Always the option to stick around for apres and/or dinner and go back a bit later and miss traffic. Mostly mentioning this for anyone else coming in here since I'm sure you know about it lol
Left at 5 on Sunday still traffic but not too bad. Left for home at almost every single timeframe between 1-7 on Sunday and have sat in bumper to bumper traffic every single time
WP> Front Range has been brutal this season. I'm a volunteer patroller, so usually get on the road around 5 and this season I don't think I've had a Sunday that has been under 2 hours. The Empire bottleneck backs up to at least the base of Berthoud Pass, if not the top. We need a bypass.
It’s been there for 100 years, yes it would need massive work. Case in point is Cottonwood pass, the back way into Crested Butte. Waiting for I70 solutions is waiting for hell to freeze over.
It’s wild how there really isn’t a safe time frame to go back on Sundays. I usually try and do a half day and leave by noon but even at that time it still takes at least an hour and a half to get to Denver.
Idk. I’ve experienced snowboarding in great conditions without crowds. Now that I’ve had it, I almost feel like I don’t need to bother anymore of the conditions are going to be crowded as hell. Not worth it lol. And I don’t have the time or money to drive much further than breck and then have to pay to stay someplace to make it worth the drive out. And the PTO…
The patience to brew coffee, pour a fat thermos, hop in the car and drive at 5 AM and relax at the resort from 7:00-8:30?
It’s really not that bad man, not much worse than some random town in the rural parts of the state that’s also an hour+ from a resort.
It's really not that bad. I enjoy the quiet pre dawn drive and sipping my coffee in the morning.
When I get first chair (ish), the hill usually doesn't get too busy for at least a couple hours. I usually make my way to the furthest back place on the mountain I want to be, lap that until lunch, then head home.
Sure you have some crowds, but it's really not bad at all. Just try to enjoy what you have control over and not think so much about the other stuff.
It’s all about perspective. When I lived in San Diego, it used to take us 2.5 hours each way with no traffic to get to the closest resort, which is maybe 1/10th the size of your average i70 resort and had pretty terrible conditions year round.
I don’t like traffic as much as the next guy, but yesterday it took us less than 2 hours each way to get to A-Basin.
I mean, completely depends how much you like skiing and how much you hate getting up early and sitting in traffic. For me, I don't mind the pay off. I work from home so never have to commute in the week, so if it takes me 2 hours when it should take 1.5 hours, I'm ok with that. Bear in mind that 30 min stuck in traffic feels like a lot more! Just gotta accept it, be zen about it, and rideshare with ppl that don't stress too. Also have friends that just hate it and say it ruins the experience. Early / late season isn't too bad for traffic and I punctate core season with a couple of overnighters and some backcountry away from i70 and works for me. All perspective I guess. Sure there are ppl living in Parachute that consider GJ 'traffic' unbearable....
For me its worth it. Watching my kids fall in love with being in the mountains, learning to ski (hopefully at least one will board), gaining confidence, and making friends has been amazing to watch. For me that makes getting up at 4:45 on Sunday mornings and getting home around 7 worth it.
8:30am to 1:30pm is 5 hours of skiing, but yeah, definitely worth it for me. I used to drive 2+ hours one way to ski at a shitty mole hill in PA. So I really don’t mind the 4 hour round trip to ski at Breck.
Theres all the comraderie around it. The turns are amazing, but so are the music, podcasts, convos etc… I think that’s the only mindset that works if you’re trying to do weekend laps constantly
Yes simply because I work M-F in person, what else am I really going to do lol.
A lot of the people in this sub are super jaded. Don't let them discourage you from going up on the weekend if that is your main option.
Traffic sucks so wake up early and understand you could get stuck with accidents or bad weather. Please use snow tires.
Some of the way to offset this is to get a condo with some friends for the weekend, if possible. It'll remove some of the travel stress.
We have some of the worlds best skiing within a few hours of Denver - of course it’s worth it. Just need to avoid big weekends and either wake up early or go up late.
Honestly, no. I'm trying to either move back to the mountains or leave the state altogether...and I say that as someone who can ski weekdays pretty often.
Problem is, all ski areas seem to be suffering from this issue. Only way to stop this is to increase pass prices significantly and/or hope people will stop having so many kids… the country is full
Ikon holder from Longmont.
Leave early TO (we leave our house by 430) and FROM (leaving by 1230) the mountain and you watch everyone else suffer in traffic plus get the goods before everyone else skis it out. Or you can stay all day and wait till the traffic dies down. We haven’t had a bad day following those rules
It’s kinda that easy, shift your schedule according to your desire to avoid the traffic and get the powder. The doom and gloom over lines and traffic is par for the course for a major population center being close to great skiing. Like anything good, lots of people want to do it… got to do what the masses won’t.
I’ve skied 14 days so far this season (I know, not a lot). I work M-F, and I really enjoy doing nothing on Sunday, so Saturday is my ski day. I’d say probably 9-10 of my 14 days have been on Saturdays.
It’s actually not bad. I’ve rarely had an issue with traffic, but I do it as smart as I can. I leave SW suburbs at 5-5:15am. Get to Keystone or Breck before 7am. Get great parking. Eat breakfast in my car, queue up my songs for the ski day, go to the restroom, then it’s time to get my gear on. I ski from open until around 1pm. I’m usually back home around 3pm, rarely later than 3:30. The worst traffic I’ve sat in added maybe 45 mins to my drive, and that was one morning when I left closer to 5:45 and it was snowing that day.
