At one time it seemed that Aspen and Vail / Beaver Creek had a rivalry, each trying to one-up the other on lift ticket prices as seasons alternated. This year was Aspen’s turn, with a price of $87, until Vail Resorts announced its rise in ticket prices this week. Now it seems, that the whole industry is facing a rivalry with the price of crude oil. Does skiing in Colorado everywhere cost this much?

• Copper Mountain:up to $79 one day, but steep discounts provided at 2+ day rates. Distance from Vail: 25 gorgeous driving minutes.
• Ski Cooper: $39! A great deal but many fewer on-mountain amenities. Ski where the 10th mountain division used to train, on the continental divide in some of the highest altitude. Distance from Vail/ BC – one careful hour or 35 bat-out-of-H*** minutes.
• Breckenridge: Up to $86 depending on the week of the year. Check their prices online. Distance from Vail: 45 minutes.
• Keystone: $79. Distance from Vail /BC – 50 minutes. Keystone has night skiing too, so this may be a good choice if you get a late start.
• A-Basin: Colorado’s first, and lowest! Only $58 and score a season pass for less than the price of five nights. This bald mountain on the continental divide is still “the Legend.”

I was really hoping to find you a deal, folks. Here’s what I would say: stay next to the mountain you want to ski- get an early start, and hit it hard. Take a couple of days off to enjoy some snowshoeing or ice climbing in East Vail. The cost of renting a car may outweigh the lower lift prices at other destinations, but we understand. Realistically, the prices have only gone up $10 or less, so just find a place to stay that makes that cost back for you. Places like Beaver Creek West that are close to the bus route but off the slopes make a great compromise. Again, sorry the ticket prices are so high! But we’d really love to see ya.

It can be easy to plan a long-distance family vacation to a destination like Vail or Beaver Creek without all the right advice and information, especially for first time ski parents. It makes going to Florida – with its short sleeves, sandals, mickey hats, and sunscreen, look like a breeze. Taking the same vacation to a ski destination in Colorado can be comparatively called the gale-force wind. Its cold, its elevated, its strenuous, and we try to isolate the kids in ski school (“but mom! this is is supposed to be VACATION!!”) Inexperienced adults can generally make it on their own, picking up an extra pair of glove liners, socks, or Hot Chillys to stay comfortable and make the bathroom break a little less arduous. Kids don’t have that flexibility- even the flexibility to stop and use it while in ski camp. This makes it even more important to cover all your kids’ bases even over your own before they set foot on the snow. Even better, save a few bucks by gathering the gear and the plans before you get in the car or on the plane. (more…)

Its reasons like last night’s Cracker concert that make me glad to live in the vicinity of such a worldly resort as Beaver Creek. Locals like me wouldn’t normally venture up to Beaver Creek, except maybe to show off to relatives and friends who have come to visit. For the most part, all but the slopes of Beaver Creek is out of reach, except on nights like that of the 2013 bid party, when the resort opens up to vacationers there to check out the World Cup Birds of Prey races and also locals like myself. (more…)

The Vail Valley Blog went to Beaver Creek to ski today, on its first powder day of the season. Outside the window in the morning there were about three inches, but since Beaver Creek reported six, we figured it would be worth a shot. After stopping in at Venture Sports for a quick tune-up, we were up the lift and down the -one- run, Latigo, which was long, winding, and surprisingly not crowded, considering the packed busloads running up and down the mountain. The snow was loose and soft and ice was minimal.

Later on, we spied skiiers and riders breaking in some fresh powder on a run called Double Diamond which ran alongside the our Centennial Express lift. “Did they just open that? No way!” Surprise! Powder.. a lot of it. Enough to support dozens of us on the trail, not enough to cover all the weeds and saplings that had sprung up over the summer. I spoke with ski patrol just a few minutes ago to find out what other train would soon be open, and learned that Double Diamond was already closed. Why? “We only opened it for a couple of hours. We just wanted to get some tracks in it to get some of the air out of the snow. We don’t know when its going to open again. It was pretty rocky.” Oh great.. guess its a lucky accident that my head didn’t come in contact with any. Lesson one: wear a helmet!

My friendly ski patroller was able to tell me that a few of them were going over to Rose Bowl to see if the snow would support its opening. An expected storm on Friday and Saturday this week would undoubtedly support the opening of more terrain for the weekend. Still, the guns were going, and the mountain looked good. I was tired. I got one day in.. that’s one for us, zero for ski-blog. Today’s 6″ of snow get a 6 out of 10 for a worthy effort but lacking the volume to open more trails on the mountain. We are looking forward to a 7+ out of 10 this weekend.

If you open, they will come. A little snow helps, of course.

The storm everyone was looking for finally landed on us last night- about 9 hours before Vail’s rescheduled opening day. Vail opened one trail, Born Free, and its corresponding express lift, as well as the adjacent Eagle Bahn Gondola, but only to site-seers and folks seeking lunch without their equipment.

Eagle Valley Blog went to Lionshead to catch the buzz of the excitement of opening day. When we got there, it was snowing like crazy!

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