It’s in the middle of nowhere, but it was great for me, having never skied before. Isolated enough to not be crowded, and so big that even if it is crowded you have lots of space.

Tahoe is nice, but I still think Steamboat and Jackson Hole are better. If you do night stuff, check out Keystone in Colorado because that is a fun time and the slopes are usually wide open at night. You’ll just freeze a bit, but that’s par for the course.

It’s a decently nice little ski village and wasn’t too expensive.

The real benefit is that the mountain is great for newbies. There are a ton of wide-open, easy to ride runs across the park. Most ski resorts have only a couple of “bunny” slopes but Red River essentially has like 15 to help provide some variety and keep you from getting bored.

I wouldn’t recommend Red River for anyone else, but for newbies its great.

I know there are some great places out here, at least that’s what everyone tells me, but I don’t snow ski.

Park City does have a pretty nice reputation though.

That was the first and last time I have skiied. They put me on the “bunny slopes” for about an hour and then out to the real steep slope where I almost killed myself and anyone in my path. Make sure and keep your girlfriend on the small slopes until she gets it down cus noone wants to end up like Sonny Bono like I almost did.

All I know about skiing is that if you pizza when you’re supposed to french fry, you’re gonna have a bad time.

It’s a more difficult mountain, but I’d never want to go anywhere else

or is she kinda mousey?

http://www.tmz.com/

the shirts gotta go though.

in Durango for years and years. That’s where I learned. Not too crowded, nice place, other fun stuff to do in the area.

going someplace warm instead.

Most important thing – Put her in lessons (take one yourself too, if it’s been that long). When I learned to ski (30+ years ago), they started you with the snow plow. Things have changed. My wife took lessons 5 years ago. She was doing crisp parallel turns by the end of the day. Whatever you do, don’t try and teach her yourself. Fighting and crying on a vacation isn’t a good thing.

Copper Mountain – Best thing about it is it’s segregated. Easy on one side of the mountain, more difficult in the middle, and the black slopes are off on the other side. It’s easy to get to, and you can probably plan the vacation here cheapest (in Colorado, anyway). Keystone, Breckenridge, & Vail are all close. Dillon/Frisco can get you close and cheaper condos. Don’t miss the micro-breweries (Dillon Dam, Pug Ryan, Backcountry in Frisco).

Snowmass/Aspen/Buttermilk – Farther from the airport, so only do this if it’s a full week on your trip. Or, look into taking a flight directly into Aspen. Nothing here is going to be cheap (even by Colorado ski standards). Snowmass is massive, and you never have to go anywhere else for skiing. Buttermilk is a good beginner mountain as an alternative. Avoid Aspen Mountain for beginners (Big Guns is crazy to have tried). Aspen nightlife is a different story. That’s where you’ll be. Snowmass village is almost nothing.

Winter Park/Telluride/Crested Butte/Durango (Purgatory). All nice places for ski bums, but pretty small, with smaller villages. I wouldn’t try those first.

Even though Snowmass is my favorite, I’d recommend Copper. Or, depending on where you stay in Summit County, you might end up skiing Breckenridge more.

The nice thing about all the bigger Colorado resorts – They’ve gone almost exclusively to the high speed detachable chair lifts. Easy on, easy off, quick ride, and they move a lot of people so the lines are short/quick. Out of Colorado, you find a lot of the older lifts.

Outside of Colorado – For beginners, I’d look at The Canyons in Utah. It’s newer and features more detachable high speed lifts. Taos is like Aspen (not for beginners). Everything else in New Mexico is small and features older lifts. Ski bums and old timers like them. I like the relaxing ride and I don’t fear getting on/off. My wife and most other skiers really prefer the detachable high speed lifts. They get anxious getting on/off the older lifts.

The places I’ve skiied are Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota so I don’t know jack about Tahoe.

Steamboat’s gotten a good amount of snow recently (a few people in my office have condos there) and there’s stuff to do at night. Aspen’s pretty expensive. Jackson’s pretty damn expensive too. If you’re thinking about Jackson just go to the other side of the mountain and ski at Grand Targhee – way better snow and cheaper and you can always stay in Jackson and just drive over to ski. Grand Targhee has some of the best snow in the country.

I can’t believe I left Steamboat off my post. Great choice. Little longer drive from Denver (compared to going to Copper/Keystone/Breckenridge. The mountain is big, and the town is fun.

Oh, and I can’t believe there’s someone other than me that’s skied Terry Peak…

Park City is absolutely beautiful, has great snow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and reasonable for price.

If you make it to the bottom of Mt. Bonnell in Austin (still on skis) I will give you 25 dollars in folding money.

steamboat is awesome. far and away my fav place to ski…look at a place called the snowflower (tripadvisor link) – their website link

lots of bad advice

i have no idea where you live, but from most places, park city is by far the best option.

you can get a car very cheap at SLC, and it’s an hour drive. flights to SLC are very cheap.

colorado is usually a lot more expensive. you can get to denver, but a lot of resorts are a few hours away. direct flights to crested butte, etc are usually much more expensive.

airport shuttles are a complete kick in the nuts. look at all the ways your trip is going to get complicated, and eliminate as many as possible – skiing, drinking, going out, sightseeing is not tremendously different (you won’t go to decent resorts in colo/utah/tahoe and say wow that sucked – new mexico probably). lots of flights in and out of SLC, and again, the drive is easy and short.

consider staying ski in/ski out. it might be slightly more expensive, but oh my god it’s so much easier. now there a re a lot of larger hotels ski in/ski out (even if that means walking to where your skis are checked and walking to the mountain instead of actually staying halfway up the mountain).

park city you have three nice resorts accessible by shuttle if you stay anywhere in the area. if you aren’t ski in/ski out, it’s still very fast and easy to get to the different mts. since you’ll have a car, consider staying someplace w a kitchenette. you probably won’t want to cook, but being able to go to the grocery store and get breakfast stuff, sandwich stuff, snacks and lots and lots and lots of water (plus beer?) is a huge plus IMO.

driving to the mts to ski is all right, but getting off the mtn can be a lot of traffic. i still want a car to get to/from airport and to go to/from dinner. again, cars are cheap from SLC – look for discount codes online.

TONS of great restaurants in park city – they have the douche bag film festival there, so take advantage of the great restaurants there, but don’t go when the idiots are there.