2011 Keystone Ski Trip

This was an "all family" trip to Keystone, CO and we invited Celeste's nephew Steven to come along. This was a year after Jeremy had made the switch to snowboard, and Steven had been snowboarding for a while in New England - so our assumption was that we could all have a great time.

My oldest son William flew in a couple of days later, and we were happy to have him join us, because he always "livens up" our get togethers!

If you have never been to Colorado and you are planning a trip there, or you just want to know more about it, here are some good sources of information;

This is the top of the first Keystone hill (Dercum Mountain), by the picture taking crew that is always wandering around taking pictures of everyone. It turned out so well, that we kept it! Right behind us is the start of the Mozart Trail, one of the better slopes on Dercum Mountain.

With a group of five, we needed a large condo, so we splurged and got a really nice one in the Silverthorne area. The area is just north of I-70, up above town, so getting back & forth from there to the ski area was simple.

Queueing up to purchase Breckenridge Coaster tickets - this was part of a side-trip we made to Breckenridge to have some fun and enjoy ourselves in a slightly different way.

This is a fun way to enjoy the snow without strapping on your boots!

Keystone Resort is comprised of 3 mountains, Dercum is the first, North Peak is the second, and the Outback is the third. Posted information is everywhere, and is always kept up to date.

This is obviously Chelsea & Jeremy doubting my map-reading experience! I am trying to convince them to take the trail to the left.

Back to the top, and you can see what a beautiful day it was! Snow was perfect!

It was such a beautiful day, that we wound up taking a lot of pictures. As you can see in the background, visibility was perfect!

There are a number of lifts from the base area of Keystone, including a cable car. This is a much warmer way to get to the top!

This is one of the runs leading down from Dercum Mountain/Summit House, to Keystone Village. This is the River Run trail, which is fed by various higher trails such as Santa Fe and Spring Dipper. Good downhill slope and then you are back at the Gondola.

The Keystone Trail Map shows you how the trails are laid out across three different mountains, with varied terrain and various trail types for all levels of skills.

The Silverthorne condo had plenty of room, including a nice fireplace. We always found good ways to entertain ourselves when we weren't on the slopes. Looks like William was using the fireplace warmth to thaw out !

Here is Jeremy trying to decide whether to have one snack or another. Needless to say, when you are on the slopes all day, and it is cold, you are burning a lot of calories!

We took one day off and drove up to Leadville, the highest in elevation incorporated city in the USA.

No trip to Silverthorne, CO would have been complete without a side-trip to Breckenridge ! Which is one of the neatest little towns in Summit County, CO.

Headed up the hill on the Breckenridge Cable Car. You can see the city in the background, that is the eastern side of the city.

Nothing like a morning of snowboarding to make everyone hungry!

A video of the Breckenridge Gold Runner Alpine Rollercoaster.

All of us headed up the hill in the Breckenridge Gondola.

Back to the real world! Drive east on I-70 back to the Denver Airport, shuffle through the TSA lines, get on plane, and fly back to Florida.

Summary

• Even though the common view of Keystone is different, the lift-served portion of the resort is filled with green and blue runs and you’d never know that 49% of the 3,148 skiable acres are rated as most difficult.
• Keystone’s Ski & Ride School for ages three and up has some of the best infrastructure to teach kids to ski and snowboard. It provides best-in-class magic carpet and beginner lift options to match skill progression at the Mountain House Base Area.
• All of this goodness and all kids under 12 ski free at Keystone Resort every day of the season, including weekends and holidays!
• It is two hours away from Denver, which is both not so good and good at the same time. Not so good in that weekend lift lines are thick. Good in that you do not have to drive for hours to arrive here.

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, that I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. So we would appreciate any click throughs, if you are inclined.

Ski Resort Statistics:

Vertical Descent:

3,128 ft / 953m

Base elevation:

9,280 ft / 2,829m

Summit elevation:

12,408 ft / 3,782m

Number of Lifts:

20

AVG Annual Snowfall:

235 in / 597 cm

Number of Trails:

128

Longest Run:

3.5 Miles/Schoolmarm

Skiable Area:

3,148 acres / 1249 ha

Snowmaking:

662 acres / 268 ha

Easiest Trails:

12%

More Difficult Trails:

39%

Most Difficult Trails:

49%