First visit to Denver - suggestions?

[Peaheartsmama]

Hi Ladies! I have an opportunity to spend the weekend in Denver in a couple weeks and was hoping to get some advice on where to ski! I would consider myself an early intermediate skier. I have mostly skied in Camelback in PA and Mountain Creek in NJ-- comfortable on the easier blues, love long wide, gentle groomers. Not looking for steeps at all. Ideally a place easily reachable via public transportation so I don't have to worry about driving in icy conditions. Looing for something different from the east coast skiing experience. An area with a village would be nice to have as well. I have looked at Winter Park and Eldora as options. I also read about Echo but I suspect it will be similar to the smaller places I have visited so far. Thoughts?

 

[Peaheartsmama]

By the way I was just reading some other threads -- is @KatyPerrey still teaching in Keystone? Maybe that would be a good option too?

 

[Little Lightning]

Generally I would recommend Copper, the Union Creek area is wonderful for long gentle groomers. However. my recommendation would be Steamboat. It's farther away from the front range. Less likely to have the crowds. Also, lots of long, groomers. It was the 1st western resort I skied and I loved the long, blue groomers.

 

[Little Lightning]

Winter Park would be a second choice. Can't comment on the weekend crowds.

 

[nopoleskier]

Breckenridge to me has very gentle blues/greens. They are Wide and well groomed.
Beaver Run Resort/Conference center right by Lift 9- Condos/Rooms Privately owned so may find on VRBO. The village also has a lot of lodging. We took a Shuttle from the Airport to and From Breck. There was free bus to take us down town if we wanted but the Beaver Run had a couple of Very good restaurants for the 2nights I was there.

Personally I think Keystone has more pitch, but there are gentle cruisers there too, excellent grooming.
Copper very similar in pitch to Keystone, still plenty of cruisers, excellent grooming.
There is free bus service in the Keystone/Copper area depending where you stay could be a lot of stops or not too many.

HAVE FUN!! Western Corduroy is SO NICE!!

 

[marzNC]

Ideally a place easily reachable via public transportation so I don't have to worry about driving in icy conditions. Looing for something different from the east coast skiing experience. An area with a village would be nice to have as well. I have looked at Winter Park and Eldora as options.

Does your schedule match up with the train to Winter Park from downtown Denver? It's set up for local families. Goes straight to the base village as I understand it.

I have mostly skied in Camelback in PA and Mountain Creek in NJ-- comfortable on the easier blues, love long wide, gentle groomers.

Any skiing in Colorado will be different from the mid-Atlantic. Best to start with a green or two before moving to blues out west. Remember that trail ratings only give an indication of relative difficulty at one ski area/resort. A blue out west may well be a steep as a black at Camelback, and will definitely be quite a bit longer. The good news is that the ratio of lift ride to time on snow is usually better. Meaning for a 7-min lift ride, you may get 10-20 min of skiing before reaching the next lift.

 

[Peaheartsmama]

Thanks for all the input! Yes I was curious about the winter park train as it would simplify things a lot! And for sure I would stick to just greens to start with. I’m sure Camelback will seem like a little tiny hill by the time I come back really looking forward to It!

 

[Peaheartsmama]

By the way - what should I be doing about adjusting to the altitude? Anything I can do that will help mitigate the effects? What exactly happens when it affects you?

 

[MissySki]

By the way - what should I be doing about adjusting to the altitude? Anything I can do that will help mitigate the effects? What exactly happens when it affects you?

Everyone is different, so tough to say how you might feel in particular, it can even change from trip to trip for some and others might not feel much of anything. For me I definitely notice shortness of breathe and faster heart rate in the first few days with less exertion than at home, for example walking up a hill or stairs and obviously when skiing. I also have trouble sleeping on some trips and wake up a lot, likely due to changes in breathing at night as well (if you are staying in Denver this probably won’t be an issue versus lodging at mountains a few thousand feet higher at the base). My last trip the sleep issues were very minimal, which was a nice surprise.

One of the best and simplest things you can start doing ahead of your trip is drinking more water. Dehydration can occur really quickly at altitude with how dry it is. Drink way more than you think you need to, and avoiding alcohol the first day or two at altitude can be a good idea as well. When I ski out west I use a backpack with a hydration system, the mountains are larger so it can be harder to make a quick stop if you need a water/snack break. For comfort, also bring moisturizing products for your face, hands, lips etc. and beware of the sun that can be surprisingly strong when that high up, good to wear sunscreen on your face when on the mountain.

 

[Jenny]

I usually take some Excedrin or ibuprofen when I get on the plane, again when we land, and throughout the first day or two, so that I can prevent an altitude headache. I found that my migraine pills also did the trick.

And like Missyski says - water, water, water! I have sleep issues when I'm there, but that's OK because I have to get up to use the bathroom anyway, or to refill my water bottle - yes, I drink some every time I wake up, too.

