Skied Keystone Jan 2013. I found this resort to be well organised and family friendly. The snow was excellent considering lack of recent snowfall but the high altitude kept it in pristine condition. As an advanced skier I was happy with the runs on offer and loved those long green/blue runs back to the village. Good on-mountain facilities available and lift queues pretty much non existent once on the mountain. Price wise, this resort is no different from any other big resort. Looking forward to going back again during 2016.
Summary:
Keystone is a very well run friendly ski area.
I am a fairly advanced skier who wanted to get better at bumps (moguls). Also good for beginners and good night skiing and fun-park.
Pluses at Keystone:
Helpful, well organised (this is N America, not Italy after all).
Because of the recession and the time of year I went (late March), it was fairly quiet and no/tiny lift queues.
Enough skiing unless you are really hard core. You can always go the the nearby resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenbridge if you want (same lift pass but need to take bus or go by car).
Lots of accommodation nearby - little that is ski-in, ski-out, but little problem unless you are lazy or can't walk & hold skis at the same time. Superb free bus chuttles that take you all around Keystone.
Well-organised night skiing.
Fantastic ski school (I used Mountain Lodge and they were the best I have used - good for all levels)
Minuses at Keystone:
The elevation can take getting used to for some.
The cost of the lift pass - ouch. Made worse for us Europeans by the terrible exchange rate. However, a season pass for all the local resorts costs roughly the same as a week pass so actually it is cheap if you go for a few weeks.
Barry Peters
November 26, 2008
Lee Wilson (970)368-0165
from
New Zealand
I'm here at Keystone this season and in response to below they now have a $30M upgrade into a new gondola that fits 8 people and gets to the summit in less than 12minutes (fast as) also has a mid station you can down load before the last hard pack snow (bottom of river run) that often gets stripped from beginner snowboarders sliding down it so that has been fixed now. They also have free bus services. As for being bitterly cold, of course this is the rocky mountains, that's why we are here.
Enjoy,
Lee - Snowboard Instructor (Keystone,co and Mt Hutt, NZ)
Email - [email protected]
Stayed Xmas new year 07/08. Interesting and challenging pistes. Not as well groomed as nearby resorts. Bitterly cold and often -20 to -30 centigrade. Long walk with skis from village to lifts. Huge queues at lifts could take up to half an hour to get to top. Steepish slope into river run often icy at bottom - not good for beginners. Skied at Breckenridge; easy skiing, good pistes, well organised lift queues.
Both resorts bear little relation to the write ups in ski books and websites
Keystone was a blast Feb.2004. You can ski here, Breck,Vail,A-Basin and Beaver Creak on same pass. Also you can night ski and they have a huge frozen pond to skate on in Keystone.