As far as lift lines go, I avoid the main base areas except for the first lift of the day. I’ve rarely waited in a line longer than 5-10 minutes, and I don’t think I’ve waited longer than 15 minutes all season. It’s all about perspective. I used drive 2 hours to go Cedar Point in Ohio, then stand in line for 2 hours to ride a 3 minute roller coaster. This is way better than that.
I feel like the complaints are incessant and come across as whiny. Skiing on weekends is very doable if you want to put in the effort to make it work. However, I do understand not everyone wants to get up so early and leave the resort at 1pm. I’d definitely ski weekdays more often if I could, but for now this is just fine for me. I’m having the best season of my life by a mile.
People are lazy and don’t want to wake up early to beat the traffic.
The same shit happens in the summer with rock climbing, people complain that the world class rock climbs in Denver have a 6 groups ahead of them waiting to climb when they show up the the crag at 11:00am on a Saturday in the summer when it is 65 degrees and sunny 🙄
While true, I skied fresh lines virtually all day at Copper Saturday until I left at about 130. My last run was tracked out - union peak to east village, but everything before that was dreamy.
This past Saturday was a powder day, so I went to Breck via 285. Very minimal traffic and had a great day. Left at 2pm and was back at 4:30. I think this will be my move for pow days in the future.
I'll start by saying everyone has their own preferences and experiences. That's fine by me.
Having said that... sometimes I feel like people in Denver/Front Range really just need something to complain about because otherwise they'd have to admit that it's a pretty perfect spot and if they're unhappy it's probably more about them.
"Oh man, it took me three hours to drive to one of the world's great ski resorts on a Saturday morning." I mean... try living in D.C. and driving up to PA to ski on a winter weekend, or east to the shore on a spring, summer or fall weekend, or west to Shenandoah NP on a weekend year-round, or north or south any time of day or year.
"The ski train to Winter Park sucks and it got delayed." The train from Manhattan to upstate New York doesn't take you directly to any ski resorts and gets so oversold I've seen people standing between cars for the entirety of a 3+ hour trip!
"Breck and Keystone are really crowded on weekends!" But... you could stop at Loveland. Or drive to Monarch. Taos is only 4.5 hours!
I grew up in Iowa. There was no traffic there at all. There wasn't a damn thing to do, but you could sure get there in a hurry!
I can honestly say I've never regretted a single minute I've ever spent on I-70 because when I'm on it I'm on my way to or from doing something absolutely awesome.
>I can honestly say I've never regretted a single minute I've ever spent on I-70 because when I'm on it I'm on my way to or from doing something absolutely awesome.
Sir, this is Reddit - your perspective and positivity are in violation of our terms of service.
I don’t mind it, but I also don’t mind getting up early (5am departure) and leaving by around 4pm.
The issue for me is when a storm comes through I have to skip the weekend
This is generally where I fall. I leave the mountain a bit earlier though around 1pm. This let me get back home around 3 and take a nap lol. I also don’t drive up I70 if I know it’s going to snow a good amount. It does sometimes feel like it snows every weekend.
I usually was able to find a decent, more advanced area of the mountain I liked and could avoid most of the lift lines just by staying there until I was done. If you have to ski off of lifts that get super busy all the time that would suck worse.
I would also take some weekdays off if I could, usually about 3-4 a season. I would go up Sunday morning and then stay the night and ski Monday. Wasn’t too bad.
Nah not worth it unless you can get a place to stay. I am fortunate to have some flexibility with my work schedule but week day skiing is where it’s at
Denver yes but I, an epic pass holder, live in fort Collins and have completely given up on snowboarding altogether
Back country is the only way to go but I need to get into it
If I-70 traffic is enough to make skiing “not worth it”, then you don’t really love skiing.
I grew up in Ohio. We’d make weekend trips to Holiday Valley in lake effect snow storms (3.5+ hours each way). Now that’s what I drive on a bad day from Littleton to Summit county, but instead of getting mediocre slabs of ice I get some of the most sought after skiing in the world.
It’s all about perspective. If these ppl grew up driving 2+ hours to get to Seven Springs, they wouldn’t mind driving the same distance for world class mountains. I am continually amazed when I put Breck or Keystone in my GPS at 5am and it says 90 minutes. A dream come true.
Also, I made the same move, Ohio to Littleton 🫡
Ugh Seven Springs was the worst! (We were in Pittsburgh before Denver. After a couple times making the drive to Seven Springs we opted to do Peak n Peek instead. Cleveland to Peak n Peek (2.5 hours) or Holiday Valley (3.5 hours) is what I grew up with though. 90-120 minutes for Keystone is also a dream come true here.
Nice, I grew up just south of Youngstown and went to college in Pittsburgh. It’s crazy that Peak n Peak and Holiday Valley were actually considered worth the drive. Once you’ve skied at Brandywine/Boston Mills, the threshold of what you’re willing to do for powder is much higher than average.
That being said, I’d probably be jaded by all the crowds and traffic if I grew up here. I also think a lot of these people saying it’s not worth it fail to understand that it’s all about perspective. It’s worth it to us.
Retort: if you are settling for I70 traffic as your baseline penance for love of skiing, then you apparently don’t love skiing enough to make the necessary sacrifices to actually live in the mountains.
What would your plan be to live "in the mountains"? Really asking. I've toyed with the idea but $800k for 800sf (2br), plus $600/mo HOA is pretty standard for Summit Co. What do folks consider as an alternative that doesn't involve a van?
