Came with a group and skied here for the first time. We stayed at the Snakedance condos, an older and basic place but super convenient to the slopes, just a few steps from the back entrance to the main lift. Our package included 2 hours of lessons daily - apparently the ski school here is famous - from 10 to noon so on the first morning we joined several dozen other intermediate skiers for a "ski off" so the instructors could assemble groups of up to 6 each by level. This method of assessment of skill levels was far from precise. Bear in mind they seemed to place a lot of weight on speed, so if you ski down in a leisurely pace you’d likely be sent to the lower level groups. They told us we could always request a change if not happy with the assigned group but in reality it wasn’t that easy, as they were mainly interested in keeping the group numbers balanced. The instructors all had years of experience, many had been teaching for close to 50 years! But personally I think you could benefit more from someone with less seniority, more energy, and who was more eager to teach. Our group hardly did any skill enhancing exercises, unlike other groups. In terms of any tips that could help improvement we got a lot less than much shorter lessons I had taken elsewhere. We also started later than other groups and finished early every single day. So as far as the quality of the lessons were concerned, not that impressive. It's the luck of the draw, all would depend on the group and instructor you end up with.

Skiing here is known for the more advanced trails, except this year with a base of only 20 something inches of natural snow, just about all the open trails were blues and greens the week we were there (end of Jan to beginning of Feb). The blues here are a lot less steep than blues at most Colorado resorts, no blue/blacks, so great for beginners and beginner-intermediates. We were told that all the open trails were covered with "millions and millions of dollars" of manmade snow, however what with the water quota which they apparently already used up for the year, they couldn’t keep making more snow even with the brand new high powered snow making equipment. There's no question the existing trails did not offer enough terrain or variety for a whole week of skiing. That said, snow conditions on most trails were well maintained, and weather was beautiful - most days sunny in the high 30s - with pretty empty slopes and no lift lines. So overall, it was a fun week.

One note about the elevation - base here is about 9300 ft, so pretty high if coming from sea level. Most people would feel some mild headaches and shortness of breath the first couple of days. So be sure to take it easy on the first day and keep well hydrated.

This is a small resort but gives plenty of variety. Beautiful and filled with friendly, fun skiers. Facilities are great!