Experience feedback sought - car hire from Denver airport

A snowHead

Going to Colorado next Feb and should land at Denver airport.

Wonder if the cars there equipped with tyres suitable for the snow condition. Will go as far as Aspen but will stay on the main highway route between Loveland and Beaver Creek. I am hoping a AWD, like Chevrolet Equinox (think this is a variant of the Suzuki Grand Vitara), should do the job.

A snowHead

Can't honestly remember what tyres have been on when I've hired from denver, I suspect they have been winter tyres. Never had chains & have seen many people in & around resort driving much less able cars than the 4X4's I've always hired (big rwd sedans with auto, stretch limos etc). The Interstates are cleared quickly, but in a big storm will just be impassable in the wrong spots no matter what your in. My only advice is don't get a bigger vehicle than you need as if you get say a Suburban sliding it's a bloody big thing to control (so an Equinox would be ideal size).

Remember the Holiday Autos discount code quoted on other threads, but this year I found Auto Europe cheapest out of LAX (had to be a full size SUV though so remember above comments about size).

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I don't know the specifics but some rental car suppliers enable you to pick your own car in the garage from your class.. I've done this before to pick biggest load capacity or the tyres that looked the most capable or simply to avoid a chevvy. AwD would generally be ok on 1-70 if you don't drive like a lowlander I think.

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fatbob, had that at Kansas City, except all the cars in our class were the same.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

fatbob, had that at Denver using Alamo on every occasion. On three of the occasions took cars from higher or much higher classes (hence my experience in the Suburban, well there was 5 of us with luggage), this was noted on the returns paperwork but never charged for. Anecdotal evedence from Denver this year was that Alamo had tightened up their processes (my mates reckon I'ld spoiled the party by being too greedy in previous years Embarassed

).

You'll need to Register first of course.

For European resorts I use my own vehicles and can make sure the tyres will be good enough as the first line of defence. The second line of defence comes from the AWD or 4x4 and by carrying a set of snow chains I complete the third line of defence.

Leaping onto a hired car to be picked up within 30 minutes arriving a foreign airport I suddenly feel vulnerable.

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

Although I've never actually specified them, I've only ever been given cars with winter tyres when I've hired cars from NA airports that are major gateways to ski resorts - Denver included. Personally I'd hire a 4x4, though - I've learned from experience that the interstate can get quite hairy when a blizzard hits, and, although most roads are cleared quite quickly, it's definitely reassuring to know that you have decent traction and reasonable ground clearance when there's a lot of snow on the ground. I did hire a saloon car from Denver once, and I found the roads pretty intimidating once I left the city as almost every other vehicle was at least twice the size of mine. It wasn't an experience that I'm keen to repeat, but if you get lucky with the weather you might resent me having encouraged you to the spend extra money.

After all it is free

Jonny Jones, Lots of folks use sedans to go skiing out of Denver but I would also always personally spec a 4X4. I quess a lot depends on what you want to do with the car, if it's just a transfer to resort vehicle then fair enough, but I like to hit the road to try out all the local ski areas (particularly if there has just been an overnight dump) thats when i want the piece of mind of 4X4.

I don't think I can risk without a AWD or 4x4 as I intend to get the Epic ski pass that covers the 5 resorts of Beaver Creek, Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe which are all near each other. Think I need separate ski passes for Copper mountains, Loveland and Aspen. I shall stay at three strategic points to cover all of them so there will be some local travelling daily.

Aspen is a bit out of the way and in order to cut down the cost I will have to stay possibly in Carbondale and commune the 30 miles distance to ski Aspen.

Having skied mainly in Europe I am rather horrified by the cost of accommodations in general and the ski pass in particular in American Colorado resorts. People have warned me crossing the pond is poor value for money but I need to see and judge it for myself. Be interesting to see how the Aspen stacks up against Zermatt, Lech, Ischgl, Davos, St Moritz and Cortina Ampezzo. I am only interested in skiing and have no interest in expensive accommodations.

