 Poster: A snowHead
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Sorry for the long report as I am trying to describe the 11 skiing facilities (8 resorts but Aspen has 4 unlinked areas and 11 in total)
I call myself a day skier because in American term an outside visitor not staying but skiing in a resort is a day skier. A few Colorado resorts do not provide free parking spaces for skiers outside the resort but whacked them heavily like $25 or $33 per day if parking within a designated car park. However the majority of them do operate a free day skier's car park with free bus links to the lift stations.
This is not a resort report as the wife and I do not do off piste and we donot spend much time in Apres.
What we did was to hire a 4x4, pick 3 hotels near Vail, Aspen and Keystone and ski the 8 resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Aspen, Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland over 18 days. Some Snowheads have done this trip before and so we followed the same recipe. This is our first visit to the American resorts.
Car Hire - This was done by Internet booking. Denver airport is actually some distance away from the car hire lot but each car hire company provides a free bus service to their lot. We opted for a 4x4 because we wanted to be able to cope with the snow condition whenever we went. The 8 resorts we visited are on flat ground but there are modest gradients on the roads from Denver to the skiing resorts. With a 4x4 one needs less worry with snow on the road. To assist navigation we brought a Tom Tom equipped of North American maps. We did 1300 miles altogether.
Accommodation - We stayed 6 nights at Vail, 4 night at Carbondale and 8 nights in Silverthorne. The maximun distnace we had to travel is 25 miles when we had to drive from Carbondale to Aspen. To stay in Aspen the cost would have to be 2 to 3 times more. Aspen actually has 4 unlinked resorts and the best way to ski all of them is to park at the free car park at Buttermilk and take the free ski buses to the other 3 resorts. In general we paid about $100 to $110 per night for a twin of double room with breakfast for two in all three accommodations which were booked via the Internet.
Lift ticket - With the exception of Loveland and Arapahoe Basin the day ticket of a large Colorado resort is between $85 to $95. There is an Epic seasonal ski pass sold at just under $600 which entitles the holder to ski Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenrige and Arapahoe Basin for the whole skiing season. This seasonal ski pass also attracts a 60% reduction for daily ticket for skiing the Copper Mountain. Aspen is the one that proved difficult to get pre-booked ski pass as it is normally sold with the accommodation. Luckily Carondale, even at 25 miles away, was recognised as Aspen's own accommodation areas so we we got 4 day pass for $337. Other than that we paid a day ticket at Loveland for $59 per head.
Locations of resorts - The 8 skiing resorts lie mostly along the main highway i-70 and some are spread along consecutive junctions. The nearest resort, at 53 miles from Denver, is Loveland. Arapahoe Basin is 8 miles by going over the Loveland Pass. Loveland is on the highway i-70 with Silverthorne as the next exit. Keystone is 8 miles east of Silverthorne. Breckenridge follows on as the next consecutive exit from i-70 but it is 10 miles from the highway i-70. Copper Mountain is also next to i-70 at about 10 miles west of from Silverthorne. Continue with highway i-70 for 20 miles from Copper Moutain is Vail. Beaver Creek is just the next exit after Vail. For Aspen one has to drive another 90 miles from Beaver Creek.
(1) Vail - This is the only one of the 8 resorts that does not have a free car park for the day skiers. There is virtually no public parking except the garage blocks which charge $25 per day. Vail is largest of the 8 resorts. It claims to have the world's largest ski school charging $235 per child. Front side of the mountain is the easy bit leaving the back side as the difficult part with only one out of 6 bowls having groomed piste. In the back side the majority of the runs are single diamond black which are just off piste mogul tracks with a tiny sign displayed at the top through a break in the boundary rope. The majority skiers used the few groomed blue runs to access the third face called the Blue Sky Basin. skiers could find Vail easy by skiing the large number of cat walks otherwise Vail left me with little impression. The resort appears hard to attract buyers to its on-resort properties as it has its own TV channel to promote the properties and the resort! It left me with an impression that the developer was pre-occupied with getting buyers for the apartments and the skiing facility might have been added to attract them. It was clear to me that Vail does not provide easy facilities to cater for the skiers other than those staying inside Vail. Even a local staff at a Colorado information centre admitted that she refused to ski in Vail as she found the parking charge offensive.
