Posts Tagged With: Ski Lodging

Lodging Review: Passage Point Condo #427, Copper Mountain, Colorado

Posted on March 17, 2025 by 2btravel

My final ski trip of the season was to Copper Mountain, Colorado. It was my first visit back to the resort since 2020, just before the pandemic. As was the case five years ago, when my ski club booked group lodging we were only allowed to book gold-, silver- or bronze-level lodging. Gold units are those closest to the slope. Our club chooses to book silver-level lodging. The last time we were at this resort all our units were in the Village Square condos or in Mountain Plaza. This time around most of our units were again in these two condo complexes, but we also had one unit in Silver Lake and our unit in Passage Point.

Passage Point Condos street view

Shortly before the trip we were told which buildings our condos would be in, but not which units. When I checked the Center Village map I was at first a little disappointed we were “so far” away from everyone else. (Note that nothing is really that far away from anything in Center Village. It only feels like a long way if you’re walking in ski boots!) But it wasn’t too long before I decided we had the better end of the deal. Continue reading →

Categories: Colorado, Condos, Copper Mountain, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Huntley Lodge, Big Sky, Montana (2025)

Posted on January 30, 2025 by 2btravel

My last visit to Big Sky was in 2019, just a year before the world changed. While our most recent previous stays had been at The Summit condos, our 2019 stay and our stay this year was at the Huntley Lodge, a hotel. This building was the original lodging at the resort and is located right at the base. Our club has been trying to get back to Big Sky ever since our last visit, but employee housing has become such a difficult thing that one entire wing of the hotel has been given over to housing the workers. That’s made getting reservations quite difficult. However, this year our club attended as part of a larger group from our ski council and with roughly 175 guests we were finally able to secure rooms.

The lodge underwent renovations in 2021, so I was excited to see the upgrades since our last visit. The lobby is mostly the same and the common areas got some new carpet and wallpaper but I’ll concentrate this review on the hotel room itself.

Guest Room

The wing that is open for guests has a fairly long hallway with a dogleg about halfway down. Our room was right in the “outside” part of the dogleg. That meant the room’s layout was different from a standard rectangle hotel room and also gave us a bit more floor space, which was nice.

The bathroom was immediately on the left when entering the room. The bathroom in this configuration is not as large as the one we had in the more standard rooms but it was fine. The sink was on the right side and positioned slightly to the right, so you didn’t have to worry about squeezing between the counter and the toilet. There were two sets of ceiling lights: one over the mirror and one for the room in general, including over the shower stall. In addition, there was a button in the lower middle portion of the mirror that backlit it, though we didn’t use that at all. Though you can’t see it in the photo below, there was a make-up mirror on a wall-mounted arm that could swing out from the wall and tilt as needed. It had its own light, which was quite helpful.

Huntley Lodge Bathroom

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Categories: Hotel, Lodging Review, Montana, North America, Other Hotels, United States | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge, Colorado

Posted on April 3, 2024 by 2btravel

For my final ski trip of the ski season my club chose to stay at the enormous Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, Colorado. The resort has a great location, right beside the Beaver Run chair and is marketed as ski-in/ski-out though that’s technically only true if you’re staying in one of the four buildings.

Beaver Run Resort (photo credit: Breckenridge Real Estate)

Location

The resort is located on Village Road which is a fairly active side road in the town. The free public buses do travel this road and there’s a major bus stop right across the road from the resort’s residence buildings, next to the Beaver Run lift. While you can walk into town (it’s about a half-mile) if the weather’s not great you can easily catch a bus at this spot or schedule the resort’s own bus and have them take you wherever you like in town for free.

Layout

The resort is comprised of four buildings with residences that are all connected via covered walkways and/or tunnels and what is called simply the Main Building that has the resort’s front desk, the conference rooms and the bars, shops and restaurants.

As you can see in the photo below, Building 4 is on the far left. It has its own heated pool and large hot tub. The red dotted line just below it represents the Beaver Run lift. This is the only building that is truly ski-in/ski-out as you can ski down to the left of the lift and take a side entrance into Building 4. While that’s certainly convenient, if you’re in Building 4 it’s quite a walk to be able to get to any of the other buildings and to the conference building without going outside. You can see the covered, elevated walkway that goes from Building 4 to Building 3 in the photo (it goes right through the word “Village”).

