Don't let anyone fool you, Eldora is rad. Amazing pockets of powder and glades can be accessed from the Corona lift, hike out towards Lost Lake for dope sidecountry. Last season there was one main park and another mini park so regardless of your park rat/gaper-ness level you're right at home. Early season RTD runs one bus (the "N") to/from all day but later in the season they roll a "Special" to support the added bus ridership. It's Five bucks, stinky on the way down and usually filled with obnoxious kids, making headphones worth their weight in gold. It's not super cheap for a day lift ticket but it's 20 miles from Boulder, super low-key and never crowded. They also suffer (benefit) from up-slopes that kick up crazy winds but can dump crap tons of snow when other central Rockies resorts remain untouched. read more

I bought the Rocky Mountain Super Pass this year because my friends did, and since Eldora is the closest option for me, I've been 10 times so far this season. The terrain is decent and there are enough runs to keep me entertained...I enjoy the parks here as well. Now that I've been as much as I have, I'm starting to get a little bored as it's a fairly small mountain and I've seen almost all of the territory available here. Part of the problem is the lack of snow this season, which results in some bare spots and trail/lift closures, but I can't totally hold that against them. That said, I haven't seen any snow making equipment in use since early in the season, you'd think they would want to supplement the weak snowfall that mother nature has provided...perhaps they aren't allowed to or there may be water conservation issues? Not really sure, but that would be my number one suggestion to whoever runs this place. If anyone from management reads this review, the other suggestions I'd make would be to pave the god awful parking lot, add more small/medium features in the parks, get some coin-operated lockers for your customers, and speed up the lifts! I don't think I'd pay $90 for a single day lift ticket here more than a handful of times, if that, so I can see why others give a low rating for that reason. Yes, the lodge is old and the food is "meh", but I'm not trying to hang out in the lodge or get a 5-star dining experience here, my goal is to get as many runs into a day as possible. What elevated my review from a 3 to a 4 star was the attention my best friend received after he had a REALLY bad accident here (hit a patch of ice and lost control, slammed a tree) which resulted in multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured hip, internal bleeding, and other various injuries. The ski patrol and medical personnel did a great job helping him get down the mountain, and providing care until the ambulance arrived. I really appreciated that, they were very helpful and did the best they could with their limited resources and liability issues that I'm sure they deal with. I stopped by the medical area the next time I went to thank them, but I wanted to mention it as I saw a lot of negative reviews related to "customer service". Well, this isn't a service you ever want to need, but it's good to know that they aren't lacking in this department. If you're going to Eldora, the best advice I can give you is: 1.) Check the weather report the night before, their website gives info on how windy things will be along with the snow report, I usually opt to go elsewhere if winds will be any higher than 20mph, 2.) be aware of icy conditions if there hasn't been any recent snow, and 3.) bring a snack so you don't have to waste your money if you get hungry. If you're expecting something on par with Aspen or Vail, you're going to be disappointed...but as another reviewer mentioned, it's much better than most of the stuff I've experienced in the midwest (Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin). read more

I like this place. I've done the 5-mountain and the Copper/Winter Park thing in previous years but decided to try out Eldora this year. Its small compared to the other resorts, but its so close to Boulder that it becomes worth it. I usually have had enough of this place after about 3-4 hours, but I don't feel bad doing a half-day because I can be back at home and on the couch in just 40 minutes. My dog likes that part, too. There are a few pretty good runs through the trees, and during a nice up-slope storm they get blasted with powder. It can get windy, though. read more

This resort is a close to Boulder and Denver. the rates were ok for the value you got. I would go again for a half-day. for a full day, I'd try to get somewhere with more runs. But, we did not do or over do all the runs in a half-day. there were some challenging runs, and some easy enough runs, and some in-between. There were some beginners, and I thought it might be particularly good the first day you try to go all over, and find out that blue is not a darker green, but sometimes you can do it. rentals were ok, and there was not a lot of hassle or confusion (for a counter example, see: winter park) read more

Eldora is a great Small Mountain Resort. It is so close to Denver, Boulder or where I live, Erie. Less then an Hour and you are on the slops and missed all of that I-70 headache. If you have been to some of the fancy ski resorts like Aspen, Breck or Winter Park you might be too much of a snob for this place but if you like to day ski with the family and like well maintain routes, this is the place. This is a great place to learn the basics for a good price. Then you can head to one of the fancy resorts and really use what they have instead of staying on the bunny hills for what you pay for. You will get great instruction and in small groups. Eat a small meal at the lodge and stop in Nederland on your way home. I personally love Kathmandu Restaurant. read more

