Loveland Ski Area — Attraction in Silverthorne

I skied Loveland last weekend and had a blast, good level of greens for beginners and Blues/blacks for intermediate/advanced. I just want to note I’m a lifelong skier whose skied in numerous places (CO, NE USA, NZ, Canada, CA) so I feel like I know what I’m talking about

I skied here on a Friday and then Keystone on Saturday and can honestly say my experience at Loveland for the money was way better than keystone. If you’re a family I recommend Loveland over keystone to be honest. While Loveland is smaller there’s enough to ski for 1-2 day ski trip. The trails were well marked and groomed. It wasn’t as crowded and the price was WAY BETTER.

Spent 129 total for ski rental (I have boots) and lift pass (94$). For that price Loveland IS WORTH IT, if it goes higher idk to be honest but as of 2022 for the price the value is amazing.

PROS: EXCELLENT beginner ski price where you get a valley pass, lessons and skis for 150$. Great price for beginners

GREAT PRICE: this is one of the few independent non Vail/ikon resorts and it’s 94$ to get a pass day of on a Friday and rentals are reasonable. It would have been 139$ with rentals but I had boots so I paid 129$ for the day

Surprisingly big mountain, there’s the valley and the basin and you can definitely ski here for a day or 2 before seeing everything.

Crowds-everyone wants to go to big name resorts, so this perfectly capable mountain gets overlooked. This place is great and underrated

Cons: ate on the Valley side of the mountain and the food was cafeteria level garbage but still the garbage at Loveland was cheaper than the garbage at keystone That said Keystone has a lovely village to get non garbage food and Loveland doesn’t so that’s the one way keystone was better.

Difficult greens, while I’m a lifelong skier I took my friends who had one lesson and the green was a struggle for them, mainly easy except for 1 or 2 steep parts, but overall they got down, just was harder than I thought it should be

The park could use more decent jumps, everything led to a grind/wasn’t any big jumps. Also usually park crew will put some jumps in more difficult runs on the side of the trail and I didn’t really find those here

Overall this resort is the best bang for your buck for non season pass holders. The skiing is great, it has beginner friendly pricing (if you can only ride greens do you really need to go to vail?). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND coming here if you’re a family on a budget, new to the mountains or just don’t want to pay an exorbitant price to ski on a...

I used to ski a small hill in Western New York on a weekly basis but I started at 37, so I am happy to be at intermediate/ beginner level. I now live in Dallas, Texas and my crave for skiing is monumental. I figured out not just Denver is my affordable solution but Loveland is also my go to.

Distance - closer to Denver compared to Vail, Breckenridge, etc. 1.5 hours from Aurora for me so 35 mins from Denver? I-70 could be a nightmare after a bad snow storm and the time to get there would double. Fun fact - it's a rare ski resort on top of a tunnel / pass.

Pricing - cheaper day passes (we do $50 for the Valley side and I am happy with the trails over there), for basin access, the day pass could be expensive but there are many pre-season sales. I am not a veteran nor a senior but I think they have great seasonal offers for those people.

Rentals - normally I rent from the city from Christi Sports and bring those equipment to skip the line, but when I skied in early May, they were not open, so, I rented from Loveland. Easy walk-in for $55 (no helmet), and I was a happy skier.

Parking - i never had a problem off peak season, during peak season, i still could park right at the lodge but the shuttle lot is not bad. Love the tailgate parties!

Shuttle - the line could be long and slow at the end of the day if one needs to go from basin back to valley or ski area to parking spots. But convenient and orderly.

Facilities - dining area is busy and it might be hard to grab an indoor table, looks like some larger groups like to hoard the tables. For me personally it never bothers me because I like snow time more than rest time, but if you have younger children, you have to be a bit strategical about it.

Lifts - lines are good, skiers are polite, most lifts are pretty slow. I think it is huge, so many trails... There is a point on top from which you could see other mountains. There is also a trail named Awesome!

Snow condition - of course it is way better than Western New York and there are great powder days. For me it could still be icy on some slopes and/ or I am not super good with bumps. But that means a lot of thrills for advanced skiers.

Bonuses - there is a free train? cog train? shuttle? at the top. There is a cute hilltop cabin with nice seatings, wonderful view, and live music (also at the bottom). It does not have resort-like lodging and shopping mall vibe like Vail but like...

Absolutely amazing skiing for all skill levels. From the first time beginners who have a special dedicated learning area, the intermediate skiers who have an abundance of Groomed and Mogul terrain, and the advanced and expert skiers who have access to some of the greatest black and double black Terrain in the country.

But even better are the prices that you get for such quality that you would never get anywhere except for Colorado. An adult lift ticket is around $150 per day (plus plenty of multi ticket and season pass deals, and a child lift ticket is only $50!!) and the lessons are some of the best priced and frankly some of the best lessons in the state.

While it might lack some of the luxuries such as high-speed ski lifts, large, modern lodges, and hotels on site, and while it might be smaller than the average Colorado ski resort. It's definitely a place where you should go if you are looking for true Colorado skiing without any of the corporate and tourist crap.

Not to mention, it's closer to Denver than all the major ski resorts, with no need to drive through the Eisenhower / Johnson tunnels or over the Loveland Pass.

While there may not be any hotels on site, there are plenty of hotels nearby either in Georgetown, Silver Plume, or Dillon. Most of which are very reasonably priced.

While I haven't tried the food, I hear it is good quality and very reasonably priced.

Rentals are also very reasonably priced at just $55 a day for a beginner package

As for crowd flow, because there are not many tourists staying nearby, it tends to be less busy on weekdays that are not holidays. In fact, the longest Lift line I experienced there was about 2 minutes long.

Summary: Great skiing terrain and culture plus the best bang for your buck in the entire state of Colorado, with only a few minor inconveniences, definitely a place that avid and aspiring skiers...