The easiest way to
Plan better.
Ride more.
Compare resorts, prices, and conditions across every Colorado mountain in one place. Save time, money, and stress.
🎲 Got a budget? Build a sample trip.
Tell us your budget and we'll generate real Colorado trips that fit — mountain, hotel, rentals & transport. No account needed.
❄️ Checking live snow conditions across all 10 resorts…
⛷️
Loading season status…
The 15 tabs you usually open
All of it. One screen.
Nothing left in a browser tab.
Nothing left in a browser tab.
Live Snow Reports
Real-time snowfall, temperature, wind, and 7-day forecasts for all 10 resorts ranked by powder quality.
Check Conditions →
Complete Resort Guides
Trail maps, lift tickets, lesson pricing, rental shops, lodging, dining, and transport — all in one place.
Explore All 10 Resorts →
Epic vs Ikon Breakdown
Side-by-side pass comparison with a cost-per-day calculator. Know exactly which pass saves you money.
Compare Passes →
Budget Calculator
Enter your group size, skill level, and days on the mountain to get a full cost estimate before you book.
Calculate My Trip →
Ski Concierge
Answer 6 questions and get a fully personalized trip plan — lodging, dining, activities, and day-by-day schedule.
Build My Trip →
Resort Comparisons
Compare terrain, acreage, vertical drop, lifts, pricing, and crowd levels across any two resorts in seconds.
Compare Resorts →
Explore PowderBeacon
💡
Insider Tips
Crowd secrets, best value weeks, when to book, and local knowledge from Colorado skiing insiders.
Read Tips →
🎒
Packing List
Never forget your goggle case again. Our interactive checklist customizes to your trip length and conditions.
Get Checklist →
🎿
Lesson Pricing
Private vs group, first-timer packages, kids' programs — full pricing guide across all resorts.
See Pricing →
🏔️
About PowderBeacon
Built for skiers and snowboarders who want the best days on the mountain without the research headache.
Our Story →
Real trips, rerouted
The difference between a good day and the best day
"Found out Steamboat had 14 inches in the last 48 hours while Vail had nothing. Rerouted the whole trip. Best powder day of my life."
"The Ski Concierge built our entire family trip in 2 minutes — 4 days, 2 kids, specific budget. Restaurant suggestions were all perfect."
"Saved $340 using the budget calculator before booking. Showed me advance tickets vs window pricing difference — obvious but I never thought to check."
📲
Get the powder alert before everyone else does
The best days start with a text at 6am: "Steamboat got 11 inches overnight." Join the early-access list and be first to know when your mountains light up.
No spam. Powder alerts only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Quick Access
Resort Guides
Tickets, trail maps, lodging & transport for all 10 mountains
Budget Calculator
Estimate your full trip cost — tickets, lodging, food & more
Packing List
Custom gear checklist by trip length — free for everyone
Ski Concierge PRO
Personalized day-by-day trip planner with dining & activities
4-Resort Compare PRO
Side-by-side stats, pricing & terrain breakdown
Find an Instructor SOON
Coming soon — a vetted instructor network
Our Mission
To empower every skier and snowboarder with the tools they need to plan unforgettable Colorado adventures—effortlessly.
WE DO THE HARD WORK, SO YOU CAN ENJOY THE RIDE.
🔍
Research Simplified
Compare resorts, conditions, lodging, and costs all in one place.
📅
Plan With Confidence
Get AI-powered recommendations tailored to your dates, budget, and style.
💰
Save Time & Money
Find the best deals, avoid peak crowds, and make the most of every trip.
🏔️
Focus on What Matters
We handle the details so you can focus on what really matters: the mountain.
About PowderBeacon
Making Ski Trip Planning Easy.
PowderBeacon was built for skiers and snowboarders who want the best days on the mountain without the stress of endless research.
Our goal is simple: to make it the easiest way to research and plan a ski or snowboard trip to Colorado.
