Looking for Colorado winter vacation ideas

[SoCalRunner]

Thanks for the info

Thank you for all the great info and advice. I did contact the property mgr in Leadville and he described the weather there as windy & "extreme". He advised to come prepared with quality gear. I looked into boots,bibs, gloves, and jackets for a family of 4 and realized it was a hefty investment for a weeks stay. The manager advised me to stay at a lower elevation and travel to the snowy areas.
I will be looking for a place in Breckenridge this week.

Thanks again.

 

[abbazabba]

Another idea if you want to avoid ski area town$ would be the South Park area.

In Fairplay, there are a few Airbnb rentals that are fairly reasonable (whole house rental for $150 - $200) and are a lot less than what you would pay at a ski resort. It's only 80 minutes or so from Denver, and is extremely quiet and peaceful.

You can ice fish at Tarryall Reservoir, snowshoe/cross country ski, etc. Breckenridge is only 25 minutes away and has snowmobile rentals (and a ton of tourists). Mt. Princeton Hot Springs is only 40 minutes away.

Another area to look into would be Buena Vista. About the same price, with lots of places to explore nearby, and close to Leadville for snowmobiling (but generally not as cold and windy as Leadville)

I second this, stayed in Fairplay a few years ago and loved it.

 

[its_not_a_tuba]

Thank you for all the great info and advice. I did contact the property mgr in Leadville and he described the weather there as windy & "extreme". He advised to come prepared with quality gear. I looked into boots,bibs, gloves, and jackets for a family of 4 and realized it was a hefty investment for a weeks stay. The manager advised me to stay at a lower elevation and travel to the snowy areas.
I will be looking for a place in Breckenridge this week.

Thanks again.

Good choice! Feel free to PM me with any questions. I would highly recommend that you pick a place below 10k feet - that seems to be a dividing line where going higher creates problems for people. I have heard that as many as half the people coming in from low elevations and sleeping higher than 10k will get altitude sickness for the first few days. Sucks if it's you, sucks even more if it's your kid. Our house is at 9,500 and we rarely have problems with out of town guests.

 

[SoCalRunner]

No cheap rooms in Breckenridge

Good choice! Feel free to PM me with any questions. I would highly recommend that you pick a place below 10k feet - that seems to be a dividing line where going higher creates problems for people. I have heard that as many as half the people coming in from low elevations and sleeping higher than 10k will get altitude sickness for the first few days. Sucks if it's you, sucks even more if it's your kid. Our house is at 9,500 and we rarely have problems with out of town guests.

I couldn't find anything in my budget in Breckenridge but i found a nice place in Nathrop called Mount Princeton hot springs resort. Its between Poncha Springs and Buena Vista. I appreciate the offer and i will definitely PM you (tuba) with questions

BTW - the cabin i initially wanted was called "Buckeye Cabins" just north of Leadville. There are 4 cabins in the group and they are amazing.

Thanks again.

 

[CXS]

I’ve never stayed at Princeton Hot Springs but have driven by it a lot, it’s great area. We typically camp in the area ourselves. Often referred to as Colorado’s Banana Belt as the weather is usually milder than the surrounding areas.

Depending on your time you might want to stop by nearby Carnage Canyon and watch. Check it out on YouTube.

 

[MasonCO]

i found a nice place in Nathrop called Mount Princeton hot springs resort. Its between Poncha Springs and Buena Vista.

good place - they've done a lot of renovations in the last few years to spruce it up a bit. Make sure you take the drive up to St. Elmo. It's an old mining town a few miles farther up the canyon. Definitely will be a pretty drive and it's a cool town to walk around, not to mention some decent snowshoeing up the Tincup Pass road.

 

[PaulsTrail]

Lost Creek Wilderness

where we could hike and explore, maybe rent a snow mobile, fish, or soak in a hot spring. I would love to take the 4Runner off-road for some scenic views too.

Another idea if you want to avoid ski area town$ would be the South Park area.

In Fairplay, there are a few Airbnb rentals that are fairly reasonable (whole house rental for $150 - $200) and are a lot less than what you would pay at a ski resort. It's only 80 minutes or so from Denver, and is extremely quiet and peaceful.

Fairplay is also close to the Lost Creek Wilderness. The LCW is one of our favorite places for winter hiking and climbing. It tends to get much less snow than the other mountain ranges, and there are several summits in the low to mid 12,000 foot range that often are accessible in the winter. Many nice lower summits too. If you're interested in hiking to summits, check out this book Colorado's Lost Creek Wilderness: Classic Summit Hikes. Over the years, my wife :hippie: and I have hiked to the summit of all of the peaks described in this book (other than one technical summit), and nearly all of them in the winter. Also check out this web page on Summitpost.org and the links under "Mountains and Rocks" on the left side of the page.

A few words of caution, however. While it's close to Denver, parts of it are very remote, and there's a good chance that you won't see anybody else when you're there. You don't want to get stuck, or have car problems. I got stuck once about 12 miles in on Lost Park Road, and it took me most of the day to dig out. Nobody came by the entire time. My wife still reminds me of that day whenever we go off-highway in the winter, even though it was over 10 years ago. Also, most of the area doesn't have cell reception. Finally, many of the hikes described in the book involve a substantial amount of off-trail bushwhacking, and route finding can be tough. We always carry detailed topo maps, compass, GPS, and (in recent years) a satellite locator beacon. Survival gear too. But the book describes several easy trail hikes as well.

There aren't a lot of good places to eat in Fairplay either; at least not that we've found. Fairplay can be really cold too, although once you get out of the valley and into the surrounding hills, it usually gets substantially warmer (or at least, less cold).

 

[PaulsTrail]

A few pictures from some of our favorite Lost Creek Wilderness winter hikes:

View from 12,429 ft. Peak X


Approaching Peak X (from Peak X/Peak Y saddle)


Rocks near the summit of 12,431 ft. Bison Peak


View of Bison Peak from neighboring 12,168 ft. McCurdy Mtn.


10,073 ft. Observatory Rock


Nearing summit of Observatory Rock

 

[MasonCO]

A few pictures from some of our favorite Lost Creek Wilderness winter hikes:

As the crow flies, our 'weekend place' is literally 10 miles the Lost Creek Road. I keep telling myself that I should get in shape and hike up to Bison Peak one of these days ;-)