Layout of Beaver Run Resort (Google Maps)

Building 3 has residences and on the very bottom floor has the entrance to the indoor/outdoor pool as well as the small gym and The Spa at Beaver Run. The floors above all contain residences. This is also where you can access the many smaller hot tubs out on the deck. There is a common lobby, called The North Lobby, that connects Buildings 3 & 2 and from there you take a covered walkway over to the conference building. In this covered walkway you’ll find The Hub, the Deli/Market, a small bar and the steps down the ski lockers for Buildings 1-3. From there it’s a short walk across a plaza to the slopes.

Building 1 is located on the right of Building 2. As I did not go over there I’m not sure what kind of lobby or connector there is.

The resort provided this video which can help groups orient themselves to the layout. I found it extremely helpful. Continue reading →

Categories: Breckenridge, Colorado, Condos, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Emmons Condo #428 – Crested Butte, Colorado

Posted on March 14, 2024 by 2btravel

This was the third year in a row that I’ve been to Crested Butte and was joined by my Denver-based cousin and her family. Our first year we were at the San Moritz condos where the slopes were accessible at the end of the parking lot. In 2023 we stayed slopeside at the Gateway Condos which I did not get to review due to a late arrival. This year we stayed in the Emmons Building which is right at the base and has the best location of the three places we’ve stayed. The downside is that there’s no elevator and our unit was on the fourth floor up from the parking lot. However, that’s not quite as bad as it sounds as when coming from/going to the slopes the unit is only two floors up. Still it made it quite tough unloading the car – even for my relatives who are accustomed to living at altitude! But we were aware of this when we made our reservations and decided that the convenience of being right at the base was worth it.

Emmons Building Exterior and Parking Lot; Hot Tub is just above the building name

Location and Check-in

The Emmons Building is located on Gothic Road just past the pedestrian bridge and next to the Lodge at Mountaineer Square. In fact, despite what our paperwork told us, check-in was actually in Mountaineer Square which is where Vail Resorts lodging is headquartered. Previously check-in had been in The Plaza and that’s what my paperwork indicated when we made our reservations in August. But when we arrived at The Plaza, there was a sign on the desk pointing us to Mountaineer Square.

I was helped right away at the front desk and after seeing Lodge guests being handed key cards I was a bit surprised to be handed actual old-school keys for our unit. It turns out that Unit 428 is the only unit in the Emmons Building that is managed by Vail Resorts and those keys would be a source of frustration later on. But I was able to get keys for the three adults with no issues.

From the resort side, the Emmons Building is right behind the Treasury Center, and that building is positioned behind the Red Lady Express Lift so it’s really hard to beat the location. Guests who booked through Vail Resorts in the Lodge at Mountaineer Square and this one condo in the Emmons Building have access to the free ski check located on the uphill side of the Treasury Center. It was nice not having to drag our skis up and down the stairs each day! While there is a ski closet on the ground floor of the Emmons Building, we were never given any info on how to access it so I assume it’s for folks who make their reservations via other means.  Continue reading →

Categories: Colorado, Condos, Crested Butte, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Snow Flower Condos Unit 43, Park City, Utah

Posted on January 22, 2024 by 2btravel

Our ski club stayed here for a week in early January. The property is older but the location is fantastic.

The property is comprised of four buildings along Silver King Drive with Building 1 being the one closest to the intersection of Three Kings Road and Building 4 being furthest up the hill. Each building has an underground garage and one parking space allocated to each unit.

Our motorcoach brought us to the Building 1 garage entrance and, since we’d paid for porterage, the staff met us there and collected all our luggage. So it was left to us to find our rooms and our bags were delivered shortly thereafter. If you are being dropped off by a shuttle or otherwise not being taken directly to your building, it’s definitely worth paying for porterage if you’re lugging giant ski bags and groceries.

The office is located at the top of the steps of Building 1 and our trip leaders commented that the staff there was extremely easy to work with.

The property isn’t especially memorable from the street level but as you can see from the two photos below, it is right at the base beside the First Time and Eagle lifts. The pool and hot tub shown below are between Buildings 1 and 2. There is another, smaller pool/hot tub attached to Building 4 but easily accessible from Building 3. All of the buildings have exterior access in the middle of the building. On the street side there’s a front door or you can walk out through the garage. Slopeside access is achieved via the ski locker room. All non-public doors, including individual units, are accessed via a key code so there’s no issue about losing your key, only your brain forgetting the code!