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Most 4x4s should have mud & snow tyres as standard since that's what they are sold with. I managed to drive east on I-70 to Lovelend in a storm where the road was basically closed behind me - I only had my mud & snow tyres on the car, having not then switched to dedicated snow tyres. But I am used to driving in snow, and it was my 4x4 jeep.

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saikee, buy your lift passes in the UK and you'll probably save a fortune. Some travel agents offer big discounts even if you don't book your holiday through them.

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That's why I'm off to Kitzbuhel for two weeks instead of Vail. The Vail pass was 1/3 more expensive and Vail accommodation between 2 and 3 times more expensive!

(-And you can fly business class to Munich/Innsbruck/Salzburg for half the price of an economy ticket to Denver!)

saikee, where you're intending to visit, you don't actually need AWD for the most part.

The Epic ski pass only goes as far as Vail, which is all interstate express driving. The roads are cleared exceptionally well (and the gradians quite mild). And if it's snowing so much that it can't be clear quickly, I would recommend NOT driving, whatever vehicles you're having.

- Loveland is right off the highway. So is Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain
- Keystone is pratically right outside of the village of Frisco. Same with Breckenridge

The only exception is A-basin. But if you're staying at Frisco or Breck, you're coming into it from the "back side", without going over the summit.

- The approach to Aspen is through a valley (or plain?). There's only one mountain pass between Vail and Aspen. And it's on I-80 so it's exceptionally well cleared (again, mild gradian so big long distance trucks can get up). I drove that stretch once in the middle of the night, when our flight was grounded by storm in Aspen. Shocked

I wouldn't recommend doing that same. But it's really perfectly managable during daylight hours, even in less than perfect weather. Just make sure the tires are in good condition.

The area you're visiting, I've skied at least 10 times. I've never bothered with AWD. And I've not experienced much problem getting to where I need to go. Now, if you're a powderhound and wants to hit the road BEFORE the rest of the driving public can get out the door, that might be a different matter. Somehow I suspect that not be the case. Wink

Had your itenerary include Steamboat Springs, I'd say a AWD might be advisable. Otherwise, you can do rather well with regular FWD.

You know it makes sense.

For Loveland lift pass: http://www.skiloveland.com/ticketsandpasses/4pak.aspx

If the two of you ski there for 2 days, you neatly used up the 4 tickets, at the cost of $30/each! Smile

If, after a day, you find the area not to your liking, you can offer the remaining 2 tickets for sale at the lodge/ticket booth. At $20 for 2 days, I suspect it'll fly right out of your hands! (the 4-packs are totally transferable and can be used all at once by 4 people)

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

WInter tyres are pretty useful.

Here is Calgary the police recommend that FWD with winter tyres is better than AWD without. Obviously better still is AWD with winter tyres.

Its really due to the cold as much as the snow, if its cold, I think worse than about -5, the ordinary tyres are too brittle and don't have any grip.

Don't know what its like in Denver, but if you will be driving in any serious cold then it is nice to have winter tyres regardless of the snow conditions. AWD may help drive around in the soft stuff etc, but on cold roads, maybe some ice then winter tyres help you stop.

A snowHead

I have just booked accommodations to stay 6 night at Vail (for Vail and Beaver Creek), then 4 night at Carbondale (for Aspen) and back to 8 nights at Dillon ( for Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe, Loveland and Copper Mountain).

Originally I did intend to drive to Steamboat and Winter Park too but was unsure if the road No.9 between Dillon and Kremming passable or not whereas going through Winter Park is also dependent on the weather. I want a relax skiing by finishing skiing at one area an then drive a short distance to the next area to check in the new accommodation. Thus I settle for the current plan.

Don't know about the rest but it is expensive to ski in Colorado USA. That is why I have so far refrained from going over. However I am running out of nice choces in Europe and have to give it a try.