Review of Eldora Nordic Center: They have never been the best in the Rockies, but were at least a decent, limited terrain xc area. Don't know if it's new operators of the nordic center, or just the main resort decided they would put the least effort possible into the area? Very shoddy grooming (when they occasionally groom); off camber and multiple rough sections of trails. They have limited kilometers to begin with, but have decided to only groom about a third of what they have, yet they are as pricey as any nordic area in the state, with far less to offer. Beyond disappointing. Would never recommend this area, unless they get their act together. read more

This place is great! Such an awesome experience. Ok, so yes, there are other resorts that some may feel are nicer or more luxurious or something but I can't think of anything else I needed. I should preface this by saying I am a beginner and so I didn't see the point in spending a lot more money for routes I wasn't going to take anyway. Eldora has so much to offer. There are of course the slopes themselves which vary a lot in difficulty and scenery, which is great. They also have a restaurant on the property. Lots of parking which was easy to get in and out of and no charge for parking or anything. The rental process for our boards was simple and quick. There is plenty of staff around to help with everything from gearing up to helping you when you eat it out on the snow to little tips to avoid eating it out on the snow. They do offer lessons and I'm sure they're great but the help the staff provides just out and about is honestly enough if you just want to mess around out there for a weekend or something. Rental gear: we did snowboarding so for our rentals we got the boots and the board. Skiers got the skies, boots and poles. Nothing else is included so if you want helmet, gloves, goggles or sunglasses, bring them or they do have some for purchase. They do not require helmets on this resort. They have a store there with pants and tops and glasses and of course your souvenir type things. This place is so much fun and you cannot beat the view! Great staff and location. read more

As mentioned before Eldora has some issues. Old, slow lifts Short runs Windy Crappiest of food Poor cafeteria accommodations Pave that parking lot! Extra star for not needing to use I70 read more

Neal and Linda are great bartenders. They had a party of 100 and still managed to take great care of us. However, the ski services kind of sucked and the sent me out to the mountain without checking that the boots fit into my bindings. This was my sixth time at a resort, I'm by no means a complete rookie or expert. I was recommended this place by family friends in Florida and it's definitely more for locals with their own equipment. read more

I was disappointed with Eldora. I'm a beginner and came in from out of town. I bought a half day lift ticket for $80 and went out to the bunny slopes, which is my happy place. The main slope I intended to ride was closed. There was a conveyer-belt type lift I rode once and it was no fun at all. I'm not confident to ride anything larger and decided I'd be happier waiting out in the lack-luster lodge. I requested a refund since the lift was closed and they said it was my fault for not checking the website to make sure it was open. Apparently that's a regular thing to them and I don't know how I was supposed to know that. I've been to a handful others in my lifetime and they've always had a bunny lift open. They put little effort into providing customer service and didn't care that I was displeased or that I spent $80 for one conveyer lift. I feel scammed. read more

So the locals do not want to let everyone else in on Eldora. If you want to day ski this is the place for your family. Short lines...great runs...if you hate the I 70 drive and love day skiing this place is for you... If you want lodging and night skiing this is not the place for you! read more

Eldora is a beautiful ski hill for us locals, and for the majority of the time a great experience. The only problem I had was when I got my day lift pass. I was misinformed that my freshman pass had days at Eldora, and while this was not the case the women who handled the situation treated me very poorly. Her way to handle business left a bad taste for Eldora, and I do not fee like going back anytime soon. I never write yelp reviews, but I am so disappointed in this situation this will be my first. Skiing is a sport filled with sweet people, and attitude like the one I witnessed with my friends the other day was astonishing. read more

I like this place. but it could be better. this place is great for beginners or people in boulder looking for a quick ski day ( or maybe half day without the i70 traffic) its a fun mountain, especially to people use to skiing out east. but it doesn't have any above the tree line runs and it is too low in the foot hills to really compete with most of the Colorado resorts. there's plenty of learner terrain and extreme double black gladed runs but i think this place lacks intermediate and single black diamond terrain compared to other ski areas. this is the only ski area that public transit will get you too from anywhere in the Denver metro area. so if your vacationing in Denver and want to ride the bus to a ski area this place may work out great for you. also pack a lunch as food is expensive here. read more

This was a great place. The equipment and lift ticket deal was a great bargain. Everyone was so helpful getting the equipment. The runs were nicely groomed. The lift operators were really on top of helping anyone who fell or needed help. They kept the lifts running smoothly. We're definitely planning a trip back. Highly recommend skiing here. read more

Ninety-four bones for an adult lift ticket? Really? What happened to the local, family ski hill in Hippieville? Who do these asshats think they are, Aspen Skiing Co? Gimme a break. Loveland offers much better terrain at a reasonable price. Take 119 to I-70 and save the xtra $$ for cheaper beer at the Rathskeller after your runs. Geez, another Boulder-area institution turned theme-park for the entitled. read more

