Question for Coloradoans (Denver, Boulder, Loveland: environment, hotel, vacation)

[lovethewest]

I have a rather random question for Coloradoans. I was surfing the web recently, and I happened to find a picture of a really ritzy ski resort in Colorado. I think it was Beaver Creek. Anyway, that got me interested, and I discovered that there are countless of these top dollar, enormous, ritzy, but beautiful ski lodges and resorts. My question is, do you Coloradoans go to theses places for your vacations or are these places reserved for the rich of New York and California, and if so, is there an off-the-beaten-track spot locals go to? I grew up in Wyoming, and most residents looked at Jackson Hole with a tad disdain. They admitted it was beautiful, but it is over crowded, overpriced, and people would seek other parts of the state for recreation. Again, I know it's random, but I was curious.

[Noahma]

I am probably one of the only colorado natives that does not use any place in the mountains for recreation IE: I dont ski lol

hate snow! just sit and wait for the season when i can go hike

[Fuzz]

Yes, there are ski areas which are cheap and draw more locals.

But even the ritzy areas like Beaver Creek are not that expensive for locals with season passes. Just as long as you don't eat or stay at the resort (many of the resorts are day-trips for locals).

I know wherever and whenever I ski, I'm there for the snow and terrain -- I could care less about the ritzy amenities.

[vegaspilgrim]

For me, I'd say I've done a little bit of both. Growing up I used to go skiing about 2-3 times each year, strictly as day trips. We usually went to Loveland ski area and sometimes Mary Jane. We went on a lot of family road trips exploring nearby southwestern states: NM, AZ, UT, NV, and CA. I've done the Yellowstone thing, the Jackson Hole thing (in the summer), and I think I've stayed at Beaver Creek once a long time ago. This summer I went to Crested Butte. It was awesome-- not as intensely developed as the more well known ski towns, and a totally different, "west slope" geography and feel.

[jazzlover]

Those glitzy resorts are nothing but affluent ghettos. As far as I am concerned, they are a blight on the landscape. I remember when Vail was a sheep pasture. I liked it a hell of lot better then. Colorado's fancy resorts are high-altitude monuments to a materialistic, hedonistic lifestyle with scant regard to the character or environment of the landscape they desecrate. If the resorts and all of the trophy houses would just disappear, it would suit me just fine. It's just unattractive clutter littering the most beautiful landscapes God ever created.

[Mike from back east]

Rather than stay in those expensive high country places, you can stay in downtown Denver, walk over to Denver Union Station and take the Ski Train up to Winter Park, CO for a day of skiing and return to the city in the PM. You get one of the great train rides in the country, good skiing, and stay in a vibrant downtown near all sorts of pro sports, shows, events, clubs, and superb eateries.

If you got the buck$, stay in a high country resort and get pampered. The sunsets and sunrises are bound to be awesome.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Crested Butte has definitely been discovered, but it is so cold there it may never take off quite like some other places.
(To me, that's a *good* thing.)

I think different people use places in different ways. We went up to Vail a lot because we had two different relatives (one a native! ) with places there.
I don't remember when it was a sheep pasture, but I sure do remember when it was a very small, quiet place.
I agree with Fuzz that if you try not to spend too much money on meals, it is not unbearably pricey, but it is definitely an investment.
Our kids loved snowboarding there.

We had a lot of fun at Steamboat Springs in the summer. That was before Strawberry Park Hot springs was turned into a regulated, paid experience.

My sons and husband loved the Ski Train. They used to do that every spring.

I had other friends who, when the kids were little, would go up to Beaver Creek for Halloween. Families would go together. The rates were cheap, Halloween was a special event up there, and the kids had a blast.

[BillRadio]

You're going to get a whole spectrum of opinions about the "glitzy" resorts. The bottom line is we ski where we get the best terrain that's affordable. I skied Beaver Creek a hundred times and rarely spent any time at the "resort". Thank goodness for the Californians, Texans and Mexicans who lay out big bucks for the amenties so the resort can afford better lifts, more terrain and snowmaking.

We also often go to places like BC for free events like Oktoberfest. It's nice to be able pick and choose the parts of the resorts we like and avoid the rest. Since they attract people from around the world, well-heeled and otherwise, it's great to meet people from different cultures right in our own back yard...even foreign-born waiters/ski bums.

Conversely, many big-money visitors come here to enjoy the "western" experience, and sometimes that means getting grubby. After skiing BC one day I went to the lowliest "dive" in the valley (the Gashouse) and found the place full of big name golfers and movie stars. It is a little sad to get aced out of our regular hideouts (like Minturn) when they get discovered, but we get to go there any day of the year, they only get to go "in season".

[sunsprit]

Even though a lift ticket at the top places can be "expensive", one doesn't have to stay at the "glitzy" hotel or resort complex to be able to enjoy the skiing. There's lot of places to stay where it's affordable or you can make it a day trip from.

Mountain food service at virtually any ski operation is expensive ... so "brown bagging" it is a viable option and we do it all the time at Vail and Aspen and Copper and Loveland.

Don't be disuaded by the tone of "I want to be the last SOB in the place" of folks like jazzlover ... for every one of them, there's folks who lived to rue the day others arrived as early as a century before he ever showed up. I can recall when Boulder was a relatively small college town with an expanding university ... or when the road over Independence to Aspen was still a dirt lane and a half ....

Or when places like San Diego was a "Navy" town with a little aviation industry and a real commercial fishing fleet. And the drive up Coast Hwy 1 was a long haul interruped by a number of small towns as we drove to Los Angeles ... took almost all day.

And so forth ... we were recently watching some films of the old electric commuter rail systems in Iowa, around places where my wife grew up. She was shocked to see all the open spaces between the towns, and the few farms that looked old back then in the late '40's and early 50's. I'm sure that there's folks alive today who can lament the development and tearing up of that land ... and that was still in an era when about half the population still lived in rural america.

Unless you've got a solution to the population expansion, there will be demand for the land and services .... they're apparently making more people these days, but no more land.

[rmm64]

I can't comment about skiing or the prices of it (yes, another Coloradoan that does NOT ski and hates snow), but having worked in advertising for years, I think it's hilarious to hear the millionaires complaining about how the billionaires have priced them out of the resort towns, forcing them to move down valley. Just proves that what goes around, comes around.