(2) Beaver Creek - This is an eye opener. All the main roads into the Beaver Creek Village have a manned security barrier! There is a huge car park near the main thoroughfare but it is for its employees only! It does have free large car parks, which were not easy to find, and free buses in and out of the resort. Also part of the skiing domain is actually in private properties with runs marked as "Homeowner Skiways" which have limited access. We did found in one of the run a house was being built right at the middle of the piste. Skiing there gave us the sensation that we were skiing in someone's back garden. Beaver Creek is smaller and easier to maintained so the piste were well groomed making skiing quite enjoyable. In general the village is well integrated with the skiing infrastructure. If one wants to park inside the village and close to the chairlifts the parking charge is $33 per day. Beaver Creek also has its own TV channel and one of the advert was to persuade skiers to hire a locker, for locking up the gears, for $40 per night.
(3) Copper Mountain - Same deal here very little parking facilities in the village but some huge free car parks for the day skiers who can ride free buses to the the Green, Blue are and Black areas. Copper Mountain is unique to be able to separate the three sections of the mountain into easy (majority green runs), intermediate (blue runs) and difficult (black runs) areas. A significant number of properties appear to be large rented apartment blocks and commercialised so they don't look as private and upmarket as Vail and Beaver Creek. Skiing wise Copper Mountain appear more like an European resort catered for the general public.
(4A)Snowmass - This is the largest of the four Aspen unlinked resort. Very upmarket and has a well laid out village. There are many sizeable detached properties dotted around the piste runs at the bottom. The whole set-up, the services and the workers' manner do give a high class feel. The resort was modestly busy but virtually no queue at the base stations. A few middle stations did have queues but everybody seemed relax and courteous. Snowmass has its own free day skier car park served by a fast bus link direct to the Village Mall. Skiing in Snowmass was memorable as the end to end distance between Two Creek and CampGround is quite long. It also has some nicely groomed and long signle diamond black runs. When I first went to check the place out I found very few people on the piste in the central area. Instead people were drinking and socialising in the village and there were live music being playedin the open.
(4B) Buttermilk - This is the smallest of the four Aspen resorts. Everything here is easy including the black runs. The longest of which was used for the World Competition for the disabled skiers during our visit. The wife was hugely impressed by some diabled skiers seen in Aspen as she saw one disabled skier being served by 3 persons. Many national teams also stayed at the same Day's Inn we were staying. Buttermilk is the stragetic place to be as it has a large free car park for the day skiers plus free buses to all the remaining Aspen resorts.
(4C) Aspen Highland - Possibly the least visited one of the four resorts in Aspen. Although there are some green runs the rest of the area is pretty steep. The famous Highland Bowl, which was closed for 13 years when 3 of the ski patrols got killed, remains a Mecca for some seeking thrill. Due to the steep gradient part of the bowl has been reported prone to avalanche. In order to make it safe volunteers have to walk up and down this bowl to consolidate the snow whenever there is a heavy dump in the early season. The Highland bowl can only be accessed by walking over a ridge barely big enough for one person width (as seen from the photo off the piste map). In fact even the groomed run, off the highest chairlift, has the first part over a ridge too. The steep side has been fenced off but the less steep side has only isolated poles to mark the edge. This would be considered dangerous in an European resort. Aspen Highland is seaparated by one mountain side from Buttermilk but the two were not linked, possibly due to the separating side being sunny and seldom has snow.
(4D) Aspen Mountain - This is the resort directly above Aspen. It has a unique feature of able to view a fully populated American downtown (Aspen) while skiing! No green piste here and so the resort is therefore not friendly to families with small children. This resort and Aspen Highland have almost no crowd. I filmed the wife coming down the Copper Bowl run between the highest and lowest points and could only found 6 other skiers on that piste from the video record! Aspen gave us the impression that there are more workers serving the visitors as there were workers handing out the daily grooming report, handing out free coffee and on standby to answer any question. We made altogether 4 journeys on the free bus between Aspen and Buttermilk and in 2 of the 4 journeys the wife and I were the only passengers. SHs advices of wearing a helmet against being crashed into by fthe ellow piste users and warning skiing gears being stolen at the resort would fall on deaf ears in Aspen.
