Weekend skiing options for newbie to front range?

I've been to Colorado couple times during winter, for skiing, before I moved here for job. (actually waited until I can get a job here hehe). I live just north of Denver and was wondering which resorts you would recommend for one or two day - skiing trip every or every other weekend. I'm not very good at skiing (intermediate-ish) and I want to ramp up my skiing a lot with group lessons beginning this winter.

The reason I ask this is that I heard I-70 turns into parking lot during winter as well as the availability of seasonal pass deals with different ski resort companies. My friend who is a HUGE ski nut told me to go for the Vail/Brackenridge/Keystone epic pass but the bigger resorts seem to be farther away from here.

What are your opinions?

I ski at Loveland. Cheaper, on this side of the tunnel, free parking, just an all around good locals joint.

IME, Loveland is ok.. not really that exciting for beginners (maybe "ok" for skiiers, but not snowboarding)

A-basin really sucks*.. just a few miles past Loveland with lots of varied terrain, more greens for the beginners than Loveland.


Cooper, WP are pretty good places for beginners.. Eldora might be, they've added lots of new terrain since I was there years ago.


There are passes at each of the resorts, but you'll get a better deal if you hit the slopes more often. Check out the Colorado Pass and the Epic pass.






*I have an A-basin season pass, so the less people who discover this place, the better [Muaha]

Eldora is a great place for begginers, its cheap and pretty close, and you miss most of the I-70 mess, but there are way better places when you get good or even half decent like me.

The beauty of living in the front range; here are the ski areas within 1.5 hours of my house:
Ski Cooper
Copper
A-basin
Loveland
Breckenridge
Keystone
Vail
Beaver Creek
Arrowhead
Eldora
Winter Park

There's probably a few more I've forgotten. While I like Copper the best, I can't pass up the Colorado Pass - unlimited skiing at A-Basin, Keystone, Breckenridge, and 10 days at Vail or Beaver Creek.