Weekend Skiing and Dealing with I-70 (Denver, Loveland: home, live, move to)

[coyoteloon]

I'm very excited about my impending (three weeks!) move to Denver, and I plan to make the mountains a big part of my recreational life, in both winter and summer. Heh, yeah, me ... and a hundred thousand other drivers. I realize that weekend I-70 traffic is horrific, and something of a local nightmare for you native Denverites (Denverinians? Denverinos? OK, back on topic ...) Still, as the saying goes, the mountain won't come to Mohammed, so ...

What's the best way to do a weekend ski trip up to Keystone, Breckenridge, or Vail? (Ignore the Winter Park train for the moment ... I have a Vail Resorts Epic Pass, and want to use it.) If you take the traditional I-70 route, when do you realistically need to be on the road to keep the drive around 2-3 hours? Six o'clock? Five? Four? How about driving up late Friday night? What about the matching nightmare of the return trip ... what's the best time to head back to town? Are there any "back roads" that actually take less time than a clogged-up interstate?

[daniboi81]

During the weekends that I go skiing I leave Denver around 6:30am so I can get to Keystone by the time they open (8:30). I'll ski until about 12:00 - 1:00 pm and head home. The traffic is not that bad at all when coming back down during this time frame, usually takes me about 1 - 1.5 hrs to get home. It all depends on if your an early bird or a night owl.

[coyoteloon]

Originally Posted by daniboi81

During the weekends that I go skiing I leave Denver around 6:30am so I can get to Keystone by the time they open (8:30). I'll ski until about 12:00 - 1:00 pm and head home. The traffic is not that bad at all when coming back down during this time frame, usually takes me about 1 - 1.5 hrs to get home. It all depends on if your an early bird or a night owl.

Now see, that doesn't sound bad at all ... I'd consider hitting the road at 6:00 or 6:30 to be very reasonable (but that's just me). My question would be, assume that I want to spend more time on the hill or hang around the resort ... does the drive back get a lot worse if you leave at, say, 5 or 6?

[Neditate]

It's all about timing. If you can leave by 4:00 on a Friday it's fine, otherwise wait until after 7:00. If we hit the road by 3:00 on Sunday we've rarely had any problems. Any later than that and you'll get caught in traffic - between 4:00-6:00 seems to be the worst time. If you can, wait until around 7:00.
FYI the Winter Park Ski Train is not operating any more.

[denverkid]

Originally Posted by coyoteloon

I'm very excited about my impending (three weeks!) move to Denver, and I plan to make the mountains a big part of my recreational life, in both winter and summer. Heh, yeah, me ... and a hundred thousand other drivers. I realize that weekend I-70 traffic is horrific, and something of a local nightmare for you native Denverites (Denverinians? Denverinos? OK, back on topic ...) Still, as the saying goes, the mountain won't come to Mohammed, so ...

What's the best way to do a weekend ski trip up to Keystone, Breckenridge, or Vail? (Ignore the Winter Park train for the moment ... I have a Vail Resorts Epic Pass, and want to use it.) If you take the traditional I-70 route, when do you realistically need to be on the road to keep the drive around 2-3 hours? Six o'clock? Five? Four? How about driving up late Friday night? What about the matching nightmare of the return trip ... what's the best time to head back to town? Are there any "back roads" that actually take less time than a clogged-up interstate?

The only realistic alternative route is to take US-285 out of south Denver to CO-9. It adds about 30 miles and 75 minutes (assuming similar traffic conditions) to the trip. It's worth it if you know there's a wreck on I-70, or if your leaving the high country at 5pm on a Sunday.

[outside1]

We leave for Loveland at 8 A.M. from Denver and make it to the mountain usually in a tad over an hour because traffic seems to run earlier.

Getting home is a crap shoot. Last Sunday it started at 1PM and was bad from 5 miles before 40 until the tunnel. Some days it does not get bad until 3 or 4.

It is strange to think that just 10-15 years or so ago traffic was the exception not the rule.

[RedSoxFanGoingWest]

My wife and I go to Breck every weekend - we're spoiled, her parents live there. We typically leave Castle Rock around 4pm and it usually takes us 2 hours or so. Without bad weather, we've rarely had a trip last more than 2.5 hours. If we can't leave early, we wait until after 7-8 pm.

Our problems are always coming home on Sundays. We've learned to leave by noon.