(5) Breckenridge - This is more like an European resort to me as it is cheap, popular and visited by a huge number of skiers/boarders. Naturally it has great and extensive facilities for the families, beginners and early intermediates. The resort has a huge free car park at a short distance from the chairlift stations. From the impressions I got reading various posts on Breckenridge and after skiing it I felt it is almost like the Courchevel of France. It is a place everybody have to go sometimes and would not be sorry for not going back again. This is not a fair comment as Breckenridge is busy but nowhere as crowded. It does have some extreme skiing of double black diamond runs and a chairlift reaching 3963m that no European resort can match. The similarity with Courchevel is really to do with both are very large resorts with a lot of accommodations to sell. In a poor season when the visitors are lacking many accommodations could be sold at basement bargain prices and that can create an impression these resorts are cheap places to ski. Breckenridge is in fact an upmarket resort as it has large deatached residential properties lining some of the runs.
(6) Keystone - Surprisingly we found this our favourite as it is simple with three distinct sections easy to remember and navigate. The front side also serve the night skiing so most runs there were well groomed and prepared. What I like most is the forest trees in between the runs as it can be quite fun to ski in and out of these densely spaced conifers. Some of spaces were barely wide enough for me to pass through and required constantly ducking for the branches. Moguls are an important offering of the American resorts and it is nice to have short sections spreading around like Keystone has managed. The free day skiers car park is right in front of the village and there is no need to ride a bus to the lift stations. Keystone also has many on resort properties but they are not obviously integrated with the piste as Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen and Breckenridge have done.
(7) Arapahoe Basin - This is a resort more akin to Europe. Finally there is a skiing resort that could only be accessed by driving up a mountain pass which may require snow chains in poor conditions. On the resort there is no residential apartment. Arapahoe Basin is in fact very small but it has height. The base station is at 3286m which is higher than the highest peak of many European resorts. Therefore the wife was pleased to break the record to reaching 3801m just by sitting in a chairlift. Although the peak has various well groomed blue runs they do have some steepish sections which would have made them single diamond black elsewhere. However Arapahoe Basin has some serious extreme terrians so they grade the blue runs relative to the resort itself.
( Loveland - This resort has either no footrest on all its chairlifts or if it did then someone must have since removed all the footrests. We were warned by a skier from Denver that this place would be windy and so it was. It is the cheapest place to ski as the day pass for adult is only $59. Its attraction to us is the highest chairlift reaching 3860m which is even higher than Arapahoe Basin. Due to the strong wing some areas in the peak were bald as the wind blew some the snow away. We found the terrain quite challeging. Some narrow tracks were partly reconfigured with snow drift and some cat walks were littered with collapse snow at the edge leading us to fear for a local avalache. We were skiing Loveland in our last skiing day so we were reluctant to take on any unnecessary risk. Both Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are on the Loveland Pass but the Loveland resort situates at the lowest point of the pass.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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saikee, Very good report. I like a lot the way you do it - sort of road trips to explore the area. Hope to do the same one winter.
Accommodation price seems very attractive but the lift passes well well to expensive.
Good to hear those resorts are so close to each other and fairly easy drive. Perfect for road trip.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Here some surprising features new to us as European skiers
(A) Most of the Colorado resorts do not groom all the piste. They groom them selectively, presumably on a rotation basis, everyday and issue a report daily. The report is free at the base of some chairlifts. I have come across the same thing in Europe even though not every run is groomed, except ski routes and some difficult black runs which are never groomed, but in general the European tend to keep all the runs groomed perhaps not going through them everyday. The Italians are known to groom their piste religiously.
(B) Vail surprised me by closing their base lifts at 3pm and in the mountain some chairlifts close at 2:30pm. Even in Scandinavia with the sun disappearing quickly their chairlifts remain open for a long duration. Keystone has night skiing and I was told the day skiing closes at 6pm. In general around 4pm is the norm.
(C) American resorts have double diamond black and extreme terrains which are difficult, steep and ungroomed runs on the trail map. European black runs are seldom in majority and the difficult stuff is to be found mainly off piste.
(D) American resorts, certainly those in Colorado, are small relative to the mega resorts in Europe.
(E) Apart from Loveland and Arapahoe Basin which has no on-resort accommodation or property all the other skiing resorts are dominated by real estate. Many of the properties on offer for for a single family occupation. Some of which are huge say over 6000 sq ft. It is an experience skiing a run seeing BBQ and sun decks in the sun terraces of some of these detached properties.