Usually the headache and the sleep interruption are the only effects that are enough for me to notice, but the shortness of breath has happened, too.

 

[Peaheartsmama]

Ok thank you that’s super helpful. I didn’t think to bring the water backpack. Will definitely do that! And will take some Advil too! (Though I usually already have that for the aching muscles at the end of the day ;) )

 

[marzNC]

By the way - what should I be doing about adjusting to the altitude? Anything I can do that will help mitigate the effects? What exactly happens when it affects you?

Good that you are planning for the adjustment period. As mentioned, two of the simplest things to do is to start drinking more water a few days BEFORE you fly to Denver. Hydrating in general is good, but water is better. And don't drink any alcohol on a short trip or at least the first few days. For the flight out, I usually have at least a small water bottle on the plane so that I can keep drinking without getting something (that can spill) from the flight attendant. Sometimes a commercial water bottle, but more often an empty plastic water bottle. that I fill after finishing with TSA security. I tend to lose the water bottle sooner or later but don't need it on the flight home.

The lowest level symptoms include difficulty sleeping and needing to pee a lot more enough than usual. Meaning waking up every hour or two. And needing a restroom every hour, or even more often in the morning. One reason to drink a lot of water after getting to Colorado is that "water out" is going to happen a lot whether or not "water in" is happening. So easy to get very dehydrated. Have a friend who gets nausea the first day staying at Alta Lodge but that's compounded by the drive up the canyon road that makes her carsick.

Note that it's impossible to predict how high altitude (over 6000 ft) will impact someone, not even someone who's slept at over 8000 ft before. However, most people naturally adjust in 3-4 days. Although getting out of breath when hiking or walking up a flight of stairs takes longer, even for someone in pretty good shape. Sleeping in Denver before going skiing helps with the adjustment. For some people that's a reason to get lodging in SLC or Taos (30 min from ski resort base) instead of staying slope side, which can be more than 2000 ft higher.

Here are a few references:

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/altitude-sickness.html

https://www.healthline.com/health/acute-mountain-sickness#risk-factors

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/travel/skiing-rocky-mountains-altitude-sickness.html

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/adjusting-to-high-altitude-over-6000-ft.16528/

 

[RachelV]

Just chiming in to say that if you want actual mass transit to the mountains, the train to Winter Park is really your only choice. You can take 2 buses to Eldora, but Eldora has no base village and honestly if you’re coming all the way from the east coast you might as well ski our bigger mountains, not Eldora. If you just don’t want to drive (smart, way less stress), you can look into booking a ride on Colorado Mountain Express or one of the other services that run vans to take people to the mountains.

 

[RachelV]

Also, I can’t overstate how small Echo is. It will make Camelback look like a mega resort.

 

[marzNC]

Also, I can’t overstate how small Echo is. It will make Camelback look like a mega resort.

Now you peaked my curiosity . . . looked at the stats on OnTheSnow. I looked at the base of Camelback last fall. Typical mid-Atlantic 4-season resort with slopes coming down off a ridgeline, plenty of slopeside lodging for weekenders, with the bonus of an indoor waterpark.

Echo, CO: 600' vert, 60 acres, 70% snowmaking
Camelback, PA: 800' vert, 166 acres, 100% snowmaking

 

[MissySki]

Now you peaked my curiosity . . . looked at the stats on OnTheSnow. I looked at the base of Camelback last fall. Typical mid-Atlantic 4-season resort with slopes coming down off a ridgeline, plenty of slopeside lodging for weekenders, with the bonus of an indoor waterpark.

Echo, CO: 600' vert, 60 acres, 70% snowmaking
Camelback, PA: 800' vert, 166 acres, 100% snowmaking

I’ve never been to either, but that’s pretty funny! Sounds like a good tip to avoid for other options when going all that way there from the east!

 

[RachelV]

Hah! Echo is adorable and if I had small kids or lived very close I'd be there all the time, but it's just so comically far from being a destination resort. I'll let the Google maps screenshot do the talking here. You can't really see the 1 chairlift but it's just left of the middle.

 

[Peaheartsmama]

OMG. Hahaha! Ok definitely not echo then alright if the decision comes down to which resort has the nicest/ most options greens then and some ski bus or van service option to get there from either downtown Denver or the airport, which would it be?

 

[Peaheartsmama]

ha! that’s the perfect description for camelback - I’m less than 2 hrs away and it’s great to be able to go as many weekends as we can and really get the kids to learn at a relatively reasonable price vs the rates I’m seeing at these western resorts I would never be able to justify lift tickets and ski school at some of these places!

 

[Jenny]

I was just at Copper in early January, and went to Winter Park for a day (first time I'd been there). Personally, I liked Copper more, but if Winter Park is easier to get to (train) then I think it would be fun to do that, too. But I enjoyed the runs at Copper more.