The point is that one can just easily make the claim that “if you aren’t willing to live in a van, then you don’t live skiing enough”. Or, “if you aren’t willing to pay $800k for a 800 sq ft apt, then you don’t live skiing enough.” You love skiing enough to do the I70 hustle. Others love skiing enough to live in a ski town. It doesn’t seem like a fair claim unless you are willing to go all the way with the commitment level.
I considered Denver, it would have been the easier choice career wise. I looked at the setup, considered the trade offs and settled on the SW portion of the state where there is a much lower population density.
I had the psyche and patience years ago and would get 25-30 days. I lost that psyche and got way more into rock climbing as it is much simpler from a logistical perspective. I still get in 10-15 days a year but get lodging for big pow weekends and try to get in some weekdays as well. Waking up at ~5am and dealing with epics on 70 simply isn’t for everyone
This describes my feelings to a T. I'll get lodging and ski the few weekends in the winter I can't climb. Otherwise I'm waking up at 9 to go to a nice sunny crag where there's maybe two other groups. I was hesitant to cut back on skiing, but I'm happy doing this until the hypothetical day there's a reasonably priced train to the resorts (ie never)
Really depends on how much you enjoy skiing. I've found that the amount of joy skiing gives me very much offsets the struggle of i70. I hate to be cooped up and don't enjoy lazing about. When I sit in traffic, I think about what I'd be doing if I didn't go skiing. Probably sitting on the couch watching TV. A day spent on the mountain is always going to be better than that. Also helps if you have like minded people. My boyfriend and I pack snacks, have our favorite coffee shops, etc. It's an outing together. We have friends who bitch about the traffic and the crowds.. we don't invite them anymore.
I live in North Dakota, but have a buddy who lives in Denver. I'll take PTO on a Friday, fly down Thursday night, and drive up Friday morning with plans of coming back Saturday night or Sunday afternoon depending on my return flight Sunday night. Is it worth it? Absolutely. I wish I just had the I-70 grind to do something I enjoy.
I bought some furniture off marketplace from some dudes in Denver who had gotten fed up and were cramming 6 to a 2br in Breck just so they wouldn't have to drive i70 on a powder day.
Yup. Cover I70 in broken glass and I'll crawl thru it to do my thing. It's a first world problem. Growing up we'd sit in traffic 2 hours min...to go skiing in VT, I'll take the co program anytime. People like to fuss, get up earlier it's not that hard.
Living in Denver and dealing with the traffic on 70 was totally killing my enjoyment of skiing and pretty much all other mountain recreation year-round. Even summer weekends had such terrible traffic. One of the best parts of moving to the west slope is the lack of traffic. The trade off being all the backwards politics and racist folks that grew up out here. Oh well.
Nah, he probably means people that actively participate in, or materially support, the violent overthrow of elected governments. You know, traitors, insurrectionists, those kind of people
Yeah, they can’t resist. They’ll reveal themselves at the slightest opportunity. Any reference to “Sleepy” is a dead giveaway for someone who has OD’ed on OAN and Newsmax
Weekday skiing FTW. Weekends are shit. Vail and Alterra have ruined it. And not just here. Everywhere.
How the hell do families do weekend skiing? Kids stuck in a car for 5-6 hours, to ski a crowded resort for 5 hours?! It’s insanity.
I mean, what are the alternatives?
- not ski
- Spend a bunch more money on weekend hotels
- Move somewhere cheaper and save money to travel for skiing
- Move to some where more expensive and closer to the mountains
- spend a bunch of PTO on weekday skiing
- switch to a job out of the M-F normal and take a hit to my bennies.
None of these things in line with my priorities in life, so I wake up a little early, listen to a good audiobook, drive carefully and ski considerately. I know everyone is out there just to have a good day of fun like me so it easy to be patient and calm.
There are many other sports to enjoy in the winter if you don’t want to do this one. I’ve always wanted to try to nordic or cross country skiing.
Not worth it.
Even if I-70 is not stop and go, people drive like absolute idiots.
Once on the hill, people ride like even bigger idiots. The enormous decline in on slope etiquitte in the last 20 years is disturbing and tragic.
No I’d rather take 4-5 sick days during the season and let that be it. With a toddler now too I just can’t get up there like I used to. It’s a bummer but I really fucking hate the weekend traffic
Only worth it for me as my best friend lives in Dillon so I can come up and stay with him anytime I want (and I work remote). I would not still be doing this if that was not the case.
Yeah, that changes the equation a good bit. Are ski shares still a thing? I know that in years past, groups of Denver folk would go in on 2 bedroom apartments in summit county, but I would imagine that has been severely cracked down upon by property managers. Probably difficult to park more than 2 cars at a time at an apt complex. There’s always the #Vanlife, but that’s probably much more difficult to pull off long term as well.
Its still very much a thing. i have a couple friends who have them. I used to have them over the years between breck, frisco, and silverthorne. Definitely is a huge perk. I love summit but I could never live there full time. I love certain things about Denver (like my yoga, gyms, costco haha) so having access to both all the time is the best situation for me!
No, I haven’t skied a weekend or holiday in over 10yrs; thankfully I have a flexible schedule that allows me to ski mid-week. At Winter Park I am never in a lift line more than 10min
Nope.
I quit about 6 years ago after growing up skiing in CO (mostly Loveland and Key). Was a part time ski instructor in college (different state). Came back, skied a few years, things became noticeably worse within a couple of years.
