Resort Review: Durango Mountain Resort, CO

zaskoda — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 01:06:57 +0000

In January of 2004, my first snowboarding adventure in Colorado took me to a place most commonly known as Purgatory. The park is now officially known by the more conservative name of Durango Mountain Resort. I prefer Purgatory.The town of Durango rests at 6,580 feet. The base elevation of the mountain is 8,793 and the peak reaches up to 10,822 feet. The 1200 acre park has 85 trails and 11 lifts. The park also boasts some nice terrain parks; however, these were closed during our stay.The resort was far less commercial than most of the resorts I’ve visited. My group of 4 ended up staying in an older slope side unit with two beds, a fireplace, and a kitchenette. Room and lift tickets for three days cost us less than $200 per person. This was, by far, the best deal I’ve found at any snow park. We found the resort itself to be more than adequate. While our unit was slightly older, everything was clean and in good repair. We had access to hot tubs as well as an indoor/outdoor heated pool.

Two feet of fresh powder fell the night before we arrived. As we entered the park, a sign read “4×4 and chains only beyond this point”. I was stoked! Inches of snow continued to fall at periodic times during our stay.

The first big day time snow storm lead me and my girlfriend to another good surprise. Being blinded on the mountain and in need of some good goggles, we headed down to the strip of shops at the base of the mountain. Traditionally, mountainside shops tend to be expensive. For about $20 each, we both walked away with a very comfortable pair of good quality goggles. In general, we found all the shops to be fairly well priced. Even better, we found most of the merchants and employees to be very pleasant.

The resort and shops were fantastic, but you probably want to know about the mountain. In short, it’s fantastic. The mountain was huge with a wide variety of trails. I was please to find a wide variety of long runs and various levels of challenge. I was only disappointed by one thing; as I mentioned, the terrain park was closed during our visit. The snow cats were busy building a new park on the front side of the mountain as they flatted out the one in the back. On the other hand, the park was littered with a wide variety of small jibs, jumps, and side trails through the trees.

There is but one more wonderful aspect of Purgatory I’d like to discuss. More so than any other park I’ve ever attended, Purgatory was packed with exceptional riders. Watching the performance of riders with mad skills can make a good trip even better. Given the large number of extremely talented riders, I tend to think Purgatory may have a large local hardcore snowboarding community.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 9.

The post Resort Review: Durango Mountain Resort, CO appeared first on zasKoda.

Resort Review: Angel Fire, NM

zaskoda — Fri, 13 Feb 2004 07:18:56 +0000

Most of my snowboarding trips have been to Angel Fire in New Mexico. In fact, it’s the only resort I’ve been to more than once. Obviously, my review is based on limited reference, but I’ll offer what I can.Angel Fire mountain’s base elevation is 8,600 feet and summit is 10,677 feet making for 2,077 feet of vertical drop. There are two high-speed quad lifts, one on the front of the mountain and the other on the back. Lifts run from 9am to 4:30pm (4pm on the back).The resort itself seems rather commercial. Accommodations are, for the most part, rather nice. The pool and hottub are great. The food is decent, but expensive. I’ve heard many people mention AF having the highest food prices of any resort they visited. Lift ticket prices can be a bit stiff as well. During the value seasons, we’ve been able to snag 3 days of lift tickets, lodging, and breakfast for about $300 per person (quad occupancy!). We shaved off a little more by sneaking folks in and putting them on the floor, but lift tickets alone stack up well over $100 for 3 days. Because the value rates include lift tickets, we’ve found that there’s not much money to be saved by staying at other lodging unless you’ve got a pretty big group. That is, unless you own an RV – you can get an RV hook up pretty cheap (less than $15 a night IIRC).The mountain can be fantastic when there’s snow on the ground. Unfortunately, being so far south, Angel Fire frequently has issues with lack of snow or poor quality snow. More than half the snow during a regular season is man made. The flip side of this is warmer weather, I frequently don’t need a coat while riding Angel Fire. When the snow is good, there is a wide variety of runs. There are lots of wide easy trails available for beginners along with a nice variety of blues and blacks for more advance riders. One of the nicest features of Angel Fire mountain are the snow parks. There are 4 parks total, 2 of which have been added since the last time I was there. One park features a 400 foot Olympic style half-pipe. Overall, the mountain is very snowboarder friendly.If you’re interested in night life, there is none. The resort has a bar that’s usually sparsely populated (aside from – maybe – spring break) and there’s never anything going on in town. You might be able to find something going on in a nearby town such as Red River.

If you’re planning a trip, here are my suggestions: Watch the snow report – obviously. Call and ask several times for deals, sometimes they fail to offer you the best rates. Once on the mountain, head to the back. The back of the mountain has the best runs and is usually less crowded. If possible, bring food or head into town for food. I usually pack my coat with snacks while I’m boarding to avoid having to eat in one of the high priced restaurants.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6.

The post Resort Review: Angel Fire, NM appeared first on zasKoda.

Resort Reviews Archives - zasKoda

Resort Review: Durango Mountain Resort, CO

Resort Review: Angel Fire, NM