Recommendations for western XC lodge?

"sknyski" wrote in message
om...
I'd suggest the Wilderness Lodge at Royal Gorge in California, but
apparently it burned down a couple of weeks ago.

It's true :-( Linda called reservation holders yesterday: She said that
RG is fully insured and plans to rebuild this spring. The trails suffered no
damage, I'm sure. The out-buildings (private cabins, showers/hot tub/sauna)
should be OK but certainly won't be operating until the lodge is rebuilt.

Bummer for the staff.
Bob

It's true :-( Linda called reservation holders yesterday: She said that
RG is fully insured and plans to rebuild this spring. The trails suffered no
damage, I'm sure. The out-buildings (private cabins, showers/hot tub/sauna)
should be OK but certainly won't be operating until the lodge is rebuilt.

Thanks for the update M-F Bob, I was beginning to think that I had
gotten bad info (was from an ex-girlfriend, after all) because when I
went to the Gorge web site today they said that the trails are going
to be open this coming weekend, and the Wilderness Lodge snack bar
will also be open. Guess the news hasn't reached the Summit Station,
tho' they must have seen the flames.

bt

My recommendation: Devil's Thumb Ranch in Fraser, Colorado. On site
lodging, fantastic snow, great trails, scenery that will bowl you over
(skiing under the shadow of the Continental Divide), and the added
bonus over additional 130km (Snow Mountain Ranch and Grand Lake
Touring Center) within a 10-25 minute drive of the Ranch.
Approximately 2.5 hours from Denver International Airport via I-70 and
US-40. Also accessible by Amtrak and the Winter Park Ski Train.

Url's:
Devil's Thumb:
http://www.devilsthumbranch.com/home/home.html

Snow Mountain Ranch:
http://www.ymcarockies.org/page.php?code=74

GSW
Lakewood, CO

I have two suggestions.

First I second the recommendation for Lone Mountain Ranch. Even though it is in the same valley as Big Sky Resort, it's sufficiently set away. As a western resort Big Sky is an anomaly anyway due to very low commercialism/high ammenties. Our family trip was split half alpine and nordic, so I can't speak to the lodging at the ranch. It looked cool though, with lots of cabins throughout the woods. Food was stellar, the staff was great --and most notably-- skiing was everything you'd want.

Similarly, Devils Thumb Ranch was a great xc vacation. This is ten minutes down-valley from Winter Park CO with additional skiing available at nearby Snow Mountain Ranch. They have lodge, cabin, and yurt housing. There's a shuttle ("Home James") from DIA direct to Devils Thumb. The ranch had great food, hot tubs, sleigh rides, and 100K of skiing. I didn't see Dog Sledding offered, but there were plenty of friendly dogs around. Perhaps if you rounded up some of the larger breeds and asked the sleigh driver nicely...

Have a good holiday.

Matt

Man?!
Talk about a blast from the past for me. I remember receiving my first
instruction/coaching from Dick Taylor and Steve Gaskill back in the mid 70's
at Devils Thumb. After moving away from Colorado I lost touch with this
place. Good to hear it still exists.

"GeeDub" wrote in message
om...
My recommendation: Devil's Thumb Ranch in Fraser, Colorado. On site
lodging, fantastic snow, great trails, scenery that will bowl you over
(skiing under the shadow of the Continental Divide), and the added
bonus over additional 130km (Snow Mountain Ranch and Grand Lake
Touring Center) within a 10-25 minute drive of the Ranch.
Approximately 2.5 hours from Denver International Airport via I-70 and
US-40. Also accessible by Amtrak and the Winter Park Ski Train.

Url's:
Devil's Thumb:
http://www.devilsthumbranch.com/home/home.html

Snow Mountain Ranch:
http://www.ymcarockies.org/page.php?code=74

GSW
Lakewood, CO

"Matt" wrote in message news:jsYrb.165033$HS4.1339547@attbi_s01...
I have two suggestions.

First I second the recommendation for Lone Mountain Ranch. Even though
it is in the same valley as Big Sky Resort, it's sufficiently set away.
As a western resort Big Sky is an anomaly anyway due to very low
commercialism/high ammenties. Our family trip was split half alpine and
nordic, so I can't speak to the lodging at the ranch. It looked cool
though, with lots of cabins throughout the woods. Food was stellar, the
staff was great --and most notably-- skiing was everything you'd want.

Similarly, Devils Thumb Ranch was a great xc vacation. This is ten
minutes down-valley from Winter Park CO with additional skiing available
at nearby Snow Mountain Ranch. They have lodge, cabin, and yurt
housing. There's a shuttle ("Home James") from DIA direct to Devils
Thumb. The ranch had great food, hot tubs, sleigh rides, and 100K of
skiing. I didn't see Dog Sledding offered, but there were plenty of
friendly dogs around. Perhaps if you rounded up some of the larger
breeds and asked the sleigh driver nicely...

Have a good holiday.

Matt


--

We are planning a XC ski vacation for the first week of March and are
considering Lone Mountain. We went to Devil's Thumb two years ago and
loved it. We are advanced beginner to intermediate skiers. The trail
descriptions at Lone Mountain concerned me a bit because many refer to
"exhilarating downhills" and such. We comfortably skied all hills at
Devil's Thumb except for one (on the Black 10 trail). Any comments
about how the trail difficulty at the two resorts compare?