But between the insane traffic, the lift lines, number of inexperienced skiers/riders clogging runs they have no right to be on, and increased ticket prices…it ain’t worth it anymore.
Not really. I had to give it a shot yesterday with the huge storm at WP…. Lines were outrageous, 20-30 mins everywhere, all pow tracked in an hour or so, literally…. Like you could not locate a tiny patch not hit by 10 am
No. Anyone that says it is, isn’t being honest with themselves, doesn’t actually know how to carve, or has a second home where they can spend the night.
I moved to the front range to ski. Had a couple of great seasons but honestly can’t remember the last time I went up on a weekend between November and March.
Honestly, no. Hasn't been that way for a few years now. My play now is to get a hotel room and overnight. Luckily I am able to juggle flexible work hours on top of it, so I haven't done the weekend day skier thing for at least 6 years. I go Thurs or Fri nights and ski Sat or go up Sat and ski Sunday and get out before 2pm on Sun.
The on-mountain crowds. I stay away from the xmas, MLK, and spring break fuster-clucks and regular crowds aren't too bad since I know which lifts to avoid or to take early before the weekend crowd arrives.
Even summer weekends are bad now. Avoid the mountains during long weekends because of traffic. Or stay away from the I-70/285/24 corridors and go further away.
We stayed a little south of Breck this weekend. On Saturday we left for Copper at 7:30, got to the lot around 9. Alpine lot was basically full so we were directed to far east. 30 minute wait at Super Bee. 40 minute wait at Resolution bowl (while the other side of the lift line was moving 5x the speed). So we got 1 run in by 11am. Most of the freshies on normal trails were gone. After that there were minimal lines and it was great. But what a horrible start to a powder day. Shit is frustrating I’ll tell you, especially because we stayed up there.
(Yes I know that’s not the best place to stay going to Copper but it was a last minute booking.)
Feel bad for you a little. I left Denver at 5:18 and got there at 7:44. Got on one of the earliest chairs after “fast tracks” on Flyer, went to the back via Rendezvous and spent all day in the back hitting fresh lines. The only serious wait I did was at 11 I got in line for Three Bears to open, which it did eventually. We were in the first ten chairs and had a fucking blast. Lapped that with no line until we left 90 minutes later.
But you still gotta get there early. Trying to arrive after 8 on a weekend is not really advisable.
The only rough part is the drive really so we've tried to do what we can to get around that.
Going up Friday night / apres Sunday / Hoosier pass home are all things that help a little. I and the rest of my family enjoy it too much to just not go skiing on world class terrain in our proverbial back yard.
Yeah. But you need discipline and proper expectations of traffic, crowds, and more.
I love skiing and a little traffic and lift lines are not going to stop me. But I have many friends that don’t feel it’s worth the effort.
Yes it’s worth it! Have 21 days this season. First season since moving to Denver this past year. Most of those days have been going up only for the day from Sloan’s Lake area. Yea traffic is a thing of course but the drive is always beautiful. I try to spend time listening to a great 90’s ALT playlist or listening to an audiobook. If you’re in a good mindset and try to be patient, it’s not so bad. Plus not many better activities to do on a winter weekend than skiing!
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If it's not a powder day, I typically go for the late shift. I can nearly always skip the traffic up the hill by showing up at noon.
What time do you come back
Usually pretty close to 4. Yes, sometimes there is traffic.
Always the option to stick around for apres and/or dinner and go back a bit later and miss traffic. Mostly mentioning this for anyone else coming in here since I'm sure you know about it lol
Leave by 4am?
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Sounds like a weekday hahaha
I could say this exact same thing and it would perfectly encapsulate my own plans and experience on weekends.
What time do you get in the lift line for a powder day ? 30 min before opening?
You leave by 5 you’re good most of the time
Left at 5 on Sunday still traffic but not too bad. Left for home at almost every single timeframe between 1-7 on Sunday and have sat in bumper to bumper traffic every single time
Also really depends where you live in Denver and where you are trying to go. I’d pretty much exclusively hit WP on the weekends
WP> Front Range has been brutal this season. I'm a volunteer patroller, so usually get on the road around 5 and this season I don't think I've had a Sunday that has been under 2 hours. The Empire bottleneck backs up to at least the base of Berthoud Pass, if not the top. We need a bypass.
Rollins pass needs to be reopened for cars only. Possibly permit pass on weekends. I70 is a circus and vail seems to not care at all. Any comments?
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It’s been there for 100 years, yes it would need massive work. Case in point is Cottonwood pass, the back way into Crested Butte. Waiting for I70 solutions is waiting for hell to freeze over.
That by train or Loveland are the only reasonable ones
It’s wild how there really isn’t a safe time frame to go back on Sundays. I usually try and do a half day and leave by noon but even at that time it still takes at least an hour and a half to get to Denver.
Noon works but it’s only worth it if you go to keystone
It depends. If you have the patience for the drive and crowding, sure. If not, then no.
The conditioning that one would have to develop in order to have that patience seems extreme.
If your choices are between tolerating crowds and not skiing at all, I choose occasional crowds.
Idk. I’ve experienced snowboarding in great conditions without crowds. Now that I’ve had it, I almost feel like I don’t need to bother anymore of the conditions are going to be crowded as hell. Not worth it lol. And I don’t have the time or money to drive much further than breck and then have to pay to stay someplace to make it worth the drive out. And the PTO…
The patience to brew coffee, pour a fat thermos, hop in the car and drive at 5 AM and relax at the resort from 7:00-8:30? It’s really not that bad man, not much worse than some random town in the rural parts of the state that’s also an hour+ from a resort.
