I've got 3 kids under 10 and we are all inexperienced skiers. Of the two, which would be a better place to go in January?
I believe that Vail has the better ski school, particularly for children. We had an interest in a condo at Breckenridge, but chose to go to Vail when the kids were younger because the ski school and children's activities were so much better. Vail is much larger and much more crowded, but I still think you might like it better. That said, I would strongly suggest you consider Crested Butte as well. Fly driectly in and out of Gunnison, short drive to Crested Butte. Best ratio of beds to lifts in Colorado. Very family friendly.
I worked in Crested Butte for a ski season. Wow, it's been 16.3 years since the last day of that season. Anyway... Very family friendly. In fact, borderline dead nightlife would be a good way to put it. Virtually no wait in lift lines ever around Christmas and Spring Break. (Then it was about 5 to 10 minutes... just long enough to check out girls in the lines and then you were off.) Cute little old mining town and then condos & hotels galore up near the base of the mountain (Mt. Crested Butte). It's ~29 miles straight up a two lane "highway" from Gunnison. In good weather you can drive out of the airport car rental area and get to the base of the mountain in ~45 to 55 minutes. (Honk when you go passed the fork in the road also known as the town of "Almont". It's 10 miles towards the mountain and if you blink, you'll miss it. That's where my cabin was where I lived while I worked those 5 months working for CBMR.) Crested Butte is a quiet place where you can ski during the day, the kids will probably stay out of trouble (for years to come), you go home and change, you eat dinner fairly early, retire to the hotel/condo/whatever and lights are out by ~10pm. You can find a bar or two for a drink, but there's nothing like the nightlife of even Breckenridge... and you can't even thing about comparing it to Vail. It's a great place for a family, but being a young single guy I would have chosen differently if I had known. But I also had two friends going for the season and one's family had had a condo there for most of his years growing up and so he had a strong connection to the town, the mountain, and the onda (as they say in Argentina).
Vail. The ski school is fantastic, the mountain is larger and in my opinion better suited for learning (its where I learned to ski, and learned to snowboard 10 years later). Not sure how long you intend to stay, but they normally have a beginnners ski school deal, where you get 3 days of lift tickets, lessons and rentals for not much more than the normal price of a lift ticket.
i would base your decision on where you can stay.... as in close to the mountain. vail is spread out far and wide and a house my say west vail or eagle vail etc. it's not the same thing. if you are inexperienced go with whatever accomodations and location is superior.... for convenience sake. they are both bad *** ski towns, with vail being a lot nicer obviously. but breckenridge is still cool.
I live in CO. I haven't skiied at either Breck or Vail. If you're in it for the town, Breckenridge is better than Vail.
If you're an inexperienced skier, you might have trouble getting around Breckenridge between the different peaks. If you don't mind skiing the same runs over and over, then it might be okay. There also seem to be a lot of flat spots where you have to pole. It's my least favorite resort of any I've been to, and I've been skiing for almost 30 years. Given the two choices, I'd go to Vail... But, if the lodging were at Breckenridge, then I'd stay there, but ski Copper Mountain or Keystone.
I would go with Breckenridge and go with a summit pass. Then you can start them off at Copper Mountain which is great for kids to learn, it has wide open easy slopes. Vail is over priced. I prefer Wolf Creek though once the kids know how to ski.
Copper Mountain may be ok for beginners once they know how to ski, but the lessons there are nowhere near as good as those at either Vail or Breckenridge. Vail is a huge mountain, plus it has a gondola in the Lionshead area which is great for beginners who are not yet entirely comfortable riding chairs (or who don't want to ski down the mountain at the end of the day). I love Wolf Creek, especially the expert terrain after a nice dump of fresh snow, but I don't think I would enjoy it as a beginner. Limited slopes and its only a ski area, not a resort so you have to drive to/from the slopes every day. There are much better places for people to go as a beginner while on vacation.
Lot of good advice. I'm not familiar with either ski school so I don't know how to address that aspect. Breck is the better ski town, IMO...little more laid back and a lot more fun to wander around in. That being said, if you're looking for something a little more luxurious and high-class then Vail would be the place. As for the skiing, they are both sizable mountains with plenty of terrain to explore, but I would say that Vail has more kid-friendly terrain because of its size advantage...the green slopes at Breck are pretty much confined to the base of Peak 9 and half of Peak 8. However, if the kids are moderately good skiiers, Peak 7 is a fantastic place to get in a lot of runs on some great rolling blues. Both places will probably be really crowded in January, so I wouldn't let that factor into your decision. As big as Vail is, it never ceases to amaze me how often I get stuck in lift lines there...even during the week. Having lived out here for 5 years now, Vail is the better mountain to ski, especially if you're a serious skiier, but I definitely prefer to spend my long weekends in Breck because I find the town MUCH more enjoyable, and I would consider it more kid-friendly although my 8 month old isn't able to provide much input on that.
Sorry, just reread the OP. As you are all inexperienced skiiers, I would definitely suggest going to Breck. Chances are you're going to want to do a lot more than spend all day, every day on the mountain and the advantages of Vail's size and terrain won't matter if you're not able to explore it. Go with the more fun town.
Travis, Go to Beaver Creek instead. About ten or so miles from Vail with less crowds and associated "snobs" and a great ski school for the kids.
another vote for Beaver creek here- It's one of the few mountains where a beginner can ride up on top of the mountain and see the view. Most lift lines are at the bottom lifts and being higher up on the mountain certainly has advantages from a line and panoramic view perspective. Crested Butte would be my second choice. In either case if you can afford it ski in Ski out is nice. I also had a good time in Snowmass in Aspen, more of a beginner/intermediate mouontain. See where you can get the best deal...
I've been to both numerous times. I must be missing something every time I go to Breck, because I've always thought Vail was a far superior destination. Better mountain too. I don't have kids though, and I'm a good skier. With kids and inexperience, as stated above, accomodations may be the deciding factor. For a family affair, spacious accomodations in the Vail Village are VERY expensive. You can save money staying in the outer areas, but then you're missing a lot of the fun. Check out Vacation Rentals By Owner and find spacious well located condo or house to stay in. Bernard
You should really narrow it down to Beaver Creek and Breckenridge. Vail is great, but is too large with three young ones. It'd be more of a hassle than it would be fun. Beaver is the most family friendly out of all of the Vail owned resorts (and not only because they give out free fresh-baked cookies at the lift lines). No crowds and no bro-bra's. Accommodations are not cheap, but you do get what you pay for in this case.
I decided to do Beaver Creek and can't thank you guys enough. Super convenient and lots of great beginner slopes. Thanks!!
Keystone is near Breckenridge and much better IMO. The kids can do ski school during the day and then you can ski together at night.
Travis, Glad you enjoyed Beaver Creek. Did you stay at the lodge itself or elsewhere? Also, how was the snow?
We stayed at a condo we got through VRBO. It was creekside and we only had to walk about 200 yards to the lifts and village area. As far as the snow, there wasn't much new from what the locals told me. However, in the week after we left they have gotten 12" of fresh powder.
