Complete guide to keystone ski resort, colorado

This video will help you have the best experience skiing or snowboarding at Keystone Resort in Colorado. With over 3,000 skiable acres and 139 trails, it can be a little overwhelming at first, but watching this video will give you a huge advantage for finding your way around Keystone and choosing where to spend your time. Hi, we're Jake and Emily, the Two Roaming Souls. We make helpful guides about the world's best destinations. We've lived in Colorado mountain towns for years and have plenty of experience skiing at Keystone. There's no way I could possibly cover it all in one video, so I'll provide a general overview highlighting some of my favorite runs or areas to ski, as well as helpful tips for finding the best snow conditions and avoiding common bottlenecks. I think Keystone has a reputation for being more of a beginner friendly mountain with their abundance of wide groomed runs and some of the best views you'll ever find on a bunny slope. But even as an expert skier, there's still plenty that I love about Keystone, especially their excellent tree skiing and bowl skiing. But where you ski at Keystone may depend heavily on your ability, lift lines, weather, and more. Before we start, here's a few helpful things to know for your visit. Keystone Resort is on the Epic Pass, so you'll need to purchase an Epic Season Pass or Day Passes to ski or ride here. Admittedly, day tickets here are crazy expensive, especially when purchased day of, but the Epic Season Pass continues to be a really great value and purchasing in advance is the best way to save money. A very helpful resource is the MyEpic app. It provides real-time data about lift lines, weather, grooming, and you can also check your stats. You can see what lifts are currently open or make decisions about where to ski based on lift lines or grooming, so it's a helpful tool to know about. There are trail maps at the top and bottom of pretty much every lift and on some chairlifts, but those don't have the same kind of live updates that only the app can provide. All ski resorts use a trail rating system for explaining the relative difficulty of the terrain, and they are green circles, blue squares, black diamonds, double black diamonds, etc. These color-coded shapes are an easy way to choose terrain that suits your ability level, and if you need ski or snowboard rentals for your visit, SkiButlers makes the process super convenient. Instead of waiting in line at a ski shop, they'll bring the gear right to your accommodation, giving you more time to relax and enjoy your vacation, and their competitive prices include delivery, pickup, and any slopeside support you need during your stay. But don't just take our word for it. SkiButlers has customer satisfaction rates among the highest in the entire service industry. Use our link or tell them that Two Roaming Souls sent you to take 10% off your entire order when you book ahead, and then you'll know you got your ski rentals already handled. How to begin your day at Keystone Resort. Keystone has two main base areas to access the resort, River Run Village and Mountain House. How you access the resort will depend on a few factors, like where you want to ski, if you booked accommodation in town, or if you're just driving to Keystone for the day. If you plan on driving to Keystone and need parking, the primary free parking lot is the River Run Gondola Lot, and don't miss the preferred upfront parking if you're traveling with kids 12 and under or have four or more people in your car. The other base area, Mountain House, has three lots. Mountain House West is a paid lot that is the closest to the Mountain House Kids Ski School, and the Mountain House East Lots are free, with close access to the Peru Express Lift. When all those lots get full, the overflow parking lots are North Parking Lot and Powerline, both offering a free shuttle. But parking information can change, so visit the Keystone website for the most up-to-date parking information. There are lots of options for getting to Keystone without a car, and that's basically what I would recommend for most people if you're flying to Denver. The Denver International Airport is one and a half hours away. The primary interstate in Colorado, I-70, goes practically right past Keystone, making it pretty straightforward to get here, well at least when the roads are free of snow. There are various shuttles, taxis, and buses that can get you to Keystone from the airport, and given the potentially dangerous road conditions, often it's better to just leave the driving up to someone else. Summit Express is our preferred local shuttle company that can take you from the airport right to your accommodation. Once you arrive, Keystone has an excellent free bus service to help you get around, with a very pedestrian-friendly village. And Summit Stage is the free county bus network that services all of Summit