About a week ago my family and I went late season skiing at Beaver Creek resort in Beaver Creek/Avon, CO. The weather was a little warm but there was plenty of snow on the ground which made for some great skiing. Beaver Creek is approx. 2 hours west of Denver and is just 10 minutes past Vail, one of the most popular ski resorts in Colorado. The drive is not a bad drive from Denver International Airport at 128 miles and just over 2 hours. If the roads were icy, then that would be a different story. Denver International is the biggest airport in the country at 53 square miles total. This is bigger than all of Manhattan, New York! There are some interesting conspiracy theories surround the airport as well. They have some crazy paintings, statues, runway layout and inscriptions all over the airport. If you have the time Google it to learn more.
There are a lot of rental car places to choose your rental from and it is just a short 5-10 minute shuttle ride from the airport to the lots. Depending on the time of year you go and what type of car you choose, you can most likely find a decent deal on a rental. Just do some research and compare prices for a bunch of different websites.
Kayak usually is a good site to start on because it compares almost all companies and compares the prices for you.
"Beaver Creek"
The drive from Denver through the mountains to the resort is beautiful to say the least. Especially during the winter time with snow all over the place. This makes for an exciting ride up to higher elevations. Be very cautious during the winter months though, because there's a good chance snow is on the ground or will be on the ground soon.
 |
| Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. Image from tripadvisor.com |
Beaver Creek is more of an upscale resort than most other resorts. BC is in the same category as Vail and Aspen in terms of cost. In fact, the
lift ticket you buy for BC is also valid at Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. This is pretty cool if you are able to get to these other resorts and ski multiple mountains on one trip to Colorado. If you are able to secure lodging near or on the mountain it makes it a lot easier to get to and from the lifts. Ski in/ski out condos are where it's at! If you can afford this type of lodging then you won't have to worry about carrying your gear very far as you will only have to walk a few hundred yards or less to reach the lifts. Accommodations near the base of the mountain and in the town of Avon (town at the base of Beaver Creek resort) allows you to be able to walk to a shuttle bus that can take you to the resort or there is a gondola at the
Westin Riverfront hotel which takes you straight to the lifts within a few minutes. If you want to stay upscale, then the Westin is a good place to crash. A few other upscale hotels here are the
Ritz Carlton and the
Park Hyatt. These are both ski in/ski out hotels at Beaver Creek.
 |
| Gondola at the Westin. Image from starwoodhotels.com |
We ate a couple restaurants that were on the resort property. Both had some pretty good food although it was a little pricey. The first was
Coyote Cafe which was Mexican cuisine and burgers. The other was
The Cafe which serves Deli type food. Both were places to check out if you're ever in Beaver Creek Village. We got all the rest of our food (dinners) at the local Walmart in Avon which saves a lot of money over eating out every meal. You can also buy t-shirts, sweatshirts and other souvenirs here instead of paying more for the same thing on the mountain.
 |
| coyotecafe.net |
We rented our equipment at an off mountain store in Avon called
Venture Sports. Renting here instead of in Beaver Village saved about $100-150 so consider looking them up and booking with them over the more expensive options.
"The Mountain"
The terrain and trails of the mountain was awesome. There are 25 lifts and 150 trails with over 1800 acres to ski. There are plenty of beginner (green) slopes as well as plenty of intermediate (blue) and advanced (black) runs. There is something for everyone here on the mountain. The cool thing about this mountain is that there are a lot of green runs at the very top of the mountain so beginners can go up and see the wonderful views on clear days and still have the confidence to be able to ski the whole way down the mountain on beginner slopes.
 |
| Top of the mountain. Red Buffalo trail. |
 |
| Mid-mountain. |
Beaver Creek is all in all a great resort to come and ski at. It is a bit more expensive that some other resorts you can go to but it is well worth it. Consider it for your next skiing vacation. Tomorrow I'll post about Denver and all the things there is to do there and places to stay.
Hi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about Beaver Village to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Jane