A short trip report,
I like to drive and see the sights and the 8 hours from Snottsdale to Durango is full of things to see. It's also alot cheaper than the $900 + per person to fly in and rent a car. Durango may not be Vail or Beaver Creek or Copper Mt or A-Basin but it is NORTH TEXAS! My New Hampshire / Norwiegen wife was in culture shock for a day or so but she figured out that even though they "Taughlk Funny" they are nice people.
We found a great place to stay half way between Durango and Purgatory called the LogWood B&B, I highly recommend it. Guess who owns it?????????? No, not him...... YEP, someone from Texas. I swear ya can't swing a dead or bar-b-qued dog(for AndyNap)around there without hittin someone TX. In short, the nice thing about Durango is it's laid back, short on the usual high dollar resort jerks and resonably priced. There a lots of great places to eat and not much of a wait tithout reservations. Besides, if it's dark I'm drinkin'.
Purgatory is generally a real nice 50% intermediate mountain so if you like to cruise most of the day you can without a crowd. They keep things well groomed and give you a variety groomed and moguled stuff all over the mountain. If you head to the top of the main lift and then work your way west all morning you beat any kind of crowd. Ski from 9:00 to a late lunch around 1:30 and then work your way back for closing of the lifts @ 4:00.
We took a rest day on wednesday and road the narrow guage train from Durango to about half way or so to Silverton. Also highly recommended. For the trip home, Karen and I took a side trip to Mesa Verde National Park to view the cliff dwellings on the Colorado Plateau and left the Meteor Crator for another time.
All in all it was a great time but the snow was goin fast EVERYWHERE. It was a mirror in the morning and a snowcone in the late afternoon but so was Telluride, Vail, Bever Creek, Copper Mt., A-Basin and everywhere else in Colorado.
Eat your words MikeR.......and tips or fins up )(~~^~/\~