My boyfriend and I decided, rather last minute, to head to Keystone Resort from Denver so we could snowboard the following day. We ended up staying in a studio in the Gateway Lodge building and had a great time. The only bad thing about our experience was that is was far too short, but we are definitely going to do it again!
When we arrived in Keystone we checked in with the SummitCove office (took about 1 minute they were great) and got our keys and parking pass for the heated parking garage. We were hungry so we went straight to the Snake River Saloon to grab a bite to eat, it is right next to the check in office. Afterwards we headed to our home for the night, Gateway 5065. This is probably the largest studio in which I've ever stayed in. We turned the gas fireplace on, which was wonderful, and watched some television before going to bed. This studio has really comfortable beds, something which cannot be said about all rental properties. We both slept great.
The next morning we got ready and decided to walk over to the gondola at River Run Village instead of taking the free shuttle. It was actually nice to get up and get the muscles moving a bit before heading down the mountain, the walk only takes about 8 minutes. And what a great day on the mountain it was! It had snowed a few inches and runs we took were fabulous. There was no holding back, the conditions were awesome and I am now thinking of investing in a way to track my actual speed.
After some warm up runs we decided to head towards North Peak and the Outback. Since it had snowed, we decided to take a black diamond run, through the trees, I think it was next to a ski run called the mouse trap, to get to the back side. I haven't done a lot of boarding through the trees this season so this run took quite a while and had a few bumps along the way. By the time we got to La Bonte's Cabin we stopped for a breather and split a hot chocolate.
We are fortunate enough that we are able to go snowboarding during the week, and it has spoiled us a bit. I don't think I should have to wait much in a lift line, or sit with strangers on the chair lift when I snowboard in the middle of the week unless I want to. It seemed the majority of people were on the back side of the mountain so we went back to the front and enjoyed the smaller crowds and longer runs. Overall we had a great time snowboarding; legs feeling like jello are a testament to that.
What a great one night vacation, so close to home we can keep coming back!