Son Got Stationed at Fort Carson , CO

[dlague]

Sadly they ceased operations a few years ago.

Only ski area you can get to via transit is eldora by using the RTD.

I would get an epic pass, fast. The price is $579 and it pays for itself in 4 days. Price goes up sept 7th.

You may qualify for the patriot pass (military) which falls under the Rocky Mountain super pass. For $379 you get unlimited winter park, copper, and eldora. 6 days steamboat, 3 days crested butte (closer to Colorado Springs than Denver), and looks like they just added 3 days Alyeska.

The Rocky Mountain pass series seems pretty good - my son was told that the tourism office at Fort Carson has lots of good deals like $75 for Breck and they also have packages deals as well. He does want to ski Vail to to say he has been there. He is interested in Breck as well. When we visit him I want to hit up Taos.

 

[dlague]

Well that's the best reward I can think of for his service. :flag: Hats off to you all!

Thanks!

Best wishes. Looks like I am going to have a son living in western ski country too this year and has me thinking about how to capitalize, a little further west than yours.
As you may know there are so many good pass products to consider in CO it makes your head spin:
If you or son don't want to commit to a season pass there are lots of four pack type products out in CO. Here is a link to those for Steamboat, Winter Park and Copper. http://www.skicolorado.com/SingleMountain_PackProducts.html As you may know Loveland offers cheap four packs too on their website.
It appears that Loveland would be the closest ski area at about 2 hours and their adult season pass is $389 with 3 days each at Monarch and Crested Butte. Monarch and A-Basin would be about 2.5 hours with passes at $449 (3 days each copper loveland, cooper) and $299 (3 days Taos) each. Copper season pass is $399 with 3 days at Monarch and Taos. You already got the info about the EpicPass and competitive Rocky Mtn Superpass.
Some deals may expire or change soon. Many places have milt discounts.

I always find it striking that there are so many great deals there but in the Northeast not so much.

I would like to thank everyone for ideas and POV. Looking forward to other ideas and actually going there.

 

[skiNEwhere]

The Rocky Mountain pass series seems pretty good - my son was told that the tourism office at Fort Carson has lots of good deals like $75 for Breck and they also have packages deals as well. He does want to ski Vail to to say he has been there. He is interested in Breck as well. When we visit him I want to hit up Taos.

If you get an A-Basin season pass (just A-Basin, not the epic pass), you get 3 days at Taos

 

[dlague]

Was just checking out Copper Mountain - looks pretty sweet Military Season Pass $269 and includes the following:

10 Copper Mountain Friends and Family Tickets. Friends and Family tickets from as low as $69. Valid for Adult, Teen, Child and Senior 65+ passholders only.
All Copper Mountain passholders will receive 3 FREE days at Monarch Mountain, CO
All Copper Mountain passholders will receive 5 FREE days at Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand
All Copper Mountain passholders will receive 3 FREE days of skiing at Taos Ski Valley, NM

Talk about a busy trail map! Only problem - looks like a good chunk of that ski area is Beginner-Intermediate

 

[deadheadskier]

The one thing I've heard many people enjoy about Copper is the natural segregation of terrain. There's not a lot of mixing of ability levels.

 

[dlague]

Liberty Pass:
Unlimited, Unrestricted pass for Keystone and Arapahoe Basin for *active duty military personnel and their dependents. Adult Liberty Pass: $229

Patriot Pass:
Unlimited, unrestricted pass for Winter Park, Eldora and Copper includes 3 lift tickets for Crested Butte and 3 for Steamboat not priced yet

Loveland also has a Loveland Military Pass not priced yet

On Base prices - not bad!
2015-2016 Active Military Lift Ticket Prices: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Northstar - Adult: $75

 

[ironhippy]

The one thing I've heard many people enjoy about Copper is the natural segregation of terrain. There's not a lot of mixing of ability levels.

I heard there's a lot of blacks there.

 

[dlague]

I heard there's a lot of blacks there.

haha that was a good one!

 

[ScottySkis]

Not fair lucky I healing jealous for sury

 

[steamboat1]

dlague does Copper offer something similar to the free Express card you can get from Killington for your service? They are owned by the same corporation you know.

 

[dlague]

Worth looking into.

 

[dlague]

Bump!

We are in the planning stage of where to ski. My son is picking up the Epic Local Pass or Rocky Mountain Super Pass and we are trying to figure out all the best options:

Route 40 Pack - $199 - Winter Park Resort, Steamboat
Loveland 4 Pack - $139 - however pretty sure I would not want to do 4 days there.
Epic 4 Pack - $419 - Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin
KEYSTONE OR A BASIN 4 Pack - $189
A Basin 4 Pack - $149

Are these the must ski venues? Top Ski Resorts Vail | Beaver Creek | Breckenridge | Keystone

Do any of you know of other Passes or 4 packs that we should consider?

My wife is looking in to renting a house/condo for the week, what is a good central location?

skiNEwhere since you are there you might have good insight?

 

[deadheadskier]

Bump!

We are in the planning stage of where to ski. My son is picking up the Epic Local Pass or Rocky Mountain Super Pass and we are trying to figure out all the best options:

Route 40 Pack - $199 - Winter Park Resort, Steamboat
Loveland 4 Pack - $139 - however pretty sure I would not want to do 4 days there.
Epic 4 Pack - $419 - Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin
KEYSTONE OR A BASIN 4 Pack - $189
A Basin 4 Pack - $149

Are these the must ski venues? Top Ski Resorts Vail | Beaver Creek | Breckenridge | Keystone

Do any of you know of other Passes or 4 packs that we should consider?