Snow Flower Condos, Park City – Photo from Trip Advisor
Snow Flower Condos, Park City – Photo from Trip Advisor

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Categories: Condos, Lodging Review, North America, Park City, United States, Utah | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lodging Review: Juniper Springs Resort, Mammoth, California

Posted on February 13, 2023 by 2btravel

For my second ski trip of the 2022-23 season I made my first visit to Mammoth, California. I had never been to Mammoth and was quite looking forward to it. Unfortunately I wrenched my knee in October and was still not able to ski by the time this trip rolled around so I’ll definitely need another visit.

During the time of my visit Mammoth had received more snow than any resort in the world this season, over 500 inches of snow to that point. So I couldn’t tell much from the outside as we approached the building as so much of my view was blocked by the piled-up snow!

Juniper Springs Resort

As there were three groups arriving that same day, the weekend manager was handling our check-in within one of the conference rooms. Unfortunately my room was not ready. The manager considered swapping us to a different room but when she learned there were three of us in the unit who would not be skiing, she said we’d be better off in the room we’d been assigned as it had a good view we could enjoy. That turned out to be a more important statement than I realized at the time.  I was happy to learn we could have housekeeping every day.  That was rare even pre-pandemic and is practically unheard of these days. Continue reading →

Categories: California, Condos, Lodging Review, Mammoth, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: King Accessible Tub Studio Suite, Homewood Suites, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Posted on March 17, 2022 by 2btravel

Homewood Suites Steamboat Springs

Since I stayed at this property just two years ago, this review will be brief. I’ll only highlight the differences in the room. During my previous stay I was in a King Bed One Bedroom Suite but on this trip I had stayed in a King Accessible Tub Studio Suite, normally meant for those who need accessible amenities. Since I’d already reviewed this property, I’d planned to stay at the Hampton Inn in downtown Steamboat. But on Thanksgiving weekend I received an email stating that the hotel would be closing permanently as of December 1 (I think that was the date). As the email did not come from someone with a hilton.com or hamptoninn.com email address I was a bit skeptical but decided I should go ahead and move my reservation since there are very few properties in Steamboat that are available on points or by using a free night certificate (which I did). Thank goodness I swapped reservations quickly as I got one of the last available rooms and that’s why I ended up with an accessible room. I later learned the Hampton and a Fairfield Inn were being converted to employee housing.

The room was at the end of the hall. The door opened directly into the kitchen. The kitchen counter and appliances were all on the right and a door connected to the adjacent room was on the left.

Homewood Suites Steamboat Accessible Suite Entry

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Categories: Colorado, Hilton, Homewood Suites, Hotel, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Homewood Suites Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Posted on April 6, 2020 by 2btravel

Update March 2022: Since this visit I have also stayed in a King Accessible Suite.  You can read that review here.

For my second ski trip this year I visited Steamboat Springs, Colorado. My group was arriving on Saturday and since I was the assistant trip leader I wanted to be sure I arrived before or at least with the group. To be certain of this I flew out Friday night and spent one at the Homewood Suites Steamboat Springs.

Homewood Suites Steamboat Springs

I arrived on a group shuttle from the airport sometime after 10 PM so things were fairly quiet at that point. (Side note: due to the hotel’s location, it’s very possible you’ll be the last stop on a shared shuttle ride.) I was assisted promptly, my Diamond status was recognized, and I was directed to a room on the third floor. The hotel has two elevators, one on each side of the lobby and I was helpfully shown the one that would be closest to my room. The hotel is laid out in a gentle V shape with the lobby, bar and breakfast area in the center. A free parking area is in the back of the hotel. There’s a small market with snacks available next to the front desk.

Lobby area

The hotel is relatively new; this is only its second ski season. As such almost everything is still in very good shape and the decor looks modern. My room was only a short walk from the elevator.

