Are there any CAN'T miss places to eat in either town we should know about? How about kid-friendly happy hour / après spots?
Idlewild Distillery, in WP town, is can't miss. Spirits are distilled on site, in small batches, by the owner and his staff. The results are truly stellar (and the food is good too).
Goody's Mountain Crepery, in the village, for great kid and adult Friendly breakfast/après in the Village. Top 5 Hot Cocoa in CO in... ski magazine I think it was.
Coffee and Tea at the WP base in Balcony House. Best breakfast sandwich ever - the "Railyard".
I'll second
Randi's for a sports Bar. Great burgers - the meatloaf is my favorite.
Hideaway Park Brewery for top class beer (and fraser Valley Hot Dog is right next door for Epic Eats).
The trip is less than a week away and snow is in the forecast!
Woooooo! I predict good times.
We're landing in DIA shortly after 7am and plan to high-tail it to Winter Park. We need to pick up our Route 40 passes at either the Mary Jane or WP guest services. Where should we plan on parking? We'll be trying to get on the hill as soon as possible so we won't mind paying if it saves us a bunch of time.
I would drop off your gear, one dad, and two kids in the "North Bench" parking lot, and then park in North Bench/Lone Tree/Blue Spruce (the parking lots just down the road from North Bench). That dad and the kids walk to Balcony house to drop gear, get passes, and order breakfast Sandwiches from Coffee & Tea. The other dad meets them at Balcony house, and you then get on the slopes up the Zephyr.
Warm up on March Hare or White Rabbit, and then take the Olympia back up (you can get to either WP or Jane side from the Olympia). If the Snowboarder has trouble with the flat runout to Olympia - you can use that knowledge to avoid cat tracks in the future. (And stay way away from the Pioneer Lift). If the snowboarder can deal with that you'll be fine everywhere.
If you are willing to spend a bunch on Parking - drive like you're going to the Zephyr Mountain lodge (tell the person at the gate that's where you're going) and then park UNDER the hotel. That's the single closest lot to the lifts you can park at (note - this will be expensive, and probably not save *THAT* much time relative to my plan listed above).
If no-one has said so before, go to the Fraser Recreation Center. It has a huge swim area and a great work out facility. They opened a new fancy grocery dine in sort of Whole Foods kind of place in WP town where you could probably pick up some good prepared food.
The Rec center is great - as is "The Foundry" (a bowling alley/movie theater complex nearby).
Have fun! I love Winter Park and especially the trees. Eagle Wind may not be open with the lower than average base, but hopefully the Panorama lift will be and they groom the main run down, so your girls may be able to "cruise" top to bottom that way.
See below re: tree skiing and terrain generally. The bottom of Corona Way is pretty flat - your snowboarder may not love it once you get to the parking area.
Parking at the Winter Park side is pay and a real hassle.
I think WP base is better if you want a place to stow gear, change, boot up, and then have easy access to food/drink post Ski. (après spots JAne side are *much* more limited)
I think MJ base is better if you want to park your car with all your layers on, put on your boots at the car, grab your skis and then skate to the Challenger lift and rip bumps till you drop.
Most parking on the WP side is free, and I find the lots that aren't F&G lot about as close to the lifts as the parking lots on Jane side Cosmo is referencing. Where the Jane side lots Shine is day tripping in and/or tailgating out of your car - and being able to SKI down to the lifts. For a snowboarder it's a pretty long skate...
One final point for a new visitor -
you can ski to the WP base/parking at the end of the day no matter what. If you parked Jane side - you can get trapped on the WP side (And if you miss the last bus between WP and MJ - you're kinda screwed...) That would override just about everything else for me on my first day at WP.
I just texted my nephew, who is teaching in the ski school. He said they had a "soft opening" of Eagle Wind last Friday, but he thinks they closed it again. There's a lot of grunge to be marked. He said it's likely they will re-open it next week, particularly if the coming storm delivers.
Open or Not - steer clear of Eagle wind right now unless you're staying on "Thunderbird" which is an open mogul run (and even there, be prepared for rocks). I would want about another foot or two of snowfall before I hit Eagle Wind without going slow and steady to pick out what's where. For reference, I had six runs of knee to hip deep untracked in Eagle Wind when we dropped the rope last year - I am not
nearly so gung-ho about charging in there first this year.
The Trees in Panoramic are solid right now as are the tres under the High Lonesome lift. The trees between the trails on Jane side and Winter Park side are in varying states of "Fine if you know exactly where to go, but keep speed in check" and "Bad Plan". Go slow and steady the first time through and you'll probably be okay. Always remember - the tracks in front of you only show that they got further, not that they got out!
Make sure you do Dilly Dally Alley at least once! The kids will love it. It's off of "Lonesome Whistle" below the "High Lonesome" Lift.
Shoot me a PM if you'd like to meet up.
