Epic Pass Entitlement.

J

J_Berg

Member
I'm going to CU next year and have honestly never skied in summit cou ty. I grew up skiing Steamboat, aspen, and the Park city resorts little cottonwood etc. So what's the best deal.

I did the pass finder and it recommended the epic local or epic summit pass I think.

Where honestly are the best spots in summit county. I plan to ski a lot.

I ski all over. Favorite places I've skied so far are Alta, Brighton, aspen Snowmass.

I'm probably 50 in the park 50 out. So where do CU students make their turns the most!

Thanks a lot

Take it easy
 
Honestly if you were skiing steamy, aspen, wasatch area and now you're going to summit county, you're taking a step backwards. I'm sure you're well aware of the traffic i-70 consists of, it literally ruins the experience. If I were you I'd stay away from summit, but if you're forced to because of school in Boulder, I'd either ski abay, loveland, WP, or sadly Eldora (the only one not on i-70). Can't wait till I'll be out of the front range next season!
 
As Long as you are smart about when you travel. Friday Nights/Sat mornings are awful going up there. Like.....3-9 hour drives. Coming back Sunday after 12, awful idea 3-12 hours. Keystone park is awesome, breck is breck, abay is A LOT of fun but has no high speed lifts and the runs arent all that long. I think most people on the epic local call Keystone home.
 
13409065:eheath said:
I mean, why wouldnt you get an epic pass if you live in boulder?
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yeah epic pass is pretty much your only bet. im a huge fan of copper and winter park but with and epic local you have your pick of way more mountains.
 
13409075:RICK_ROSS said:
yeah epic pass is pretty much your only bet. im a huge fan of copper and winter park but with and epic local you have your pick of way more mountains.
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Yeah copper and winter park are just basically different versions of the same thing, in reality the best skiing is on the epic pass for park and all mountain.
 
Thanks guys. All useful stuffm. My friend has a place at steamboat so Who knows! As of now I'll probably do the epic local
 
I go to CU as well and split park and "big mountain" about 50-50 as well. I grew up in Colorado and have skied the epic pass mountains for many years.

Keystone - A-51 park is great. Quite simply, anywhere else is not so great. A few fun hits scattered around but meh overall.

Breck - I don't ski Breck that much, but they have a phenomenal park obviously. Rest of the mountain is pretty fun. New peak-6 hike-to terrain is awesome. T-bar/horseshoe bowl is solid as well along with lake chutes and peak 10.

Vail - Best resort to ski entire mountain consistently, best areas are cliffs in and around Northwoods and Blue Sky (cliffs, trees, steeper runs). The bowls are overrated in my opinion, they get crusted with any sun, are typically windblown, and visibility can be pretty poor often. Worth mentioning is chair 4 cliffs/jump, cliff band isn't too great for me (short tranny and taking a tumble can be real dangerous), but I love the jump - usually by mid season it's prime and I've seen some dubs on it. Gold peak park is underrated, not very crowded, good rail garden, decent jumps.

Beaver Creek - Quite boring overall. The one place you need to go is Stone Creek. Great cliffs and pillow lines, nobody skis there, landings can be nice for a while although warm weather takes its toll there. Park is alright, hit their park once this year and jump shaping was quite different.

A Basin - Last but not least. Nice long season, good terrain, and no security. Unlike 95% of Summit, Pali is actually steep so it's nice for pow days. Zuma cornice and East Wall are worth mentioning.

Now... traffic. I honestly don't think it's as bad as some people make it seem. You can navigate I-70 easily if you plan a little. I'm amazed with how many people still drive at the worst times (6-8 Saturday morning and after 1 on a Sunday). Sacrifice an hour of sleep or an hour of skiing to avoid the traffic. Unfortunately with snow on the roads, accidents are almost guaranteed, this is the worst part of I-70.

Resorts will consistently be more crowded than you are used to. I don't quite understand why Breck is the dominant hotspot, but weekend crowds are notably rough there. Anywhere else isn't too bad (maybe I'm just used to the crowds), resorts are typically twice as crowded on weekends.
 
13409045:Keystone14 said:
As Long as you are smart about when you travel. Friday Nights/Sat mornings are awful going up there. Like.....3-9 hour drives. Coming back Sunday after 12, awful idea 3-12 hours. Keystone park is awesome, breck is breck, abay is A LOT of fun but has no high speed lifts and the runs arent all that long. I think most people on the epic local call Keystone home.
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Lol everyone way over-exaggerates the drive from Boulder to summit. Yes the traffic is shitty but "3-12 hours" is straight bullshit. Peak season your probably looking at 2-5 in bad traffic and 1hr 30 without any traffic. Yes it's not the best college in the world for proximity to the mountain but I've still managed to get 60+ days this year, mostly day-tripping
 
13409103:Z-Juice said:
I go to CU as well and split park and "big mountain" about 50-50 as well. I grew up in Colorado and have skied the epic pass mountains for many years.