(F) Food is on par with the European resorts as we managed $20 to $20 dollars there against 20 to 25 Euro in Europe. Quality wise the Europeans serve regional dishes. Fast food is the norm in USA. We carry our own drinks.
(G) May be just the wife and I own impression we found the American skiers like to ski slowly in moguls and among tress. Once they come out they would charge down any groomed piste at high speed and appear less willing to give /room to skiers down the slope. Both of us feel safer with the European resorts in this respect.
(H) The resorts closest to Denven are visited by the residents there in huge number every week end. Week days are the quiet time. Traffic on Friday (to) and Sunday (return) between Denver and the resorts is as bad as the Saturday change over day in Europe.
(I) Don't expect everybody speak English in the Colorado resorts. Perhaps they do but we found foreign languages were frequent spoken.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Alexandra,
The $5 is per hour rate. The maximum they charge is $25. The furthermost car park is at Cascade chairlift which we used once. Vail does provide a free bus service looping round the two sides of i-70 so it isn't too bad as long as one stays in Vail. The town car parks are free after 3pm!
The West Vail has a lot of shopping facilities and there are ample free parking spaces but they are displays threatening day skier's vehicles would be towed away. The section of the road outside the West vail shopping centre actually permits day skier parking but only during the weekends only when there is a huge influx of visitors from Denver.
I said they might have put the skiing facilities to attract buyers of their properties because the lifts are pretty run down by the European standard when we are now used to heated seats (even in gondolas) and bubble shields while they can't even put footrest on some chairlifts.
My feeling is that the skiing facility at Vail isn't properly staffed and it may be the home owner's preference to finish early. If I live there there wouldn't be a need for me to ski everyday to the last lift.
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saikee, I read your your 'world-class resorts' posts and this report with interest. I was in Vail and Apsen once as a child (whilst I was so young the only 'luxury' I was interested in was eating all the exciting American junk food). I've always thought about going back as an adult but having spent a lot of time in Pebble Beach, CA (golfing resort) for work, I was put off the idea as it sounded quite similar - a company (Pebble Beach Resorts/Aspen Ski Co) own an area of outstanding natural beauty, charge millions for real estate in the area, charge non-residents a hefty price to use the area and the facilities (keeping the 'plebs' out), have their own tv channel, staff handing out coffees, tying guests' shoelaces and the like, closed-off stretches of beach/piste belonging to private residences etc. The result in Pebble Beach has been to render the place a bit soulless for me - whilst the spectacular coastline is rugged and wild, everything else within the resort feels so artificial and bland, with exorbitantly priced restaurants and generic 'pubs' and gift shops. However, I don't have any interest in golf, so I'm certain this didn't help matters and I'm sure golfers think the place is amazing. It sounds like you've had a great time skiing (something I do have an interest in!) in Colorado and that it is worth the trip one day (finances permitting)!
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miranda, have a lot of sympathy with your post. on the golf side of things, it's exactly the same. some people like the resort experience; others would prefer a wild scottish links, with a funky old clubhouse and some "interesting" locals
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Arno, I have family in the highlands and each time I go to visit I think how terrible it would be if the place got 'Pebble Beached' and people had to pay a fee just to drive around the coastline... I think Donald Trump might give it a go though...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
closed-off stretches of beach
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all beach in CA between the high and low tide marks is public area, NOBODY (except maybe the military at an installation) can stop you going on it, some serious celebs/mega rich have fallen foul of trying 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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miranda,
The "Homeowner Skiway" are clearly depicted in the trail maps. When one enters one of this runs there is a sign stating the access is limited. The local informed me they were closed after the skiing hours. Place like Beaver Creek shows one section is full of this private runs which lead to nowhere except the private homes so not much point skiing into it I would have thought. Other places like Breckenridge and Aspen seem to have integrated the runs with the houses seamlessly to the extent the private residences are not obvious.
My purpose of highlighting the world class skiing resorts is to demonstrate that they can be enjoyed just as cheaply as any other skiing resort if one avoids staying with the on-resort accommodations. In the case of Aspen I found staying at Carbondale is the same cost of staying at Silverthorne or West Vail (not Vail itself!). Seem to me this is the going rate for any hotel room in both the Summit and Eagle Counties.
