The night skiing is one thing that drew me to Keystone but I was not very please with it. They have lights on the slopes but you really need more of a clear goggle to see at night and I didn’t want to make that extra purchase for just one night. It is also extremely cold night skiing especially on the lifts. It was fun to try and say I did it but I have no desire to hurry back and night ski.

They have a deal where you can buy one lift ticket to ski five resorts. This includes Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Vail and Beaver Creak.

The summit elevation is 12,408 feet and they have nineteen lifts. Their lifts include gondolas, high-speed lifts, chair lifts, surface lifts, and carpets. They also have the ability to make snow. There are 117 trails and the longest run is 3.5 miles. The terrain is 2,870 acres. About half the mountain is most difficult terrain and half easy or intermediate. I was an intermediate skier and really like the runs. It was about on the lines of many of the other ski areas I had skied in Colorado.

They had eating places at the base of the mountain and also bars with happy hour specials when the slopes closed. The ski area was walking distance to many of the condos and hotels.

When going back I would not go in the early season because much of the mountain was not open and it was really cold there in December. The cost of the lift tickets also varies with the dates though. If you are looking for a cheaper priced ski vacation the early season may be the best for you.

The Discovery Hill is wide, short, and a fine place to learn, even if you have to dodge a sitting snowboarder or two (what's up with that?). But if that hill is closed, you'll be taken to the summit, where another learning slope is located. That's not so lovely.

The summit area can be exceptionally windy, and for the first-timer, it can be a bit intimidating. The view is spectacular, but you find yourself wondering about how easy it might be so slip off the mountain all together.

My recommendation? Go after mid-December (when there is plenty of snow for the Discovery Hill), book a lesson with Ken Wilson, and have a blast!

The bus picked us up in the parking lot very quickly. The workers even helped load our skis on the racks on the side of the bus. Buses made the rounds of the parking lots and base areas every few minutes.

Two in our group had not skied before so they signed up for a lesson, which lasts all day. The lift to the easiest slope was closed on the Monday before Thanksgiving so they never got to practice getting on a real lift. They only used the "Magic Carpet" all day. Had we skied Breckenridge before, we would have taken our beginners there for lessons. However, our one that stuck with the lesson all day, did very well on the green slopes at Breckenridge the next day.

Since this was very early in the season, only a third of the mountain was open. We skied the greens and blues off the Argentine and Montezuma lifts. If you like long runs, Schoolmarm coming down from the summit is about 3 miles of skiing! It has some pretty steep sections, but they don't last long. The snow was great -- 8 inches the previous night. They said the snow was at January level in November.

There are numerous restaurants in the area. If you want to "dine," eat in the village. There are many choices--sandwiches, burgers, soups, salads, pizza, BBQ--at the Mountain House base area and at Summit House. We ate in the food court at the Mountain House Base. The soup and bread were wonderful--filling and hot. Allow about $10/person for lunch. You can bring your own lunch if you are on a budget.

Don't buy daily lift tickets at the mountain. If you know at least 2 weeks in advance when you will be there, buy tickets through the Peaks program from the website. Multi-day tickets are much cheaper over the internet. We got 2- and 3-day lift tickets for early season at $29/day compared to individual tickets of $39 and $49 for the days we were there. These multi-day passes are good also at Arapahoe and Breckenridge. Five-day tickets are also good at Vail.