Any advice welcome for a ski weekend in either Colorado or Utah. We are looking at the middle of January for a father/daughter ski weekend. They would be flying from Milwaukee, WI. I am starting from scratch so any help would be appreciated ! thanks

What is their ability and what sort of terrain do they prefer?

I think they ski the tough hills around here..husband has skiied out west in his younger years...they want long ski slopes - does that make any sense ? Husband is 54, daughter is 18.. I just want to send them out there to get a taste of "real" skiing and they are all for it..like I said, any advice will be helpful to me since I don't ski and I don't even know what to ask...

That's a very broad question, and one that gets asked her often.

Noting your screen name, I suggest you first look at airfare, flight convenience, rental car and other ground transport options, and lodging prices at some of the top ski areas.

If you mean this January, you are limited already. Except in Colorado, lodging prices dip down a bit after Jan 6.

Since it's just a weekend visit, maybe this isn't a big concern, though. But airfare can really vary, especially to Montana. You might be more interested in researching the amount of time it takes to get to the ski area, since its a short visit.

I think if you look at Salt Lake City, you might not need a car, but could use a shuttle to get to and from a ski area and airport. Not sure, though. From Denver's airport, you can also shuttle to Summit County, but it's further than Utah's shuttle ride to the ski area.
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i advise somewhere in summit county, colo.
http://summit.ski.com/
will get you started.
you can ski at copper mountain, breckenridge, araphone basin or keystone. all located within 45 min drive of one another. also vail is about 40 mins west of copper mtn.
keystone & breck are wonderful ski towns with loads of restaurants and things to do - shopping! (not that dd will want to shop but just in case)
the towns of dillon and frisco are centrally located with shuttle provided between the real towns and ski towns.
approx 2 hour drive from denver airport.
these areas all offer skiing at all levels.

We also live in Milwaukee, and we ski out West 2-3 times a yea.

Fou can fly non-stop to Denver on midwest Airlines, the most pleasant way to fly in coach. From Denver, it is a two hour (or less) drive to Winter Park, Summitt County (Breckenridge, Arapahoe, Keystone), Copper and Vail.

If they selected Winter Park, the could use the "Home James" shuttle from the airport, and stay at Timber House Lodge, where beakfast and dinner are included, and they drive you to/from the hill.

We have only skied at Keystone three times, but we have found the conditions icy each time. I don't think that either Keystone or Copper have real towns at the base.

Both Breckenridge and Vail have a variety of terain (although Vail is much bigger) and active towns at the base. If they go to Vail over MLK weekend, I'd recommend skiing at Beaver Creek on the weekend and MLK Day, and at Vail other days.

There is only one non-stop flight on Delta from Milwaukee to Salt Lake City, but you have to change planes on the wa home, and the flights are expensive. The Sundance Film Festival is there Jan 17-27, so lodging will be expensive then and restaurants crowded.

Frugal:

Great advise from abram!

I was going to say that for a quick hit weekend, I would try for Salt Lake City. You have easy access to "Alta", ""Snowbird" and on the other side "Park City". All major ski areas that will have "loooong runs" Snowbird has a nice "on site" Hotel that I once used my AMEX for a great weekend getaway!

Usually in early January the prices are the best!!

John

WOW! you guys are great with your suggestions and advice... and so prompt...
thank you, thank you, thank you !.. hopefully, we can research and get something booked this weekend before the daughter heads back to Madison.. thanks again...

Utah typically has more reliable snow in January, plus the proximity that the skiing is to the major Salt Lake City airport is quite a bit closer than the CO resorts are to Denver.

Denver, though, has some great spots. Vail is huge, Steamboat is my personal favorite (as rated at http://www.familyskiresorts.net) and Telluride is a very unique experience.

Also, consider that if you do a holiday weekend (January - MLK?) you want to get away from a major city to avoid weekend crowds, so places like Steamboat, Telluride, or Big Sky become more attractive.