CU Boulder Student Skiing ?'s

[Sinecure]

So, Son of Sinecure (aka Hux et Veritas) is going to college next year to study engineering. This weekend he's off looking at Madison and next weekend he's visiting Boulder. Unless Madison really rocks his socks, I suspect he's going to end up in Colorado. He's psyched that they run regular buses to various resorts. So we have a few questions for current and former students.

Where do you end up skiing? It looks like they run buses regularly to Breck, A-Basin, Keystone and Vail. Does that mean that if I buy him an Epic Local Pass he'll be pretty well covered? Or do students day trip to other places more regularly?

Are there student pass deals that are cheaper/better than the Epic Local Pass?

I'm sure he'll have a bunch of questions once he makes a decision, but I'm posting now because he'll be making the decision soon, plus they just rolled out Epic Pass pricing and the first deadline is April 15 (not sure what changes after that).

Assuming he's home for Xmas and Spring Break, he can either use the free pass he gets off me for Squaw and Alpine, or the Epic pass if he wants to go to Flatstar for a day (he won't unless there are friends going there).

What else should he (and I) be thinking about?

[spankthepow]

Copper/winter park 2 for 1 pass was what I did all thru college. $210 for each person. Winter park rules because less time on I70. If he's interested in getting into backcountry skiing, PM me and I'd be happy to point him in the right direction. If you want to know more and my experience at CU with skiing and such I'd be happy to talk to you over the phone or show you around in town. I just graduated last December.

Edit: buses are way overpriced, it's cheaper to make friends and carpool

[Sierraskier.]

I'm sure he's already done applying to schools, but did he apply to University of Utah? I'm going there for engineering and I'm loving it, we've got a great engineering program, not to mention its way cheaper than Boulder and its closer to skiing and home!

[MakersTeleMark]

Keep in mind the Epic Local pass is different from the Epic pass. The buses, except the one to Eldora, aren't really financially viable alternatives to get the goods.

[pbourdon]

He'll certainly wanna keep driving past Loveland...nothing to see there......move along.

edit: Oh, he's from California?? Yeah, Loveland will be too cold and windy for him any way.

[iamTRuTH]

He'll certainly wanna keep driving past Loveland...nothing to see there......move along.

edit: Oh, he's from California?? Yeah, Loveland will be too cold and windy for him any way.

100% agree with this.

On the engineering side, what discipline? Engineers without borders has a great chapter in Boulder working in Nepal on a clean water project. If he is looking at Civil Engineering, it is a good school. I am always looking for interns, make sure he PM's me.

EDIT: That goes for any CE students, I need six this summer. Shoot me a PM

[_cj]

IME most students buy one of the epic passes so its easier to find people to ride with. The price of the epic passes do not go up significantly until well into the fall semester so there is really no hurry to buy one early. The ski bus only goes to the epic pass resorts so that is something to consider.

[marshalolson]

having attended both CU-boulder and uw-madison engineering schools, madison is a way better school. just saying.

eldora is the only bus access skiing. its a fine little mountain, but if he is used to skiing kirkwood and squaw, it will be underwhelming to say the least.

i would also strongly suggest looking at colorado school of mines in golden. 30-40 minutes closer to skiing, better mtb;ing and better engineering school IMO.

[pbourdon]

i would also strongly suggest looking at colorado school of mines in golden. 30-40 minutes closer to skiing, better mtb;ing and better engineering school IMO.

QFT.....

[Sinecure]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

He's done applying. Utah was not considered because, well, he likes things flavorful.

He's going for Mech E and yes Truth, the Engineers w/out Borders thing really appeals to him. That's part of the attraction. He knows he's a California wimp when it comes to weather, but he's resigned to the fact that most places will be colder than Tahoe. Part of the allure of CO over WI is that at least when it snows there's something to ski on. Plus he knows he has me to buy him warm gear at Pro Form prices. He's an excellent, albeit smart and somewhat conservative skier (can ski anything, but generally chooses not to huck his meat off large cliffs and jumps). He's got good BC/Avy awareness and he'll probably bring some BC gear with him, but he's mostly a resort skier.

I looked on various sites and it appears something called the Herd runs weekend day bus trips to various places for around $15. There's also Zimride and CL. If his sister doesn't steal it from him, he'll have a car once he's old enough for them to allow him one on campus (or off).

[reidhresko]

I went to Boulder for two years as an undergrad and seven as a graduate student. It is a fine school, but how much he gets out of it will be a direct result of what he puts in. It is easy to get lost in the crowd, but not that hard with a bit of effort to distinguish yourself and be noticed (presuming he is good). If I were a parent of a kid going to Boulder, my overwhelming concern would be partying, not ski access. I had a ridiculously good time, uh too good a time, and from what I see my students there still do. More than 25 medical dispensaries within one mile of campus and an obsession with drinking means that unless your young man can moderate and make good choices, it is an easy place to slide into a self-destructive cycle. Just my .02.

