Still dreaming about the week of champagne powder runs and sunny spring like weather we just left at Steamboat. Staying at the Eagleridge Lodge completed our perfect family vacation. Traveling with my husband and 2 sons (10 & 8), the 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo was spacious, nicely decorated, and had every amenity we needed and then some. The much needed humidifiers and washer/dryer were terrific, as were the fluffy white robes, a welcome bottle of wine, coffee maker with free coffee and all the trimmings, which was restocked daily. Our balcony looked out over the nice pool and hot tub and the mountain beyond w/ view of gondola and chairlifts. We could see what the weather was like on the mountain every morning just by looking out the window. The gym was nice, but really loved how the massage and steamroom felt on my tired muscles at the end of the day. The entire staff was extremely friendly and helpful. They provided anything you needed and always with a smile and welcoming attitude. The free hot chocolate, coffee and muffins were a nice touch in the morning and when you returned back from the day on the slopes. On Tuesday afternoons, the free wine, cheese and chocolate fondue fountain was a big hit in the lobby and gave people in the hotel a chance to mingle and chat for a while. The free shuttle was super convenient to get to the market to stock up on groceries for the week and also to take you wherever you needed to go. The only complaint about our specific condo was the mattresses were not comfortable. They really needed to upgrade the bedding. Pillows were also a bit lumpy and sheets not too soft. Also, although the concierge was nice and helpful to book our dinner reservations, we found her selections for restaurants not to be good. We then just asked other people for good suggestions and called the places ourselves. Cantina for Mexican was delicious! The housekeeping staff was wonderful. I've never had a maid service that organized my sons toys with such care. You know you've had a great trip when your kids tell you they want to live there!

Every year we try to take a week long ski trip to a different resort with the hopes of finding *The Perfect Ski Getaway* and, well, this came pretty close.

First off, EagleRidge Lodge & Townhomes are really very nice. We had a 2 bed/2bath unit in the main lodge (townhomes are separate from the main lodge) that included a full kitchen, washer/dryer, jacuzzi tub (master bath) and fireplace.

The decor is western and a little country, but overall tasteful. I could have done with fewer flowers (bedspread, bathroom accessories, etc) and less brass, but it was still quite nice.

The kitchen was nice and modern with new appliances, granite countertops and nice cabinets and was fully stocked with all manner of cookware, place settings, glassware, etc. We cooked a few nights during our stay and it was great to have a fully functional kitchen to work in, just like home.

The only nice thing to have would have been table linens (napkins, placemats) for the giant dining room table, but we made do with The Original Napkin - good old paper towels.

The living area was nice- comfy couch and chairs and warm gas fireplace, but it seemed bizarre that they had such a small TV. We kind of expected something a little more high end for the price of the condo. It did have a built in DVD/VCR, but we didn't use it.

We also had planned to plug our iPod into a stereo system like we had in the past, but they only had a little boombox that was too old to have the right jacks for accommodating an iPod. No biggie - it was a "nice to have" not a "need to have". Plugged into the TV, the iPod sounded crappy, so we opted not to use it.

The jacuzzi in the master bath was excellent and desperately needed after skiing daily through FEET OF POWDER. Because this is a review of the accommodations and not the resort, I won't get into HOW AWESOME THE POWDER WAS, but I will say that it was sublime and we are considering veering from our "go somewhere different every year" stance and just coming back to Steamboat to ski their AWESOME POWDER.

Ahem.

Back to the condo - the entryway was nice, with a bench and rack for shoes as well as overhead cubbies for gloves/hats, scarves and hooks for coats. Crucial for drying out all that wet gear.

Master bedroom was adequate, although the bed was fairly awful - way to bouncy and creaky - and the coverlet was scratchy and pretty heinous. There was one dresser, which suited us fine, and a large closet with hangers. The four poster-ness of the bed was sort of overdone for our tastes, and given the size of the room, was a little out of proportion, but we made do and just didn't go to bed until we were exhausted.

Parking was also fine - just parked the truck on Day 1 and left it. We never found a driveway or sidewalk that wasn't shoveled and the shuttle service is excellent.

Despite many reviews here, we did walk into the village fairly often rather than taking the shuttle, just because it was snowy and beautiful and there is a shoveled path most of the way. However, with ski gear, it pays to take the shuttle rather than clunking your way up the road. The shuttle also took us into town to the grocery store, downtown and restaurants and picked up with little to no hassle.

Our lessons learned:
-Plan to ski during the week to avoid weekend crowds which tend to begin on Friday.
-Ask ahead about any groups coming into the lodge (or town for that matter) as they will plug up the shuttle service, restaurants and mountain pretty effectively
-Hit the back side of the mountain (Morningside Park) for great stashes of powder and quiet skiing away from the crowds
-Wait out the morning gondola crowds by having breakfast at the condo and getting to the gondola around 9:30 or 10 instead of 8:30 or 9.
-Don't rely on the front desk staff to provide directions as they are clearly ill-equipped to do so.

Overall, this is an excellent place to stay and an incredible place to ski. We'll be back and we'll likely stay at EagleRidge.

We met up with friends from across the country at one of the 5-bedroom 4 1/2 bathroom Eagle Ridge Townhomes for a week-long ski vacation at Steamboat, our favorite ski destination.
The home was spacious, beautiful, well-designed, family- friendly and had all the trappings of home, down to the last kitchen utensil. The concierge was helpful. Our walkway was shoveled each day. (It snowed almost every night!) The shuttles to the gondola (all of a 2-minute drive -- probably a quarter mile), the supermarket and downtown all picked us up and dropped us off right at our door. The two-car garage and heated driveway made things easy for those who drove. They let us borrow saucers for our kids to sled on. A hot tub at the unit and a heated pool at the complex were nice. It's a little pricey, but worth every penny. Definitely get enough people to go to split costs -- there's enough room. This was one of the best vacations we have ever had and the lodging really was a huge factor. No doubt, we will be staying here again.

We loved eagle ridge. Everything about it exceeded expectations. We loved the 24 hour a day coffee and hot chocolate. The kids loved the doughnuts in the mornings. They also loved that the hotel provided children's sized robes on request. The staff was excellent and the bus system was tremendous. All in all, the condo was terrific, very family friendly, the staff did everything they could to make a comfortable stay for us. They met us at the bus and took the ski's right out of our hands and put them away in our locker. They were helpful and terrific.