posted                     

quote:

---

For those who have considered going to the USA for a ski holiday, here is my assessment, obviously only based on one resort.

Snow – good as far as I can tell. The dry and cold conditions mean that the now is very dry and powdery. I think I only saw one patch of ice the whole time (I fell over on it).

The pistes are very empty during the week, which was nice and go up to normal alpine crowds at the weekend. The tree line is a lot higher so you don’t get as much open mountain skiing, which is my favourite bit, and despite the high altitude the mountains seem less rugged than the alps. Lift passes here were pretty pricey, but can also be used at Breckenridge and Vale which are big areas, but a bus trip (30min – 1 h range I think). Keystone itself is only really good for 2-3 days skiing.

The resort itself is primarily owned by one company, I don’t know if this is normal, but there does not seem to be any independent chalets or cheap options. The accommodation we had was luxurious, but ~£1000 for a week and a day (could sleep six). This was the cheapest option we could find, and included access to the spa, free buses about the resort and overly cheerful and helpful staff at every turn.

There is an aura of fakeness about the resort as it has never been a real town/village, and the provision of services is a bit bizarre. The bars shut at ten, as do the busses going between resort areas – it is very spread out. There are very few restaurants/bars not in posh hotels, and seemingly ONE grocery shop, the size of a small corner shop for the whole resort. This can be accessed by walking along a six lane highway. On Sunday I finally found myself near a booze shop, only to find that booze shops don’t open Sundays.

Overall verdict: Probably not worth extra cost and travel, unless there was maybe a time of year where good weather + snow were guaranteed. Although that may be when all the Americans go as well, so the empty slope bonus would be lost?

I dunno!

---