Ski recs please?

[sunsprit]

If your choices were limited to Winter Park and Breck, then Breck is the better place to meet your requirements.

However, I think you'd do better to head to one of the larger ski resort towns. Since you've decided that Aspen "scene" isn't quite what you're looking for, then Vail is really the #1 comprehensive location for the combination of skiing to accomodate your family requirements and a town with shopping, restaurants, and other things to do besides ski ... all in one location.

The time is now to check out package lodging/ski tickets deals for your trip. Check out online deals and start calling around to the various lodges for what they've got. You may be very surprised at how affordable these can be after the Christmas/NewYear's holiday traffic has passed.

[davemess10]

Breck was my first thought. But to go outside of the box. What about Durgango? DMR is close by (Silverton sounds a little extreme for this family), and the town has a decent bit of shopping. There will also be more to do than the other ski resort only places. Durango would be a little tougher to get to though.

And if you're looking outside Colorado at all. Might want to think of Taos NM. Skiing there is incredible (though snow can be hit or miss), and the town is basically a big artist colony (Santa Fe is close by as well).

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by davemess10

Breck was my first thought. But to go outside of the box. What about Durgango? DMR is close by (Silverton sounds a little extreme for this family), and the town has a decent bit of shopping. There will also be more to do than the other ski resort only places. Durango would be a little tougher to get to though.

And if you're looking outside Colorado at all. Might want to think of Taos NM. Skiing there is incredible (though snow can be hit or miss), and the town is basically a big artist colony (Santa Fe is close by as well).

With a focus on expert ski slopes and rather limited for anything else ... if Silverton is a little extreme for this family, so would Taos be. We've got friends with a cabin in the area, and have had more times there at Christmas when the skiing wasn't worth the cost of a lift ticket than not; agreed, when Taos has good conditions, it's awesome ... for an expert skier.

Taos ... yeah, right ... "close by" to Santa Fe. It's about 100 miles "close by".

If Taos is having a good snow year at that time, my bet is that the driving conditions won't be without inclement conditions. Figure at least 2 hours, possibly 3 to get to Santa Fe.

If that's what you want to do for a day as a side trip, so be it. But it sure in heck isn't a "close by" thing to do in a destination ski resort vacation, it's a destination unto itself.