Skiing for Beginners

The nice thing about Keystone is that it's compact, especially if you stay in the River Run area. The best highlight for us, though, is getting ski lessons from Ken Wilson. He's a retired doctor and a marvelous instructor with all the patience in the world.

Quick Tips:

You might want to shop around for ski rentals. The ones available at the Mountain House are a little on the pricey side. We've used Virgin Island Ski Rentals down the road in Dillon and have been very satisfied with the prices, the equipment, and the service.

Best Way To Get Around:

Park your car in the garage and use the shuttle busses. They run on time, they're free, and the drivers are very friendly.

Best Things Nearby:
The River Run area has a number of advantages. It's one of the two primary lift locations (the other is the Mountain House, about a quarter-mile away) and features the gondola lift as well as chair lifts. The Mountain House area has the Discovery Hill, however, which is perfect for beginners.

Best Things About the Resort:
Location, location, location. There is a ski locker room just down the hall, outdoor heated pool, spas, and an indoor sauna. Also, there is a garage in the basement with elevators directly to all of the residential floors.

Resort Experience:
The lodge is well insulated (for both warmth and sound). Our three-bedroom condo was spacious enough to handle the two of us, our 17-year-old daughter, our other daughter, and her husband and two little girls.

• Unit Type: 3 Bedroom
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Good

This restaurant has one a number of "best of" awards for the Keystone area, and they are very proud of them. I have to be honest, though: our first visit was a disaster, featuring bad service and poor food. It was so bad that we were moved to write them once we returned home, describing the details of that night. The owner responded immediately with a letter of apology and an offer to make things better should we visit again. Our second visit was much better, as the food was excellent and the service much improved. We haven't been back to Keystone since then, unfortunately, so I can't conclusively say which was the more defining experience. If you get there before we do, let me know!

Accoring to the readers of "Snow Country" magazine, this is one of the Top 10 Ski Town Restaurants. I would be hard pressed to disagree with that assessment. The food is excellent, served promptly and bolstered by some of the best margaritas I've had in Colorado. It's also one of the favorite restaurants for the local residents as well, which should tell you something.

My favorite restaurant in Keystone! The menu is varied and every item is delicious (at least every one I've tried or seen). As testament to how much we've enjoyed it, the Great Northern Tavern was the site of our Thanksgiving dinner, 3 years in a row.

This is also a microbrewery, but my tastes in beer are so pedestrian that I wouldn't attempt to pass judgment on the selection or the quality.

You can eat in the bar area, with casual food, or the dining room, which features more formal entrées, all done well according to my experience.

We've discovered that the best way to learn is with a semi-private lesson where you can have an instructor just for your group. We've had lessons with Ken Wilson a number of times and he is the BEST! If you see him, tell him that the Meredith's of St. Louis say hi!

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!