Living in Summit County and Vail

Winter Park has a solid town (at least during winter) and is a million times more laid back than Vail Resorts. I prefer the mountain to Vail as well, and if you work at Winter Park you can get ski exchanges to almost every non-Vail resort in Colorado

I'm assuming you haven't been out to Colorado, but Vail is a truckstop. There is no such thing as cheap living in Summit County, couches go for $400

Winter park- Smaller mountain than Vail, more affordable place to live.

Vail- Bigger mountain, Super expensive town to live in and reasonable housing his a long commute(so ive heard).

And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, Dillon I hear is the cheapest place to live in Summit.

Or say fuck it all and move to Crested Butte, Aspen, Telluride, Wolf Creek, Steamboat, Taos, Leadville, or any other ski town where you can get a job. It's November. Prime time for last minute winter hiring.

Oh Aspen is having another job fair on 11/12 at Buttermilk. FYI.

Thanks for the input. Yea from the research I have done Winter Park is way cheaper. I have been skiing at vail a few times, and it has some of the best skiing I have done in CO. Plus it's Vail. Tons of snow, and beautiful rich women.

50KalWinter park- Smaller mountain than Vail, more affordable place to live.

Vail- Bigger mountain, Super expensive town to live in and reasonable housing his a long commute(so ive heard).

And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, Dillon I hear is the cheapest place to live in Summit.

Or say fuck it all and move to Crested Butte, Aspen, Telluride, Wolf Creek, Steamboat, Taos, Leadville, or any other ski town where you can get a job. It's November. Prime time for last minute winter hiring.

Oh Aspen is having another job fair on 11/12 at Buttermilk. FYI.

Colorado is expensive in general and there is definitely a correlation to the higher living expenses and better skiing/living situation. Crested Butte, Telluride and Aspen are awesome places to live, work, and ski, but housing is tight and expensive. I'd vote Crested Butte or Telluride in terms of bad ass terrain. Vail is not 10/10 in any category, but way above average when it comes to the whole package of snow, terrain, party scene, decent parks, decent backcountry, good group of locals, and ease of getting to Denver if you want to go see a show or have to fly out of the airport.

Summit County is less expensive than Eagle County (Vail and Beaver Creek), but I'm not super into their terrain, but that's just me! It's also another 1,000 feet up in elevation and can get super windy and cold compared to Eagle County. Most of the affordable housing will be in Dillon or Silverthorne, which is a bit of a drive to the resorts. If you manage to get employee housing in the town of Vail, you are within a 10 minute free bus to work, party, and ski. I don't know for sure, but I would bet living in the town of Breck is cheaper than Vail, but I've heard it's getting more crowded and rent is going up. I love the town of Breck though, just not the resort that much.

Aspen is just awesome. I love everything about it, but you are going to have serious trouble affording housing in the town of Aspen, which means living down valley in Basalt or Carbondale, which is a long drive or bus to the resort. If you can afford it, it's hard to beat Aspen.

Crested Butte and Telluride just have sick terrain with limited crowds. The downsides are not as consistent of snow as Eagle and Summit Counties and you are in the middle of nowhere and it's hard to get to Denver.

If you decide to try and get a job at Vail, living in Leadville is not a horrible option. I used to drive highway 24 everyday to get to Vail (Skipping Vail pass.) The drive is not super short, but its beautiful, and honestly it never bothered me.

ggfski42If you decide to try and get a job at Vail, living in Leadville is not a horrible option. I used to drive highway 24 everyday to get to Vail (Skipping Vail pass.) The drive is not super short, but its beautiful, and honestly it never bothered me.

Word of warning - 24 is not for noobs at mountain driving at all. Landslides and avys close that pass all the time, and there's always potential to fly into the gorge on the cutouts. If it's dumping out, take 91.