Guest Floor Hallway

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Categories: Colorado, Hilton, Homewood Suites, Hotel, Lodging Review, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lodging Review: The Huntley Lodge, Big Sky, Montana

Posted on January 31, 2019 by 2btravel

I was back in Big Sky, Montana recently. It’s one of my favorite resorts because I love the slopes and (shh!) there are never any liftlines. They’re in the midst of a multi-year, multi-million dollar project performing upgrades all over the mountain. This year saw the addition of North America’s first 8-seat chairlift (complete with a bubble and heated seats!) and in coming years the ancient beginner lift will be replaced with a gondola that will service both beginner slopes as well as bowl skiing for advanced skiers.

In the recent past our ski club has stayed at The Summit, which is a high-rise condo right at the base of the slopes. But two years ago the property began the process of upgrading from a 4-star property to a 5-star. Though it’s only a 4.5-star at the moment, that was enough to push the pricing out of our club’s budget. I really hate that because it’s so convenient and has the best hot tub on the mountain.

So this year our club stayed at the original base lodging facility, The Huntley Lodge. Named after resort co-founder Chet Huntley (he of NBC News fame from the 1960s & 1970s; look it up, kids) it’s a 3-story hotel with half the rooms facing the slopes. Rooms in one wing are mere steps from the beginner Explorer lift while rooms in the other have the mountain village right outside the door at the end of the hall. For convenience, it’s really hard to beat.

While I have stayed here before, it had been at least 20 years so I was curious to see what had changed. The answer: not a whole lot, which is actually a good thing for the most part.

The lobby is not huge but has a fair amount of seating and, like all the common areas, has a mountain theme to the decor. I especially liked the old skiing items mounted up high.

Skiing artifacts decorating the vaulted ceiling

The dominating feature is The Bear. If you ever need a meeting point, it’s a great landmark.

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Categories: Hotel, Lodging Review, Montana, North America, United States | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Lodging Review: Westin Snowmass (and part 1 of the luggage saga)

Posted on March 5, 2018 by 2btravel

You know that saying “Man Plans, God Laughs”? Yeah, that kinda described the first couple of days of my recent ski trip, the first night of which was at the Westin Snowmass.

I had a Saturday-Saturday ski trip planned with my ski club at Snowmass, one of the four Aspen-area resorts that can all be skied using a single lift ticket. It was time to replace my skis so I wanted to demo a few different pair while finding the ones that worked best for me. As I planned this trip I decided I didn’t want to miss a day skiing with my friends, so I’d go a day early and demo several pair before they arrived.

So it was on a Friday in February I left Memphis, enjoyed my leisurely 3-hour connection in Houston and landed on-time at the Vail/Eagle County Airport (EGE). [I had decided against flying in to the more convenient Aspen Airport (ASE) based on my experience last year.] And I had no bags. Neither one of them. The helpful baggage agent found that the bags had made it to Houston and were in the process of being rerouted (and I could see the same info on the app). Since mine was the only Houston-Vail flight of the day, we both assumed they were going to Denver, which had a couple more flights into Vail later that day. She said they’d deliver them to me that evening. So I hopped in my rental car and headed to Snowmass.

As a side note, I had planned to use the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle to/from the airport but my flight out of EGE was around 7:30 AM and CME didn’t have a shuttle leaving the Aspen area that early. An Uber or taxi would have been around $200 so when I found a rental car for $280 that price was as cheap or only a little more expensive than the CME shuttle + Uber combined and I’d have the Independence of having a car if I needed it so it seemed the better option.

It was sunny on my drive to Aspen and it was late afternoon by the time I arrived at the Westin Snowmass. The valet greeted me promptly and I decided to just let him handle the car since I’d only be there one night. Of course since I had no luggage, all he had to deal with was the car.

Westin Snowmass Main Entrance (on the day I checked out)

The front desk is just inside the door and to the right. The lobby is fairly large as there’s a lounging area with après-ski hot beverages available to guests and the bar is off to the right beyond the front desk.

Westin Snowmass Front Desk

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The associate who checked me in was efficient and friendly. She recognized my SPG Gold status and asked if I’d prefer 500 points or a coupon for an adult beverage. Naturally, I took the points. I said I only needed one key but she said she’d give me two as the room had a slot where the card needed to be entered for the power to work. I appreciated that since it meant I wouldn’t have to use a card of my own for that purpose. I was given the keys to room 598 and pointed to the elevator which were not far away.

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Categories: Colorado, Hotel, Lodging Review, North America, Starwood, United States | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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