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Home  >  Blog  >  Mum’s gone to Colorado: Flying high to Denver

Mum’s gone to Colorado: Flying high to Denver

Trish Burgess Posted on15/02/201618/10/2018 Colorado, Skiing, United States, Winter Park 36 Comments
The striking design of Denver airport
(Photo courtesy of Denver International Airport)

I don’t think I have ever drunk so much water as I did on our flight from London Heathrow to Denver, Colorado.

Aware that altitude sickness can affect people at heights above 9000 ft and conscious of the fact that I currently live a smidgen above sea level in the reclaimed land of the English Fens, I rejected the complimentary spirits and cute little bottle of wine with dinner, and religiously increased my intake of H2O.

Of course, the laws of biology state that what goes in will eventually make its way out, so my movie-watching marathon was punctuated with regular trips down the aisle. All that walking, however, would reduce the chance of  a DVT so, all in all, a win-win situation.

Denver is called the Mile High City because of its elevation of between 5130 and 5690 ft and although this isn’t high enough to cause altitude sickness, our first stop at the ski resort of Winter Park has elevations from 9000 ft (2743 m) at the base to 12000 (3676 m) at the summit so there is a possibility of suffering from some effects of altitude.

Of course, these heights also make for superb skiing conditions. With snow not always reliable in Europe, as was the case in the early part of the 2015/16 season, you can see why people are willing to travel to the United States for huge quantities of Rocky Mountain powder.

A flight time of 9 hours 40 minutes might seem long but the direct BA flight was a dream: complimentary meals and drinks (ok, indulge if you must, but remember the water!) and a whole host of great movies to watch. We left London at lunchtime but, with a seven hour time difference, arrived only three hours later.

Dougie and I enjoyed the movie-fest (Him: Legend, Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation and The Man from U.N.C.L.E  Me: Steve Jobs and The Intern) and were able to have more room by moving to empty seats around the cabin (on the return leg we had two seats each: plenty of sprawling space) The service from BA was excellent: I couldn’t fault it.

‘Mustang’
(Photo courtesy of
Denver International Airport)

At Denver, security was swift and we were able to appreciate the vastness of the airport for a short while before our transfer to Winter Park. Dougie had been doing some research and kept me entertained with fabulous stories of conspiracy theories, secret underground passageways and impressive statistics. He told me to keep my eye out for the massive blue statue of a horse we would see as we left the airport: Mustang, by Luis Jiménez, stands at over 9 m and has the most arresting red shining eyes which doubtless scare witless any unsuspecting motorists. I was quite spooked to be told that Jiménez unfortunately died before the sculpture was completed, as the horse’s head fell on him and severed an artery in his leg. A cheery tale.

I also had to listen to a story Dougie had remembered from a Jeffery Deaver novel, The Coffin Dancer, where a bomb in a plane was programmed to detonate at 5000 ft but disaster was avoided by re-routing the plane to Denver so it could land without dipping below the trigger altitude. That was reassuring as we made our descent.

If I’d been regaling him with stories about Denver airport I think I would have concentrated on the Free WiFi, solar energy and interesting artwork.

Our transfer to the mountains was courtesy of the aptly-named Home James shuttle company. The sun had now set and there was an urgency in reaching Winter Park, some two hours or so away, before the threatened storm caused conditions to worsen: we had to get over Berthoud Pass before they closed it, although this is a rare occurrence. We needn’t have worried: vehicles in Colorado are designed to cope with the weather – everyone has winter tyres for starters and the roads themselves are so much wider than in the UK, it seemed a breeze for our 4×4 mountain carrier.

Zephyr mountain lodge Winter Park
Zephyr Mountain Lodge in Winter Park resort, Colorado
(Photo courtesy of Winter Park)

 

Santa’s grotto or the Private Lesson centre?

As we approached, the ski village of Winter Park twinkled like Santa’s grotto in Lapland: delightful conifers, laden with snow, were dotted around the village and lit with tiny lights. It was quiet apart from the crunching of our feet on the snowy pavements. Tempting as it was to whoop with delight and throw myself onto the vast heaps of snow to make angels, I headed instead for the reception area of the Zephyr Mountain Lodge.

Perfectly positioned ski-in ski-out accommodation, our one-bedroomed apartment was toasty warm with a separate gas fire and the thickest mattress I’ve ever seen on our cosy double bed. The kitchen, though well equipped, had no food, and we were starving, having neglected to pick up any provisions on our rest stop from Denver. We unpacked, of a fashion, and belatedly headed back outside to find something to eat. Doc’s Roadhouse could still be open but when we walked in, they were vacuuming the carpet and all other diners had departed.

