thank you all for the advice.

We are now arriving a day earlier and chilling in denver and slowly making our way to vail. We are staying in vail and skiing BC the whole time since we heard it is a little less crowded.

Only about five days and counting. We are totally excited.

PSRome, your ski plans sound much better now. IMHO you don't need to spend the night in Denver to 'chill', though. You can simply drive on up to Vail and take it easy there. Drink lots of water, avoid caffeine and liquor (at first at least!). You should be fine.

Have fun! The skiing is amazing now.
>-

But why stay in Vail and drive to ski somehwere else? Really doesn't make sense at all. Vail is huge, and you will probably not have problems with crowds. (Anyplace will be crowded on a holiday weekend.)

What's up with JJ5's bias against women skiers? Race ya-and I will beat you-down any mountain!

Don't waste a day getting to the mountains for such a short time. You are 2 hours to vail from the airport. Go on up, get settled. you'll need to spend some time the next day getting skis, etc. Just go on.

Still wonder why you feel a need to trek over to Beaver Creek when you have Vail at your doorstep.

While it'll only take 15-20 min to get to Avon ( depending on road conditions) parking at B.C. is a problem. You'll need to park in Avon and then take shuttle ( there is a new lift taking skiers up the mt. but have no information on it).

The idea that B.C. will be considerably less crowded is mostly fantasy. As already mentioned Vail is a massive ski area and if you get off the front of the mt., you'll find crowds are not really a problem.

Regardless, I know you'll have a great ski experience.

You have totally missed my point, Abby43. Females need different falling instruction from the get-go because their center of gravity is in a different spot.

Rethink the way you evaluate. It's biased.

Whatever JJ5. Maybe if you stated in your original posting WHY women need more instruction it would have been more clear. I'm absolutely not biased when it comes to women and skiing. You don't know me, so don't ever accuse me of being biased when you don't know a thing about me.

the reason we are staying in vail is because that is where i can use my hotel points at. The reason we are going over to BC is because of the crowd reason. We are kinda playing it by ear but are most likely going to end up skiing bc. Insteasd of driving over there can't we take a shuttle from the hotel over to bc? We are not actually staying in denver the whole night on sat. we are hanging out and hitting some sights on the way to vail and staying there.

I'm not sure why you think breckenridge will be less crowded than Vail. It is closer to Denver, smaller, and just as popular. You can get real spread out on Vail. And I have to say, by eastern standards, Colorado "crowded" doesn't compute!! ;o) You have to catch your breath somewhere.
I still hope these folks will take a lesson (although that may be another thread).
And the beginner terrain at Vail is so nice. Up high on the mountain.

And I still go back to why spend time on the road, even if the shuttle does take you. Walking up the hill from the "let off" point, and all that.
I was the one who is all for you staying at Vail--and skiing there.

Gretchen,

The OP is spending their time at Beaver Creek, not Breckenridge.

Thanks. That helps. BUT, what. It is still the same thing. Vail has a lot more terrain. Why go. I didn't particularly care for it.