As for skiing, well, it's fine, but you need a car. Eldora sucks, sorry but its true. The bus up there is like having access to a bus to, well, some place pretty sucky. Lovleland is fine. It has three things going for it - 1) it is closer than any other legit mountain, 2) it is not part of the epic pass, which means WAY less idiots, and 3) passes there are pretty cheap. The hot ticket is for him to get a 4 pack to LLand for days when the highway is out of control. But, I think that my friends that love loveland and ski it regularly are on crazy pills. It gets wind fucked super fast, there is precisely one lift of actually good skiing which gets douched pretty fast and other than that it is pretty windy and relatively flat. The 5 mountain Epic pass (not sure exactly what it is called now) is the one to go with. Access to A-basin, Vail, and Beaver Creek make it worth it - unless he's a park rat and then Breck in the bee's knees (but as far as I am concerned, fuck that place too). The Herd busses are not really a feasible skiing-all-the-time transportation option. He needs a car. He can park one off campus from day one. It is a fairly lame drive to good skiing, but that is the way things are now on the front range and I know b/c I ski a lot. for a long time. here. Does he have his avy certs, knowledge, and experience? That opens up a lot of doors around here.....

But, buy him the epic pass, get him a 4x4 vehicle with good tires, tell him to get ready to spend a lot of time in traffic, but also that he will ski some cool terrain and good snow, and pray like hell he keeps it together in Boulder.

[sklar]

im a senior at boulder high this year, probably wont end up at cu though, not my cup of tea
epic local would be the choice. is he a park skier or not? if so, definitely epic local. There's some fun bc terrain to explore not too far from boulder, and not up i-70, too.
i hope he's prepared for insane traffic and insane parties.

[pinto]

I went to Boulder for two years as an undergrad and seven as a graduate student. It is a fine school, but how much he gets out of it will be a direct result of what he puts in. It is easy to get lost in the crowd, but not that hard with a bit of effort to distinguish yourself and be noticed (presuming he is good). If I were a parent of a kid going to Boulder, my overwhelming concern would be partying, not ski access. I had a ridiculously good time, uh too good a time, and from what I see my students there still do. More than 25 medical dispensaries within one mile of campus and an obsession with drinking means that unless your young man can moderate and make good choices, it is an easy place to slide into a self-destructive cycle. Just my .02.

As for skiing, well, it's fine, but you need a car. Eldora sucks, sorry but its true. The bus up there is like having access to a bus to, well, some place pretty sucky. Lovleland is fine. It has three things going for it - 1) it is closer than any other legit mountain, 2) it is not part of the epic pass, which means WAY less idiots, and 3) passes there are pretty cheap. The hot ticket is for him to get a 4 pack to LLand for days when the highway is out of control. But, I think that my friends that love loveland and ski it regularly are on crazy pills. It gets wind fucked super fast, there is precisely one lift of actually good skiing which gets douched pretty fast and other than that it is pretty windy and relatively flat. The 5 mountain Epic pass (not sure exactly what it is called now) is the one to go with. Access to A-basin, Vail, and Beaver Creek make it worth it - unless he's a park rat and then Breck in the bee's knees (but as far as I am concerned, fuck that place too). The Herd busses are not really a feasible skiing-all-the-time transportation option. He needs a car. He can park one off campus from day one. It is a fairly lame drive to good skiing, but that is the way things are now on the front range and I know b/c I ski a lot. for a long time. here. Does he have his avy certs, knowledge, and experience? That opens up a lot of doors around here.....

But, buy him the epic pass, get him a 4x4 vehicle with good tires, tell him to get ready to spend a lot of time in traffic, but also that he will ski some cool terrain and good snow, and pray like hell he keeps it together in Boulder.

It has been 20ish years since I was there, but (except for the dispensaries) this was true. And we didn't have cheap passes. From what I know, most kids do end up with some sort of Epic Pass.

Avy awareness is a great start, but make sure he knows that CO snowpack is a bit different from CA snowpack. It would be a good idea to do a course here.

(Good luck, I think I skied with you at Northstar I'm aka segbrown)

[Sinecure]

There will be plenty of party options at whatever school he chooses. He's waitlisted at Michigan. I went there and even back in the 80's there was a $5 fine for possession of up to 1/2oz of weed. We all smoked too much. The good news is he's a pretty responsible and smart kid. I'm sure he'll make some questionable choices, but hopefully he's in good shape to make mostly good ones.

He already knows how to use his beacon probe and shovel, but Level 1 is definitely in his future before he starts doing much more BC stuff.

We'll see about the car. I'm reluctant to let him take his car before sophomore or junior year. It's a good snow car if we put snow tires on it, but his mom is going to freak out if she knows he's driving in snow a lot (she can't drive in snow so it must be impossible for anyone else).

[pinto]

We'll see about the car. I'm reluctant to let him take his car before sophomore or junior year.

Same here. I'm a year behind, so I have some time, but I have never thought it a great idea to let a freshman take a car.

On the other hand, I'd rather he be driving than some unknown -- I trust him pretty well in the snow and mountains, as far as that goes. Don't know about whoever he'd be with. (Because, face it, between a bus and a friend with a car, you'll choose the car.)