County, like Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco, Breckenridge, and more. Hey, if you're finding this video helpful, give it a like to help our channel grow. Thanks! Every ski day at Keystone begins on the front side. It's generally known for mostly groomed runs, but also some mogul runs, pockets of tree skiing, and the terrain park. River Run is the primary base area of Keystone, and really the epicenter of the resort town. It's where the larger parking lot is, and the majority of shops, restaurants, and hotels. To get to the lifts, it's about a 10-minute walk through the village. River Run has two parallel lifts, the River Run Gondola and the Summit Express Quad Chair. Both lifts take you to the summit of Durkham Mountain, which provides access to nearly all of the front side, and also some of the back. The River Run Gondola loads right at the edge of the village, but the Summit Express Chair loads about 500 feet away on the other side of the river. Unless there's a huge line at the gondola, most people just take that to begin their day. But to avoid a line, sometimes it's worth walking the short distance to load the Summit Express Chair. For beginners, there's a learning area at the summit with a magic carpet for true beginners, children, or anyone just learning how to keep their balance. And when you're feeling comfortable, the adjacent ranger chairlift is perfect for incrementally taking on slightly longer runs. What's so great about this learning area is that even though you might just be learning, you can still get some of the best views of Keystone. You can see Breckenridge in the distance, and loads of other stoic mountain peaks. And if you don't get to the point of feeling comfortable skiing all the way back down to the base area, you can just download the gondola. If you are comfortable skiing to the base, School Marm is the primary beginner's run that meanders all the way back down, and it splits into a few other green circles along the way. As for blue squares, nearly this entire area is all groomed blue squares, except for a few short pitches rated as black diamond. So for intermediate skiers and snowboarders, it's a great place to start. If you want to get a bunch of laps in on the front side, you can ride the Montezuma Express Chair, which helps you avoid going back to the potentially longer lines at the base area. The secondary base area of Keystone is called Mountain House. It's the less busy base area, with some lodges and accommodation, but not much for shops and restaurants. But what I love about these parking lots is that they kind of have that old-school, park-right-at-the-base-of-the-lifts vibe, as opposed to the heated sidewalks and fancy shops of River Run Village. If you get one of the closer spots, you can practically park right up to the snow. Here you'll find the Mountain House Ski School, with a learning area for beginners. There's magic carpets and the short Discovery Lift, but otherwise the main chairlift here, Peru Express, mainly services the terrain parks and a handful of black diamond runs. But it also has access to the middle lower half of the front side. And Area 51 is one of the best terrain parks in the state, with a good variety of rails, jumps, spines, and other creative features. The size of the park features generally get larger the farther a skier is left to go, and the dedicated Area 51 double chair makes it super easy to lap the park over and over. And if you're looking for top-to-bottom black diamond runs on the front side, they're only found here adjacent to the park. They have some pretty steep terrain, but in my experience, being so close to the base, they don't often have enough snow to be skiing really well. My only complaint about Peru Express, and the Mountain House side in general, is that if you want to ski the back side of Keystone, you need to take two lifts to get there. So personally, if I'm rushing to chase fresh powder in the back, I'll probably start over at River Run. One unique thing to Keystone is that it's one of the few resorts in Colorado that offers night skiing, and it's included with the regular day passes or season passes. But night skiing only tickets are available for purchase as well. Right when the normal ski day ends at 4pm, night skiing continues from 4pm to 7pm. So if you want, you can just keep on going on Colorado's longest ski day. The River Run Gondola is the only lift open for night skiing, but that still gives you over 2,000 feet of vert on some of the best blues and greens on the front side. Plus, the gondola helps you stay warm between runs. But night skiing is only offered on weekends plus some holidays, so check the website for exact dates and times. Okay, now let's move on to the back side of Keystone. The four main areas in the back of Keystone are the back of Durkan Mountain, North Peak, Bergman Bowl, and the Outback. From the summit of Durkan Mountain, Mozart is the only blue square for accessing the back. So for beginners