If you've not visited our condo, or gone on a ski or snowboard trip, here are some pointers from our experience.
At the Condo: The Condo has bedding, pillows, towels, washcloths, soap, shampoo and hair dryers. It also has a full set of pots, pans, glasses, plates, silverware, and even a crockpot. If you want to cook for yourself but you don’t want to haul food with you, there is a Safeway in Fraser (about three miles up the road), it’s an easy drive. Prices are higher than in your local store (unless you also live in a mountain town somewhere!) but not outrageously so. There is also another grocery store called City Market just before Granby, about 15 miles away. If you are planning to go to the Safeway, do yourself a favor and sign up for their club card. This doesn’t cost anything and gives some pretty good discounts. You can sign up at the store or at Safeway's website.Once you have a card, you can link it with your phone number, then you only need to use your phone number at checkout to get the savings.
Ski/Snowboard Rental. You can rent skis and snowboards at the resort (which I believe also allows you to leave them there without needing to rent a locker). We’ve never rented equipment from the resort, but we have had friends who have done so with no complaint. There are other several places in Winter Park and Fraser which rent equipment at a lower price. When we do need to rent equipment, we go to Epic Mountain Sports (it’s also where we purchased our skis, we got our boots from Local Experience). We’ve also rented fromChristy’s Sports. Both are in downtown Winter Park, with Christy’s at the bottom of the Cooper Creek shopping building, and Epic across the street. The Yellow bus line that goes from Beaver Village to the resort stops at Cooper Creek, so it’s fairly easy to get off the bus there on your last day of skiing to return equipment. There are other rental places as well, but we haven’t used them.
Transportation: The Winter Park busses are called the “Lift”, there are several lines that run throughout the area. The Yellow bus will pick you up in front of Building 16, from Unit 1612, it’s out the front door, straight up the steps to the bus stop. The bus drops off at the resort, if you want to save some walking, jump on the Willie Cab (look for a moose sign at the end of the bus drop off area). The Willie Cab will drop you off at the south end of the Balcony House, which is where the ticket windows are located. If you look at the map, the bus drop off is about a quarter mile from the West Portal.
When at the resort, look for the Yellow line bus to get to Beaver Village (the bus will have a sign in the front window that says “Yellow”) and there is a specific spot in the bus drop off/pick up area for the Yellow line. During holiday periods and weekends, the Yellow Bus get to Beaver Village five minutes before the hour and half hour; during other times it runs once an hour, getting to Beaver Village about five minutes before the top of each hour. Winter Park's website has the detailed schedule for the Yellow Bus; you can also download the Ridehop App, which will give you real time locations for the busses. On weekends and holidays Beaver Village will also run a separate bus every half hour (leaving the Condo at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour) which actually drops off closer to the Balcony House. Be sure to check on the current bus schedule for both the at the Beaver Village clubhouse.
Here’s a map of the resort showing where the busses drop off and pick up, and where the West Portal and Balcony House are located. If you are buying lift tickets at the window, the ticket windows are on the bottom level of the Balcony House.
For travel to other places, Beaver Village can arrange transportation for you. Just contact the office at the clubhouse.
At the Resort. When we get to the resort, we usually get a locker in the West Portal (the next building north of the Balcony House). West Portal and the lower level of the Balcony house have automated lockers that use a code, meaning your entire party has access to the locker and no one needs to carry a key. These lockers will also accept rentals for multiple days, so you can keep them overnight.
We all ski, and walking any kind of distance in ski boots is a pain (and also bad for the boot). I can’t speak for snowboard boots. When we head to the slopes, we wear our street shoes to the locker room (much easier walking!), then put on our boots and put our shoes (and lunch) in the locker. We will then leave the boots in the locker overnight, so that we don’t have to carry boots, skis and poles back and forth from the condo. Recently we started renting tall lockers in the West Portal. These will hold up to four sets of skis and boots, although you have to be an expert at puzzles to actually fit four (but we have done it!). These get rented out early, but you can reserve them by calling 970 726 5514 x1784. It’s honestly not that bad to carry skis and poles back and forth from the slopes to the condo, and we did put a ski rack in the condo that can hold five pairs of skis, but hey, we’re lazy!
We do bring a lunch skiing; but there are plenty of good eating places at the bottom and on various ski runs. It’s also pretty easy to get in and out at lunch time as well. For more information on lockers, see the Winter Park Resort website.
