https://www.ski.com/

Book early.
Look at the options the resorts offer--pool, ice skating, local tourist attractions.

Look at the airport and distance to the destination. Remember--you will be arriving /departing during the winter, add a day for weather delays. Small, regional airports in the West are SMALL- basically the gate and the tarmac.

If you live at sea level--it will take some time to acclimate to 10,000' above sea level.

Fly into Denver...90-120 minute drive to Keystone. VERY good runs for first-timers.

Hard to beat Utah. Balze's post is very good advice. The Residence inn is right at the base of the mountain and their are four resorts that are very easy to get to with about a twenty minute drive up the canyon's. The Residence Inn is surrounded by close restaurants so food is easy to find and if you haven't skied before you are going to be tired after a day on the mountain. The less driving the better.

Brighton and Solitude are nice resorts with good varied terrain unless you want to avoid the rabble that is the knuckle dragging snow boarders . If that is the case then hit Alta up Little cottonwood canyon where snow boarders aren't permitted. Just keep this in mind if the kiddos want to go single plank. Alta won't be available to them.

Thanks, everyone, for the information. I am quite ignorant about this, so I'm sure I'll have more questions.

We will look into the Utah resorts.

Has anyone skied in the Crested Butte area? That's close enough to drive to from our location.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett257:
Thanks, everyone, for the information. I am quite ignorant about this, so I'm sure I'll have more questions.

We will look into the Utah resorts.

Has anyone skied in the Crested Butte area? That's close enough to drive to from our location.

Crested Butte is mostly an expert ski area

I skied Crested Butte every year from the late 90's through 2009. It is my favorite resort by far. I was an expert level skier, but I took several beginners there and they did well.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett257:
Thanks, everyone, for the information. I am quite ignorant about this, so I'm sure I'll have more questions.

We will look into the Utah resorts.

Has anyone skied in the Crested Butte area? That's close enough to drive to from our location.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett257:

Has anyone skied in the Crested Butte area? That's close enough to drive to from our location.

The trouble with Crested Butte is that it is owned by Vail. Their business model is to make day tickets so expensive that it encourages you to buy their Epic Pass good at all their areas. This mentally locks you into their areas if you want to ski elsewhere. I think a day ticket at Vail last year was over $200. Ski there five days and you would have been able to buy an unlimited adult Epic Pass with money left over.

If you're close enough to drive to Crested Butte, take a look at Wolf Creek which should also be within your driving range.

Most, if not all, of the greens at Crested Butte are mid-mountain and lower, if that matters. Plenty of greens to ski though. It is our favorite place to go. Crested Butte is actually town at bottom of mountain. Up the mountain is Mt. Crested Butte. Driving to Crested Butte from Oklahoma in the winter was sometimes a challenge. Not sure if there is much nightlife. We always enjoyed Heavenly too with Lake Tahoe spread out below as you ski down.

I haven't skied in 20+ years. My only advice is that since you have never skied would be to prepare your legs before hand. Knees and inner thighs can get a hell of a workout skiing. Being sore the next day sucks!

Great input and advice from everyone this far.

From the department of helpful advice -

If you are going to be renting equipment and don’t want to wear a helmet that’s already been on the heads of 100 people or more before it goes onto yours, you may want to consider buying a ‘budget’ helmet for everyone that will be skiing and/or riding.

They have basic features and styling, offer adequate protection and can be had for about $30-$40 from a place like Costco. The one near us also sells ski gloves, goggles and chemical pack hand-warmers.

I ski patrol at Blue Mountain Resort just north of Allentown, PA, so let me know if you choose to go there (LOL!) and we’ll get together for some runs!

Logistically flying in to DIA anything roughly 60 miles west of Denver. Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin. Personally I've lived my entire life in Colorado and never been skiing once. Never found the logic in going up to the top of a mountain and willingly throwing yourself off.

quote:

Originally posted by p08:
I haven't skied in 20+ years. My only advice is that since you have never skied would be to prepare your legs before hand. Knees and inner thighs can get a hell of a workout skiing. Being sore the next day sucks!

Good advice here. Also get the cardio tweaked up. My sea level training program didn't fare too well last year. The altitude will really kick your butt. Hydrate and avoid alcohol at least the first day or so. Altitude sickness is a real thing and no fun. Had to drive a buddy out of Summit county once at 2 am because his flared up.

My first-ever ski trip was a surprise side trip to Heavenly/Lake Tahoe a couple of years ago while we were in Reno. My wife planned for us to rent equipment but ski clothes, goggles, and gloves were purchase items and were ridiculously priced. I already had a parka (not a ski parka, but good enough), and she’d bought hers online in advance and got as good or better quality at less than half the price I paid for my items. Planning in advance, wherever you go, can be a wise, cost-effective move.

Might sound crazy, but don’t necessarily rule out Canada or Europe. Amazingly, even with travel costs and exchange rates, the total cost of a ski trip can often be cheaper in those places than staying stateside. Skiing in the US, especially lift passes is very expensive. It also depends on your dates and how much time you have available for a trip as things like the time change can be tough for a short trip. We’ve skied as a family all over the US, Canada and Europe, and for price and amazing scenery, Europe wins every time.
This year the big unknown will be possible travel restrictions because of COVID, but Europe just opened back up to US tourists.

Crested Butte is a great town and ski area. One reason it is not more popular is it so far from Denver, but that keeps the crowds down. Family oriented and safe enough the kids can learn the shuttle in a day and go back in forth from the town to the mountain by themselves and not get lost. I went as a 12 year old and have been going back for 40 years (mostly in the summer these days). I am going mountain biking, hiking and fly fishing next week.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
For first timers, nothing worse than playing in the snow and the searing memory is bad gear and freezing/wet feelings. You need to make the investment in good socks, base layers and good bottoms.

YES! I still remember my first time skiing in NC in a pair of blue jeans. Cold and wet is exactly right and it was 40 yrs ago. :-)