Ah, the land of massive parking lot mud puddles and ancient facilities... Nonetheless, I've skied here off an on for several years, purely because it's a half hour away. But it's just such a mickey mouse operation. We have Epic passes, and since Eldora has been saying since last year that the Epic pass is accepted there this season, I thought I'd just go up with the kids to get a few quick runs in today. At the first line our passes weren't accepted. "Sorry sir, you have to go to the ticket office and show THEM your Epic pass and then they will give you an Eldora day pass." Um, ok. So Eldora doesn't actually accept the Epic pass. They just let you use it as currency to get an Eldora pass. I go to the lower ticket office and hand the guy our three passes. Blank stare. Then he stares at the three pastic cards for a bit. "Sir, I don't recognize these. Are these old passes?" "No, I used them last week in Vail." "Well, sir, I'm going to have to call Vail Resorts to validate them." "You what?" "But, the issue I have here is I can only dial a local number so you'll have to go to the upper ticket office and have them do it." "But I have my kids down here and they're little and that's a long walk and..." I gave up and walked off. Eventually we make our way to the other office. They take the passes, 10 minutes pass, and they come back to tell me that they can't validate them. Reminder: these passes work fine an ANY Vail-owned property. They blame Vail Resorts and not themselves. I'm with my kids and am exasperated but my younger one is tired of the charade by this point so I chalk up the outcome as whatever was supposed to happen: we shouldn't have bothered to come here in the first place! We have Epic passes! Eldora really is a pathetically run place. Although I agree with another reviewer that the Nordic center is pretty good, hence 2 stars and not 1. read more

Came here for a school event and its safe to say that I won't ever be going back. Yes, it's nice not to battle the I70 traffic but the small, crappy, packed runs are just not worth it. In addition, the Ski Patrol seems to be a collection of people who are... Uhh... compensating for something (if you get my drift) Save your money and head up to the big resorts. It's definitely worth it. read more

Present management is getting a bit greedy. Our local mountain for many years has done away with happy hour in the Corona Bar. Bad play. We meet friends and family most Sunday's for hh after a day on the slopes. Eldora you are turning away the locals who love you... read more

This review is for the kid's Trek program. I can't recommend it. Although the teachers are super, and the day to day folks running the program are nice if very disorganized, the class size is getting larger. Their policy of no make-up days even when the mountain is closed is a travesty. This year (2015) they closed the mountain on Sunday due to high wind and trees down (although by no means a unique weather event.) Honestly I got the impression they decided to close the mountain was because everyone wanted to go watch the playoff game and the Director of Programs (JP Chavelier) said as much. I probably talked to JP for over an hour the first time trying to convince him that it was in his best interest to try to make amends for the canceled program, but the best they would do was a 1/2 price voucher for a day lesson. He explained this was 'industry practice.' Well, look online, and you'll quickly find Winter Park will reschedule if the pass is closed (and that also probably means if they can't start lifts do to high winds). JP said 'this will happen again' and also said next time they won't be handing out vouchers. I suspect he knows it will happen again as they aren't properly taking care of their forests in order to save costs (they clearly and cutting costs everywhere they can) and wind will cause it unsafe to ski there. So, if you don't mind paying higher prices than Winter park (7 week program, so although the total is slightly higher, the per-lesson is quite a bit less) for larger class size and the risk that you won't get one of the 6 lessons, then go for it. Otherwise go somewhere else. We'll be going to winter park were the skiing is better for us, and if the lessons are canceled at least they will reschedule, and not just say 'Sorry!' Eldora is clearly NOT the local's mountains. It's the 'how much money can we make this season' mountain. read more

I'm rating this as a beginner. Wait. I'm rating this as a first-time skier who single-handedly had the most painful terrifying experience of her life to date. Now, admittedly my experience would probably have been as dreadful at any resort. However, skiing in treacherously icy conditions added to the experience. The resort itself offers only two beginner slopes so my options were limited to suck incredibly bad on few hills. My companions who are intermediate skiers/snowboarders weren't impressed with the variety of slopes either. Either incredibly easy or incredibly hard. The lodge was a bit run down and predictably expensive to a ridiculous degree. All I know is that currently everything hurts on my body from the experience and Eldora or some better high-class resort like Vail won't be drawing my ass back on the mountain. read more

Eldora is a small mountain that is within reasonable distance from Denver, CO. As beginners, my husband and I had a great time when we visited during the week day and were excited to revisit. My recommendation is to AVOID ON HOLIDAYS: they were over capacity on Saturday MLK weekend and had to close entry to all visitors by 10AM. read more

