Note: this article is written from the perspective of people who need to fly to CO, since most people don’t live there. This list also mostly focuses on the I-70 corridor, because that is where most CO skiing takes place.
Everyone talks up Colorado skiing and most people don’t even consider that other states could compete in terms of skiing. But when you start looking at it, Colorado isn’t the skiing oasis it may seem like. This article will outline why I think Colorado skiing isn’t worth the hype.
Snowfall
Outside of the exceptions of Wolf Creek, Loveland and Silverton, Colorado ski areas receive between 300" and 350" snow a year. While that may sound like a lot for East Coast skiers, it’s really not very much at all compared to some of its neighbors.
- Jay Peak, Vermont manages 360" a year
- Snowbird and Alta, Utah get 550" a year
- Alyeska, Alaska gets 670" a year
- Squaw Valley, California got 315" in February of 2019
While Colorado may be “good enough” for beginner and low-intermediate skiers, for skiers who enjoy powder, it’s not “good enough”.
Terrain
Colorado offers plenty of beginner, intermediate and low-expert terrain, but most I-70 resorts can’t supply extreme terrain. The previously mentioned Wolf Creek falls completely flat here. While there are bright spots (A-basin, Crested Butte, Telluride, Aspen highlands, Silverton) most Colorado resorts don’t supply direct access to chutes, bowls and cliff terrain like their counterparts in Utah, Wyoming, California and British Columbia.
Crowds/skier traffic
Unfortunately, Colorado suffers from some of the worst crowds in North American skiing. It’s not as bad as the northeast, but you can expect to wait in line for hours on a powder day. In addition, the high concentration of lifts leads to powder being tracked out quickly. Excluding short beginner lifts, the average lift at Beaver creek services 140 acres of terrain. As a comparison, the average lift at Alta, Utah services 430 acres of terrain. At Revelstoke, British Columbia, the average lift services 780 acres of terrain.
Accessibility
While Colorado seems easily accessible, it really isn’t. Denver airport is 1.5 hours from the nearest skiing at Loveland and involves several mountain passes. To put it simply, I-70 is no piece of cake, it’s a disaster. Unless you are willing to pony up for a flight to an airport near a ski area, you are going up I-70. Resorts off of I-70 are even more difficult to get to. In order to get to Telluride or Crested Butte, you have to fly to Montrose (usually requires an expensive connecting flight) and drive 1–2 hours.
While Colorado ski areas aren’t as hard to get to as some places like interior BC, it’s much easier to get to the Wasatch or Tahoe for most people.
Cost
In a large part thanks to Vail resorts, colorado skiing is absurdly expensive. If you are buying day tickets, good luck. Lodging is also definitely not cheap, and the aforementioned flights to skip I-70 are also expensive.
With day pass rates, at Beaver Creek you get 8.7 acres per dollar, whereas at Revelstoke (British Columbia), you get 35 acres per dollar.
Distance from the equator
Colorado suffers from being fairly far south. While this doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, it leads to spring coming earlier at low elevations and leads to ski areas needing to be pushed up to the highest peaks available. A few weeks back I skied in interior British Columbia, and despite reports of 50 degree weather and spring conditions in Colorado and Utah, it snowed more than a foot at Revelstoke and Kicking horse.
Altitude sickness
While this may not effect most, skiers traveling from lower elevations may have issues with Colorado’s high elevation. Whether it be hiking to a peak, traversing, or even just walking up hotel stairs, most are not prepared for it. This limits the ability of many who are used to lower elevations.
So in conclusion, when you consider all of these factors, I believe that Colorado skiing is very overrated. While it definitely is better than anything in the East, it falls short of most of its neighbors in many categories.