I have skied the similar so called upmarket resorts like St Anton/Lech by staying in a self catering accommodation in Pettneu averaging out 46 Euro per couple per night. To ski Zermatt I found normal price (75 Euro for twin bed room per night in a hotel) accommodation in the Italian side Cervinia. For Ischgl I stayed in Mathon which is 5 miles away but at 25 Euro per head bed and breakfast or 50 Euro for a couple. St Moritz accommodation cost 133 Euro per couple per nigh B&B, staying at Pontresina and hence near Diavolezza, but this was the about the going rate for Flims/Laxx, Davos/Kloster and Engelberg which I skied in the same trip. I went upmarket to pay 100 Euro to ski Cortina Ampezzo for half board staying in a 4 star hotel (serving a 4 course dinner!) 5 miles off Arabba. Thus the Colorado off-resort accommodations are significantly more expensive. For the same money we could get dinner included for a couple in a hotel in many nice European resorts.
Ski pass cost of the upmarket resorts differ very little when comparing with the normal resorts in the same country. There is no denying that the North America ski passes (my experience in Whistler was similar) are poor value for money relative to the European where 45 Euro can pay a day pass in most of the resorts.
The wife and I are at a stage now just after a quiet and orderly place to ski, not have to bother with the crowd or fear of being rammed into from some crazy piste users or to worry about the gears being stolen while having a lunch. Thus Aspen or similar will fit us if we ski America again.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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One quick question do lots of America chair lifts still have no safety bar, I remember skiing Winter Park and Copper Mountain 6 years ago, and as someone who can be a bit wary of heights  I spent the whole time hanging on for grim death....
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[quote="saikee]There is no denying that the North America ski passes (my experience in Whistler was similar) are poor value for money relative to the European where 45 Euro can pay a day pass in most of the resorts.[/quote]
Things aren't quite as straightforward as you make out. The turn-up-and-pay price is usually exorbitant in North America, but special offers abound for advance bookings. In Jackson this year, we paid around £600 for 10-day passes for a family of five (kids aged 11, 12, 14). If we hadn't booked in advance, we'd have paid three times that amount. I've had simialr experiences most years that I've gone to North America.
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You know it makes sense.
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adie,
Don't think chairlift without safety bar is common in the Colorado resorts.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| adie wrote: |
| One quick question do lots of America chair lifts still have no safety bar, I remember skiing Winter Park and Copper Mountain 6 years ago, and as someone who can be a bit wary of heights I spent the whole time hanging on for grim death.... |
Depends where you are - you can always tell in US when you've got on the chairlift with a european as they slam the bar down without asking while locals for most tame lifts will leave it up certainly there is never a liftie yelling at you to put it down. More interesting (i.e. older, fixed grip) chairs quite often lack a bar with no real consequence.
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Poster: A snowHead
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For info, don't know if its still valid but you used to be able to buy a full season pass online for Winter Park (including a day at Copper) in September for less than the price of a 10 day pass. We did this and then sold it on the last day of the holiday for a couple of hundered dollars
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I can't remember where but the wife and I were recently sitting on a lift that has no safety bar or footrest (think it might have been in Aspen). The only safety provision was a sign asking the users not to swing the chairs.
I do subconsciously lower the safety bar once sitting on the lift. It is the European practice. Also in Europe we lift the safety bar at the second last tower where there is a sign telling us to do it. In USA the skiers lift the safety bar a lot earlier when everyone is still pretty high up from the ground.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| adie wrote: |
| For info, don't know if its still valid but you used to be able to buy a full season pass online for Winter Park (including a day at Copper) in September for less than the price of a 10 day pass. We did this and then sold it on the last day of the holiday for a couple of hundered dollars |
You can do this for the Breck/A Basin/Beaver/Keystone/Vail pass BUT the first time you have to be there in person on the proceeding Sept.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| adie wrote: |
| then sold it on the last day of the holiday for a couple of hundered dollars |
Sold it to whom? Isn't sesson pass has picture of the holder on it?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| midgetbiker wrote: |
| Quote: |
closed-off stretches of beach
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all beach in CA between the high and low tide marks is public area, NOBODY (except maybe the military at an installation) can stop you going on it, some serious celebs/mega rich have fallen foul of trying |
At Pebble "Beach", the ROAD is private, though not the beach. So yes, you would have to pay to DRIVE ON THE ROAD. But you could access the beach from the water if you so wish. (the water is VERY rough around there).