Lessons. If you’ve never been skiing or snowboarding, I’d highly recommend taking lessons (we did!). You can get these at the Resort. If you’ve skiied but it’s been a while, there are some great video lesson at https://www.youtube.com/user/elatemedia. I wouldn’t rely on these for a complete novice, but for someone with some experience they provide some useful information.
What to wear while on the mountain
Dress in layers for the most comfort. Here’s what we have on to go out to the mountain:
· Base Layer – thin pants and tops
· Middle layer – Typically a long sleeve shirt. Thickness depends on how cold it is; could be a lightweight T Shirt or a heavy weight thermal shirt.
· Ski Jacket
· Ski Pants
· Ski Socks
· Baclava (hat/scarf)
· Helmet
· Goggles
· Gloves
· Water Bottle
Note that Jackets, Pants, Helmets and Goggles can be rented at some places along with your skis and boots, although most places rent the clothing items on a first come, first served basis. Rental cost for an outfit runs around $30/day at our preferred rental place, Epic Mountain Sports.
Base Layer - A thin layer of clothing on the very inside – long underwear, turtlenecks. This layer should be made of a material that will wick moisture away from your skin to keep you comfortable at any temperature. We have several Thermasilk pants and tops which we really like; there are several other brands available.
Top:
Ski Socks – Contrary to what you might think, thinner is better when it comes to ski socks. The boot itself provides plenty of warmth, and thicker socks can lead to blisters. Here are some that we’ve used
You can always get a great pair of ski socks at Local Experience in Winter Park. Get a pair with individual toe slots, and say hi to Eric and Lara for us!
Ski Pants – Obviously these need to be waterproof. Look for comfort, well placed pockets are also very nice! All pockets should have a zipper. I have a pair of Spyder ski pants that I really like. Tip for new skiiers – on ski pants, there is a water proof liner inside the bottom of the legs with elastic at the very end. This liner is meant to be pulled down over the outside of your boots, as it will help keep snow out. When we first went out, some of us had this inside the boot. You want nothing between your boot and socks; otherwise it can make for painful shins and calves.
Ski Jacket – Same criteria as the Ski Pants, except that you should look for a removeable liner. We have a number of Columbia jackets. The Pockets are large enough that I can carry my water bottle in them
Baclava – We wear these to keep face and neck warm. Look for one that can be used to leave only your eyes exposed, or can be pulled down under your chin. Also, look for one intended to fit under a helmet (and you will want a helmet!). We used to all us the Seirus Thick-N-Thin Headliner, but now several of us have converted to the N-Ferno 6823, which we like better.
Ski Helmet - As mentioned above, you will want a helmet for your safety; it also keeps your head quite warm! You can rent helmets at all the ski rental places for somewhere around $7/day. Depending on how long or how often you plan to ski, you can buy a good helmet for 8 to 10 days of rental costs. One warning, helmets are bulky and difficult to pack (for some reason they don’t compress very well). If you want to get a helmet, Smith is always a good option.
Goggles - Goggles are another item you will want. Again, you can rent these for somewhere around $5/day. You can get a decent pair of goggles for $30-$40.
You can also spend a whole lot more and get goggles with all kinds of interchangeable lens options for bright days, cloudy days, etc. The goggles above work fine for the slopes, but if you ski a lot, it's nice to have options.
Gloves – You can spend a little or a lot on gloves. Usually your ski jacket cuff covers the wrist, so gloves only need to have a similar cuff to tuck inside the jacket. You can get gloves in all kinds of materials, and some even have options for liners. We have opted to forego all the modern materials and use Kinco insulated leather gloves for skiing. These gloves will keep your hands plenty warm, and they have the advantage of being extremely durable.
Water Bottle - It is always good to have water with you on the slopes, staying hydrated is very important in the dry mountain air. We have insulated Camelbak stainless steel water bottles; these fit in the front pockets of our jackets (the one the hands go in). They really hold temperature well. We’ve used other water bottles in the past, including simple plastic bottles bought at the gas station. Without the insulation we’ve had times where we had a bottle of ice instead of water! Doesn’t happen with these bottles.
Here’s one at Amazon; we got all of ours from Local Experience .
If you have questions about this list, or the condo, or about life in general (seek immediate help if that's the case!), contact us at kyla@winterparkcondo.com.
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