Getting There (And Getting a Car, Eventually)
After two-plus weeks skiing in Switzerland, we pointed ourselves toward Colorado — Zurich to Chicago on Swiss Airlines, then United into Denver. The routing came courtesy of Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Aeroplan, which is how we booked business class on the transatlantic leg. The Chicago-to-Denver hop, unfortunately, was a different story. Cattle class. Not ideal, but not awful. We landed around 10 pm, knew there was no chance of getting up to the mountains that night, and grabbed an airport hotel with a shuttle. Fine.
The Car Kerfuffle
The next morning, I headed to an off-airport Hertz to pick up an SUV. I do this often when I’m renting for more than a week — airport rental fees can add 40% or more on top of the base rate, sometimes closer to 100% for short rentals. Off-airport, same base rate, no surcharge. The catch is that inventory is thinner.
This is how I ended up spending an hour arguing with a not-very-experienced counter agent who tried to hand me a Nissan with no indication whatsoever that it was four-wheel drive. I’d reserved 4WD. Colorado’s Traction Law means if it’s snowing and you don’t have 4WD or chains, you simply don’t go up. I had neither. His suggestion: “Come back in a week, and we’ll swap it.” I was planning on going up that day. After much back-and-forth with his owner, the solution was a new Ford Bronco — not too big, not too small. They first offered a crew cab pickup. I don’t want my gear sitting open in a truck bed for a month, thank you. The Bronco it was.
The Snow Report (Spoiler: Not Great)
Long-time readers know Colorado is our most frequent ski destination these days. Rather than recap everything we’ve covered before, I’ll link to our prior Colorado posts below.
- The Latest Installment of Our Vail and Beaver Creek Experiences
- A New Start to Our 2025 Ski Season
- This Year’s Peaceful Colorado Adventure
- Vail Never Fails and Food Finds in Frisco
- Hanging Out in Breckenridge and Frisco Colorado in the Winter
For this trip, I will focus on what was different: the weather. When we arrived, it was almost warm. Then a cold front dropped the temperature to -1 with a -13 windchill — we stayed inside that day, not exactly a hard call — then it climbed back to 30s and 40s. This cycle repeated itself for the entire month. My sweet spot for skiing is the 20s: cold enough that snow doesn’t soften during the day, doesn’t freeze to a skating rink overnight, and stays skiable. Instead we got the other thing: ice in the morning, mush in the afternoon.
That said, we did get three or four genuinely good snow days, and we took full advantage. By the time we left at the end of the third week of March it was hitting 50 degrees on the mountain and 70s in Denver. By our last ski day, there was a window of about 90 minutes after the overnight crust softened where conditions were actually enjoyable. Then it turned to mush and we called it. A few days after we left, early resort closures started. By the following week, many had shut down entirely — before April. Dismal.
Stay and Play
Our rotation: first week in Breckenridge, two weeks in Avon near Beaver Creek, final week back in Breckenridge. We like mixing it up, and a lot of it comes down to what timeshare trades are available. Two trades, two rentals this trip. The trades are getting a little harder to score, but we’ll keep working it.
One strong recommendation from this trip: the Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa in Avon. We stayed there for part of our two-week Beaver Creek stretch. The gondola to the mountain is steps from the back door, the ski valet keeps your boots warm overnight, and there’s live music in the lobby almost every evening — free. Nice rooms, easy logistics in and out. We got our unit through RedWeek, which saved us a meaningful amount over rack rate. I’ll link our RedWeek how-to post here for those interested.
Ups and Downs
We met up a couple of times with friends who live in Frisco. One night we all went to Theatre SilCo in Silverthorne and caught Fully Committed — a one-man show where a single actor plays something like 40 characters, all taking place at the reservations desk of a high-end Manhattan restaurant. Absolutely frenetic. Hilarious. Always good to do something other than skiing and eating.
The second week we were supposed to ski with some long-time friends — thirty-plus years of skiing together at this point. About two days in, I got a respiratory illness. Bad. I’d try to get out on the mountain, get wiped out, drag myself back. I didn’t want to get anyone else sick, so we barely skied together at all. I only really saw them for a couple of days. Hopefully next year. That illness then stuck around for six weeks, on and off. Fun stuff.
Dining Do’s
We hit a couple of new spots this time that are worth calling out. Juniper in Edwards, about ten minutes outside of Avon. Contemporary seasonal cuisine along the Eagle River, open since 2002. Genuinely excellent. We’ll be going back.
Threefold Bakery in Breckenridge, from James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Vawter (also behind Rootstalk and Radicato). Long-fermented sourdough, croissants, pastries, and sandwiches — all outstanding. Open daily 7 am–3 pm at 100 N. Main St. Get there early; they sell out. We’re talking lines out the door on a weekend morning. We actually brought a couple of loaves of their sourdough back to Playa.
Wrapping Up
When our Colorado time was done we went back to Denver and spent the night — the nonstop to Cancun leaves early and there’s no way we’re making it coming straight down from the mountains. The flight back was fine. Always a little surreal going through Cancun airport with skis. People look at us like we’ve lost our minds.
All in all, a successful season despite the snow. No permanent injuries — I did pull my hamstring tendon back in Switzerland but skied through it and it resolved. Next year the plan is to hit the Rockies first to get our ski legs in shape, then head to Switzerland to close out the season. Makes more sense to build up on familiar terrain before tackling the Alps.
Where did you play this winter?