Keystone - A-51 park is great. Quite simply, anywhere else is not so great. A few fun hits scattered around but meh overall.

Breck - I don't ski Breck that much, but they have a phenomenal park obviously. Rest of the mountain is pretty fun. New peak-6 hike-to terrain is awesome. T-bar/horseshoe bowl is solid as well along with lake chutes and peak 10.

Vail - Best resort to ski entire mountain consistently, best areas are cliffs in and around Northwoods and Blue Sky (cliffs, trees, steeper runs). The bowls are overrated in my opinion, they get crusted with any sun, are typically windblown, and visibility can be pretty poor often. Worth mentioning is chair 4 cliffs/jump, cliff band isn't too great for me (short tranny and taking a tumble can be real dangerous), but I love the jump - usually by mid season it's prime and I've seen some dubs on it. Gold peak park is underrated, not very crowded, good rail garden, decent jumps.

Beaver Creek - Quite boring overall. The one place you need to go is Stone Creek. Great cliffs and pillow lines, nobody skis there, landings can be nice for a while although warm weather takes its toll there. Park is alright, hit their park once this year and jump shaping was quite different.

A Basin - Last but not least. Nice long season, good terrain, and no security. Unlike 95% of Summit, Pali is actually steep so it's nice for pow days. Zuma cornice and East Wall are worth mentioning.

Now... traffic. I honestly don't think it's as bad as some people make it seem. You can navigate I-70 easily if you plan a little. I'm amazed with how many people still drive at the worst times (6-8 Saturday morning and after 1 on a Sunday). Sacrifice an hour of sleep or an hour of skiing to avoid the traffic. Unfortunately with snow on the roads, accidents are almost guaranteed, this is the worst part of I-70.

Resorts will consistently be more crowded than you are used to. I don't quite understand why Breck is the dominant hotspot, but weekend crowds are notably rough there. Anywhere else isn't too bad (maybe I'm just used to the crowds), resorts are typically twice as crowded on weekends.
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Epic! thanks a lot! I see you around!
 
13409169:bighomieflock said:
Lol everyone way over-exaggerates the drive from Boulder to summit. Yes the traffic is shitty but "3-12 hours" is straight bullshit. Peak season your probably looking at 2-5 in bad traffic and 1hr 30 without any traffic. Yes it's not the best college in the world for proximity to the mountain but I've still managed to get 60+ days this year, mostly day-tripping
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I'm assuming you do day trips during the week instead of class? I work, so I can only to weekends. If you can make a college schedule with a day or two off then yes. Very easy.

And yes it's taken me twelve hours to get home on a Sunday. Once we even had to turn around because the tunnel was closed
 
13409195:Keystone14 said:
I'm assuming you do day trips during the week instead of class? I work, so I can only to weekends. If you can make a college schedule with a day or two off then yes. Very easy.

And yes it's taken me twelve hours to get home on a Sunday. Once we even had to turn around because the tunnel was closed
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I go up once during the week and once on the weekend most weeks. Don't get me wrong, I-70 can be hell but any drive 5 hrs+ is very rare
 
If you have friends in the area or can get hooked up with a place to stay for a few weeks, your best bet is working for Vail Resorts doing holiday help over your Christmas Break. Getting paid for a few weeks AND getting a free Epic Pass? No brainer. Plus with Park City and Canyons being on there too?
 
ive shown up to key for a nooner and had both all parking lots totally full (saturday lol)

but anywhere in summit is so busy weekends i earned that
 
It appears some people have become immune to I-70 traffic. Which is not good. I guess you are forced to if you live on the front range.

Yes there's ways to get around it if you plan accordingly, and wake up at 4 am. Or just don't go on weekends.

If you don't really care about getting that much skiing in, then it'll work for you. But if you plan on skiing alot while you're in boulder, then be prepared to spend half of your time in a car. It's just the reality.
 
another alternative would be to take as many night classes as possible. ski during the week and do homework on the weekends, thus avoiding all traffic
 
Epic Local is probably the best call. Unless you plan on traveling a ton to other Epic Pass resorts the Epic Local will give you everything you need.