I don't know if many SH are aware of Aspen is very restrictive with ski passes. They only sell ski passes to visitors who are booking accommodations in Aspen area which is horrendously expensive, as I am used to the 55 to 60 Euro per ensuite room per day in most area in Austria. An outside visitor wanting to ski Aspen will have to buy a season pass! and the cost for two adults to spent 4 days skiing is $1000 on ski pass alone. I eventually manage to reduce it to $674 on account of staying at Carbondale which is 30 miles away. At the moment my 2 week+ skiing in Colorado is more expensive than the 3 weeks skiing in top resorts of Switzerland like Davos and ST Moritz.

I will be able to form an opinion after the trip.

Thanks guys for the information of the roads. I have gone for the Chevrolet Equinox, a AWD, for added peace of mind. Most probably a normal 2WD car will do but the last thing I want on such a trip is to get stuck. If the road is closed then no vehicle can pass through and so the police would not allow me to take the risk even if I want to.

A snowHead

saikee, See my post on early discounted season passes thread. It would be worth an investigate to see if you can now get even your first season pass on the internet. Got to be worth a phone call.

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saikee, see fatbob's post on the same thread, & get on the phone sharpish, you never know.

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saikee, I think the Vail epic pass or the Copper/winterpark would have been the ones for you - check sliding on the cheap though their colorado coverage is not as good as for california.

Can't believe A$$pen don't sell day tickets although maybe not online though I can believe they like to keep the prices of those high - personally I'd skip it probably & go to Crested Butte, Silverton, Telluride etc instead.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

5 years ago (the season before the cheap season pass) we drove to Aspen from Breckenridge for one days skiing and they did one day passes on the day then.

You'll need to Register first of course.

You can often haggle with them to get a 4x4. Say you want a normal car and that you will be taking it to ski resorts, they then tend to get scared you will crash it and give you a decent price on a 4x4.

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

After all it is free

abc,

The price I quote is for a couple so it works out $84.25 per head per day.

The official Aspen site and others sites that sell Aspen ski passes all require the accommodation and/or flight to be booked too. Every site refuse to sell the ski pass alone.

The above may be conceived as for the "discounted" pass only as the official Aspen site do ask visitor without local accommodation to buy ski pass only at anther site which features only "season" tickets.

The cheapest type is Escape season ski pass whereby a purchase pays $299 to get the Escape pass and everyday the pass is used another $49 has to be debited. I could not find any information on the day ticket price. Thus if this system is enforced then skiing there for 4 day would cost about $1000.

I know many resorts are changing the ski pass arrangement and I experienced this type of ski pass a few years back in Whistler. Many Swiss resorts also operate it but in the form of buying a credit type card where the skiing days have to be topped up first at a counter or machine. The card itself isn't refundable. I got about 3 to 4 of these cards lying around. Mind you the credit card type ski pass is used extensively in Europe but the majority of them are refundable and cost between 2 to 5 Euros. It was only last year I found some Swiss resorts refused to take them back. The card is reusable only at the resort I purchased from. The excuse of the resort operator is I can always use it in my next return.

Think the most expensive ski day pass I ever come across is 45 Euro in St Moritz and Zermatt. Not been 3 Vallees recently but their web page currently displays 36.5 Euro for a dayt ticket which I believe is among the most expensive but you do get the right to use over 200 chairlifts and 600km piste. I believe 3 Vallees is the biggest fully linked skiing facility in the world. Thus the 3 Vallees ski pass at today's exchange rate is equivalent to $68. Therefore a $90 day ticket in Aspen is significantly more expensive. If they enforce the Escape system the cost of going there to ski one day can cost 299+49 = $348.

According to SH logged information Aspen's lift system was described as

saikee, as a frequent forum poster (I assume also READER Wink

), you no doubt knows N.A. lift pass is on the whole more expensive than Europe. What you SHOULD understand by now, which I'm not sure you do from your post, is the number of lifts are no indication of how extensive the skiings are!

In fact, I was rather baffled at how little skiing in relative to the number of lifts in one Swiss resort! Until someone pointed out to me it's due to the land being owned by different family and they each build thier own lift instead of a well laided out lift SYSTEM! Although personally, I believe that also have to do with having to cope with crowding at peak period, a phenomina I noticed also quite pervalent at the east coast of US where crowding is indeed a frequent occurance.