Throwing ourselves on the mercy of the barman, we explained how hungry we were but the bemused chap explained the fryers had already been turned off. Could we buy some chips, I asked (notice how quickly I adopted the lingo, remembering the American name for our British crisps?) Our man took pity on us and retreated to the kitchen. A few minutes later he returned with a large polystyrene box full of tortilla chips, slices of cheese and a couple of pots of salsa dip.

We rooted about for some dollars to pay him but he waved us away and told us there would be no charge, which made me realise we must have looked pretty desperate. He was the hero of the hour. We took our food back to the lodge and Dougie wondered if we could try that trick every night to cadge a bit of supper…

We retired to bed and set the alarm for an ungodly 6.30am ready for our first day’s skiing in the morning.

Despite the comfy bed, our sleep was fitful because of hourly trips to the loo but this proved to be a side-effect worth putting up with: no altitude sickness for us. We would soon be ready to hit the slopes the following day and discover if, at the ripe old age of 51, we could learn to ski for the very first time.

Watch this space…

Other posts about our trip to Colorado:
Learning to ski at Winter Park
Where to eat in Winter Park
Skiing in Steamboat Springs
There’s more to Steamboat than skiing

This trip was organised for us by the resorts of Winter Park and Steamboat Springs. Accommodation, ski rental, lessons and lift passes were complimentary as were my flights. Dougie paid for his own flights which were £600 return. 


Wander Mum

 

 

Previous Article 36 Hours, 125 weekends in Europe
Next Article Mum’s gone to Colorado: Learning to ski at Winter Park

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36 Comments

  1. MsCaroline Reply
    15/02/2016 at 5:00 pm

    Ha! I love Dougie's 'grim' tales! Just what you needed before heading up the dark mountain, I'm sure! So glad you were able to find something to eat that first night – Chandler would have been calculating the options for a repeat 'free' meal as well. ; ) Looks absolutely gorgeous and looking forward to hearing the next installment. Sutton was in CO with some mates in January snowboarding and seemed to have enjoyed it, but his account wasn't nearly as detailed as yours. I'll just have to extrapolate from your report, I suppose…!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      15/02/2016 at 7:38 pm

      The flight itself was so much part of the whole vacation (see, using the lingo again..) it was worth giving it a whole blog post.
      Arriving at night was so exciting – it looked wonderful.
      I'm pleased to be able to give you a report of Colorado that you didn't get from your son, though I do wonder whether the details will match up! 😉

  2. Sarah Hague Reply
    15/02/2016 at 5:44 pm

    There's too much snow in the Alps now, or too much too soon, with the result that avalanches are frequent, as are accidents!

    Your CO resort looks gorgeous, and how lucky to find a friendly person to take pity on your famished state. 🙂

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      15/02/2016 at 11:55 pm

      Yes, of course, I heard about that! Some very tragic accidents in recent weeks. Seems to be more steady snow fall in Colorado throughout the season.

      He was a gem – must have looked at two hopeless looking Brits and felt very sorry for us!

  3. BavarianSojourn Reply
    15/02/2016 at 6:09 pm

    That horse is the stuff of nightmares. Colorado is definitely somewhere on our list to visit though, the skiing sounds amazing, and the scenery just stunning. Have loved following your posts on social media so far. I would have had to have given Dougie a dig in the ribs for telling me about that book before we had landed though! 😀 xx

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      16/02/2016 at 12:00 am

      We did spot the horse on the way out and back – much scarier in the dark as the eyes shine!
      Colorado was so beautiful and the skiing fab as the snow is dry. Keen to return sometime in the summer as I think it's equally stunning.
      I found the book on our shelves when we got home so had to read the relevant passage!

  4. Mac n' Janet Reply
    15/02/2016 at 7:17 pm

    We know Colorado well, lived in Colorado Springs for 2+ years. It was at more than 6,000 feet and it took us a while to adjust to the altitude. Never skied there, didn't try it till our second time living in Germany. Your pictures are beautiful. We've been to Winter Park, but not in the winter.
    I kept snow tires on my car year round. One year it snowed on May 5th.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      16/02/2016 at 12:05 am

      Ah I didn't know that – a wonder place to live. The only problem I had with the altitude was a dry nose: I was constantly poking and blowing it! Sorry TMI. I hadn't realised there was a humidifier in the apartment: I thought it was some kind of facial or foot spa….

    • Expat mum Reply
      19/02/2016 at 4:48 pm

      Argh – can't believe I forgot to tell you about the humidifier. Would have helped enormously. As would shoving Chapstick up yer nostrils!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      19/02/2016 at 5:04 pm

      Now you tell me! My nose was so blummin' crusty!

