Okay: the TOP of the Continental Divide.

Fraser is near Winter Park. Are you planning to ski? I'm confused about Black Hawk, which is mainly a gambling destination. I'm less concerned about altitude sickness, unless you have a health condition, than the purpose of your trip and going to the mountains in March.

Yeah we are there to ski and play in the snow.

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Oh, for crying out loud. We're not talking Mount Everest here.

Lots of us live and breathe quite well here in Colorado.

Water, water, water.

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Thanks for the reply. If you want to stay at a lower altitude for one night before heading to Fraser, just stay in the Denver area. I wouldn't stay in Black Hawk. Just drink lots of water and maybe pop an ibuprofen before heading to the mountains.

>We were looking to do the Breckenridge area

Stay in Breck then, or even Frisco, MUCH nicer than Black Hawk.

It's good to be educated about altitude stuff, but no sense altering a trip that much just because of it, if that's the reason for the change.

We live at sea level and when we go to Colorado to ski, I have more trouble with the dry air than the altitude. We use a humidifier when we're sleeping (the hotel supplies it). I sleep better if a don't drink any alcohol but sometimes take a non-prescription sleep aid.

Good advice from Jean, but keep in mind not all hotels offer humidifiers, and if they do, it's unlikely they'll have one for every guest room.

If they do have one for you to use, inspect it and make sure it is CLEAN.

I was given one at a Colorado hotel once that made me sick - it hadn't been cleaned in, well probably forever. Unfortunately, I failed to look at the filter before using it and got a rather memorable bug.

eeewwwww.

Dehydration here is a much more common issue. Between the dry air and sun, it is easy to become dehydrated.

Drink LOTS of water, wear sunscreen, even/especially on slopes/ use chapstick and bring lots of hand/body lotion! Sunglasses too.

If our hotel didn't provide a humidifier, I'd buy one locally. Honestly, I have that much trouble with the dry air.

There are mini-travel humidifiers:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...:72884816:TRUS

I currently live in Denver, and when I drive to the top of Mt Evans (14,000) I can feel it. Trail Ridge Road (12,000 ft) just barely. Estes Park (9,000 ft) - not at all. Having observed many flatlander houseguests, I can say that our collective warnings here are justified in most cases. Maybe OP is oblivious to the altitude effects, maybe OP will feel weird stepping off the plane at DIA - who knows?

OP asks - "Black Hawk, CO Area, is there still a threat there?" Yes, a different threat, a threat to your wallet...

I can't believe a humidifier with that small of a tank could run for 10 hours as claimed. Very mixed reviews.

We used to take a full-size machine with us, but it was a pain to pack.

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Me too. I live at 8,500 feet in Colorado. I run one at night in the bedroom in winter, in addition to the one that's built into our heater.

I go through lotion by the gallon too.

You gotta do what you gotta do here in the Rockies.

Las Vegas in the summer kills me, and not just because of the heat. It's so dry it makes me gasp. I've been known to sleep with a wet washcloth on my face.