Breck is notorious for its park, but it's also notorious for long lines. Jumps there are super friendly and great to learn new stuff on. It gets really windy and cold a lot, too. Breck also has some really killer terrain outside of the park, but if you're not keen for waiting in lines, that might spoil it.

Keystone also has a killer park, but that's all I'd really go there for. The setup of A51 is really condensed into the same area and it's awesome. Lots of creative features throughout the year. Great place to go if you're looking to ski some park and don't want to deal with waiting in lines and seeing tourists all day, as the park is tucked away in its own spot.

A Basin is my personal favorite, but that's because I ski 80-20 out of park. Not totally screwed up by the Vail resorts commercialization, really feels like an untouched local mountain as relaxed as it was twenty years ago. Lots of fun stuff to be found at A Basin. Like mentioned earlier, Pali and East Wall are two big highlights, but there's fun to be had everywhere. They used to have a pretty cool park, but it's died over the last few years and now they only set up a few rails. Park isn't good for much unless you're going in October or in June.

Cheers!
 
13410129:HP123 said:
It appears some people have become immune to I-70 traffic. Which is not good. I guess you are forced to if you live on the front range.

Yes there's ways to get around it if you plan accordingly, and wake up at 4 am. Or just don't go on weekends.

If you don't really care about getting that much skiing in, then it'll work for you. But if you plan on skiing alot while you're in boulder, then be prepared to spend half of your time in a car. It's just the reality.
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Again, traffic isn't as nearly as some posts in thread are making it seem so I'll chime in again. If I were excited about moving somewhere new to start school and ski a lot, I wouldn't want to be discouraged about something as small as ski traffic before even getting to start the experience.

I-70 traffic is certainly heavy. It's really simple to figure out though, on a Saturday morning get on I-70 (in Golden) before 6. This isn't as bad as it sounds, if you were arriving at the hill a little before 8:30 you would need to be on I-70 around 7 anyway. Sunday mornings are much more random and there tends to be half the traffic.

Eastbound is usually more difficult. There's consistent traffic on Saturday afternoons from 3-6, sometimes later. Sundays are awful. Traffic starts as early 11 am and lasts after 8. Do yourself a favor and never plan to drive between 2 and 5, this is the time when some of the monster delays mentioned earlier are certainly possible.

As I said earlier, the biggest hassle on I-70 are accidents. Whether thousands are rushing to get that sick pow, someone from Missouri is going to Cali, or a semi needs to meet a deadline, snow on the roads causes accidents constantly.

I might have better experience because I'm from Evergreen which is 25 minutes into the mountains, that helps with traffic although it happens to be right where the westbound bottleneck starts too. You'll also notice that this whole description was for the weekend. Traveling Mon-Thurs is a breeze, minor issues Friday.

Blah blah blah enough about that. Welcome to Boulder, I hope you have a great time here and enjoy the shredding. Hit me up if you have any more questions.
 
13410212:Z-Juice said:
Again, traffic isn't as nearly as some posts in thread are making it seem so I'll chime in again. If I were excited about moving somewhere new to start school and ski a lot, I wouldn't want to be discouraged about something as small as ski traffic before even getting to start the experience.

I-70 traffic is certainly heavy. It's really simple to figure out though, on a Saturday morning get on I-70 (in Golden) before 6. This isn't as bad as it sounds, if you were arriving at the hill a little before 8:30 you would need to be on I-70 around 7 anyway. Sunday mornings are much more random and there tends to be half the traffic.

Eastbound is usually more difficult. There's consistent traffic on Saturday afternoons from 3-6, sometimes later. Sundays are awful. Traffic starts as early 11 am and lasts after 8. Do yourself a favor and never plan to drive between 2 and 5, this is the time when some of the monster delays mentioned earlier are certainly possible.

As I said earlier, the biggest hassle on I-70 are accidents. Whether thousands are rushing to get that sick pow, someone from Missouri is going to Cali, or a semi needs to meet a deadline, snow on the roads causes accidents constantly.

I might have better experience because I'm from Evergreen which is 25 minutes into the mountains, that helps with traffic although it happens to be right where the westbound bottleneck starts too. You'll also notice that this whole description was for the weekend. Traveling Mon-Thurs is a breeze, minor issues Friday.

Blah blah blah enough about that. Welcome to Boulder, I hope you have a great time here and enjoy the shredding. Hit me up if you have any more questions.
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It sounds like you've become immune to it. I-70 is one of the worst commutes to the mountains if not THE WORST in the country. Yes there's ways to navigate around it. but OP if you want to spend the majority of your time skiing instead of commuting you'd be better off looking elsewhere.
 