In the America West, and even more so in Canada, there tend to be only a handful of high speed lift fanning out from the base to reach each peak/ridge, covering the entire basin/mountain face, with a couple of "feeder" lifts to collect skiers who end up in the back side of the ridge.

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You can buy Aspen Skipasses with a big discount through a number of UK tour operators I have done this a number of times. They issue you a voucher that you print off & present to the sales office when your there.

Re Tyres. Cars at Denver Airport in the Winter are equipped with M&S tyres. Over 25 yrs I have hired 2 & 4 (compact & SUV,s) wheel drive and have managed to get to resorts all over the west. However in a snowstorm on I-70 it can be a bit hairy in a 2 wheel compact competing with all the Trucks !!!

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abc,

I have only been to Whistler of NA, which has 7000 skiing acres, and have never claimed any knowledge outside it.

It is a widely publicized that NA and some other countries measure the size of a resort by the area using acres as units. In European resort the measure is by linear measurement of adding the lengths of the runs together. The strategy is totally different between NA and Europe. The former, like you have rightly pointed out, is served by a small number of lifts enabling the skiers to go down from the top of the lift to within a designated area. The European resorts are more on linking between different locations and the skiing area from any lift is tend to be limited relative to NA.

I have put forward 3 Vallees with 200 chairlifts, and therefore more than 200 operators, to serve the skiing area which would be very challenging for an average skier to ski from one end to another and return in the same day. For that sort of facility a skier only pays 36.5 Euro for ski there one day covering possibly 4 to 5 resorts in their right. I don't know the exact size of Aspen but I do have a book published by Ultimate Sports titled "Ski North America-the ultimate travel guide" at one of the Warren_Miller ski shows in UK. I can only judge Aspen's 4805 acres against the 7000 acres of Whistler and Blackcomb that I have skied before. However I did not comment on the Aspen's size but am aware that there are 4 separate areas to cover.

My stay in Aspen is in fact unnecessary as I have already purchased the Epic ski pass lasting the whole season for 5 larges resorts in Colorado. I want to go there only to have a look myself to see how it compares with the other upmarket European resorts.

Up to now I have never purchase a ski pass in advance but was confused by the information of some NA site, Aspen in particular, that there is no published day ticket prices. I thought I would play safe by getting them in advance as more than one SH have prompt me to do so.

For a long trip like this the least I would worry is the value of the ski pass if the weather prevents me from skiing. I am giving it a try to get ski pass in advance this time to see how good the system is. It is all part of the experience.

I am going to Colorado with a complete open mind. There isn't a resort I like or dislike. My reaction so far is just the ski pass cost and to a lesser extent the accommodation cost.

Stanton,

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. For some reason I seem to have an impression you seldom go out of St Anton!

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The fact that 3 vallees are huge maybe applicable for someone doing a season. But for a 1 week visit, it's actually too large to "get to know" (unless it's a resort you have been to in seasons past). So personally, I found resort size beyond a certain number rather pointless. Take half of 3 Vallees, it's still just as enjoyable as the whole. And I think the French knows that and price it accordingly, i.e. no more expensive than resorts half of its size.

Aspen is the same way. Your 4 days there will only allow you to visit: 1) one day at each of the 4 mountains, or 2) pass up one of the mountain so you can return to your favorate a second time. For anyone paying a short visit, the size of Aspen is rather irrelevant. It's more a matter of what KIND of skiing terrain one prefers that really counts. So, whether any one of the mountain is to your liking or not is very much personal, therefore an entirely different matter.

saikee, you will probably find its too early for them to publish ticket rates as yet. They will appear later in the year around or after thanksgiving.

As for the cost of the lift passes in NA, they are quite expensive but covering your ride up the hill is only a small portion of it. In Aspen you do get a lot for your money Cool

But you probably wont need or use some of it. Smile

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Experience feedback sought - car hire from Denver airport

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