Opinion Needed Colorado skiing

[Hawkeye]

A couple of friends, my wife, and I are taking a ski trip this winter. The other guy going and I have skied before, but my wife and the other girl have never been. I have been to Copper, Breck, and Keystone. We are looking at Loveland. Sounds like a smaller place without any expert runs, but it is about half as expensive as the others. Anyone been to Loveland before? Some of the negative reviews was that it is hit pretty hard by the wind and that it ices up, but it seemed like those other mountains iced up in the afternoon also. I am not an expert, but I do like to push it on more challenging trails. Do you think Loveland would be a good spot for two female beginners and a couple of flatlander guys that like to fall down a mogul trail a couple of times a day?

[CanoeGuru]

I'll leave the comments on Loveland to others, since I've never been there, but Winter Park has some great terrain for beginners as well as some more challenging stuff for more advanced skiers. Don't know if you've looked into it already.

[kabob48]

PM sent

[H2only]

never been to Loveland, my wife has and she liked it, I personally like Breckenridge, Then Keystone. have you thought about Vail?

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by H2only

never been to Loveland, my wife has and she liked it, I personally like Breckenridge, Then Keystone. have you thought about Vail?

Thought about Vail, but don't have the funds nor are we too interested in a big touristy(is that a word?) place. We're going for three days of skiing, some small local bar-hopping at night, and I suppose the women will want to do some shopping, but I don't really want them to do that in the vail area. I've never been to Vail so I shouldn't put it down, but I don't think it's for us at this time (trying to save money for school).
I do agree that Breckenridge was my favorite, but was amazed at how much less lift tickets were for Loveland.

CG- Winter Park was pretty much the same in prices as the other "big" mountains. I've never been there, but have heard it's pretty nice.

Thanks for the input, fellas.
Kabob sent me a great PM, too.

[arrowhead]

A Basin is awesome

[thedarkarcher]

i learned how to ski at winter park, like was said, great place for beginners and advanced skiers as well.

[kabob48]

I spent a lot of time at Loveland before I stopped skiing. Actually, I went through their ski instructor program and was offered a job there but then Winter Park offered me a job and I went there. Loveland is right on I70 and is in sight of the Eisenhower tunnel. Generally it is more of a place locals go as it is not the destination resort that the other bigger ones are. If you want night life and clubs it might be good to ski at Loveland and party at others. Keystone and Breck are on the West side of the tunnel maybe a 1/2 hour away. Other than the ski lodge, there is nothing at Loveland not even a hotel.
For skiing, Loveland has separate area where they give beginner lessons which is nice since the experts are not blowing by making you feel bad. Their instructors are as good as any other place as all of them, at all the resorts, are trained by many of the same people. There are steep bumps and plenty of runs at various skill levels. If your friends never skied in Colorado before, it is important to know that the run ratings (from green to black diamond) are relative. That means that a intermediate trail in Loveland might be a black diamond in New York. Therefore, other than beginner trails, everything is probably more difficult than you might think. Actually, some are scary to even look at.
Other activities - If you continue west on I70 from Loveland the next exit is Silverthorne. That is the exit you take to get to Keystone and Breck. I would recommend getting a hotel there and skiing the first day at Loveland. If for some reason you are disappointed, you can do Breck or Keystone on other days. Since Silverthorne is about half way between Loveland and Breck, it gives you choices. Silverthorne is also a big outlet store place so it is a great place to shop if your legs give out (they probably will) For nightlife you might want to hit Breck at night if you don't just crash in your rooms. There are a lot of restaurants in Silverthorne.

Winter Park and Copper are great places and are huge. Beginners will never appreciate or even see 90% of them but they might cost more.
Arapahoe Basin is another more local place but has few beginner runs and you better be good to use over half of it.
Other than that you are talking Beaver Creek, Vail, and Aspin. Probably the best there is but you better have a boat load of money and they are a good bit further West.

As far as conditions go the best it probably Aspen etc. I think that the conditions at Breck, Keystone and Loveland will be very similar but I doubt ever bad. Never was bad when I went to them.

