a colorado trip, 1-12-2019

[dj]

Great pics. I love Loveland and A-basin!

car rental, AWD for six days was $232 with full tank prepaid

Where did you get that deal and what kind of vehicle?

I'm flying in to DEN Sunday February 24 through Friday March 1. For a compact or mid-size SUV I'm looking at $399.57 for 6 days from Fox Rent A Car.

We're staying in Leadville, too. Had enough points for 4 nights free there. How was the drive from there to Loveland? That's probably the farthest we'll travel.

I'm taking a snowboarder with me that's never ridden outside of NC. We'll def. hit Loveland and A-Basin. Trying to decide between Breck, Vail and Copper for the other 2 days or maybe spend both at one of the three. I've been to Keystone for a night session but none of the others. Thought about hitting up Ski Cooper for 1 day if his budget is really tight. Recommendations? (For what it's worth, I usually find the western blues and select blacks are enough for my tastes (and skills) so I'm not looking for the gnarliest stuff around).

dj

[davidski]

dj, apologies, I missed your post, I should have responded earlier.

I rented a mid size SUV, rav 4 or crv, I forget, but allwheel drive. BTW make sure, I nearly got put into a Nissan Rogue that was not AWD, although I thought they all were, it's important to check.

I rented thru Thrifty, and have no complaints, the price was as advertised when I closed out. I did not purchase any of their insurance and I think I just hit a golden point of low pricing when I was traveling...but hold on, I'm going to check your dates. Damn I'm seeing like $450 now. Continuing this research cheapest round trip fares on Southwest around that time are $300

I think I hit some kind of jack pot of timing

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as far as Ski Cooper, I would not want to recommend it , I like it a lot for anti-corporate reasons, but it is so small and the terrain is super , relentlessly mellow.. but if your buddy has never skied trees, and wants to learn this is a good place to start poking into the woods. and they have a good base right now, I get the money issue but Copper is a spectacular mountain, one of the best lay outs for all levels. Leadville is 15 min from Cooper and 30-35 from Copper. Have you stayed there before? I like it but at 10,000 plus feet it is not a place to recover if you get altitude symptoms. which has started to happen to me although I used to scoff at such "weaklings"

I know it may be too far out of the way altho from Leadville it's only 1 1/2 hour more, but I cannot stress strongly enough what a great mountain Monarch is, I thought I knew it but this trip I found so much challenging stuff amidst its general blue terrain that it took me 15 years of intermittent visits to suss out, again it's in the trees.

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let me know if I can be more specific, I love the area

[davidski]

oh , and, the drive from Loveland to Leadville is not bad but pretty ghostly as you go through the Molydimun mines and over fremont pass, which is never thin and snakey like loveland pass or berthoud pass, but still crests 11500 I think.

You will pass Mayflower gulch, lots of parking at the trailhead, and if you want to pause and hike a little up that trail it is breathtaking

[dj]

Seems like a pretty quick reply to me. Thanks!

I haven't stayed in Leadville before. Last time we stayed in Dillon (~elev 9,111) and didn't have any problems. I hope that hasn't changed

I also assumed all Nissan Rogue's were AWD like my wife's. I'll have to check that with Fox. Thanks for the heads up.

Sounds like my $178 round trip on SW is a pretty good a deal (compared to now). I guess it's all about dates and advance purchase.

Maybe we'll hit Cooper if the budget is really tight. I'll probably make up the difference if I need to for somewhere bigger - the kid (24 y.o. ) I'm traveling with was in Scouts with my son and is now kinda my foster ski son since mine has lost interest. More likely we'll try it if our legs could use a really mellow day. I get the anti-corporate bit. I think I like Lovelland and A-basin so much because they are not at all resorts and remind me of a truly enormous version of Cataloochee. Still technically corporate, but not Intrawest/Alterra or Vail.

We'll take a look at Monarch. It sounds great. Thanks for the details on Copper. I've been trying to decide between it and Vail. Sounds like it or Monarch may be a good fit for our ability level. If there's a powder dump I'll probably try to get a private lesson to finally figure out how to stay more on my heals and handle it without getting so exhausted. I can go all day on packed powder or Southern Appalachian ice but true powder wears me out quick.

I'll definitely check out Mayflower gulch. I try to get a hike in at least once a month, so that can be February's. I've been looking at SW and Allegiant fares and considering a May or June weekend trip just to hike somewhere different.

Thanks for the great info!

dj