I will be in DEN from Jan 12-15 and never been skiing in my life. I wanted to know where is a good place to learn to ski that is reasonably close to Denver. Additionally, I've always wanted to try snowmobiling. Any suggestions for a newbie would be greatly appreciated. Also I haven't booked my hotel room yet.

How close is "reasonably close"? I think that Breckenridge is a great place to learn, though it can get very crowded; it's a ~1.5 hour drive from Denver, Colorado. Most of the major resorts are about that far from Denver. Eldora, ~30 minutes west of Boulder, Colorado, might be an option, but if you're coming from Denver, I think it'd be worth the extra time to just go up to Summit County.

~1.5 hours without traffic, that is. I wouldn't recommend leaving Breckenridge at the "wrong" time (e.g. 4:00pm on a Sunday afternoon).

Loveland or Mary Jane (if still operating) are much closer to Metro Denver than the resorts on the other side of the tunnel such as Breckenridge. For the beginner a smaller, nearby area would be just fine.

Jim

Yeah, if j_mee hadn't said anything about being a beginner, I might have suggested Loveland. Getting through the Eisenhower tunnel adds ~30 minutes to the trip (at least). But, something about that tunnel makes it seem much longer than that!

winter park is about 67 miles from Den about 86 from a/port. check out their website: www.skiwinterpark.com/index.htm They list under lessons the 1st time easy start program for $150- 3 1/2 days of lessons lift tickts and ski rentals I did a albeit, not detailed housing request ckin 12 ckout 15th and it gave me a Best Western for 106$ per nite. They also listed snowmobiling as activities also. While the resort is before the Eisenhower you will have to take a mountain pass road there-not bad but they had shuttles listed on the website that would take you there. The Denver ski train would have been a great option, but alas, it only runs Sat-Sun that time period.

For beginning skiing, I have been told that Eldora (near Boulder) is OK, but I have not tried it.

For snowmobiling, I have had good experiences in the Snowy Range of Southern Wyoming and especially in Yellowstone National Park (but YNP is too far to drive for a 3 day weekend from Denver). See this site for info on WY snowmobiling: http://wyotrails.state.wy.us/snow/ and this site for a specific operator in/near YNP that I have used for a couple of tours (and will probably use again): http://www.snowmobilingtours.com/

I suggest looking at options in the Snowy Range (primarily southern Wyoming but that range may also extend into northern Colorado west of Fort Collins). From my experience, that would be your best bet for something not too far from Denver.

My experience at several ski resorts which offer snowmobiling (including one in Winter park) has not been good. Usually one guide with a large group trailing him, which goes slowly to accomodate the least confident rider, over bumpy-poorly groomed trails.

(I'll be where I have some brochures on snowmobiling operators on Saturday, so PM me at the end of the week is you want some others).

For some hotel thoughts, you might want to provide some add'l info, such as if you need to be near a particular area for a meeting or convention, etc., but I'm pretty sure there are several threads in this forum on hotels in Denver and surrounding area.

Finally, see this thread for some recent comments on renting and driving in snowy areas: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=627538

Regards,

TRRed

If you are a beginner I recomment Keystone. It's the closest of the Vail Properties to Denver and offers a ton of green / blue runs. I think they have a great ski school as well.

Winter Park was also mentioned earlier in this post. While it wouldn't rank high on my family or hard core skier list in the past they have offered free lessons to any beginners. You would have to verify they still offer this but I took my first couple snowboarding lessons there a few years ago just because it was free.

I learned to ski in CO and skied Eldora, Loveland and Arapahoe Basin as a beginner. The only one of the three I would not recommend for a first-timer is A-Basin. The bunny hill there is very small and none of the longer green runs are suitable for first-timers, IMO. Eldora and Loveland both have longer greens that are manageable by first-timers, in addition to the bunny hills.

I learned to ski at Loveland and Snowy Range. Both are nice low key resorts where a beginner can learn easily.