While a skiing vacation can be very expensive, my goal was to create a trip that would allow people to ski/board out west with options to make the trip as reasonably priced as possible. I think we accomplished that, as those that took advantage of the Copper 4-packs ($149 for 4 days of skiing when buying it before April 1st for the following season), were able to stay in the house ($400/person for 7 nights lodging, with enough money left over for community food for a week's worth of breakfasts, most lunches, and a few dinners), and made the relatively easy drive (roughly 16 hours with weather cooperating) the least expensive option. 

Some people flew into DIA and rented cars, and some people (who were not able to get the 4-packs ahead of time) were able to get heavily discounted tickets from one of the people on the trip (thanks Mary G) who had access to discounts through their employer (shell also does BOGO offers for Copper that we were originally going to use). 

Most people arrived on Saturday the 19th, and I figured we were going to like the house when the first group to reach it sent out a short text saying the place was "Awesome". The house did not disappoint, as it had all the amenities promised, including a nice indoor/outdoor hot-tub, an indoor resistance swimming pool that my son enjoyed virtually every day we were there, a billiards room that got some decent usage, a great big dining/bar/family room area where most people congregated, and the unexpected hit item of the house, 4 high-end massage chairs in the upstairs common area outside the bedrooms. 

Once everyone arrived and was situated, and we got in touch with those who were staying in Dillon and down the block, and set up meetup times/locations on the hill at Copper for Sunday. The majority of folks skied/boarded on Sun, Mon, Weds, and Thurs at Copper, but a few checked Out Breckenridge and Keystone as well. We had nice sunshine on Sunday and Monday, and a few inches of fresh powder on Weds, Thurs, and Friday with more overcast skies. We had a few beginner skiers on the trip who had never skied anywhere outside of the midwest, and they enjoyed testing their abilities on the very loooong beginner runs at Copper.

Most people took Tuesday off to rest their bodies and check out some local sites, with one group going out to Vail for some food, drink, and shopping, another group hitting the tubing hill in Frisco, followed by a visit to the "Escape Room" adventure in downtown Frisco walking distance from the house, and one group hiking Hidden lake in Glenwood canyon. During the week, we also had planned a few community dinners, ranging from a taco night to a homemade pizza night, and they were all well received. Special thanks to all our dinner cooks, you all did a great job. 

Skiing/riding (particularly so late in the season) can sometimes be disappointing if the area is having a rough snow year (as we experienced in the midwest this year, with little snow and long stretches of warm weather), but our timing worked out great for this trip. The front range got hit with a ton of snow in March (after what I've been told was a rather dry Jan/Feb), so the coverage was the best I've seen in the last 3 years out there. Virtually every run and chair was open, and for those of us who checked out Copper's back bowls, we experienced some knee deep powder in places all week.

Due to the timing of Easter, most people headed back sometime on Friday, but my son, our youngest member (aged 9) on the trip, stayed in town till Sunday, and took part in the annual Copper Mountain Easter Egg hunt, dubbed "The World's Largest Easter Egg Hunt", which actually consisted of multiple hunts, including one at the base (where he got lots of eggs - filled with candy), and an all-ages one done on skis/boards on the hill (starting at the top of the American Eagle), which, while he didn't get any eggs due to being in the back of the massive pack up top (a few of the eggs had things in them like season passes and Go-Pro camera vouchers), did manage to have a fellow youngster(boarder) on the hunt run into him full-speed but somehow bounce off of him, which he found very amusing.  

It was a great trip. I've become a big fan the past few years of the Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne area in terms of being able to find quality, affordable, places to stay that also happen to be close to some great resorts (Copper/Keystone/Breck/Vail/Beaver Creek/etc..), and everyone worked well together on the trip.