Denver Area

Denver

Denver is essentially my second home next to Seattle. The city is amazing with great views and great outdoors. Just remember you are at altitude when out at the bars. The Denver area is known for always the quick change in weather. It can be 70 degrees, then the next day 10 inches of snow, then next day back to 70 degrees. Even with the crazy weather swings it's usually always beautiful weather. Well maybe besides those -20 days during the winter, but hey, need a little change every once in a while right?

The Denver area in general is interesting. To the east, nothing but flat land for hundreds of miles. To the west, the rocky mountains come out of that flat land with purpose. You can understand why the settlers back in the day were like, we'll just stop here and form Denver. But that leads to some great outdoor opportunities with an amazing city to boot. Denver is essentially the key to all the amazing parks starting west of that longitude. Hence the population explosion in the past 20 years.

Idaho Springs

Do I dare say it? I shouldn't, I couldn't, but what hell would you all know what I'm talking about if I don't. Here it goes "I-70". Cartoonish car tire braking sounds. The unfortunate part of living in such a cool and beautiful state is that people like it. If you don't have the luxury to avoid I-70 or be able to drive on it during off times, it's a small price to pay for the big key that unlocks the incredible beauty that Colorado has to offer. This area is just the beginning of the beauty.

Being in the foothills of the Rockies there are a ton of outdoor activities that are good for most of the year. This area will get snow but for the most part it's too low to do much winter sports. There is the glacier near Idaho springs you can get too. But for a quick trot from Denver you can get to some great outdoor activities that range from hiking, biking, climbing, rafting, and good ole mountain town exploring.

Loveland pass / Tunnel

This is where the winter sports and serious mountaineering starts. The tunnel goes underneath the continental divide. You have the resorts Arapahoe Basin, Winter park, and Loveland. Weather can be unpredictable up there. On one side of the tunnel it can snow like no tomorrow and the other side is sunny. One thing everyone wonders before traveling into the mountains is what the tunnel and Loveland pass like? There is incredible terrain and views all along that area. A little too rugged for snowmobiling/motorsports (that I know of) but amazing for all other high alpine sports.

Silverthorne / Breckenridge

Coming out of the Eisenhower tunnel going west, feels like you just transported into the wild wild west. Since most storms generally move west to east, they drop most of their moisture on the west side of the continental divide. That causes a much larger snowpack west of there. The Frisco/Silverthorne area contains mountain resorts Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper which are all world class, large resorts with both winter and summertime activities. There is also lake Dillon that has amazing recreational opportunities too. Outdoor activities of all kinds everywhere you look, from posh family to nature dirt bags (used in the loving sense of course). Granted I'm sure the vagabonds would prefer to stay aways from this area but nonetheless it's got what they love too.

Vail / Eagle valley

Make it this far from Denver and you are out of the worst parts of I-70. The whole area around Eagle county and Vail has so much to offer. From 14'ers, the snowmobile park at the top of Vail pass, incredible resorts like Vail and Beavercreek, the Colorado River, dog sledding. Pick your poison.

You have all that Vail and Beaver has to offer. Some amazing fly fishing, and recreation on the Colorado River. Incredible wide open spaces for those gear heads and hikes.

Now Vail, besides the obvious high brow things we can all make fun of it for, is one of my favorite resorts. I have the fortunate situation of having a family member who lives there so I can always hit it on the powder days and avoid the crowds. When the weather is good during the winter time, it is so good. Those back bowls are so unique and amazing on powder days.

Weather