Planning a Family Ski Vacation...

Below is a question received recently from someone interested in bringing their family to Colorado for Ski Vacation. The answer seemed to help them out and may be some of the information will help you too. You are more than welcome to submit questions and if we can help, we will.

Dear Robert,
First, the time of year you're planning to come is very popular and costs can be at least twice a much any other time of the year. You'll probably find your best deals by booking early. Other times where rates will be higher would be Presidents weekend in February and Spring Break in March. If you can come outside of those times, you'd be apt to find great deals.

I haven't been to Red River, NM but I have been to Taos and Angel Fire in NM. In my opinion, Colorado has more to offer. All Colorado resorts are ready, willing and able to accommodate families and groups like yours. Beaver Creek, Vail, Aspen, Snowmass, Telluride are the more high end resorts. They really are nice and if you ever get the chance you should experience one of them sometime. Vail offers the most terrain of any resort in North America. The varied terrain matched with the high speed lifts makes it one of my faves. All these resorts offer a multitude of things for family members who don't ski.

Breckenridge, Keystone Steamboat, Winter Park, Copper Mountain, are good sized ski resorts marketed as family resorts and with a great range of terrain from easy to double black. You could probably spend a week in one of these places and not get tired of skiing the same trails and if someone doesn't ski - there's plenty of diversions including great downtown's.

Crested Butte and Durango aren't as big as the above, but are really nice sized resorts and located in very cool towns. Depending on your ability, you may or may not risk doing the same runs on the hill. These ski areas offer a great bang for the buck and offer lots more for members of the family who may not ski.

Monarch (Salida), Ski Cooper (Leadville), Sol Vista (Granby/Grand Lake) and Sunlight (Glenwood Springs) are also close to very cool towns but are smaller than the above. If you have some explorers, Monarch and Ski Cooper offer affordable snow cat skiing for the studs and very affordable lift tickets. There is probably a 15 to 20 minute drive from where you most likely would be staying and lots to offer for those who don't ski.

A-Basin and Loveland are on top of the Continental Divide and offer skiing from October through June. They're not big resorts, but have fun trails, affordable lift tickets, and great beginner and advanced terrain. There is no lodging on the mountain, but they are both located within 20 minutes of Summit County. That's where I live. I moved here because there are 7 world class ski resorts within 40 minutes of me (A-Basin, Loveland, Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Vail and Beaver Creek). Look for a property manager in the towns of Dillon and Silverthorne and you may find a good deal on some house accommodations.

There are others but from the description of your group, I think you'd be pretty happy with any of the above. If I were to recommend a resort for you, I think you'd probably find Durango or Crested Butte a good fit for your group. Both are good sized resorts and I'd bet you'd find reasonably priced accommodations for 20, lift tickets, rentals, other things to do besides ski and great restaurants. Both towns, Durango and Crested Butte are cool full of cool people. Durango, Crested Butte and Telluride are popular with Texas due to their locations, but there aren't may resorts in Colorado that aren't popular with Texas.

After you've looked that page over, just pull down the cities/resorts menu and check the other resorts. Summit County and Winter Park are also recommended but I would aim for a different time of year. Their proximity to Denver really make Christmas season crazy busy.

You didn't mention how you'd get here, but whether you drive or fly there are plenty of options for you. we have a section on this website called, Colorado, Get Here that's a great resource for locating Colorado airports and airlines, travel routes, shuttle services and more.
Thanks,
Jeff

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