Colorado snow--lots of questions for a patient Samaritan (Montrose, Aspen: college, living)

[Mountainman88]

So I've been thinking about moving to Colorado in ten years or so. I personally love snow and cold weather and I am not a fan of hot summers, though I do not mind the heat as much if there is little humidity. I also like the idea of living up high, even above 8,000 feet if necessary. As an amature mountaineer it would be great to get acclimated and be used to higher alititudes so that they feel more normal to me. I love the idea of the views that come with this as well. Colorado seems to be the place for me, except for one small problem. Averages seem to say that Colorado actually gets less snow than the interior Northeast, which seems to be due to the drier climate. Does anyone know what snow is like in Colorado? If I was looking for a town where it snows about every ten days (or more) and has a continuous (or near continuous) snow coverage from late December to March, should I look outside Colorado or am I looking in the right place? What are these towns like? (How high, how expensive, how isolated, etc) Is the snowfall relatively consistent? I know that warm winter days are normal, at least at lower elevations. P.S.: How obvious is it that I'm from the Mid Atlantic? I hope to live in or near mountainous land some day, thank you for satisfying my curiousity!

[Crackerjack]

The problem with so many snow cities and towns is they are ski attractions and that usually means they are costly to live in such a Telluride, Vail and Aspen, all get a good amount of snow. Since you love lots of snow, Wolf Creek gets tons of it, it is east of Pagosa Springs. A rich billionaire is trying to build a city up there, but it is being met with resistance from environmentalists. It is such a beautiful area, I personally hope that area will stay wilderness and not become built up. Anyway, town wise, Silverton gets a lot of snow. Silverton has skiing by the way. It is small, real small, so you have to be one that doesn't like a big box store like Walmart, or much of anything, but the bare basics. Ouray has a lot of snow and is really beautiful. You can go into Montrose for more shopping. If I were to live in a snow town, Ouray would be the one I'd pick. Pro ice climbers go there in the winter for ice climbing.

[2bindenver]

A lot will change in ten years. Why wait?

[Mountainman88]

Well, to be honest I'm still in college, so a lot will change with my situation as well. I still hope I will be able to live among mountains at some point in my life. Thank you for the thorough and prompt response!