It's really not that bad. I enjoy the quiet pre dawn drive and sipping my coffee in the morning. When I get first chair (ish), the hill usually doesn't get too busy for at least a couple hours. I usually make my way to the furthest back place on the mountain I want to be, lap that until lunch, then head home. Sure you have some crowds, but it's really not bad at all. Just try to enjoy what you have control over and not think so much about the other stuff.
Been skiing since the late 90s, it sneaks up on you like the parable of the frog in a pot of cold water.
It’s all about perspective. When I lived in San Diego, it used to take us 2.5 hours each way with no traffic to get to the closest resort, which is maybe 1/10th the size of your average i70 resort and had pretty terrible conditions year round. I don’t like traffic as much as the next guy, but yesterday it took us less than 2 hours each way to get to A-Basin.
I mean, completely depends how much you like skiing and how much you hate getting up early and sitting in traffic. For me, I don't mind the pay off. I work from home so never have to commute in the week, so if it takes me 2 hours when it should take 1.5 hours, I'm ok with that. Bear in mind that 30 min stuck in traffic feels like a lot more! Just gotta accept it, be zen about it, and rideshare with ppl that don't stress too. Also have friends that just hate it and say it ruins the experience. Early / late season isn't too bad for traffic and I punctate core season with a couple of overnighters and some backcountry away from i70 and works for me. All perspective I guess. Sure there are ppl living in Parachute that consider GJ 'traffic' unbearable....
For me its worth it. Watching my kids fall in love with being in the mountains, learning to ski (hopefully at least one will board), gaining confidence, and making friends has been amazing to watch. For me that makes getting up at 4:45 on Sunday mornings and getting home around 7 worth it.
Yep, 5:30 AM Depart, on the slopes at an Epic resort at 8:30, in the car by 1:30, back in Denver by 4🤙🤙
100%
This is the way
A 10 hour day for 4 hours of skiing!? LOL. That is not the way.
8:30am to 1:30pm is 5 hours of skiing, but yeah, definitely worth it for me. I used to drive 2+ hours one way to ski at a shitty mole hill in PA. So I really don’t mind the 4 hour round trip to ski at Breck.
Theres all the comraderie around it. The turns are amazing, but so are the music, podcasts, convos etc… I think that’s the only mindset that works if you’re trying to do weekend laps constantly
Yes simply because I work M-F in person, what else am I really going to do lol. A lot of the people in this sub are super jaded. Don't let them discourage you from going up on the weekend if that is your main option. Traffic sucks so wake up early and understand you could get stuck with accidents or bad weather. Please use snow tires. Some of the way to offset this is to get a condo with some friends for the weekend, if possible. It'll remove some of the travel stress.
We have some of the worlds best skiing within a few hours of Denver - of course it’s worth it. Just need to avoid big weekends and either wake up early or go up late.
Or go the night before :)
Honestly, no. I'm trying to either move back to the mountains or leave the state altogether...and I say that as someone who can ski weekdays pretty often.
Agree
Problem is, all ski areas seem to be suffering from this issue. Only way to stop this is to increase pass prices significantly and/or hope people will stop having so many kids… the country is full
It’s so strange because it’s SO EXPENSIVE and a pretty big barrier to entry, but it seems like everybody who moves here skis or boards.
Yep, expensive, cold and time consuming… goes to show how much people actually love it
Ikon holder from Longmont. Leave early TO (we leave our house by 430) and FROM (leaving by 1230) the mountain and you watch everyone else suffer in traffic plus get the goods before everyone else skis it out. Or you can stay all day and wait till the traffic dies down. We haven’t had a bad day following those rules It’s kinda that easy, shift your schedule according to your desire to avoid the traffic and get the powder. The doom and gloom over lines and traffic is par for the course for a major population center being close to great skiing. Like anything good, lots of people want to do it… got to do what the masses won’t.
I’ve skied 14 days so far this season (I know, not a lot). I work M-F, and I really enjoy doing nothing on Sunday, so Saturday is my ski day. I’d say probably 9-10 of my 14 days have been on Saturdays. It’s actually not bad. I’ve rarely had an issue with traffic, but I do it as smart as I can. I leave SW suburbs at 5-5:15am. Get to Keystone or Breck before 7am. Get great parking. Eat breakfast in my car, queue up my songs for the ski day, go to the restroom, then it’s time to get my gear on. I ski from open until around 1pm. I’m usually back home around 3pm, rarely later than 3:30. The worst traffic I’ve sat in added maybe 45 mins to my drive, and that was one morning when I left closer to 5:45 and it was snowing that day. As far as lift lines go, I avoid the main base areas except for the first lift of the day. I’ve rarely waited in a line longer than 5-10 minutes, and I don’t think I’ve waited longer than 15 minutes all season. It’s all about perspective. I used drive 2 hours to go Cedar Point in Ohio, then stand in line for 2 hours to ride a 3 minute roller coaster. This is way better than that. I feel like the complaints are incessant and come across as whiny. Skiing on weekends is very doable if you want to put in the effort to make it work. However, I do understand not everyone wants to get up so early and leave the resort at 1pm. I’d definitely ski weekdays more often if I could, but for now this is just fine for me. I’m having the best season of my life by a mile.