and intermediates, it's really the only option for skiing to the back, which I'm sure is what prompted the construction of the Outpost Gondola, an unconventional lift that just traverses from peak to peak, allowing anyone to access the back of Keystone regardless of ability level. But Mozart's role as the single blue square to reach the back makes it one of the most crowded runs at Keystone, and when it combines into Lower Prospector, it just funneled so many people onto one run. So you'll definitely want to be extra mindful of other people on this trail. For more advanced skiers and riders, you luckily have a few more options for getting to the back. The two black diamond runs are Diamondback and Mineshaft. Otherwise, there's some tighter tree skiing in between those runs, or other trees over here in Lower Windows and Snake Pit. And above that is even more great tree skiing. I think most people just refer to this whole area as Windows, though there are a bunch of loosely defined trail names in here. But mostly it's all hike terrain, so you gotta work for it. It's listed as one mile of hiking along a groomed cat track, but after the first steep pitch it flattens out a bit, so you can click back in and skate if you prefer. But really, you don't even need to hike the whole mile. You can drop in earlier and still find some great snow in the trees. And pro tip, if you carry some speed under the Outpost Gondola, you can make it quite a ways in before you need to switch to hiking. Or you can just drop in wherever you run out of speed and avoid hiking altogether. And there's just so much great tree skiing in here. And coupled with the hiking, it's definitely one of the best powder stashes at Keystone. North Peak. This area is serviced by the Santiago High Speed Quad. North Peak has lots of black diamond runs, from groomers to mogul runs, and some tree skiing. Typically the runs on the northern side are a little more defined cut runs with tighter trees in between, where the south side is less defined runs and less dense trees with more rugged terrain. This is the best area on the mountain for top to bottom mogul runs, if that's your thing. Since most of North Peak is black diamond runs, if you're a beginner or an intermediate, you should stick to the greens and blues on the sides and avoid the middle. But personally, I think beginners and intermediates would have much more fun just heading up to the Bergman Express Lift. This is Keystone's newest lift, which opens up a ton of new lift access terrain that was previously only accessible via hiking. The Bergman Bowl is an excellent mix of high alpine bowl skiing and tree skiing, and its mellower slope makes it the perfect place for intermediates to enjoy some above treeline bowl skiing. And even beginners can try out the Bergman Lift, taking the easy 10 mile run along the ridge. And don't worry, it's not actually 10 miles. I think it just refers to the views of the 10 mile mountain range on the horizon. And remember, taking the Outpost Gondola is the best way for beginners to get to Timber Ridge and then the Bergman Lift. From the top of Bergman Express, if you're looking for some steeper, more advanced terrain, you can venture into Independence Bowl and Erikson Bowl. Independence Bowl has no lift at the bottom, so don't ski here unless you're prepared to hike out. But the much more accessible bowl is Erikson Bowl, which is probably the most extreme terrain at Keystone. It's got really steep pitch and several scattered cliffs that make excellent jumps in the right conditions. Silver Heels, right down the gut, is my favorite spot because of the rock features. There's also some nice tree skiing at the edges of the bowl, but most of the far right side requires a little hiking or skating to get there. And one thing to know about Erikson Bowl is that once you drop in, you can't get back to the Bergman Lift. You are committing to going down to the Outback or Wayback Chairs, which is the next area to talk about. The Outback is the farthest out region of the resort, and aside from the drainage of the Erikson Bowl, the main way for intermediates to get here is the Spillway, Anticipation, and Foxtrot. And similar to Mozart's Roll One Peak Over, the Spillway shares a similar fate as a potentially overcrowded main connector for getting to the Outback, especially towards the bottom when all the runs have converged onto a single trail. And sorry beginners, there's nothing rated easy out here, so work on leveling up your skills before venturing into the Outback. But going to the Outback is a worthy destination for intermediate and above skiers and riders, and it's so far from the front side that it rarely gets too busy out here. Intermediates will love the collection of blue groomers here, and there are some sparse trees at the edges that are great for building your confidence in the but without having to fully commit to an entire run of trees. My favorite blue here is Porcupine. Dropping