We love Vail. They have great skiing and the lifts are easy and the slopes well kept. Plenty of great places to stay and eat. Vail is a quaint village, very cozy and it's 1 1/2 - 2 hours West from the Denver airport. You can also fly into Eagle which would then be a 30 minute drive east to VAil. You can get a shuttle for $100 from the Denver airport to take you directly to your accomodations.

Has anyone used an online or "in-person" travel site/agency that does a particularly good job with Colorado ski vacations? I have tried several of the resort websites, and they seemed to be pricier than Travelocity/Expedia, with no significant discounts on lift tickets in particular. I am looking at Crested Butte, Steamboat, and Snowmass in late January. Thanks! The people on this website are the best resource I have found for travel...

philsbert1 - looks like you have eliminated the "I-70 Corridor" from your selections. You might try the Delta or American Airlines websites vacation offerings too. Since we live in Okla we usually drive to Colo to ski. We have taken sleeper bus trips in the past, primarily to Crested Butte. You can call Ski Haus Travel in OKC 405-755-7400 and ask for Corinne. They do bus trips but can also book lodging and lift ticket packages. Crested Butte is one of my favorite places - I really like the town and they have some good restaurants. I've booked lodging for Crested Butte thru VRBO.com. I have also stopped in Salida or Gunnison and purchased discount lift tickets at the grocery store. I've only skied at Steamboat once and only to Aspen in the summer so can't help much with those.

paige...thanks for the suggestions! How easy/reliable is it to buy lift tickets once I get there? I have read, also, that there are discount tickets at local groceries. From the pictures I have seen, Crested Butte looks pretty awesome. Are there plenty of blues? My only experience in CO has been Snowmass, and I liked it for the views and availability of plenty of runs, but I was looking to try a different spot. I have eliminated the 70 corridor mainly due to others traveling with me, who want to avoid a long shuttle.

We kind of dealt with the same thing...we chose Park City/Deer Valley. We are going next week and are very excited. We fly into Salt Lake from Nashville and have a Suburban from our hotel picking us up at the airport for the 30 minute ride in...I wanted to avoid transportation hassels and max time on the slopes.The whole thing has been fairly simple..which is part of the beauty of choosing this area.Our flight departs at like 7 am and we are there before noon...cant beat that...

Park City sounds great! Sounds like a good way to get on the slopes early. My problem is I am traveling at the end of January, and the Sundance Film Festival at Park City et al. (thanks skipop!) runs 1/21-1/30. I thought Crested Butte, Snowmass, Steamboat would be less crowded, relatively speaking.

philsbert1 - Last time we went (and this was the only time I bought the grocery store tickets) I called the grocery in Salida and they held them for me. We were going at Spring Break which is the busiest time for CB and I got the last lift tickets when I picked them up. You can always get tickets at the mountain, just not discount tickets.

There are plenty of blues, that is what we ski mainly too. East River is great first thing in the a.m. Get over there early before anyone else and ski the newly groomed blues! For three - four ski days you should be fine. Any longer and you might get bored. We would often pack a lunch of sandwiches in a backpack and ski it over to Paradise Warming House and leave it in a locker. That way you don't have to ski down at lunch.

I love Crested Butte. Its an awesome and down to earth town. My only concern would be the terrain. It certainly has blues - but I think of it as a harder (and smaller) mountain. Perhaps more like Aspen - Ajax.

We really only ski blues and have always found Crested Butte has plenty to offer for 4 days of skiing. The blues may be a little steeper than some other mountains but our four kids had no problems with Crested Butte when they were learning.

Yes....the town/ski resort of Mt. Crested Butte sounds/looks so homey and much more laid back than some of the other larger resorts. And the photos look beautiful. I am not much for steep blues, but am more concerned about the ski lifts and their height, as I had mentioned before. It has come down to Steamboat or Crested Butte, as Aspen-Snowmass will be the site for the X Games (well, actually Buttermilk) during the week I am traveling, and I don't want to hassle with increased crowds. My impression from reading is that Steamboat is (a) larger (b) on the average gets more snow (c) has more blues/easy terrain, but is more crowded, commercialized and business-like. Crested Butte is (a) smaller (well, it's all relative...looks pretty big to me, but smaller than what I skied at Snowmass) (b) more rugged terrain---tougher blues (c) more a place to get-away-from-it-all and less apres ski activities. Airfare is cheaper (for me from Atlanta)to Steamboat, housing is cheaper at Crested Butte. Does this sound pretty accurate?

Question re specific lodging: Has anyone stayed at The Grand Lodge, Three Seasons at Mt. Crested Butte, or Elk Lodge in Crested Butte the town? How about Thunderhead Lodge, or Timberline Condos through ResortQuest at Steamboat Springs?

