Anybody here skied crested butte or Jackson hole, taking atrip witht he 15 yo and was wondering what impressions may be. Or any other advice, would prefer not a big resort with multithousand hotel rooms.
Honestly if you are looking for a non mega resort but still want to have good skiing, take a look at Powderhorn. However it's not the place to go if you want bowls. Some more challenging terrain closer to Denver, with lterally NO hotel rooms, is A Basin. The Mountain | Powderhorn Mountain Resort - The Soul of Skiing http://www.arapahoebasin.com/ABasin/mountain/explore-the-mountain/default.aspx
Have skied Crested Butte many times but it's been a while. My recollection is that it's on the smaller side (but that's relative) but has some challenging terrain. Town was similarly small so options for food, lodging, etc are somewhat limited.
Vail resident. Crusty Butt and The Hole are far, Far, FAR from Denver, so you'd want to hop the puddle jumper and fly in. Both are a reasonably short connection from DIA. Skiing-wise, CB and JH are both pretty spectacular aesthetically and challenging. It's been decades since I've skied either, but I feel Jackson had the more difficult terrain at the time. Both towns have their appeal and are on the smaller side, Jackson, IMO, being the more "developed". For example, at Jackson, you've got a Four Seasons, an Amangani and fine dining. CB is holding on, as much as it can, to its old mining town roots, so it's less developed and intentionally more "rustic". A Basin is a short drive from Vail, and I usually hit it for a couple of days after Vail closes. It's higher, windier and colder. It also has great views. Since opening Montezuma Bowl, it has more skiable acreage, but the best stuff, IMO, is hiking out on the front-side bowl. Pallavacini is the best known run, but there are spots that are slide-prone the farther West you go (and into the chutes). Altitude sickness is a BIG issue there (base at 11000 elev and summit over 13000) for those who come up from sea level. The nearest hotels would be a 15-20min drive down to Keystone. If you go anywhere else in the local Vail portfolio (Vail, Breck, Keystone), expect lots of hotels and, depending on when you go, crowds. OTOH, they do offer the most developed infrastructure (dining, shopping, parking and transportation). Also, if you buy a Vail ticket, it's good at any resort in the Vail portfolio, I think (check that, though). So, you can bounce around and ski the different mountains if you want to change it up. They're all within ~45min - 1 hour of each other. Alternatively, you could also look at Steamboat and Copper. They're smaller, less developed mountains and quieter towns, but nothing at all wrong with them. CW
Agree with CW. If you want quiet and less developed, I would recommend either Copper mt, which is only 90 minutes from DIA, great skiing, and not much of town. Will only get busy on weekends but the expert terain usally is not crowded even then. Steamboat is 3 hours from Denver is even less crowded but I find the terrain to be a bit boring- no bowls and not too many steeps. Also, it is down at 6600 ft so you dont get the big Mountain views you get at other Colorado resorts. If you want to avoid crowds at a high end resort, Beaver Creek, which is Vails sister resort , is great. Great and varied terrain, good snow, nice vertical, and usually never gets too crowded. You will find some nice , high end ski in and ski out condos to rent.
Went to Alta, thought it was great, dont really have other comparisons but would happily go back. Low key, really nice people good vibe no pretension.
Check out Copper. Sure, it's not off the beaten path but doesn't have the "skiing with everyone and his uncle" feel that the Vail Resorts mountains tend to have. And Copper is not in the middle of nowhere; it's pretty easy to get to with a rental car from DIA. BTW, I love Vail Resorts mountains, even if they can get rather crowded. Vail Mountain on fresh powder can be epic and it's possible to avoid the crowds as it's so big. But on the front side and at the base it can be a mad house. This is especially true of Breck and Keystone. -F
Aspen/Snowmass is off the CHARTS right now. I have not skied that much and that many days in a row in a long time. It was magazine worthy Colorado Pow.
As an aside, we just wrapped up the World Championships two weeks ago at BC. I don't know when Golden Eagle and Raptor will be opened to the public (they may already be), but the tear-down was on-going during the events, so if anyone wants to know what it's like to ski this stuff in conditions as close to the World Cup competitors get, now's the time. CW