10
Colorado Resorts
Free
Always Free Tools
AI
Powered Itinerary
1
Place for Everything
BETTER PLANNING.
BETTER TRIPS.
BETTER TRIPS.
Mountain Guide
Top 10 Colorado Ski Resorts
Select a resort to explore tickets, trail maps, lessons, lodging, and transportation.
Live Conditions
Powder Finder
All 10 Colorado resorts, side-by-side — temps, snowfall, 7-day forecast, wind, and first-chair timing. Updated live via Open-Meteo.
Live Resort Comparison
❄️ Pulling live conditions for all 10 resorts…
🛣️ Mountain Corridor Conditions
CDOT Live
Road closures, chain laws, and traffic cameras change fast in storms. These jump straight to CDOT's live view for each corridor — check before you leave.
I-70 Mountain Corridor
Vail, Breck, Keystone, Copper, A-Basin, Aspen access
US-40 / Berthoud & Rabbit Ears
Winter Park & Steamboat access
US-550 San Juan Skyway
Telluride & Crested Butte access
All CDOT Traffic Cameras
Live highway cams statewide
Chain Law Info
When and where traction laws apply
CAIC Avalanche Forecast
Backcountry & highway avalanche danger
❄️
Get the powder alert before everyone else does
The best days start with a text at 6am: "Steamboat got 11 inches overnight." Join the early-access list and be first to know when your mountains light up.
No spam. Powder alerts only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Side-by-Side
Compare Resorts
Pick 2 resorts to compare free. Pro unlocks 4-resort comparison with full stats.
Select 2 Resorts
Select 2 resorts above to see a side-by-side comparison.
⭐ Upgrade to Pro — compare up to 4 resorts with full terrain breakdown
Trip Planner
Budget Calculator
Estimate your full trip cost — all fields update the total instantly.
Trip Cost Estimator
Adjust any field — totals update instantly
Age 13+
Age 5–12 (discounted tickets)
Per room/unit
Estimated Trip Cost
Select a resort to see your estimate—
* Estimates based on typical prices. Always verify with resort websites.
Ski & Snowboard School
Lesson Types & Pricing
What each lesson type covers, and what it costs at every Colorado resort.
How resort pricing works. Colorado resorts price lessons dynamically — the same private lesson costs more over the holidays than on a midweek powder day in January. Rates for the 2026-27 season open for booking in September. Figures below are what each resort has published; anything unpublished links straight to their booking page.
Free Feature
Custom Packing List
Pick your resort and dates for weather-smart recommendations, or just select trip length for a standard checklist.
Colorado Ski Trip Packing List
Progress saves in your browser
🌦️ Weather-Smart Packing Uses historical data
Select your resort and travel dates — we'll pull 5 years of historical weather for those exact dates and tailor your gear list.
Pick your arrival first.
Insider Knowledge
PowderBeacon Picks
Curated advice for every type of skier — from first-timers to powder chasers.
Best for Beginners
Start at Copper — Naturally Zoned
Copper Mountain's terrain naturally separates ability levels. Beginners never accidentally end up on a black diamond. Union Creek is the best-designed learning zone in Colorado.
Copper Mountain · Summit County
Expert Terrain
Telluride's Gold Hill Chutes
Hike to Gold Hill's north-facing chutes after a storm for untracked powder. The remoteness keeps crowds away — bring a partner and always check conditions.
Telluride · San Juan Mountains
Best for Families
Keystone's Adventure Point
Colorado's largest night skiing plus a family zone at the top of the gondola. Kidtopia bundles lessons, lunch, and lift tickets in one easy booking.
Keystone · Summit County
Best Value Play
Book Epic/Ikon 30+ Days Out
Advance Epic Day Pass prices can be 60–70% cheaper than walk-up. Set a reminder the moment you book your trip — savings are real.
All Epic & Ikon Resorts · Statewide
Timing Tip
January Weekdays = Empty Mountains
Mid-January weekdays are the sweet spot: holiday crowds gone, snowpack solid, prices down. Avoid MLK weekend — among the busiest of the season.
