Planning a trip for March, any suggestions on where to stay,places to eat?? Any help would be appreciated.

Family or couple? Budget?

www.aspensnowmass.com will get you started on lodging options. Be sure to rent equipment online from that website for a 20% savings. Its called Four Mountain Sports/D&E. If you rent from them they have free overnight storage right at the mall area so you pop off your skis at the end of the day and check them and the next morning you collect them at the same place...no dragging skis back to the condo.

You can also go ahead and buy your lift tickets via the site as well for a savings over the window price.

The Silvertree Hotel is right on the mountain if you want a hotel. If you want a condo there are tons right on the mountain just about the mall area.

Food is okay in Snowmass but awesome in Aspen, 8 miles away. La Montagna at Little Nell, Pacifica, Range, Elevation and Takah Sushi for high to moderate dinners, Red Onion, Little Annies, Cooper Street for inexpensive food. Best breakfast and good ribs (my kids get a side of ribs with breakfast) can be found at The Hickory House.

In Snowmass we always eat a nice lunch at The Brothers Grille at the Silvertree. They have a daily lunch special. The Wildwood Lodge has The Village Steakhouse. Il Poggio is another we do often.

On the mountain we love Up For Pizza, a tiny building at the top of the Big Burn Lift. Pizza is good and they bake cookies fresh all day long so you get warm gooey cookies. We always eat lunch early (11am-11:30am so we don't have to fight for a table). We also like the ahi tuna sandwich at Cafe Suzanne.

I just skiied Snowmass last week, fantastic conditions. It was 55 degrees at the top of the mountain two days in a row and there was lots of snow. Hope you get good weather too.

THanks for the reply. I would like to stay on the mountain, hotel is fine-2 people.
Do you need to rent a car? Coming from the east should I fly into eagle airport or aspen?

I always fly to Denver then drive to Aspen. Its alot cheaper (about half price for us) when there are four of us plus its easier to adjust to altitude (my kids get altitude sickness if we aren't careful). Its about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Denver to Aspen and is an easy drive provided there is no closing due to snow.

If you plan to fly the whole way, definitely fly to Aspen not Eagle. You'd still need a shuttle or car from Eagle which is pretty close to Vail. You can also fly to Denver then take a van shuttle to Aspen.

You don't really need a car in Snowmass or Aspen although we like the convenience for driving from Snowmass to Aspen for dinner at night. There are free bus shuttles that run to all four mountains and at night the bus costs just a little. Its about a 20 minute ride or drive from Snowmass to Aspen.

Its really fun to have lunch or dinner at Pine Creek Cookhouse up Castle Creek Rd. You drive to the cross country ski center, slip on cross counrty skis or climb aboard a sleigh pulled by draft horses and head to the beautiful new log "cabin" which is huge. Check out the website www.pinecreekcookhouse.com if interested. You definitely need to make reservations well in advance as they have very limited seating (64 per seating I believe).

I would try to fly into Aspen or Eagle. Eagle Airport is about 1hr 15min to Snowmass. Aspen is right there, but smaller planes. It will be more expensive, but a huge time saver.

Because of the HUGE amount of snow we've been receiving, the flights are getting out, but the highway to Denver has been closed off & on &/or very slow for the past month due to weather. You can expect 2xs the time it would take on dry roads.

Thanks for all your help. Any recommendations on where to stay? Any other things to do?

I second the recommendation for the Silvertree Hotel. I thought it was the nicest hotel in Snowmass. My husband, son and I stayed there two years ago and really enjoyed it. You can get right on the chairlift outside of the hotel. We loved the restaurant and thought the food was pretty good--it's not fancy, but has a very nice ski-lodge atmosphere. We did not rent a car--the Silvertree has a shuttle that runs from the Aspen airport. Just let them know ahead of time. Since we were only there for 5 days, we didn't want to hassle with buying food, etc. that staying in a condo would entail. The Silvertree was a very relaxing and enjoyable place to stay. There are lots of places to eat in Snowmass Village. The Silvertree is located right on the mall, so you can walk to many different restaurants. Or, as was mentioned before, take the shuttle bus into Aspen.

Thanks for everyones help. Read a review somewhere else saying Silvertree needed a big overhaul and service was not great is this true??

Honestly, you don't have alot of choices in hotels at Snowmass. Silvertree is as good as it gets.

Most condos and hotels at Snowmass are midpriced. Don't expect Aspen service and furnishings because you won't be paying Aspen prices. Much like beach accomadations, these places are used pretty hard with all the wet boots and equipment getting thrown around.