Eldora Mountain Resort: The Best Beginner Skiing in Colorado

If I were recommending a Colorado ski resort to a friend who was a beginner, or going to ski in Colorado with a beginner, I would ignore all the famous world-class ski resorts and go to Eldora Mountain Resort near Boulder. Why Eldora? There is a difference between the best ski resort in Colorado and the best resort for beginning skiers. Beginners just want to have fun. If they don't have fun the first time, they will quit and may never try a second time.

Experienced skiers will drive 10 hours through a howling blizzard to get to their favorite mountain. Beginning skiers need a ski area that is easy to get to, because blizzards aren't fun. Eldora Mountain Resort is about 20 miles from Boulder, Colorado and 50 miles from Denver. There's even direct city bus service from Boulder to Eldora that will drop you at the main lodge. It can't get much easier, and you can look at the scenery instead of the traffic.

Lessons: I strongly recommend that you take at least one lesson to get off to a good start. Eldora has a first-timer package for adults and children that consists of a 4-hour lesson, 1-day equipment rental, and a pass for the beginner lift (Little Hawk). Four hours is long enough for your first time on skis. If your skills are rusty, but you have some skiing experience, try the adult lessons.

Easy runs: There's only 1 run down from the Little Hawk lift, called Ho Hum. With a name like that, it's gotta be easy. If you aren't taking lessons, the lifts named Sundance, E-Z and Caribou will take you to runs named Bunnyfair, Foxtail, Snail, and Easyway. The only run beginners should avoid in this area is Sundance. It is a run that goes straight down under the Sundance lift. I sat in the lodge with friends one afternoon, watching the hapless noobs who accidentally wandered onto Sundance try to make it down the slope. It's possible, but they were struggling.

If you find these trails too easy after a couple of days, the runs marked in blue on your trail map are more difficult than the runs in green. However, a blue run might be a bit more difficult or a lot more difficult. It's hard to look at a trail map and decide what's not going to be too difficult. The solution: ask a ski patroller which blue runs are the easiest and which lift to take. The patrollers ski all of the runs, and give good advice. (To find a ski patroller, look for people wearing red jackets with white or yellow crosses on the back. They are often found lurking near the tops of the lifts.)

Equipment rentals: Lessons include a 1-day rental of the package - the boots, poles, and skis (or boots and snowboard). If you are not taking a lesson, the rates at the mountain are reasonable, but rentals in Denver or Boulder will be 30-50% cheaper. Skisite.com lists all the ski and snowboard shops in Colorado and gives links to their websites. If you want to reserve skis on line, www.rentskis.com or www.skirentals.com have participating shops in the Denver and Boulder area. A few shops rent ski clothing, but it's better to bring your own. Eldora's new skier's page will tell you what you need to bring.

NOTE: Echo Park, which is the closest snow recreation area to Denver, is smaller than Eldora (75 acres versus 680), has one lift compared to Eldora's 12, and their web site gave me the impression that it caters to the 16 to24-year old snowboarders who live in Denver. It's probably a great place, but not for beginning skiers.