Winter Park Resort Reviews

• Overall Rating 4
• Family Friendly 4
• Downhill Terrain 4
• Terrain Park
• Nightlife 2

Pros: skiing for all levels; power skiing in the trees; few crowds

Cons: Nightlife;

Recommended Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Recommended For: Single/Newlyweds, Families
Date Visited: Feb, 2009

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Full review

Background: Travelled from New Zealand to ski in the northern hemisphere (it's our summer). First time skiing in North America (NZ and all over europe previously).

Winter park resort and village:
Flew into SF and then Denver. The transfers were fine, about an hour and 45 minutes.
Winter Park is split into Winter Park resort, which is purpose built, and very close to the WP lifts, and Winter park village, which is a small town about 15 minutes drive from the lifts.

WP resort is still under construction: whilst we were there most ot the accommodation was finished (good and close enough to the lifts to go 'home' for lunch) and in use, as were the shops - it's nice to walk around and pretty, and doesn't look like a building site or anything so don't be put off. What was lacking was bars and places to eat in the evenings. Several were underway, but look like they'll be completed for next season. There's only one bar open past about 1930 in the evenings.

The saving grace is that there is an excellent and free bus service which runs to and from WP village and Fraser, the next town, about every 15 minutes during the day, and 30 minutes at night. The drivers are all excellent and chatty, and will drop you where you want to go: bars, restaurants, supermarket, shopping etc.

For us food was pretty expensive as the NZ dollar had just dropped through the floor, but the locals and Brits seemed pretty happy and the food was plentiful. For breakfast get the bus to Fraser and try Sharkey's diner - nothing over $10 and lots of it.

Skiing and Riding:
In short: good and varied. The mountain is split into Winter Park and Mary Jane (MJ) areas. The WP side is more green and blue runs and ideal for beginners and intermmediates, MJ is the opposite and more slanted towards advanced skiiers. There's lot of tree (glade) skiing on both sides if that's your thing. MJ has lots of blacks with bumps (moguls), and I'd advise those who haven't encountered them before to beware and consider getting a steeps and bumps lesson. There's still plenty enough other runs though if you want to avoid the bumps, just don't expect to ski the 30% of the blacks which are.

The Panoramic Express lift when it's open (effected by wind) takes you above the tree lines and opens up lots of great bowls as well as more extreme terrain and backcountry, and the longest (blue) run, of about 10km, back to the village . If you're luck enough to be there, as we were, after some decent snowfall this lift gives you access to lots of bowls and trees with untracked powder - as long as you're happy to be there for the first hour aftr the lifts open. Also accessible from here is the Eaglewind lift, which open up some great black runs for the more advanced skier, down through knee deep or better power through the trees and gulleys. This area is blacks only so you can get away from the crowds and less advanced skiers, and none of its groomed as far as I can see so you need to be able to skiing all terrain - great fun. Again the bumps in this area aren't for the faint hearted, but you'll soon get the hang of them.

For those boarding I'd imagine there's lots of fun, but MJ's bumps and some of the long flat greens on the WP side probably aren't your nirvana.

Summary:
Varied, fun and unpretensious. Great for skiiers who've come to ski, not party; probably good for families too, but it didn't seem overrun with kids or anything for the rest of us. The locals seem to come here a lot as it's close to Denver, so the weekends are busier but still not too busy. We were here for two weeks, were out 5-7 hours a day, with only one day we didn't ski - so enough to keep everyone busy and happy.

Recommended if you're there for the skiing not the apres.