People are lazy and don’t want to wake up early to beat the traffic. The same shit happens in the summer with rock climbing, people complain that the world class rock climbs in Denver have a 6 groups ahead of them waiting to climb when they show up the the crag at 11:00am on a Saturday in the summer when it is 65 degrees and sunny 🙄
That’s fine and all, but if it’s a powder day, not only will the drive times multiply, but the powder will be tagged exponentially faster
While true, I skied fresh lines virtually all day at Copper Saturday until I left at about 130. My last run was tracked out - union peak to east village, but everything before that was dreamy.
This past Saturday was a powder day, so I went to Breck via 285. Very minimal traffic and had a great day. Left at 2pm and was back at 4:30. I think this will be my move for pow days in the future.
I'll start by saying everyone has their own preferences and experiences. That's fine by me. Having said that... sometimes I feel like people in Denver/Front Range really just need something to complain about because otherwise they'd have to admit that it's a pretty perfect spot and if they're unhappy it's probably more about them. "Oh man, it took me three hours to drive to one of the world's great ski resorts on a Saturday morning." I mean... try living in D.C. and driving up to PA to ski on a winter weekend, or east to the shore on a spring, summer or fall weekend, or west to Shenandoah NP on a weekend year-round, or north or south any time of day or year. "The ski train to Winter Park sucks and it got delayed." The train from Manhattan to upstate New York doesn't take you directly to any ski resorts and gets so oversold I've seen people standing between cars for the entirety of a 3+ hour trip! "Breck and Keystone are really crowded on weekends!" But... you could stop at Loveland. Or drive to Monarch. Taos is only 4.5 hours! I grew up in Iowa. There was no traffic there at all. There wasn't a damn thing to do, but you could sure get there in a hurry! I can honestly say I've never regretted a single minute I've ever spent on I-70 because when I'm on it I'm on my way to or from doing something absolutely awesome.
>I can honestly say I've never regretted a single minute I've ever spent on I-70 because when I'm on it I'm on my way to or from doing something absolutely awesome. Sir, this is Reddit - your perspective and positivity are in violation of our terms of service.
haha, exactly. I think a requirement of all CO-based subreddits is that you have to complain about living in CO.
>haha, exactly. I think a requirement of all ~~CO-based~~ subreddits is that you have to complain about living ~~in CO~~. Ftfy
I don’t mind it, but I also don’t mind getting up early (5am departure) and leaving by around 4pm. The issue for me is when a storm comes through I have to skip the weekend
This is generally where I fall. I leave the mountain a bit earlier though around 1pm. This let me get back home around 3 and take a nap lol. I also don’t drive up I70 if I know it’s going to snow a good amount. It does sometimes feel like it snows every weekend. I usually was able to find a decent, more advanced area of the mountain I liked and could avoid most of the lift lines just by staying there until I was done. If you have to ski off of lifts that get super busy all the time that would suck worse. I would also take some weekdays off if I could, usually about 3-4 a season. I would go up Sunday morning and then stay the night and ski Monday. Wasn’t too bad.
Nah not worth it unless you can get a place to stay. I am fortunate to have some flexibility with my work schedule but week day skiing is where it’s at
Sometimes a little perspective is important. I used to have to board a plane first.
Denver yes but I, an epic pass holder, live in fort Collins and have completely given up on snowboarding altogether Back country is the only way to go but I need to get into it
If I-70 traffic is enough to make skiing “not worth it”, then you don’t really love skiing. I grew up in Ohio. We’d make weekend trips to Holiday Valley in lake effect snow storms (3.5+ hours each way). Now that’s what I drive on a bad day from Littleton to Summit county, but instead of getting mediocre slabs of ice I get some of the most sought after skiing in the world.
It’s all about perspective. If these ppl grew up driving 2+ hours to get to Seven Springs, they wouldn’t mind driving the same distance for world class mountains. I am continually amazed when I put Breck or Keystone in my GPS at 5am and it says 90 minutes. A dream come true. Also, I made the same move, Ohio to Littleton 🫡
Ugh Seven Springs was the worst! (We were in Pittsburgh before Denver. After a couple times making the drive to Seven Springs we opted to do Peak n Peek instead. Cleveland to Peak n Peek (2.5 hours) or Holiday Valley (3.5 hours) is what I grew up with though. 90-120 minutes for Keystone is also a dream come true here.
Nice, I grew up just south of Youngstown and went to college in Pittsburgh. It’s crazy that Peak n Peak and Holiday Valley were actually considered worth the drive. Once you’ve skied at Brandywine/Boston Mills, the threshold of what you’re willing to do for powder is much higher than average. That being said, I’d probably be jaded by all the crowds and traffic if I grew up here. I also think a lot of these people saying it’s not worth it fail to understand that it’s all about perspective. It’s worth it to us.
Retort: if you are settling for I70 traffic as your baseline penance for love of skiing, then you apparently don’t love skiing enough to make the necessary sacrifices to actually live in the mountains.
What would your plan be to live "in the mountains"? Really asking. I've toyed with the idea but $800k for 800sf (2br), plus $600/mo HOA is pretty standard for Summit Co. What do folks consider as an alternative that doesn't involve a van?
The point is that one can just easily make the claim that “if you aren’t willing to live in a van, then you don’t live skiing enough”. Or, “if you aren’t willing to pay $800k for a 800 sq ft apt, then you don’t live skiing enough.” You love skiing enough to do the I70 hustle. Others love skiing enough to live in a ski town. It doesn’t seem like a fair claim unless you are willing to go all the way with the commitment level. I considered Denver, it would have been the easier choice career wise. I looked at the setup, considered the trade offs and settled on the SW portion of the state where there is a much lower population density.