down the sides of the Outback, you'll find some awesome black diamonds, from mogul runs to tree skiing and an occasional groomer. And then up above the Outback chair is North and South Bowl, my absolute favorite terrain at Keystone. It's hike 2 access only, and closes at 1pm, so you'll need to get there somewhat early. As you can see, the hiking access goes about a mile up to near the summit of Wapiti Peak, and then another 1.25 miles out to the farthest reaches of North Bowl. But in my experience, it's not really necessary to work that hard, and the terrain is less steep out there. I guess if you're really hunting for some leftover untouched snow, you'll probably find it out there, but I much prefer this terrain here and here. It's steeper and doesn't actually require that much hiking. The trees and steep narrow runs over here tend to have the best powder conditions anywhere on the mountain, and then Bingo and Puma Bowl are my favorite bowl skiing at Keystone. But just know that both of these areas are kind of short runs before long runouts to get back to the lift, so that's the tradeoff. And there's definitely an argument to be made for just enjoying longer runs more towards the front face of the Outback as long as the snow is still good, and then as that gets skied off, working your way into more of the hiking terrain. Once you're finished up at the Outback, you need to take the aptly named Wayback Chair, since it's the only way back to the rest of the resort. But in the modern era where practically everything is high speed lifts, the Wayback Chair feels painfully slow. So if I do venture to the Outback, I just make sure I'm committed to take at least a couple laps back there to make it worth my time. Probably exaggerating a little bit, but just ask other people who ski Keystone and they'll probably tell you the same thing about the Wayback Chair. Okay, now that you've got a complete overview of Keystone, here's a helpful tip about finding the best snow conditions, and that is that the direction a slope faces can have really profound effects on the snow quality. Keystone has many slopes that face southwest and get lots of sun exposure, leading to thinner coverage, dense snow, or crusty conditions after an overnight freeze. So just be aware of that fact when skiing any southwest facing areas that aren't shaded by trees. It's not necessarily an issue during cold and snowy weather patterns, but definitely noticeable during extended sunny stretches and early and late in the season. So if that's the case, you'll likely find better snow conditions on any of the north facing slopes and in the trees. Okay, so I know I've covered a ton of information, so here's a quick recap. For true beginners, I recommend taking the River Run Gondola and practicing your skills at the learning area at the top of Durkheim Mountain. You just can't beat these views for a bunny slope, or you can start at the learning area at the Mountain House Base instead. And once you're comfortable skiing runs top to bottom, the best greens are here. Or you can take the Outpost Gondola over to Timber Ridge and check out the few green runs over here. For intermediates, my favorite pot of blue squares on the front side are all the way skiers right. And then in the back, try Bergman Bowl for some above tree line adventure that still has mellower slope and few hazards. And if you have the time, go to the outback for this section of blue squares here. For advanced skiers and snowboarders, my favorite tree skiing is here in the windows area and also out here in the outback. And my favorite for steep and challenging bowl skiing is Ericsson Bowl and South Bowl. Lodges and on-mountain dining. If you're looking for food, water fountains, or restrooms in the backside, your only options are the Lodge at Timber Ridge and Le Bons at the bottom of Ruby and Santiago. Timber Ridge has a nice interior fireplace and a huge deck with views with a large variety of food and drinks. Le Bons has much less indoor seating, but really it's all about their patio. There's tons of chairs on the snow and it's just a great place to enjoy a beer and watch some skiers and snowboarders come down the mountain. And the barbecue at Le Bons is surprisingly good for on-mountain dining. If you're near the front side, the Summit House Lodge also has food too, but personally I would recommend just going back into River Run Village for food. For our favorite restaurants, apres spots, and other fun things to do in Keystone besides skiing, check out our Keystone Top 10 video linked in the top right and in the description below. And there you'll also find our 10% discount with SkiButlers to have your ski equipment rentals conveniently delivered and picked up right from your accommodation. And if you're curious how Keystone compares to mountains like Breckenridge or Vail, check out our other guides linked in the description. Be sure to like and subscribe and we'll catch you on the next one!