I’ve always heard that Colorado is one of the best places in North America to go skiing and snowboarding, so my friends and I decided to plan a 2017 snowboarding trip there. After doing research, I learnt that there are tons of resorts and ski towns spread out across this state but the most renowned is Vail and Aspen. 

To maximize lift ticket value, we purchased the 4-day Epic Pass which allowed us to visit Vail and Breckenridge, another popular resort and got 1-day tickets for Aspen. That’s 5 days of snowboarding, which was the most I’ve ever done in a week. 

Day 1 – Saturday February 18, 2017

I landed in Denver, rented a car and drove to Breckenridge to meet up with the Toronto arrivals from Vail airport. After a 1.5 hour drive, we had a homemade pasta dinner and we headed to explore the Breckinridge village. 

It was a small lively town with shops on either side of Main Street. We stumbled upon this unique candle store and I’ve never seen candles like this before. Chi and I also shared a cookie sandwich with buttercream from Mary’s Mountain Cookies.

Day 2 – Sunday February 19, 2017

We were a little tired from the altitude (9,600 ft above sea level) but we were eager to board. We walked to the Quicksilver lift nearby and started our day with the Upper Lehman run on Peak 9. We made our way to Peak 10 for some black diamonds (pretty easy compared to standard ratings) and ended the day with a run on Peak 8. It was a good first day with blue skies and decent snow.  

We had a snacking feast since we skipped lunch to maximize runs. We relaxed in our resort outdoor hot tub and then made tacos for dinner. 

Day 3 – Monday February 20, 2017

It snowed all night but it was a clear sky sunny day –this meant perfect weather and snow conditions. We woke up early to get first tracks at Peak 6 and 7. Our first run was on ‘Monte Cristo’ and it was a perfect powder run. Everyone loved it and Sameer, Hong-Li and Dai-Viet experienced powder for the first time. 

We itched for more but couldn’t get up to Peak 6 yet because they were doing avalanche control. Instead we continued on Peak 7 until the lifts to Peak 6 were open. We finally arrived at Peak 6 and we saw they opened up the bliss bowl area. There were minimal tracks and people hiking up to the summit. We decided to hike up 1/3 of the way to conserve on energy and it was so worth it. We glided down making first tracks in this bowl. It was memorable. 

After lunch at a lodge, we did a few more runs on Peak 7 and Chi and I finished up in a fun kids area, a narrow winding run lined with trees on either side. It was fun and quite challenging actually. Chi dropped his gloves at the shuttle stop, so we drove back to find them… And since we were already out, we decided to go wait in line at the popular crepes spot, A La Crepes. The crepes were decent but I’d much rather have some Beaver Tails.  

Day 4 – Tuesday February 21, 2017

Sameer, Tania and I departed early for a boarding day at Aspen. The drive was about 3 hours but very scenic with interesting rock formations. We even saw a cluster of rams on the way.  

Aspen owns four different mountain areas; Aspen, Snowmass, Buttermilk and Highlands. We picked Snowmass, which was the biggest area for our single day here. Parking in the heated underground parking lot was expensive ($30) but worth it for the convinence to get ready and remove gear in warmth and be directly under the lifts. We started from ‘Sam’s knob’ and worked our way to ‘Elk Camp’. The runs were extremely wide, open and massive with little clusters of trees. At one point, the wide glades started to close up and we ended up in black diamond glades!

You could see Snowmass Mountain on the left as you board down Sneaky’s which was quite nice. We had lunch at Gwyn’s High Alpine lodge and finished the day in the Elk Camp area.

Surprisingly, Elk Camp was the most scenic summit with views into Snowmass’ rugged Hanging Valley.It was a sunny blue day but the snow was minimal. But since it was mid-week, there were little people there with no lines. Overall, Snowmass had a great blue runs and two scenic summits.  

We visited the Snowmass Village/Mall but it was very basic with no charm at all. Next, we drove to the Aspen Village (30 minutes away) which had character. It felt very historic with cobblestone walkways but high-end shops like Louis Vuitton and Burberry. It was cozy and charming. 

We met the rest of the team and had a BBQ dinner at Hickory House, in Aspen with everyone and then drove to Glenwood Springs to spend the night. 

Day 5 – Wednesday February 22, 2017

Today was our planned rest day and we were going to relax in this small hot springs town. We went to Iron Mountain Springs which was great value (only $20!) and experienced the 16 outdoor hot thermal mineral pools, jetted hot tub and swimming pool. It was a fantastic spa and exactly what we needed to recover our muscles. The weather was perfect for outdoor hot springs hopping and the views were more scenic than I expected. 

After a 3 hours visit, we were completely refreshed and drove to Vail to do a grocery stop and lunch at a small Hawaiian spot, Ekahi Grill in a town called Gypsum. 