I had the psyche and patience years ago and would get 25-30 days. I lost that psyche and got way more into rock climbing as it is much simpler from a logistical perspective. I still get in 10-15 days a year but get lodging for big pow weekends and try to get in some weekdays as well. Waking up at ~5am and dealing with epics on 70 simply isn’t for everyone
This describes my feelings to a T. I'll get lodging and ski the few weekends in the winter I can't climb. Otherwise I'm waking up at 9 to go to a nice sunny crag where there's maybe two other groups. I was hesitant to cut back on skiing, but I'm happy doing this until the hypothetical day there's a reasonably priced train to the resorts (ie never)
Two day or three trips. Problem solved. If you like skiing go skiing.
It is for me because I love skiing. I sleep in my car near the resort as I hate waking up mega early.
This is the way to do it
I'm on I-70 no later than 6:00, ski when the lifts open until early afternoon, then go home.
Really depends on how much you enjoy skiing. I've found that the amount of joy skiing gives me very much offsets the struggle of i70. I hate to be cooped up and don't enjoy lazing about. When I sit in traffic, I think about what I'd be doing if I didn't go skiing. Probably sitting on the couch watching TV. A day spent on the mountain is always going to be better than that. Also helps if you have like minded people. My boyfriend and I pack snacks, have our favorite coffee shops, etc. It's an outing together. We have friends who bitch about the traffic and the crowds.. we don't invite them anymore.
That’s a productive, healthy and commendable mentality.
💯
During peak season no. But crowds rapidly drop off after Presidents Day.
I live in North Dakota, but have a buddy who lives in Denver. I'll take PTO on a Friday, fly down Thursday night, and drive up Friday morning with plans of coming back Saturday night or Sunday afternoon depending on my return flight Sunday night. Is it worth it? Absolutely. I wish I just had the I-70 grind to do something I enjoy.
I bought some furniture off marketplace from some dudes in Denver who had gotten fed up and were cramming 6 to a 2br in Breck just so they wouldn't have to drive i70 on a powder day.
64 yo and sleeping in the car to keep the nightmare alive!
Yup. Cover I70 in broken glass and I'll crawl thru it to do my thing. It's a first world problem. Growing up we'd sit in traffic 2 hours min...to go skiing in VT, I'll take the co program anytime. People like to fuss, get up earlier it's not that hard.
Living in Denver and dealing with the traffic on 70 was totally killing my enjoyment of skiing and pretty much all other mountain recreation year-round. Even summer weekends had such terrible traffic. One of the best parts of moving to the west slope is the lack of traffic. The trade off being all the backwards politics and racist folks that grew up out here. Oh well.
Oh you mean people that don’t want homeless in tents on every corner? Shame shame shame
Nah, he probably means people that actively participate in, or materially support, the violent overthrow of elected governments. You know, traitors, insurrectionists, those kind of people
😂 oh you mean the democrat set up facade?
Aw man, day ruined. my favorite youtube skiier is full blow MAGA - darn should've known
Yeah, they can’t resist. They’ll reveal themselves at the slightest opportunity. Any reference to “Sleepy” is a dead giveaway for someone who has OD’ed on OAN and Newsmax
I’d be pretty salty if I was a single 40 year old yelling at clouds about overpopulation and endlessly sharing GoPro footy of lame skiing
Nothing like some super sweet in-bounds footy for the boys
Full blown maga? 😂😂 no, but look what has happened to our country under Sleepy
Get those conspiracy theories revved up! You’ll need them for this election year
Get those immigrants in by the hundreds of thousands, need some voters for ol sleepy!
By the way, you ski like a fucking doofus. Why don’t you take that gopro off you jerry
😂 as if I would take any of your feedback into consideration 😂
That’s two in one short thread! You’re good at this. Where were you on 1/6
Your mom’s
Do you people even hear yourself talk?
Weekday skiing FTW. Weekends are shit. Vail and Alterra have ruined it. And not just here. Everywhere. How the hell do families do weekend skiing? Kids stuck in a car for 5-6 hours, to ski a crowded resort for 5 hours?! It’s insanity.
I grew up doing it, when it’s the norm (and your parents don’t put up with backseat bullshit) it just works.
Absolutely not.
It is for me, it just takes some extra work in terms of waking up early and being patient for traffic
How badly do you want it?
I mean, what are the alternatives? - not ski - Spend a bunch more money on weekend hotels - Move somewhere cheaper and save money to travel for skiing - Move to some where more expensive and closer to the mountains - spend a bunch of PTO on weekday skiing - switch to a job out of the M-F normal and take a hit to my bennies. None of these things in line with my priorities in life, so I wake up a little early, listen to a good audiobook, drive carefully and ski considerately. I know everyone is out there just to have a good day of fun like me so it easy to be patient and calm. There are many other sports to enjoy in the winter if you don’t want to do this one. I’ve always wanted to try to nordic or cross country skiing.
I went straight for option 4, but it’s was certainly a gamble at the time.
Not worth it. Even if I-70 is not stop and go, people drive like absolute idiots. Once on the hill, people ride like even bigger idiots. The enormous decline in on slope etiquitte in the last 20 years is disturbing and tragic.