My wife is looking in to renting a house/condo for the week, what is a good central location?

skiNEwhere since you are there you might have good insight?

Silverthorne / Dillon would be a good central location.

I've skied most of those areas. A-Basin is my favorite of the summit county areas. It's like Cannon - no frills, skiers mountain, not very big, but awesome terrain. I likely wouldn't bother with going to Steamboat or Winterpark basing out of that area. Plenty ski without having to drive two hours to get to those places and that's with good road conditions. I like Breckenridge a lot. Vail I think is highly overrated and just not my scene at all. Haven't skied Beaver Creek. Keystone is by far the most boring of them all. Some decent trees and bumps towards the back of the resort, but nothing to write home about. Lots less snow than the others. Loveland you could catch a half day on your way out to Summit County if you arrived at the airport early enough.

 

[Cornhead]

+1 on A-basin, very cool place. I actually bought a 2015 season pass in the Spring of 2014. It was $279 and came with 3 days at Taos. I skied 5 days at A-basin Spring of 2014, one day there last Spring, and two days at Taos. I also skied one day at Wolf Creek. So my out of pocket expenses for lift tickets last year was $49 for 4 days. I got $10 off my Wolf Creek ticket through my hotel. I thought about staying for a third free day at Taos, but I wanted to ski somewhere I hadn't been before. No regrets, Wolf Creek is awesome too.

 

[Smellytele]

Bump!

We are in the planning stage of where to ski. My son is picking up the Epic Local Pass or Rocky Mountain Super Pass and we are trying to figure out all the best options:

Route 40 Pack - $199 - Winter Park Resort, Steamboat
Loveland 4 Pack - $139 - however pretty sure I would not want to do 4 days there.
Epic 4 Pack - $419 - Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin
KEYSTONE OR A BASIN 4 Pack - $189
A Basin 4 Pack - $149

Are these the must ski venues? Top Ski Resorts Vail | Beaver Creek | Breckenridge | Keystone

Do any of you know of other Passes or 4 packs that we should consider?

My wife is looking in to renting a house/condo for the week, what is a good central location?

skiNEwhere since you are there you might have good insight?

Some of those are transferable such as the a-basin and the Loveland 4 passes so you could spread them out through your fam.

 

[skiNEwhere]

What kind of terrain do you like dlague? Winter park isn't that far from summit county, maybe an hour. Without looking it up I would say steamboat is 2 to 2.5 hours from summit co. There isn't any other ski resorts up there, but I've heard from multiple sources there is world class snow mobiling on/around rabbit ears pass. I'd try a local tour.

Renting in Dillon/silverthorne/frisco is usually cheaper than keystone or Breck too btw

 

[dlague]

We like steeps, some bumps bit not all day, throw in some trees and our boys will more than likely want to hit a park or two. Hate long run outs. We do enjoy fast cruisers in the mix as well. Like to mix it up.

 

[skiNEwhere]

We like steeps, some bumps bit not all day, throw in some trees and our boys will more than likely want to hit a park or two. Hate long run outs. We do enjoy fast cruisers in the mix as well. Like to mix it up.

A-Basin has everything you mention with the exception of a terrain park. Breck has some bumps, a huge terrain park, and minimal run outs if you plan your day out a little (not going back and forth between peaks). And contrary to popular belief, Breck has terrain that's stupid steep (50+ degrees). North chute is between 50-55 degrees for 200-300 vertical feet then "flattens" to about 45 degrees for 700-800 vertical feet. The real steep stuff is found at the top, there is some less steep but still fun stuff interspersed throughout the rest of the mountain. Check out "the burn" on peak ten for some nice widely spaced, bumped glades with a consistent pitch

 

[jimk]

Bump!

We are in the planning stage of where to ski. My son is picking up the Epic Local Pass or Rocky Mountain Super Pass and we are trying to figure out all the best options:

Route 40 Pack - $199 - Winter Park Resort, Steamboat
Loveland 4 Pack - $139 - however pretty sure I would not want to do 4 days there.
Epic 4 Pack - $419 - Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin
KEYSTONE OR A BASIN 4 Pack - $189
A Basin 4 Pack - $149

Are these the must ski venues? Top Ski Resorts Vail | Beaver Creek | Breckenridge | Keystone

Do any of you know of other Passes or 4 packs that we should consider?

My wife is looking in to renting a house/condo for the week, what is a good central location?

skiNEwhere since you are there you might have good insight?
We like steeps, some bumps bit not all day, throw in some trees and our boys will more than likely want to hit a park or two. Hate long run outs. We do enjoy fast cruisers in the mix as well. Like to mix it up.

If your son gets the epic local and you want to make a cheap short visit, then the Key/A-Basin four pack makes sense. A-Basin has the steeps and Keystone has everything else you like. If he gets RMSP then the Rt 40 four pack might work if his pass gets him some Steamboat days. Also for RMSP approach, if you visit him preseason get a Copper Mtn four pack for $169 (must purchase in person).

My son moved to SLC and got a Snowbird season pass. I got a Snowbird ten pack.

 

[dlague]

Hopefully will ski with you at least one day. Maybe others as well.