13410212:Z-Juice said:
Again, traffic isn't as nearly as some posts in thread are making it seem so I'll chime in again. If I were excited about moving somewhere new to start school and ski a lot, I wouldn't want to be discouraged about something as small as ski traffic before even getting to start the experience.

I-70 traffic is certainly heavy. It's really simple to figure out though, on a Saturday morning get on I-70 (in Golden) before 6. This isn't as bad as it sounds, if you were arriving at the hill a little before 8:30 you would need to be on I-70 around 7 anyway. Sunday mornings are much more random and there tends to be half the traffic.

Eastbound is usually more difficult. There's consistent traffic on Saturday afternoons from 3-6, sometimes later. Sundays are awful. Traffic starts as early 11 am and lasts after 8. Do yourself a favor and never plan to drive between 2 and 5, this is the time when some of the monster delays mentioned earlier are certainly possible.

As I said earlier, the biggest hassle on I-70 are accidents. Whether thousands are rushing to get that sick pow, someone from Missouri is going to Cali, or a semi needs to meet a deadline, snow on the roads causes accidents constantly.

I might have better experience because I'm from Evergreen which is 25 minutes into the mountains, that helps with traffic although it happens to be right where the westbound bottleneck starts too. You'll also notice that this whole description was for the weekend. Traveling Mon-Thurs is a breeze, minor issues Friday.

Blah blah blah enough about that. Welcome to Boulder, I hope you have a great time here and enjoy the shredding. Hit me up if you have any more questions.
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Thanks man great info here!
 
13410252:HP123 said:
It sounds like you've become immune to it. I-70 is one of the worst commutes to the mountains if not THE WORST in the country. Yes there's ways to navigate around it. but OP if you want to spend the majority of your time skiing instead of commuting you'd be better off looking elsewhere.
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It's bad, but super manageable... Not hard to figure out the frontage road system and cut a lot of time out of your drive. On days with bad traffic I still can make it to the mountains with only a 30 min delay from usual driving times...
 
13410880:gavinrudy said:
It's bad, but super manageable... Not hard to figure out the frontage road system and cut a lot of time out of your drive. On days with bad traffic I still can make it to the mountains with only a 30 min delay from usual driving times...
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False. These roads DO NOT exist. Especially on Pow Days. just stay home.
 
13410973:Brocka_Flocka said:
False. These roads DO NOT exist. Especially on Pow Days. just stay home.
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I know that I have never seen any of these "frontage roads" Gavinrudy speaks of.

But for real, if the traffic is really bad, the frontage roads are the last place you want to be. You might get to be moving 40mph while everyone on i-70 is going 25, but once you have to get off the frontage road and back on i-70 it is a complete shit show, every single person who has lived in Colorado for more than a year knows about the frontage roads and will be sitting there in a massive jam waiting to get back on i-70
 
reading this thread makes me appreciate seeing only a few other cars on my trip through the notch to sunday river
 
In Montana we're fucking pissed off when we're stuck behind someone going any appreciable amount slower than the speed limit in the canyon and not using the turnouts (there are precious few areas where passing is possible). I cannot even fathom being stuck in gridlocked freeway traffic trying to go skiing. I would probably just quit skiing or go on a road rage rampage and start ramming people.
 
13410993:JakeSmith said:
I know that I have never seen any of these "frontage roads" Gavinrudy speaks of.

But for real, if the traffic is really bad, the frontage roads are the last place you want to be. You might get to be moving 40mph while everyone on i-70 is going 25, but once you have to get off the frontage road and back on i-70 it is a complete shit show, every single person who has lived in Colorado for more than a year knows about the frontage roads and will be sitting there in a massive jam waiting to get back on i-70
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It depends on the situation on I-70. If you hit the frontage roads when the traffic is just starting to be really bad they can be a lifesaver but you're definitely right that if I-70 is a parking lot you want nowhere near the frontage roads.
 
idk why yall expect 0 traffic going either way that far through the mountains in shit conditions

who cares? assuming yall live in the front range area, move to summit or be happy you dont have to?

alls im saying is, its not exactly close without any traffic.

and if your going fri-sunday then your just asking for trouble.
 