[kabob48]

Lets see what I can tell you.
Eat and drink - Try this link, I think Dillon is 2 miles or less from Silverthorne and Frisco is 5 or 6
http://summitactivities.com/summit_silverthorne/restaurants.php
I have not eaten or gone to bars there much but the link shows some options .

Shopping - The outlet there are all over the place in three sections. If you tire of skiing, you can shop till you drop.
http://www.outletsatsilverthorne.com/

Loveland averages over 400 inches of snow a year. If for some reason you don't like it, you can turn in your tickets before 10AM for a full refund and go someplace else.

Food at Loveland is limited to their lodge if I remember right. Generally it is not bad but way to expensive in my opinion. The main parking lot is very close to the slopes. Check out their web site. http://www.skiloveland.com/ Loveland is kind of two places. The main area is to the right off the exit and Loveland Valley where the lessons are is to the left. I think there is maybe a 1/4 mile between them but there is a chairlift that you can ride between them. Ladies can go for lessons in morning and you all can meet up for lunch at the one you park at. You can park either place and I would take lunch and eat at the car. Get there early (web says when you need to be there for lessons and you need to allow time to rent equipment and all that. BRING A LOT TO DRINK!! Altitude sickness is awful Dizzy, pass out, throw up etc. Lots of water deals with that. In lessons they will be told about it right away. Those not taking lessons might not know. The base is at about 11,000 ft and the Summit close to 13,000 you will feel it.

Don't think you are being cheap. See if they have a rental, lesson, lift package. I almost never ate in the lodges. Visitors pay through the nose. locals can get a Colorado pass that gets them unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breck, ABasin, and Keystone for like $500 a year with no blackout days. Not bad when some of them change $80 for a day.

If you want, let me know what you figure it will cost for skis, tickets, lessons etc. For example all the sporting good stores in Denver rent equipment. You might save some renting in Denver rather than the slope. Generally you get better stuff for less, Also, if you rent for the weekend, if you decide to do a day at Loveland and then do Breck or Keystone, you will have the same stuff everyday and not have to wait in rental lines everyday. Same with tickets. You often can get them cheaper at stores between Denver and the mountains than you can at the resort.

Well that was some random thoughts to consider

[CanoeGuru]

Almost forgot: when skiing at Winter Park, it's a lot cheaper to stay up the road at the YMCA of the Rockies in their cabins, if there's one available. You can save a lot of money on lodging that way if you don't mind driving a few miles to the slopes in the a.m. I know you're not leaning toward WP, but just had to throw that out there.

[Fishingnerd33]

I've been to Loveland twice and loved it! Kabob pretty much summed everything up quite well. When I went, we stayed in Silverthorne and traveled to the mountain for the day.

I think it's an incredible place to ski. The prices are pretty reasonable and they have literally every kind of slope you can imagine. And yes, the slope grading is a little on the difficult side. I can honestly say I kissed death on the nose on my way down an "intermediate" slope. Great gopher, I about left a skid mark all the way from the top to the lodge on that one.

Loveland also has two sides of the mountain, which allows you to basically ski in two resorts for the price of one.

The shopping is great there, from what I've told, by the time we were done skiing I was ready for a nice soak in the hot tub. But the shopping is very good.

You won't be disappointed in Loveland.

Will be looking for the , have fun!!

[basshunter]

Originally Posted by arrowhead

A Basin is awesome

I second this We went to A- basin last winter and it was fun. Not a lot of people and it was cheaper than some of the other places. Also we like Keystone, the night skiing is probably what sold us the most.

The wife loves this area due to Silverthorne outlet malls, Skiing. Also a good place to eat is Pug Ryans Brewery in Dillon, Co.

[arrowhead]

Good place to eat is Erics Down Under in Breck. I have skiied Breck, Keystone, Vail, A basin, and Loveland. Ill take Keystone 1st, abasin 2nd and then breck. Keystone is great, night skiing!

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for the info, guys. We booked our hotel in Silverthorne, and will be skiing Loveland for three days. Hard to pass up on the cheap lift tickets. I would love to go back to some of the bigger places, but who knows, we could return to Loveland if all goes well. Eventually, I'd like to make it a yearly family vacation. I remember skiing when I was very little using my dad's legs as poles. Good times. Hope I don't Sonny Bono it.

[CanoeGuru]

Hope you have great trip!