Instead of DRIVING the road (and not able to stop where we wish for sights on a narrow road), we usually park just outside the gate and cycle in. The road is only 17 miles long. Perfect for a half day of cycling and sightseeing.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bravo. Your ambitious agenda shows intrepid spirit of English tourists. You accomplished very challenging itinerary on several levels: number of ski areas visited, miles traveled, lodging relocations, economizing at most expensive ski destinations in America. Typical US ski vacationer would not try to mix visits with three or four different ski companies like you did (Aspen, Vail, Copper/WinterPark, Loveland) because multiday lift tickets are more affordable from one company than from two or three companies. Actually, the season pass for the Vail resorts pays for it self after about seven days.
The Aspen areas are among the most difficult in the US to visit on a modest budget. You employed one of the few cost saving strategies - sleep far away. But the necessary commute can be tiresome and eats up a bit of your ski day. I would prefer to bite the bullet and pay for onslope accommodations (condos/self catered) at Snowmass (e.g.,Pokolodi Lodge) or Vail and economize by making all my own meals, including lunch. Of course, this is theoretical because both are so expensive I haven't visited them in nearly 20 years. Jonny Jones mentions another cost saver, prepurchase vacation months in advance.
This trip report is an example of someone (not me) skiing the Aspen area fairly cheaply: http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/82279/aspen-ski-safari-5-resorts-4-days-300-person
I have visited eight of the eleven ski areas mentioned. Of these the ones with the most potential for economizing on lifts and lodging are Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper Mountain.
One of the key chairlifts at Loveland has no safety bar and gets quite high off the ground in parts. Many Westerners consider safety bars to be for wimps and many lifts at less "resortsy" ski areas do not have them. In the Eastern US they are nearly universal. I like them too.
With the World Wide Web and plethora of online ski sites like Snowheads with global reach, another growing strategy for optimizing ski trips is the possibility of developing cyber friends in advance of crossing the pond, either direction, to gain local guidance/assistance especially for such an ambitious ski trip agenda.
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abc, "The road is only 17 miles long."
The first time I arrived at SFO to stay in Pebble Beach, immigration demanded a house number with the street address I had provided on my visa form... which totally flummoxed me as I'd already told them - I was staying at number 17, Mile Drive... 45 mins, a lot of official faff, and a lengthy phone call to my employer later, I was finally let through passport control!
The VERY rough sea there is such a great part of the attraction of the area for me... which is why I found all the manicured golf courses and Ralph Lauren uniforms a bit soulless. Ignoring all of that, though, it is a beautiful place to get on a bike and go sightseeing - lucky you that this is something you can "usually" do!
I agree with lucky33, ... saikee,'s trip report made me think that it is possible to explore the expensive Colorado ski areas at some point in the future without selling a kidney to pay for it or getting stuck in one particular corporate resort environment for the duration of the trip... and the advanced booking lift pass deals sound pretty amazing. I also agree with lucky33, in liking safety bars on chairlifts...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| miranda wrote: |
abc, "The road is only 17 miles long."
The first time I arrived at SFO to stay in Pebble Beach, immigration demanded a house number with the street address I had provided on my visa form... which totally flummoxed me as I'd already told them - I was staying at number 17, Mile Drive... 45 mins, a lot of official faff, and a lengthy phone call to my employer later, I was finally let through passport control! |
That's hilarious! 
| Quote: |
it is a beautiful place to get on a bike and go sightseeing - lucky you that this is something you can "usually" do! |
At the time, I was living in San Francisco Bay Area. So cycling the 17 Mile Drive is something we "often" do for a weekend, finished with visit to some fine (can be expensive) restaurants to re-fill the calories we burned cycling.
I'm' not a golfer. So I have no appreciation of the golf course. I would have thought all that great scenary would distract one's game more than enhance it (not to mention what the fierce wind would do to the flight path of golf balls). But seeing how many "famous" golf course are located at stunning locations, I guess there're plenty of "golfers" out there enjoying the scenary while the game being just the excuse.
| lucky33 wrote: |
| Typical US ski vacationer would not try to mix visits with three or four different ski companies like you did (Aspen, Vail, Copper/WinterPark, Loveland) because multiday lift tickets are more affordable from one company than from two or three companies. |
"Typical US ski vacationers" can simply go back the next year (or next month) to visit another group of resorts belonging to a different ski companies, taking advantage of the discounts from each ski company.