13409102:J_Berg said:
Thanks guys. All useful stuffm. My friend has a place at steamboat so Who knows! As of now I'll probably do the epic local
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you should really consider the rocky mtn super pass...

copper - best overall resort in summit, lift lines are no issue

winter park - get storms that summit and vail do not get, stays open longer, easy to hit in combination with a couple laps on Berthoud Pass, miss out on half of the i70 traffic

eldora - easy to get to, no i70, got a slew of snow this year

steamboat - 6 days

crested butte - 3 days

loveland pass - free hitching/shuttle laps
 
13409103:Z-Juice said:
I go to CU as well and split park and "big mountain" about 50-50 as well. I grew up in Colorado and have skied the epic pass mountains for many years.

Keystone - A-51 park is great. Quite simply, anywhere else is not so great. A few fun hits scattered around but meh overall.

Breck - I don't ski Breck that much, but they have a phenomenal park obviously. Rest of the mountain is pretty fun. New peak-6 hike-to terrain is awesome. T-bar/horseshoe bowl is solid as well along with lake chutes and peak 10.

Vail - Best resort to ski entire mountain consistently, best areas are cliffs in and around Northwoods and Blue Sky (cliffs, trees, steeper runs). The bowls are overrated in my opinion, they get crusted with any sun, are typically windblown, and visibility can be pretty poor often. Worth mentioning is chair 4 cliffs/jump, cliff band isn't too great for me (short tranny and taking a tumble can be real dangerous), but I love the jump - usually by mid season it's prime and I've seen some dubs on it. Gold peak park is underrated, not very crowded, good rail garden, decent jumps.

Beaver Creek - Quite boring overall. The one place you need to go is Stone Creek. Great cliffs and pillow lines, nobody skis there, landings can be nice for a while although warm weather takes its toll there. Park is alright, hit their park once this year and jump shaping was quite different.

A Basin - Last but not least. Nice long season, good terrain, and no security. Unlike 95% of Summit, Pali is actually steep so it's nice for pow days. Zuma cornice and East Wall are worth mentioning.

Now... traffic. I honestly don't think it's as bad as some people make it seem. You can navigate I-70 easily if you plan a little. I'm amazed with how many people still drive at the worst times (6-8 Saturday morning and after 1 on a Sunday). Sacrifice an hour of sleep or an hour of skiing to avoid the traffic. Unfortunately with snow on the roads, accidents are almost guaranteed, this is the worst part of I-70.

Resorts will consistently be more crowded than you are used to. I don't quite understand why Breck is the dominant hotspot, but weekend crowds are notably rough there. Anywhere else isn't too bad (maybe I'm just used to the crowds), resorts are typically twice as crowded on weekends.
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I will agree with this assessment, especially the traffic. I never get caught in it, but maybe thats because I ski Weekdays.

One thing you forgot to mention is the beach at A-Bay. Think tailgating, people grilling, lots of beer and some weed, sitting in lawn chairs right at the edge of the parking lot by the lifts. Its a real good time when you go with a crew.
 
Similarish question- I grew up skiing little cottonwood and am going to be in Golden for school. Would you guys recommend getting an epic pass or getting a pass at snowbird and just skiing holidays when I go home?
 
13412491:snomaster said:
you should really consider the rocky mtn super pass...

copper - best overall resort in summit, lift lines are no issue

winter park - get storms that summit and vail do not get, stays open longer, easy to hit in combination with a couple laps on Berthoud Pass, miss out on half of the i70 traffic

eldora - easy to get to, no i70, got a slew of snow this year

steamboat - 6 days

crested butte - 3 days

loveland pass - free hitching/shuttle laps
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Damn I can't believe they're generous enough to put loveland pass on there.

13412846:slothking said:
Similarish question- I grew up skiing little cottonwood and am going to be in Golden for school. Would you guys recommend getting an epic pass or getting a pass at snowbird and just skiing holidays when I go home?
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A-bay and keystone pass might be a solid call if you cant pay for the full pass. Keystone is in my opinion the best park in the area and a-basin is probably the best for big mountain and you'd only be an hour away. You'd also be able to ski october-june
 
13412846:slothking said:
Similarish question- I grew up skiing little cottonwood and am going to be in Golden for school. Would you guys recommend getting an epic pass or getting a pass at snowbird and just skiing holidays when I go home?
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You going to Mines?
 
13412846:slothking said:
Similarish question- I grew up skiing little cottonwood and am going to be in Golden for school. Would you guys recommend getting an epic pass or getting a pass at snowbird and just skiing holidays when I go home?
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I mean is skiing Snowbird over your break worth not skiing at all your whole school year plus you'd still be able to ride PC and the Canyons with an epic pass...
 
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