We checked into our loft at Vail and headed to the Vail village. This village was more man-made, dense but still lively and fun. I also loved the Swiss-styled buildings. 

Day 6 – Thursday February 23, 2017

This was our first day at Vail and it was grey and snowy out. We bundled up and boarded the front side of Vail, starting with Simba Trail and working our way east to Flapjack. The runs were long, visibility was low but the snow was fresh. 

I also learned the importance of groomed trails. The deep moguls (like 1 ft deep) destroyed me but I did improve in mogul handling. I wanted to check out this kids area called ‘Chaos Canyon’ and Dai Viet and I went to find it. However, we in ended up on the green flat ‘Over Easy’ trail and had to go through dense trees to avoid walking out. It was quite the adventure… scary but also exhilarating. We did make it to ‘Chaos Canyon’ but it was just mediocre short kids area.  

I skipped lunch again and went on a few short runs on top of ‘Mountaintop Express’ lift with Dai-Viet and we ended the day with the longest 4 miles run at Vail, Riva Ridge. We stayed in that night and just played some cards and heated up frozen lasagna.

Day 7 – Friday February 24, 2017

This was our final snowboarding day of the trip. We headed to the back bowls and Blue Sky Basin. It was another grey low visibility day but with good snow. It was definitely the coldest day of our trip. The china bowl was great but quite some effort to get there. It was another first track run on chopstix. Nothing like making your own tracks and just gliding on fresh powder. 

The area I enjoyed the most was Blue Sky Basin. I loved the ‘Big Rock Park’ and ‘Grand Review’ runs because they were gentle, held good snow and were comfortable cruising glades. We even stopped at the outdoor hot dog shop for lunch. 

Chi and I kept going until the lifts closed and ended the trip with a long roller coaster run, ‘Born Free’. We hit the hot tub to warm up and had dinner at Westside Cafe nearby. We shared our favorite runs, what we improved on and which day we liked best.  

Day 8 – Saturday February 25, 2017

Chi, Dai and Hong-Li were departing today so we said our good-byes in the morning. Sameer, Tania and I drove back to Denver and luckily the roads were decent through the mountain passes. I was worried we wouldn’t make it back since our rental isn’t AWD or had tire chains.  

Our first stop was the Red Rock Amphitheater which was cooler than we expected. The views were interesting and we like the rock formations surrounding the stage and audience. We didn’t expect this to be such a busy spot for tourists. 

Next, we stopped at The Source, an artisan market for lunch. Yet again, it surprised us to see such a hip unique space. We had lunch at The Acorn, which was highly rated in Denver. I loved the Orange brioche donut and my crusted salmon had interesting combinations of texture and flavor. 

We checked into our hotel, Magnolia next and wandered along 16th Street Mall to explore the core of Denver. Our first stop was the Denver Pavilions, which had a fantastic local artisan shop, I heart Denver and a gigantic iconic Denver sign.

Next, we walked to the civic center area and all the way north to Larimer Square. Larimer Square was lit up at night and I loved the vibe of this block with the cute boutique shops.

We had dinner nearby at Osteria Marco, a highly rated Italian spot. The thin pizza was delicious due to the melty gooey fresh cheese. 

We headed back to the hotel to dropped off some shopping bags and pizza leftovers and took the free mall bus to Union Station. We expected to see a deserted station but was surprised to see a lively crowd and beautiful common space inside. It had a full-service bar, a quick cafe, shuffleboard tables, an unique coffee and ice cream shop, a florist and a hotel. It was the hippest train station I’ve every visited.  

We took the mallbus back to our hotel and chatted about how Denver exceed our expectations (well, we had low expectations for the city) and how there are some interesting characters and/or homeless people downtown. 

Day 9 – Sunday February 26, 2017

We checked out of our hotel and grabbed breakfast at the popular local spot called Snooze AM. It was good and I’d go back but it wasn’t must-try breakfast spot. My flakey breakfast pot pie was unique but I later read the upside-down pineapple pancake is the must-try. However, I tried Sameer’s molten-chocolate pancakes and wasn’t that impressed either. 

After breakfast, we drove to the airport, returned our rental car and departed ways. 

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While this was a fantastic snowboarding trip with awesome friends, I don’t think I was overly impressed with Colorado. Maybe my expectations are higher now that I live out West and have been to Whistler but the mountain summits I experienced in Colorado were not usually above the tree line and so, I felt the scenery to be on the same level as Vermont or New York. 

In general, I would recommended the Canadian Rockies (Whistler, Banff and Fernie) over Colorado due to USD rates, altitude adjustment and overall scenic views on the runs.  I would go back to Colorado but not rushing back anytime soon. I’d try Utah or California next, or go to the Canadian Rockies again (Revelstoke, Jasper etc.).