All Colorado Resorts
Gear Tip
Rent Boots at a Local Shop
A local ski shop in town will spend 20 minutes fitting you properly, often for the same price as the resort. Your feet will thank you on day 2.
Summit County, Steamboat, Telluride
In Development
PowderBeacon Mobile App
The full trip experience in your pocket — from pre-trip planning to real-time on-mountain conditions.
📱 Live Weather Preview
LIVE NOW
❄️ Loading…
This is exactly the live data the mobile app will show on launch — already powered by real-time conditions today.
Coming Soon
Driving Conditions
I-70 chain laws, road closures, and pass conditions before you leave.
Coming Soon
Trip Reminders
Smart push alerts: pack by this date, leave by this time, rental pickup.
Coming Soon
Lift Status
Real-time open/closed status and crowd level estimates by zone.
Coming Soon
Live Trail Maps
Interactive maps with grooming status and user-reported conditions.
Coming Soon
Group Coordination
Share itineraries and meet-up points with your ski group in-app.
Get notified at launch
Early access for waitlist members.
🔒 No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
🎫 Season Pass Guide
Epic vs Ikon vs Indy — Which Pass Is Right for You?
Side-by-side breakdown of all three major Colorado ski passes. Enter your ski days to see exact cost-per-day savings.
💰 Cost-Per-Day Calculator
🤔 Epic vs Ikon vs Indy — Which Is Right for You?
Epic Pass
from $909
✓Vail or Breckenridge is your home mountain
✓Want Park City, Whistler, or Beaver Creek
✓Want Crested Butte included
✓Prefer the lower base price
✓Ski 5+ days at Epic Colorado resorts
✗No Steamboat, A-Basin, or Aspen
Ikon Pass
from $699
✓Steamboat or Winter Park is home base
✓Plan Aspen, Telluride, or Jackson Hole
✓Want Copper, A-Basin, and Winter Park
✓Also ski Mammoth, Deer Valley, or Utah
✓Want the most Colorado Ikon resorts
✗Aspen/Telluride capped at 5 days
Indy Pass
from $299
✓Budget-conscious skier (under $300)
✓Ski 2–4 days per season at indie resorts
✓Want to try smaller, less-crowded hills
✓Flexible schedule, willing to explore
✓Perfect add-on to a job or lift ticket
✗No Vail, Breck, Steamboat, or Aspen
💡 The real math: Epic and Ikon break even at 3–4 days (~$300/day window pricing). At 8+ days you save $500–800. The Indy Pass breaks even in just 2 days and is the best value for casual skiers who don't need the major resort brands.
Welcome back! ⛷️
Colorado's 2026–27 ski season is quickly approaching.
0
Trip Plans
0
Itineraries
0
Comparisons
10
CO Resorts
Plan a Trip
Save dates, resort, budget & notes
Build Itinerary
Day-by-day planner — $25/season add-on
Compare 4 Resorts
Full side-by-side breakdown
Recent Trips
No trips planned yet. Start by creating your first trip!
Planning
My Trip Plans
Save, organize, and revisit all your Colorado ski trips.
No trips saved yet.
Saved
My Trip Itinerary
Everything you told us, plus the day-by-day plan we built from it.
🎿 PowderBeacon Concierge
Your Personal Ski Concierge
Answer a few questions and we'll build a fully personalized ski trip — resort recommendation, day-by-day schedule, dining, lodging, and activities tailored to you.
Pro Feature
4-Resort Comparison
Compare up to 4 Colorado resorts side-by-side — terrain, pricing, and difficulty breakdown.
Select Resorts to Compare
Click any slot to choose a mountain
Saved Comparisons
No saved comparisons yet.
Join the Directory
List Yourself as an Instructor
Get in front of skiers and riders planning trips to your mountain.
