On Lift Chairs and Legacies with Mark Phillips

Loveland’s Offerings to Day-Trippers & The Parental Blessing of a Lift Ride

By Mark Phillips, 1-10-06

Oscar and I made our first snowboarding trip this weekend. I worried that our heavy holiday travel schedule made us miss the epic early-season Colorado conditions, but I was wrong. After a traffic-free Saturday evening drive and a pleasant evening in Georgetown, we took a short trip to Loveland Ski Area, where we had a day full of deep, soft powder.

Like most Front Rangers, I’ve driven by Loveland hundreds of times on the way to the bigger resorts in Summit and Eagle Counties. I always thought that it looked awfully steep, windswept, and small, and willingly stuck behind the wheel for another twenty (or sixty on the weekend) minutes to ride Breck, Copper, or Vail. After just one visit, however, I may be ready to swear off the big resorts (Winter Park will never really count as “big�, will it?) forever. Of course, it’s only been a few days since I shelled out full price with two out-of-town visitors for a few hours in Vail’s China Bowl, so I could be more jaded this week than I might be later. Note: for what the three of us paid for parking, lift tickets, and lunch at Vail, we could have skied for two days at Loveland, lodged for one night in Georgetown in two separate rooms, covered all of our meals and our gas money there and back.

Like other Gems, Loveland prides itself on convenience and customer service and markets to Front Ranger day-trippers like Oscar and me. We arrived at 10AM on a heavy-snow day and still managed to find parking within 80 yards of the base lifts. The Passport check-in process for Oscar was simple and we were on the lift within fifteen minutes of our arrival.

Since this was our first time out this year, we focused on the blue and green runs on the South Side from Lifts #s 1 and 2. The wind was tough at the top (though better than they were at Vail on Tuesday!), but the runs were wide and long and, at 6ft. above average snowfall for this time of year and with 7 inches of new snow overnight, the snow was perfect. For some parents, getting on the lift can be challenging (note: none of the chairs that we took had safety bars), so long runs like those off of Lifts #1 and #2 are a nice way to focus on the skiing or riding, not lift riding.

That said, the lift ride is one of my favorite parental activities. Modern life affords few opportunities to sit next to my son and talk. If you, too, are bored by long, neck-wrenching commutes trying to safely hold court with your child in the back seat, get to Loveland and stick to Lift #2. It’s a long, beautiful ride to the top of the mountain and, for parents of fifth graders like me who see the single-chair lift of adolescence in the all-to-near future, it offers perhaps one of the last times to sit next to your child, hug him to keep him warm and calm his fear of heights, and think about what a blessing a simple thing as snow can be.

Trip Details
Where we stayed:
Georgetown Mountain Inn
Rates: $64-$110
We stayed in a room for 5, which goes for $87-$94, had a refrigerator, a microwave, Cable TV, and free wireless internet.
You can (and should) walk the five blocks to downtown Georgetown from the Inn. The residential blocks between them are full of turn-of-the century Victorians and a charming park with a bandshell.
When you return, you can lounge by the fire in the lobby, take a dip in the heated, indoor pool, or sooth your slope-worn bodies in the outdoor hot tub.
The Inn also offers ski and stay packages. One weekend night with two adult lift-tickets to Loveland current goes for $125.


Where we ate:
Dinner: Red Ram Restaurant and Saloon
The kitchen is open until 9, so if you drive up late like we did, you can still get a solid meal. They have an average kid’s menu (Bronco Billy’s Burger, for example) and a nice selection of tex-mex and barbecue for grown ups. If you’re with kids you probably won’t be drinking much, but I hear the Hot Buttered Rum is awfully tasty. Dinner for two was under $15.

Breakfast: Mountain Buzz Café
I had the Lifty Special and Oscar had an egg bagel. Great coffee! About $3 per sandwich.

Lunch: Loveland Ski Area
Loveland has one of the most reasonably priced resort menus I’ve seen. They also serve Idaho Spring’s Big Kahuna BBQ on the weekends. Lunch for two was about $8.

Family-friendly High Points
Plenty of terrain for beginners and intermediate skiers.
No lift lines.
Terrain Park for boarders.
Free, close-in parking.
Reasonable, good food.
Good Ski-Stay Packages.
Free WiFi at the base.
Discounts for Passport-holder family members: $13 lift tickets for companions under 15; 15% off lessons.
Party Bus deals.
Buy one get one free tickets for adults (see link for details) through February.

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