Also, typical US ski vacationers don't have a block of 3 week vacation. It's pointless to trot all over the Rockies on a 1 week leave.
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I have originally marked up Steamboat and Winter Park for visit as well or stick with my current plan but drop Aspen to save cost. In the end I found my current plan reasonably relax. I did drove to Winter Park to check it out but did not find sufficient features to attract me to cover the 50-mile day trip distance from Silverthorne.
The longest distance I drove to ski is 25 miles (from Carbondale to Buttermilk) and this took less than 30 minutes. I was of the opinion of going to Colorado but not visiting Aspen was unwise. After the visit I am glad about my effort. Having visited other similar top skiing resorts in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy and I can now compare them with Aspen which in my opinion tops the Colorado in my book. Although Vail and Beaver Creek look neater externally and newer but a resort needs a affluent town like Aspen lined with really expensive shops and nice restaurants to reinforced its status. The four resorts in Aspen do provide a pretty wide spectrum to please all levels of skiers.
For a week or 10 days period it should easy enough for one to ski the 7 resorts from Loveland to Beaver Creek by staying somewhere near the Copper Mountain.
Unless one knows Aspen it is quite difficult for a newcomer to find out the relative positions of Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highland and Aspen Mountain. Our own Sat Nav (Tom Tom 920 loaded with North American Map) could only direct us to the old Snowmass. In fact the new Snowmass village is 12 miles further away. Buttermilk is the next stop after the airport (3.5 miles from junction turn into Snowmass village). Aspen Highland is of course just outside the town of Aspen whereas Aspen Mountain is inside Aspen downtown.
From our experience the best way is to drive directly to the free car park of Buttermilk situates next to the main road as free buses directly to other three resorts' base stations are available at 15 minutes intervals there. I was told in both Aspen downtown and Aspen Highland parking is hard to come by. The Aspen main car park is located far away from the lift staions (need another bus ride). Aspen operates a green policy permitting cars to park on the streets if the vehicles have been shared by more than one party (car pooling). To qualify one has to stop at the airport to apply for the necessary paper. The buses returning to Buttermilk is convenient because if one finishes early and returns to Buttermilk then one can use any spare time to ski Buttermilk as it is the smallest but very easy. Its black runs appear to be on par with the blue runs in other three resorts.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It is true that the "typical" US ski vacationer would not take off three consecutive weeks for a ski holiday, but because of the especially low priced season passes for Vail Resorts (Vail, BC, Breck, Abasin, Keystone, Heavenly-California) and the Copper/WinterPark/Steamboat triad many are buying season passes in the $350-600 range and making two or three 5-7 day visits to Colorado over the course of one winter even if they live 1000s of miles away. I don't fault saikee for covering a much ground as possible, just making the point that there are attractive economies (and plenty of skiing variety) by sticking to one group of related ski areas even for longer visits of two-three weeks. One could make an attractive trip built around the Vail Resorts in CO and even take a day to drive (~13 hours from Glenwood Springs) to Heavenly, CA, ski there a few days, then return to CO to finish trip.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| fatbob wrote: |
| adie wrote: |
| One quick question do lots of America chair lifts still have no safety bar, I remember skiing Winter Park and Copper Mountain 6 years ago, and as someone who can be a bit wary of heights I spent the whole time hanging on for grim death.... |
Depends where you are - you can always tell in US when you've got on the chairlift with a european as they slam the bar down without asking while locals for most tame lifts will leave it up certainly there is never a liftie yelling at you to put it down. More interesting (i.e. older, fixed grip) chairs quite often lack a bar with no real consequence. |
double and triples with no safety bar are common in the pacific northwest. Locals rarely put down bars anyway
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FAQ
I think the lifts close early there because there's only "one way home" - you can't have a bunch of novices heading off in to territory which is going to take them 2.5 hours to get back to the base from, wheras perhaps in Europe if they're slow they just end up at a bus-stop the other end of town.
