Snowboarding trip to Colorado! NEED HELP!
 

Me and a few friends are going on our first snowboarding trip in the middle of December coming From Texas. We've already rented out a mountain cabin. We are all pretty young ages 21-23. We love good food, and great bars. which resort is probably best for our trip? Were staying in Woodland park, we understand that we may be having to drive a couple hours but thats ok!
We would like to go to a great resort, and also one more question. Will we be going at a good time? -December 15th 2011 ?? would we be getting a lot of snow?

I don't know where Woodland Park is, but we've skied Vail and Summitt County at that time of year, and the conditions can vary. Generally, areas with only natural snow aren't completely open yet.

WOW. The Woodland Park I know about is near Colorado Springs.
I hope you'll be back in WP before you start hitting the bars. I guess Keystone, Winter Park, Breckenridge will be closest of the big areas.

Wow, Woodland Park is really out of it. It must be free 'cause there is no other reason to be in Woodland Park. There is little to no action in Woodland Park. Your closest and easiest resort will be Breckenridge followed by either or both Copper Mt and Keystone. Winter Park is out of the question - just too far and Vail adds another mountain pass and nearly an hour. If the weather is good, it is a solid two hour drive over two lane roads to Breckenridge over Hoosier pass. You really should consider another location.

Can you cancel your WP cabin and get somewhere closer to the ski resorts? It will be worth it, even if you lose a deposit. Two hours of winter driving is a CONSERVATIVE estimate of the time it will take you to get to Loveland or Breckenridge (by backtracking through Colorado Springs to I25, then taking I70 during rush hour), or to Vail (via 24 through Leadville), or by 24 up through Fairplay to Breckenridge. If you take a look at a map you will see that as far as ski vacations go, Woodland Park is not a good option.
Getting up at 6 to get there, leaving by 4 p.m., not able to stay and party after closing the mountain? Not fun.

p.s. If you are resigned to driving (with a designated driver each evening), Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail are all resorts with lots of restaurants and bars.
If you want an interesting boarder-friendly ski area, Monarch is ~2 hours southwest (from Colorado Springs).

Backtracking through Colorado Springs and then through Denver (C-470,I-70) makes no sense at all. Even with good traffic that would take three hours and more with any traffic problems.

But the dinosaur museum in WP is super!!

Thanks for all the answers, unfortunately I cannot cancel as I will be out of $200, but the cabin looks gorgeous, which is why I got it to begin with. I'm really liking keystone. but coming to think of it, it will be a drag everyday waking up 2 hours earlier. which is the closest resort? Thanks guys again

Sorry missed a response, breckenridge is the closest.

Breckenridge is also 2 hours from Woodland Park!

Is keystone in range from there? How far from woodland?

Farther than Breckenridge, according to Googlemaps. I think you should consider eating the $200 deposit and start over with a place (maybe not so gorgeous :-) ) closer to a ski area!

REALLY, really, really, you and your friends should split the deposit loss, or even beg for a partial refund, or something; accommodations are plentiful in the ski areas, and you could ski several of them while you are there if you are already in the general locale. If the weather is bad, you are STUCK in Woodland Park, but if you are near an area, you are enjoying powder.

At $4 a gallon for gas [or maybe more by then], that $200 will get eaten up pretty fast if you have to drive that far to get to decent snow areas. Cut your losses and learn a lesson; research and ask questions first, then put down deposit.

As I posted earlier, Breckenridge is the closest via Hoosier pass from the south. Keystone and Copper Mountain are both another 19 miles beyond Breckenridge -- one to the east and one to the west. Keystone would be a little closer using Swan Road. Did you not look at a map when booking the cabin. Early Dec in and near the resorts is the time for heavy discounts. Snow is always a little iffy so the out of town traffic is very low until Christmas week. Should be able to find plenty of good deals. What are you paying for the current cabin?

Please eat it. As is pointed out, the cost of gas will be prohibitive to drive to WP. It is just NOT in the ski area.
Look in Frisco. VRBO. Anyone agree with that?

I did look In the map, another reason picked was because it's close to fort Carson, I have a close friend there, and ide like to see him throughout my trip and he said the drive isn't too bad, plus the girls REALLY wanted the cabin experience...I'll look for closer cabins. The cabins we got were from Coloradomountaincabins.com and went for 160 a night with our military discount.

Perhaps you should have paid attention on their site as to the ones they labeled "Ski Cabins", because those two are the only ones within a reasonable distance to any ski resorts. Their other cabins are all too far away.

And the site says there is only a $100 non-refundable "handling fee", not $200, BTW.

I believe that there is an astonishing consensus here!