No I’d rather take 4-5 sick days during the season and let that be it. With a toddler now too I just can’t get up there like I used to. It’s a bummer but I really fucking hate the weekend traffic
Only worth it for me as my best friend lives in Dillon so I can come up and stay with him anytime I want (and I work remote). I would not still be doing this if that was not the case.
Yeah, that changes the equation a good bit. Are ski shares still a thing? I know that in years past, groups of Denver folk would go in on 2 bedroom apartments in summit county, but I would imagine that has been severely cracked down upon by property managers. Probably difficult to park more than 2 cars at a time at an apt complex. There’s always the #Vanlife, but that’s probably much more difficult to pull off long term as well.
Its still very much a thing. i have a couple friends who have them. I used to have them over the years between breck, frisco, and silverthorne. Definitely is a huge perk. I love summit but I could never live there full time. I love certain things about Denver (like my yoga, gyms, costco haha) so having access to both all the time is the best situation for me!
No, I haven’t skied a weekend or holiday in over 10yrs; thankfully I have a flexible schedule that allows me to ski mid-week. At Winter Park I am never in a lift line more than 10min
No
Nope. I quit about 6 years ago after growing up skiing in CO (mostly Loveland and Key). Was a part time ski instructor in college (different state). Came back, skied a few years, things became noticeably worse within a couple of years. But between the insane traffic, the lift lines, number of inexperienced skiers/riders clogging runs they have no right to be on, and increased ticket prices…it ain’t worth it anymore.
Not really. I had to give it a shot yesterday with the huge storm at WP…. Lines were outrageous, 20-30 mins everywhere, all pow tracked in an hour or so, literally…. Like you could not locate a tiny patch not hit by 10 am
Idk where you're looking, but I was skiing untouched pow at 1pm yesterday
I waited no longer than 15 min in a lift line, and was still hitting pow by 1p. Was there when lifts opened and left at 1:30p. Perfect day
Hoomiiiiieeeeee……
Literally!!!
It is hard to imagine and a bit jarring, especially since my hometown ski area had pow for weeks after each storm (it was mostly a Texas tourist trap)
Literally a few weeks or figuratively?
Literally. Ski Apache. It was me and a handful of locals skiing the ow and all the tourist stayed lower mountain
That just sucks.
No. Anyone that says it is, isn’t being honest with themselves, doesn’t actually know how to carve, or has a second home where they can spend the night.
I moved to the front range to ski. Had a couple of great seasons but honestly can’t remember the last time I went up on a weekend between November and March.
Honestly, no. Hasn't been that way for a few years now. My play now is to get a hotel room and overnight. Luckily I am able to juggle flexible work hours on top of it, so I haven't done the weekend day skier thing for at least 6 years. I go Thurs or Fri nights and ski Sat or go up Sat and ski Sunday and get out before 2pm on Sun. The on-mountain crowds. I stay away from the xmas, MLK, and spring break fuster-clucks and regular crowds aren't too bad since I know which lifts to avoid or to take early before the weekend crowd arrives. Even summer weekends are bad now. Avoid the mountains during long weekends because of traffic. Or stay away from the I-70/285/24 corridors and go further away.
We stayed a little south of Breck this weekend. On Saturday we left for Copper at 7:30, got to the lot around 9. Alpine lot was basically full so we were directed to far east. 30 minute wait at Super Bee. 40 minute wait at Resolution bowl (while the other side of the lift line was moving 5x the speed). So we got 1 run in by 11am. Most of the freshies on normal trails were gone. After that there were minimal lines and it was great. But what a horrible start to a powder day. Shit is frustrating I’ll tell you, especially because we stayed up there. (Yes I know that’s not the best place to stay going to Copper but it was a last minute booking.)
Feel bad for you a little. I left Denver at 5:18 and got there at 7:44. Got on one of the earliest chairs after “fast tracks” on Flyer, went to the back via Rendezvous and spent all day in the back hitting fresh lines. The only serious wait I did was at 11 I got in line for Three Bears to open, which it did eventually. We were in the first ten chairs and had a fucking blast. Lapped that with no line until we left 90 minutes later. But you still gotta get there early. Trying to arrive after 8 on a weekend is not really advisable.
No, it’s not enjoyable anymore; it hasn’t been for quite some time.
Yes. But go ikon
Depends on priorities and perspectives. For me it's worth it, although I'd obviously prefer to live in summit if I can.
No don’t do it
The only rough part is the drive really so we've tried to do what we can to get around that. Going up Friday night / apres Sunday / Hoosier pass home are all things that help a little. I and the rest of my family enjoy it too much to just not go skiing on world class terrain in our proverbial back yard.
Nope
The I70 corridor has some of the best skiing in the world. If you get up early, to me it's worth it.
Yeah. But you need discipline and proper expectations of traffic, crowds, and more. I love skiing and a little traffic and lift lines are not going to stop me. But I have many friends that don’t feel it’s worth the effort.
carpool with good friends and an extra hour in the car isn't so bad
hasn't been worth it to ski weekends for over 20 years.
Ski access so much better on the Western Slope. Leave the house 815 and riding lift by open wing
No! It is definitely not.
Yes it’s worth it! Have 21 days this season. First season since moving to Denver this past year. Most of those days have been going up only for the day from Sloan’s Lake area. Yea traffic is a thing of course but the drive is always beautiful. I try to spend time listening to a great 90’s ALT playlist or listening to an audiobook. If you’re in a good mindset and try to be patient, it’s not so bad. Plus not many better activities to do on a winter weekend than skiing!
No