Snowboarding Colorado - Recommendations??

[andy4200]

I've been lucky enough to be put on a training course in Texas in early March. The lucky part being that I think I will take a week afterwards and head on up to Colorado for a bit of snowboarding (golden opportunity and all that) .

My experience of boarding in the USA is limited to Mammoth (bleedin fantastic) and Fresno. So... has anybody boarded in CO.

What I'm interested is variety... and powder!!!, but I also need alternative routes down unless I can convince the girlfriend to swap the blades for big peoples skis (or leave her at home). It needs to be majority intermediate to advanced but not too much of the double black diamond stuff as I'm not that brave yet.

At the moment I'm leaning towards Beaver Creek as we will most likely have transport and it looks like it's close enough to some other areas if we fancy a change for a day.

Anybody got any ideas for me.....

Cheers
Andy

[willmcc]

Went to Vail last year, acres of powder. Simply the best board conditions i have ever seen

[lanciachris]

I would recommend NOT going to aspen/buttermilk/highlands. The runs are all huge boring wide affairs designed for amateur skiers to go straight down as fast as possible and feel that this makes them good. There are a very few good runs if you do the get to the top of the lifts then hike a bit higher.

[andy4200]

willmcc said:

Went to Vail last year, acres of powder. Simply the best board conditions i have ever seen

Vail is on my list
Only thing is it seems to be so bloomin expensive to stay there. Need something cheaper than hundreds of dollars a night.

[tuffer]

Stay away from the resorts, you should be able to find a Motel out on the main road. Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Vail, Keystone and Copper Mountain are all within 45 miinutes of each other so graba map and pick somewhere central as they are all worth a punt. Vail is pretty cool though, I love powder but the groomers there are something else, like having a 4 lane motorway to yourself.

Top tip, not sure of the lift at Vail but do not launch yourself off "Lovers Leap" flat out....... it is higher than it looks, the ground drops away very rapidly, snow is not always soft and fluffy and 20 cartwheels in succession can make you feel really sick (as well as beating yourself half to death with flailing arms).