  5. Travel Loving Family Reply
    16/02/2016 at 10:20 am

    This sounds incredible Trish:) I learnt to ski in Breckenridge another popular Colorado resort. The scenery is absolutely out of this world isn't it?!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      16/02/2016 at 10:58 am

      We heard a lot of people talk about Breckenridge too. Colorado was just awesome: the scenery looked as if someone had painted it specially for us.
      I'm so pleased we decided to accept the offer of learning to ski at our age: I thought I was too old but now a whole new chapter of possible future holidays has opened up.

  6. Older Mum Reply
    16/02/2016 at 11:29 am

    Wow…. what a great place to stay… and how did the skiing go – looking forward to reading how you got on! I would love to try skiing, something I've always wanted to do but never got around to trying. And Denver airport has a very unusual design! X

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      19/02/2016 at 5:06 pm

      The skiing went surprisingly well. I wish we had learned years ago as I think when you are younger you are braver. Self-preservation thankfully stopped me going too fast and silly!x

  7. Jenography.net Reply
    16/02/2016 at 11:39 am

    I've never been skiing in Colorado. So excited to hear about it — already it sounds like a warm welcome in a cold climate!

    • Expat mum Reply
      17/02/2016 at 2:48 pm

      You should try it Jen. It's so easy, well groomed, great runs, and lots to do.

  8. Singapore Visa Reply
    17/02/2016 at 7:10 am

    Hey Trish,
    Really a lovely post to read out.
    but felt bad for Jiménez who unfortunately died before the sculpture was completed, that's really sad to read out.
    Keep posting.
    Cheers.!!!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      19/02/2016 at 5:08 pm

      I know, it's sad and rather horrific, isn't it. His wonderful horse was completed by other sculptors and is quite magnificent.

  9. Expat mum Reply
    17/02/2016 at 2:48 pm

    Didn't you love that twangy country music they play on the mono-rail thingy in Denver airport. Gets me every time.

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      19/02/2016 at 5:08 pm

      We didn't go on the mono-rail thingy! Oh, I've missed out!

  10. K.D. Jennings Reply
    18/02/2016 at 8:08 am

    What cheerful stories from your husband and perhaps you could have mixed a bit of wine with all that water? ;o)
    If you are into winter and snow, it looks like a wonderful place.
    And I am mightily impressed with the free food, how nice of him! xx

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      19/02/2016 at 5:10 pm

      I was such a good girl, didn't start drinking until day two! Had plenty on the return flight to send me off to sleep.
      It was a beautiful place and so was Steamboat Springs, the second resort.
      He was a star!

  11. Irene Thayer Reply
    20/02/2016 at 10:29 pm

    The post is fantastic! I love it so much:)
    Have a wonderful weekend!

    theprintedsea.blogspot.com

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      23/02/2016 at 8:11 am

      Thank you, Irene.

  12. Corey Cook Reply
    23/02/2016 at 4:26 pm

    Love Colorado! A beautiful state. We make it out to Steamboat at least once a year. I can totally relate to the water consumption on plane ride over – better to be safe than sorry! Altitude sickness can be the worst. Beautiful photos of Winter Park..have never been. #citytripping

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      24/02/2016 at 11:50 am

      The second half of our holiday was in Steamboat and we loved it. Can see why you are a regular visitor. So beautiful – didn't want to come home.

  13. MummyTravels Reply
    23/02/2016 at 7:40 pm

    I know so little about Denver – or Colorado at all – so I shall thank Dougie for adding to my knowledge. No facts are ever wasted! It does look lovely in your photos once you arrived, snow is always so magical. I've still yet to learn to ski, so will read about that with interest too… #citytripping

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      24/02/2016 at 11:51 am

      Ah he's full of it…information, that is!
      I always felt very out of it being a non-skier amongst friends here at home. Now I've joined the club and, though still a novice, can appreciate what all the fuss is about!

  14. Sarah Ebner Reply
    24/02/2016 at 9:46 am

    Love this account – but particularly impressed to find that you didn't suffer from altitude sickness. That's brilliant. Look forward to reading more….#Citytripping

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      24/02/2016 at 11:54 am

      I gather most people are ok but you just never know if you are susceptible or not. It felt good to be well-hydrated anyway.

  15. suitcasesandsandcastles.com Reply
    25/02/2016 at 2:27 pm

    That story about the sculptor of the blue horse! Sounds like it's cursed to me – you could make a great short story out of it. Winter Park looks gorgeous – I'd love to ski there. #citytripping

  16. Nell@PigeonPairandMe.com Reply
    25/02/2016 at 8:27 pm

    That murderous horse is terrifying! That aside, it sounds like a good place to visit. I've never been to Colorado but know someone who grew up there. They always speak highly of it as a ski area. I'm excited to hear more about how your first ever ski trip went… #citytripping

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