PowderBeacon helps people plan Colorado ski trips — and one of the things they look for is a great instructor. Add yourself to our instructor directory so travelers searching your resort can find you by discipline and skill level.
Fill out the form below and our team will review your submission and add you to the directory. Your contact email stays private — it's only used to connect interested skiers with you, and is never shown publicly.
🔒 Your email is kept private and only used to connect you with interested skiers.
Pro Feature
Find an Instructor
Browse certified ski and snowboard instructors by mountain, specialty, and skill level.
Coming Soon
We're building a vetted network of PSIA- and AASI-certified instructors you can browse and book by mountain, discipline, and level. It isn't live yet — check back soon.
🚧 In development
Settings
My Account
Manage your profile, preferences, and membership.
⭐ Pro Member
Profile
Ski Preferences
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Expert
Age 13+
Age 5–12
These become your defaults on Trip Plans and the Budget Calculator — you can still adjust them per trip.
★ My Favorites
Saved spots, grouped by resort
🗓️ My Trip Itinerary
🎓 Saved Instructors
No saved instructors yet. Save one from Find an Instructor.
Admin Only
Admin Panel
Manage users, instructors, and monitor platform activity.
—
Registered Users
—
Pro Subscribers
—
Revenue
—
Total Trips
—
Active Sessions
📈 Website Traffic
—
Visitors today
—
Pageviews today
—
Visitors · 7 days
—
Visitors · 30 days
—
Total pageviews
Pageviews · last 14 days
Pages · last 30 days (visitors don't include you)
| Page | Pageviews | Visitors |
|---|---|---|
| — | ||
Recent Activity
Registered Users
| User | Plan | Paid / Start | Expires | Active | Skill | Trips | Joined | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading… | |||||||||
⭐ Paid Subscribers
| User | Status | Expires | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading… | ||||
📧 Waitlist Signups
| List | Name | Joined | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading… | |||
💳 Payment History
| Date | Amount | Status | For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No payments recorded yet. | ||||
💰 Payments & Notifications (v2 · itinerary price)
Connect Stripe to accept payments. Get your keys at dashboard.stripe.com → Developers → API keys, create a recurring Price for your Pro plan and a Price for the Itinerary purchase, and add a webhook pointing to
/webhook.php. Leaving the secret/webhook blank keeps any previously-saved value.
Email notifications (sent from your cPanel domain mail):
📝 Instructor Signups
Public submissions from
/new-instructor. Review each, then Add it to the directory or Dismiss it.| Name | Resort | Type / Level | Bio | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | |||||
🎿 Instructor Directory
| Name | Resort | Type | Level | Actions |
|---|
Lesson pricing
Resorts price lessons by date and publish each season's rates in September. Enter what a resort has published; leave blank to show “Not published” with a link to their booking page. Untick Offered for lesson types a resort doesn't run.
Powder Alert — simulate
The home-page alert only fires when a resort genuinely reports 6"+ in 24 hours, so it stays hidden outside of storm cycles. Use these to preview it. You can also open the site with
?powder=alert or ?powder=day.
Mountain Report — base depth & lifts open
These are daily operational figures no weather feed provides — enter what each resort is reporting. Blank fields show as “—” with a link to the official report. Entries older than 36 hours are flagged as stale.
ResortBase (in)Lifts openUpdated
🚧 Maintenance Mode
When ON, visitors see a "down for maintenance" screen and can't use the app. You (admin) keep full access, so you can keep working while it's on. Turn it off to bring the site back.
Plans
Free vs Pro Account
Everything on PowderBeacon that's free to browse, and what a Pro Account adds.