[Rideski]

reluctant to let him take his car

Reluctant to let him take?
What kind of pansy are you raising?
If you took away my car I'd buy a fucking hearse with flames on the side and put a kegerator in the back.

[Crampedon]

having attended both CU-boulder and uw-madison engineering schools, madison is a way better school. just saying.

eldora is the only bus access skiing. its a fine little mountain, but if he is used to skiing kirkwood and squaw, it will be underwhelming to say the least.

i would also strongly suggest looking at colorado school of mines in golden. 30-40 minutes closer to skiing, better mtb;ing and better engineering school IMO.

My good friends daughter graduated from Mines last year and landed a sweet job close to 6 figures, and can live near home (Denver) His though was you might not get a better education there, but they seem to teach you HOW to learn and work, more so than Boulder. The perception in the job market seems to feel that way too.

Another Maui high school grad will be going there in the fall, he looked at Boulder and opted for Mines. He is a rock-star swimmer and tennis player but from Hawaii his skiing will need work.

He works for me part time and would make an awesome intern, if he does'nt come home his first summer.

[jbski]

I run the Big Mountain and Backcountry program at CU. Those who are a part of it have a good time. We do a lot in Colorado and surrounding states. Several of the kids I coach are from Squaw and I'd be happy to put your son in touch with them (they may have similar experiences). Rides are also pretty easy to find from other team members pretty much any day of the week. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[pappag]

Didn't read if mentioned yet, but the Epic Pass is also good for Northstar, Heavenly, and Kirkwood... pretty fucking good considering your Tahoe location when he wants to visit home.

[LaBelle23]

I run the Big Mountain and Backcountry program at CU. Those who are a part of it have a good time. We do a lot in Colorado and surrounding states. Several of the kids I coach are from Squaw and I'd be happy to put your son in touch with them (they may have similar experiences). Rides are also pretty easy to find from other team members pretty much any day of the week. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

I don't know all the current options, but even when I had a vehicle at CU I used to ride up to WP on the ski club bus for $15 with all my friends freshmen year. The bus stopped outside our dorm, we piled in mostly asleep, and were skiing a couple hours later. Then we started to break off in groups and just carpool up sophomore yr. I don't know the current status of the ski club, but they had all kinds of great deals and every meeting I ended up with some decent swag.

As much as everyone hates on Eldora, it is a 45 min drive from campus, free by bus (students get an RTD bus pass), and passes are super cheap for students (may be up to $150 by now, but still a great deal). I'm sure he will want to have a pass to the bigger resorts as well, but to be able to get a 2-3 hour powder session in before class can't be beat. As much as I loved going to the bigger resorts, I ended up going to eldo all the time because fitting in a 6am-7pm day traveling I70 was much harder to fit into the schedule.

[Shredhead]

i would also strongly suggest looking at colorado school of mines in golden. 30-40 minutes closer to skiing, better mtb;ing and better engineering school IMO.

Mines is a much better engineering school. Hell, CSU has a better program than CU and it has girls too!

[PowTrees]

I looked on various sites and it appears something called the Herd runs weekend day bus trips to various places for around $15. There's also Zimride and CL. If his sister doesn't steal it from him, he'll have a car once he's old enough for them to allow him one on campus (or off).

If you send him to Boulder, I'd be pretty disappointed if he can't find someone or even better some hot college babe with an SUV to get a ride from.

[nogophers]

We toured the CU engineering school this last fall. I was impressed with the collaberative nature of the school. A lot different than most other programs at CU.

There is a weekend ski club bus that heads up to Summit Co and the cost is extremely reasonable. Not sure how much time he'll have as an engineering student, but he should be able to make it up a few times. Otherwise, the Eldora bus, I'm told, takes ~45-60 minutes. Talk with the student giving the walking tour or ask other students. The admissions folks will tell you anything to make you happy.

Taking a look at Madison in 2 weeks and looked at Montana State earlier this month. BTW, Tyrol Basin, with it's whopping 330 feet of vertical is about 30 minutes from UW. Be sure to have a beer on the Terrace (get your son an ice cream cone from Babcock Hall). MSU has a heavier emphasis on fun than study, IMO.

I'd skip the School of Mines. They didn't impress me.

[nogophers]

Mines is a much better engineering school. Hell, CSU has a better program than CU and it has girls too!

Bull . You forgot to add "IMO". Of course, a lot depends on the discipline. Engineering of cows and mullets is strong at CSU.
Latest US News rankings:

#17 - UW Madison
#35 - CU Boulder
#63 - CO School of Mines
#67 - CSU


http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsa...s/eng-rankings

[TahoeJ]

But his dad instructs at Alpine Meadows so the kid already has Squaw / Alpine access - so that's not really a selling point.

Having said that, the epic local pass is probably the way to go in this case primarily because he'll have an easier time getting a ride most weekends.

Didn't read if mentioned yet, but the Epic Pass is also good for Northstar, Heavenly, and Kirkwood... pretty fucking good considering your Tahoe location when he wants to visit home.