Leadville is your best bet for cheap housing in the area if you're down with commuting. I've lived there for almost 2 years and it's got a culture all it's own. I have friends in the area that commute to Copper, Vail, Key, and Breck and it goes very well for them. Unless you've got a big ol trust fund or win the lotto, I'd doubt you can afford to live in either Scummit or Eagle as it is heart-droppingly expensive.

As of now its looking like i have a good chance of getting the job at Vail. Which is super exciting for sure. So I hope get it. There is a spot in Leadville that looks promising, what the commute, weather like in leadville.

g_lectrolyteWord of warning - 24 is not for noobs at mountain driving at all. Landslides and avys close that pass all the time, and there's always potential to fly into the gorge on the cutouts. If it's dumping out, take 91.

Leadville is your best bet for cheap housing in the area if you're down with commuting. I've lived there for almost 2 years and it's got a culture all it's own. I have friends in the area that commute to Copper, Vail, Key, and Breck and it goes very well for them. Unless you've got a big ol trust fund or win the lotto, I'd doubt you can afford to live in either Scummit or Eagle as it is heart-droppingly expensive.

Is it cool if I pm you if I have any questions.

jpastorIs it cool if I pm you if I have any questions.

For sure bud.

jpastorAs of now its looking like i have a good chance of getting the job at Vail. Which is super exciting for sure. So I hope get it. There is a spot in Leadville that looks promising, what the commute, weather like in leadville.

Leadville is at 10,000 feet. Bundle up. And the "commute" to Vail. Enjoyable in sunny/blue-bird conditions or the most treacherous thing you'll do this year. New snow tires and white-knuckle driving experience are your best friends.

Breaking_RadLeadville is at 10,000 feet. Bundle up. And the "commute" to Vail. Enjoyable in sunny/blue-bird conditions or the most treacherous thing you'll do this year. New snow tires and white-knuckle driving experience are your best friends.

More than anything Leadville gets a lot of snow but a lot of the locals build backcountry booters. The law isn't as laid out here as it is in the neighboring pitkin, summit, eagle counties. Definitely wild west feel. Not too much difference temp wise. There's a bus that runs to vail for those working down there during the day too. Plus you can't beat that view.

I was going to live in leadville but got into employee housing in eagle. eagle isn't a bad commute to BC, but more like a half hour to vail, which might be more than you want. Not sure what vail has for employee housing but I'd ask asap. BC had a decent amount in avon. some was pretty solid, some was refugee camp status.

I was going to groom at vail this year. Was checking into the employee housing a bit, but the manager made it sound like not the best option so was going to move in with this guy I was seeing in west vail to keep the costs down.

I def wouldn't recommend living on the otherside of the pass though. Making the commute over the pass everyday for work isn't something I'd want to do. In addition to having that drive in shit weather, you also run the risk of deal with garbage traffic, and the pass being closed. I mean I guess you can still go up toward leadville and around, but that's not exactly preferable.

If you really need cheap housing, have a decent car, and are good at driving leadville is worth looking at. I found a 4 br places for 8 or 900 a month. Look on CL, some seriously cheap housing. Also a pretty cool town imo.

The housing was nuts in eagle co with the world cup last year, but I heard the prices stayed a bit high.

For me I'd rather live close ish. I was driving 20 to avon for work last season but have the drive was dry. Eagle barely got snow, so even when it was snowing it was pretty tame.

One of the guys on the cat crew at vail was living in his truck near minturn. Had a friend from BC living in a beater RV in avon. So there's that for options.

I remember seeing a heated shed on CL last year for 200 a month. It was for storage but the guy didn't give a fuck if somebody slept in it. I was thinking about it. I think it was in vail or avon.

Also another thing to think about is the lease. A lot of places try and get 1 years so that they have somebody in there for the summer.

Regardless get on that shit fast, as housing is going to keep getting more scarce in the next month.

As a few year veteran in Summit County Living, i will leave you with this,
Housing is maddeningly expensive unless you're lucky. Holiday weekends are atrocious.
The closer you can live to work/mountain the better, roads close.
Its fucking awesome when it works out!
Good Luck