Free
Browse without an account
No sign-up, no card, nothing to create
✓
Resort guides10 Colorado mountains — terrain, tickets, and trail maps
✓
Powder FinderLive snow totals and conditions, updated daily
✓
Compare 2 resortsSide-by-side on the numbers that matter
✓
Budget calculatorEstimate the real cost of your trip
✓
Lesson & pass pricingWhat lessons and season passes actually cost
✓
Food & ActivitiesTop-rated spots near every resort
✓
Packing list & insider tipsFree to use, nothing to sign up for
Recommended
Pro Account
$50per season
Everything in Free, plus:
✓
Trip PlannerAnswer 5 questions, get your best-matched resort with a full breakdown of why — plus four ranked alternatives
✓
Save your favoritesStar restaurants and activities, kept on your profile and grouped by resort
✓
Compare 4 resorts at onceFull side-by-side on terrain, price, lifts and conditions
✓
Saved trip plansBuild and revisit as many trips as you like
✓
Your dashboardTrips, favorites and preferences in one place
•
Find an instructor Coming soonA vetted network of certified instructors, browsable by mountain, discipline and level
✓
Saved preferencesGroup size, gear and lesson choices carry across the app
✓
Trip Itinerary +$25/season add-onDay-by-day schedule built around your flights, rentals, lessons and saved spots — with a reservation sheet you can download
$50 covers the full season. Already have a Pro Account? Sign in
Why a Pro Account?
Accounts on PowderBeacon are Pro accounts — they exist to hold your trips, favorites and preferences. Everything else on the site stays free to browse without one. One season, one price, no per-trip fees.
Try the Trip Planner
Build a Sample Trip
Give us a budget and a couple of details — we'll pull real hotels and randomize a couple of trips that fit.
This is a quick taste of PowderBeacon's Pro Trip Planner. Enter your budget, trip length and group size, tell us if you want lessons and rentals, and we'll generate two example Colorado trips — mountain, hotel, rentals and transportation — that come in under budget. Like one? Save it straight to your Trip Planner.
Pro Planning
Trip Planner
Answer a few questions and we'll match you to the right Colorado resorts, with lodging, dining and activity picks.
Step 1 of 5
Your dates, group, gear and lessons
This sets the foundation — we'll match resorts to your group size, rental needs and lesson plans.
Pick your arrival date first.
Age 13+
Age 12 and under
What would you like to do next?
Already know where you're going? Add your details. Not sure yet? Let us help you narrow down a mountain.
What's your ski or snowboard level?
If you're bringing a group, choose the level of your least experienced skier — we'll build the trip around keeping everyone happy on the mountain.
What kind of terrain gets you excited?
Pick everything that applies — we'll use this to match you with the right resort and build your daily run suggestions.
What's your total trip budget?
Per person, including lodging, lift tickets, food, and activities. We'll tailor every recommendation to fit.
Also pickNightly lodging budget
Sets which hotels we recommend — per room, per night. Optional, but it sharpens the lodging picks.
What's the vibe of this trip?
This shapes your dining suggestions, après picks, and off-mountain activities.
Eat & Drink
Where to Eat & Drink
Pick a meal and we'll show you a handful of spots — hit Refresh for a new set, or see the full list.
Resort
When are you eating?
Listings come from our live directory and are refreshed regularly. Hours and availability vary by season — call ahead during shoulder season.
Eat & Drink
Full list
Off the Slopes
Things to Do Off the Mountain
Pick a resort and we'll show you a handful of things to do — hit Refresh for a new set, or see the full list.
Resort
Listings come from our live directory and are refreshed regularly. Hours and days vary by season — always confirm before you drive out, especially for trailheads and outdoor operators.
Off the Slopes
Full list
Where to Stay
Lodging
A couple of picks in each price tier — hit Refresh for new options, or explore the full list.
Resort
Listings come from our live directory and are refreshed regularly. Nightly rates are starting estimates and vary by season and availability — confirm with the property before booking.
Where to Stay
All Lodging
Gear Up
Rentals
POWDERBEACON
PLAN BETTER. SKI MORE.
COLORADO SKI TRIP PLANNER
Resort Guide
Compare Resorts
Budget Calculator
Packing List
About
⭐ Go Pro
© 2025 PowderBeacon · powderbeacon.com · Colorado Ski Trip Planning