dillon to denver commute- crazy or do-able? (Loveland, Evergreen: how much, house)

[jackie monahan]

We are re-locating to denver area. Would love to close to skiing, while able to commute into denver. Also looking for good schools. Willing to spend up to about 600,000 for home. Dillon seems ideal, but I'm concerned that this would be crazy. If not Dillon, where would you recommend?

Thanks.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Yes, crazy.

[Count David]

....if you want a death wish.

Which are you going to do more of, skiing, or working?

The fable of all of us living in cabins on top of mountains and skiing into work is just that, a fable.

So, if you need to work to live, then living in/around Denver is probably the best bet. If skiing is your means of survival, then by all means, live in the mountains.

[Katarina Witt]

I think there's a tiny subset of people who do this, but I think they're crazy. Too much time spent in your car. If you want to live close to skiing but work in Denver, live in Evergreen or environs. You'll be a good bit closer to the slopes.

[Kibbiekat]

crazy. I've heard people live in Evergreen and ski at Loveland while their kids are at school. Some also commute to Denver from there. Too far for me, though.

[FentonForche]

I've got a relative whose jobs keeps her going back and forth between Vail and Denver. It's truly a horrendous commute. It's only feasible if you're doing four days at one spot and three days in the other, for instance, and actually sleeping in two different places. And even then the drive time will weigh on you a ton.

It would be akin to myth of sisyphus to be trying it do it in the winter, when snows will wreak havoc on I-70 around the tunnel.

[denverian]

Personally, I find anything beyond a 10 min. commute to work unacceptable! That commute would probably be bad on your car too, going up that elevation. Then throw in snow days.... just crazy.

[golfgod]

Yep, crazy. Even Evergreen and that area is only doable if you've got a job like an airline flight crew, in other words, not working a standard 9-5.

The mountains are open on weekends, but if you miss as much work as you probably would due to the I-70 problems you'd be looking for another job pretty soon.

Not sure how much house $600K gets you up there, and remember to set aside enough money to replace your Subaru every couple of years as you'll really rack up the miles. I love to ski, but I've lived in heavy snow areas in the past; upstate NY and the UP of Michigan, the "thrill" disappears by December most years.

golfgod

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Agree that driving to Denver from Dillon every day is an insane idea, even in good weather.

The farthest that I would reasonably want to live from Denver would be the top of Floyd Hill (next exit west of Evergreen). There are people who live in Idaho Springs who commute to Denver, but then you've got Floyd Hill to contend with in bad weather. You could get to Loveland Ski Area in less than an hour, weather permitting.

For your $600,000, you could probably find some really nice homes in the Evergreen area right now. I'm not familiar with the schools there, or the actual drive during rush hour. When I lived there I was closer to 285, so I did that drive into Denver every day for five years. But if you want easy access to the slopes, then you need to be closer to I-70.

[Mike from back east]

Seems almost as bad as commuting between Portland and Seattle, or between Pasadena and San Jose....

Universally bad idea. Thread closed. On to some other wonderful new topic.