One of my family’s goals is to ski all 25 of Colorado’s mountain resorts. We only have a handful left that include several of our state’s smaller ski areas which are perfect for families.
Last weekend, we played in Glenwood Springs, about three hours from Denver. I’ve been a longtime fan of this area in the summer–from incredible hiking to the World’s largest natural hot springs to Glenwood Caverns, an adventure park on top of a mountain with cave tours, thrill rides, alpine coasters, laser tag and much more.
Mile High Mamas has frequently touted Sunlight Mountain Resorts’ Ski, Swim and Stay package as Colorado’s most affordable family ski vacation (normal rates start at just $99 and kids 12 and under ski free). However, it wasn’t until last weekend that we could finally personally endorse this staycation.
Read my full article here at Mile High Mamas!
Two days before our trip, I was contacted by the resort’s PR rep Troy who asked if a camera crew could follow us around for a couple of days. They had been hired by Colorado Ski Country USA to capture family adventures at many of their resorts. Since we’re not exactly media-shy, we were game and I was delighted to learn Heidi was one of the producers, a spunky gal I’d worked with at 9News. Her partner in crime was Juliana Broste, a talented freelance video journalist whose life I should have lived during my single days.
Having your very own camera crew is a double-edged sword. How cool is it that we’ll have this trip professionally documented? But that came with a lot of patience as we waited for them to setup the scene, grab the right equipment and, on the rare occasion, redo a shot.
Of course, that do-over was racing side-by-side on our snowmobiles across Baylor Park’s powder-perfect playground so it wasn’t all bad!
Great love hath no man than when your snowmobling guide Ty offered to warm up Hadley’s cold fingers in his armpits.
Read all about our adventures at Mile High Mamas but something I didn’t go into to much depth about was The Crash. We truly had the most epic snowmobiling adventure ever and were traveling single-file back to our cars on the groomed terrain. Jamie and Bode had fallen a bit behind the group (a rarity because usually he was leaving us in his dust) and there were a couple of tight turns that, had I not been behind the guide, might have landed me in the dunk as well. When you have three feet of powder right off the trail, a misstep is easy and that’s what happened to the boys as they didn’t make a sharp turn and slid down a small slope. Jamie didn’t have enough time to hit the “kill” button, Bode slammed into him (momentarily blacking out) while the snowmobile hit a tree off the trail, throwing Jamie from the machine.
Miraculously, Bode was unhurt, Jamie banged up his lip, jaw and knee and the snowmobile had been wedged at just the right angle to not cause any damage. (Read Jamie’s infamous one-liner about it at Mile High Mamas).
Getting it out was another matter.
We had two guides, A.J. and Tyler. I was near the front with A.J. and when he saw the boys and Ty weren’t behind us, he halted our group and raced back. Minutes ticked by as my apprehension grew. I knew something happened to the boys because it was only them and Ty at the rear of the pack. About 20 minutes later, A.J. rode back, telling us they had crashed, they were fine, but they needed help getting the snowmobile out and grabbed Troy. We were so relieved when they finally emerged. It was such a bummer ending to the perfect snowmobiling day but our guides handled everything like pros.
The real downer was when Jamie couldn’t ski with us at Sunlight Mountain Resort the next day and instead spent it soaking in Glenwood Hot Springs and getting a massage at their Spa (so don’t feel too badly for him). The kids and I fell in love with this 680-acre resort (where they even skied their first double-black diamond!) The weather was perfect, our camera crew was a blast and the terrain was so fun.
First double-black diamond
Hadley had a GoPro attached to her chest while all of us got to experiment skiing with a selfie stick. Tip: don’t look at the camera, look at where you’re going. Seems like a no-brainer until you’re brainless on the slopes holding a camera in front of your face.
We had originally planned to hit Glenwood Caverns that evening but decided it would be in Jamie’s best interest to have another soak. This time, we headed over to Glenwood Springs’ newest hot spot Iron Mountain Hot Springs. With 16 mineral hot springs pools of various temperatures and a freshwater family pool overlooking the Colorado River, we were in heaven as the town’s annual fireworks display was shot from nearby Two Rivers Park in conjunction with the Sunlight Mountain 2015 Ski Spree.
Put this particular weekend on your calendar to visit Glenwood Springs next year. I know we’ll be there.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 
