lift lines, challenge, etc. versus the town although my top choice has an amazing town)

Crested Butte - great variety of terrain but gobs of amazing in-bounds challenging (challenging can get extreme fast) terrain. Town is awesome. Lines reasonable. Far from the I-70 resorts... well, far from everything although you could combine with Monarch Mountain.

Arapahoe Basin - high alpine skiing, not for beginners but GREAT mountain. Love it. Includes hike-to terrain. Very little on-site facilities... it is all about skiing. Good bowls, chutes, moguls, trees, etc. etc. etc. Lift infrastructure is just OK. Stays open late due to high altitude. Closest "lodging options" are further down in Keystone.

Winter Park - great large mountain with a lot of excellent skiing in Mary Jane. To be honest, have only skied it in 2022 and 2019 and then prior to then maybe 2008 (?). There is a big variety of terrain... lots of moguls and very little black piste grooming. Good bowls up top. The "town" is really not a town... there are a series of towns along the valley. Does not have a great sense of community. Mountain stays open late into the season. May 2022 was slushy and a bit sketchy snow-wise whereas May 2019 was AMAZING snow-wise.

Copper Mountain - Another Summit County mountain... not as busy as Keystone and Breckenridge. Good mix of terrain and the mountain is divided by ability. I haven't been in a few years but always liked Copper Mountain. Town is very purpose-built.

Breckenridge - Massive mountain, massively popular. Lots of good skiing for sure but honestly I just don't want to deal with their prices and lift lines anymore. Just too many people go there. 6 chair off of Peak 8 is lots of fun. I haven't been in so long that I have not skied Peaks 6 or 7. If you've got an EPIC pass that includes it, worth checking out the mountain.

Purgatory - really should rate this higher. Its a nice mountain, gets good snow and views are great. Plus Durango is a fantastic town. Lift lines were never too bad and the backside/harder runs were always empty. It is more isolated similar to Crested Butte but Crested Butte is absolutely destination-worthy for me. I'd go back to Purgatory, though. You can also combine this with Hesperus (small local mountain) and Wolf Creek (best snow record in Colorado). You can also combine with Telluride which is 2ish hours away.

Keystone - was never my favorite although it does have night skiing. Have avoided it for years as the mountain gets crowded although the backside is quieter. Town is purpose built without character.

Vail - only skied it once and a long time ago. All I know is what I read is lift lines particularly on powder days can get bonkers and the parking situation can be absurd. Combine that with I-70 traffic and I'd just rather skip it.

You know it makes sense.

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

Targhee skis great though you have to be sure where you are re cliff bands in some places. Better than JH often because it doesn't have the same SE exposure that makes great terrain like the Hobacks a death cookie experience at times and weird funky at others.

Obviously there is also the pass. Big Sky not too far a drive to North and Red Lodge before you get to Bridger etc.

A snowHead

Agree with the summaries about CO above. I didn't see Telluride mentioned but its also worthy. They all have their access issues, whether its traffic on I-70 or chronically closed airports.

Couple points of emphasis: JH probably has the best terrain on the continent. Grand Targhee is definitely worth a day or two and pairs well with JH. Big Sky is overrated; very expensive as noted and most of the terrain is either too gnarly (and requires an additional $70 tram ticket each day) or too gentle. Not much there for an expert who doesn't need to do chutes anymore. Spend your time at JH/GT.

As an aside, some CO resorts are at really high elevation; some folks including me get a pretty nasty headache for a couple days going from sea level to 9-13,000'.

A snowHead

COVID-19 testing and vaccine rules for entering the U.S.

As of May 12, 2023, noncitizen nonimmigrant visitors to the U.S. arriving by air or arriving by land or sea no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

So Colorado is back on. Looking for some deals now but nothing too good so may leave it until September and see what's available. May have to stick to Europe if prices get out of hand - booo!

Thanks for the input guys. Anyone booked anything yet?

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

@Gainz, I hope you can go to Colorado despite budgetary concerns. And, since you asked, I am following my own advice and returning to Grand Targhee in January. Also going to repeat last year‘s Kitzbuhel/Dolomiti/Zillertal trip in March.

And speaking of Covid, I have it right now. Damn! But don’t worry, I am wearing a mask as I type.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@Gainz,
If you are wedded to going to Jackson I would drop the Colorado bit and fly into Salt Lake City. Buy yourself a Mountain Collective pass and go to Snowbird (best combination of lift served terrain and snow quality/quantity on the planet?), Snowbasin, Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole. In my view Jackson has more of 'wild west' aura than the Colorado towns. There's also the chance to do a tour of Yellowstone National Park too.
And the comment on price. Just make it happen. You will have life long memories and you're a long time dead.

Help!!

Trip 2024 - Winter Park, Breck & Jackson Hole

snowHeads Forum Index >>> snowBoarding