I have stayed at the Grand Lodge in Crested Butte twice when it was a Sheraton property. I believe the new owners have put some money into renovations and turned some of the rooms into a "timeshare" type operation where they are individually owned. We always stayed in a regular King Suite which had a king bed in the bedroom and a pull-out in the living room which would have been very uncomfortable for me to sleep on but my children did just fine. The location of this property is great. You are a five minute walk to the slopes. The town shuttle bus stop is a just outside the front door. The pool and hot tub area is nice but can be crowded after skiing, especially if there is a group monopolizing it but it wasn't an issue.
We love the town and restaurants in Crested Butte. Don't miss the fried chicken at Slogars. Pizza at the Secret Stash was great and the place really fun. The Wooden Nickel has good steaks and atmosphere.
We skied Jan 1st and then again two years later in late January and never found crowds. You don't need a car and you'll love the town.

I think your comparison is pretty accurate. We have spent several Thanksgiving dinners in Slogars - and it is fun. Steamboat reminds me of a more wild west type town. Crested Butte is a bit more Victorian - a lot like Aspen but without the glitz. They are both fairly remote. I'd say the lift height at either is about the same... I don't love heights and I don't remember being bothered in either place. I learned to ski at Crested Butte - and the only thing that bothered me was it gets a bit steep and narrow right at the end of the runs - but not too bad - and not for two long. Ski Colorado used to put out a magazine that listed every resort - number of acres and number of blues, greens, blacks. I don't know if their web site has this information. Crested Butte typically isn't too crowded since it is not an easy ride from Denver so you get virtually no weekend skiers and no day trippers out of the front range. If I were coming from the east coast and wanted a really fun and less typical ski experience - I'd probably go to Crested Butte.

Thanks...thanks to all who have posted! This is one of the top website forums on the net. Colorado here I come....looks like Crested Butte.

I've also stayed at the Grand Lodge when it was a Sheraton and it is a great property. My TA also told me the new owners did some renovations, but it was pretty new and nice to begin with. I'd pass on the Three Seasons, never stayed at the Elk Lodge.

You absolutely have to go to Slogars! It is wonderful, homestyle, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, yum! (They have steak too) For a nice dinner go to Timberline in town, wonderful food the last few times we were there. On the mountain the Avalanche is great for a big breakfast and the apres ski drinks and munchies.

I'm jealous. Last night I dreamed we'd driven to Crested Butte on the spur of the moment and didn't have a place to stay - ran into some friends but they didn't invite us to stay with them. What's that trying to tell me???

We just got home from Crested Butte and I loved it. Plenty of blues that aren't too hard and they are wide enough for when you are worn out. I don't like heights and didn't feel the lifts were too high.

Camp 4 Coffee (at the top of Painterboy I think) has great coffee and cocoa and there are 2 or 3 blues off the back side. There aren't any lines at those lifts. Our son was taking lessons on Painterboy and we would ski the other side and then meet up with him for a run or two. Worked out great.

We cooked in the condo a couple of nights and went out a couple. Enjoyed both. Several choices for meals on the mountain.

Have fun! It snowed appx 12" while we were there and the skiing was great.

Sundowner (or anyone else)...where did you stay in Crested Butte, and did you notice the Elk Mountain Lodge in town, or the Buttes condos at the mountain? Any recommendations on where to stay?

As they say, "the best laid plans..."
The consensus of my fellow travelers picked Steamboat Springs---mainly price (got a great direct airfare deal). Now we are looking at trying to find discount on lift tickets and accomodations. 3 places at Trappeurs Crossing...Champagne, Timberline, and original Trappeurs condos available. Has anyone had any experience with those facilities, and any suggestions re lift tickets. I noted some reference to grocery store purchase. Where can I investigate that?

I can say with quite a bit of certainty that Steamboat is one place to which you will NOT find significantly discounted lift tickets. This is re-hashed on epicski.com every so often, and I've never heard of anyone finding good discounts for lift tickets at Steamboat. The grocery store discounts you are hearing about are primarily for the Summit County resorts.

You'll likely get a slight multi-day discount if you book lodging and lifts through steamboat.com, or perhaps one of the other general ski tour operators.

That said, I do think Steamboat is a great choice and you'll have a wonderful time!!!!!

Not sure about Steamboat tickets, but City Market/King Soopers grocery stores in Denver sell some ski areas' tickets until about 9:00 each night. You save about $10 per day per person. Here's one Denver King Soopers store near I-70 and Quebec, not far from DIA, you could call: 303 861 1122.

In ski towns, the grocery stores don't offer the discount, so stop in Denver on your way up. Also, ask your central reservationist in Steamboat about ticket discounts they might offer.

We discovered at Winter Park that their multi-day pass doesn't save money, just the hassle of standing in line each day. Downside, too, is that the pass must be used within the allotted time, or it expires. Many times people find out they want a day off from skiing, but they've already paid for a ticket they don't really want. Grocery store passes are good all season.