Eldora is a slum. Their tagline is, "Friends don't let friends drive I70." Drive I70. The price is the same and everything else is much, much better. Unless you are a Day One beginner, there are 3 lifts serving about 6 runs and their tributaries. This costs you the same as a Three Mountain Pass to ski Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. Actually, it is even less than that because the runs are extremely short (a couple of minutes to descend) and have long flats on them that reduce your ski fun accordingly. And it is even less than less than that because the lifts are achingly slow. In addition, they slow or even stop the lifts many times each time you ride them. This is incredibly frustrating, much worse than the traffic on I70! But wait! There's more. Oftentimes, they shut one or even two of the only three lifts they have. This is often due to wind. High lifts on the Three Mountains also often close due to wind, but there are still plenty more to go at. Not at Eldora. And then they shut one or more of the only six runs they have, too. This is usually for racing. God bless the racers and all that, but I set out for a ski day at Eldora and find, without refund of any portion of my lift ticket price, that they have shut me out of chunks of the mountain! Other mountains also often shut one or two runs - but you have tens of runs still available. So, you can find yourself with a full price day or season pass with one or two of the three lifts closed and, on top of that, one of the remaining runs out of the total six closed, leaving you a small subset of the anyway short and flat runs to choose from, after an excruciating ride to the top on the slow and intermittent remaining lift. Absolutely not worth it. So, the skiing is terrible. But worse, the place is a slum. Some of that would take a small amount of the money raked in from gullible Boulderites to fix, eg surfacing the parking lot so that I don't have to trudge through mud to get back to my car, and have the kids smudge it all over the trunk and back seat. But some of it would be almost costless. For example, the doors on the toilet stalls often don't bolt closed. Some bolts are mounted upside down (so they close by twisting left), and the toilet roll is mounted such that you can't sit straight on the seat. There are potholes outside the restrooms - what would it take to fill them in with a bit of tar, or a half bag of cement? The lodge is 1950's cafeteria style without the ensuing 60 years of maintenance. Cheap, cold, uncomfortable and unfriendly. The rows of dormitory tables with attached backless seats are uncomfortable and even then are inadequate for the number of people coming in at lunchtime. There are no hooks to hang gear on, so everything gets muddy and wet underfoot on the floor. And the lodge is cold. The staff prop open both sides of the swing doors at both sides of the airlock. I mentioned to a staffer that a permanent draft of cold air entering the building and warm air leaving was energy inefficient. He laughed at me. Energy? C'mon, Boulderites: Yes, Energy! Besides which, it is drafty and uncomfortable. Everybody sits perched on their little bench stools in their coats. Only helmets/masks and gloves come off. If you got cold outside, you can't warm up in the lodge. Remember that for all the crappy skiing, slummy facilities and same price as Three Mountain, a teeny portion of fries costs $4.50 and coffee almost $3.00. Shameless. Skip it. Go somewhere else. read more

Eldora is pretty darn good. Takes me an hour to get there from stepping out the door in Denver, to the parking lot at Eldora. The pass office is on Broadway and Canyon (I think), so you can easily stop and get a pass on the way up. This place is a total locals area, lots of telemarkers and snowboarders, not too many trails, but with good quality. It can be super windy sometimes, but don't let that stop you. If you go during the week there will be almost zero wait for a lift and wide open runs. I go to Eldora to tide me over until I have time and $ to go to Winterpark-Mary Jane. PS They have a whole big Nordic area too. PPS Get a season pass if you're local. It's cheap and well worth it if you go more than 4 or 5 times in the season. read more

I am disappointed in our experience at Eldora Mountain. We are beginners and drove over an hour there and paid almost 400 dollars for lessons. We began our lesson by sidestepping up hill for too long of a journey to began the beginners slopes. I was exhausted by the time I got there and my ski boots were not fitting properly. I have taken ski lesson before in New York and this was a major disappointment and very costly. The instructor was nice but not very in depth about skiing. Unfortunately my husband had such a bad experience he will not ski again. Eldora Mountain needs to place the beginners class closer to the lodge and remember we are beginners...never again and not recommended for older adults.... read more

Raising the price of the lift tickets with no improvements to infrastructure and ski runs. Will not be back.

Skiing was not bad, but office staff SO RUDE that we'll never go back. "Stephanie" gave us so much attitude that we asked to speak to a manager. Claimed she was the manager! Just awful. There are lots of other choices for skiing. read more

It was my family's first time to ski and while the front counter girl was pretty condescending, the entire experience was great. The employees who fitted our boots and skis were very polite and friendly. The lift employees were all friendly. The resort was very nice overall and I want to go back again. read more

As someone who had never cross-country skied or snowshoed before, this was a great place for an introduction to both. The terrain wasn't too difficult for a beginner, but it also had some more challenging areas as I learned and picked up the speed. The trails in the Nordic area were well marked and mapped out, so it was easy to keep track of where we were and where we wanted to go. I'm not sure how enjoyable this place would be for people with more experience, but this was a great place for a first time go at x-country skiing and snowshoeing! read more

Terrible opening day! They refused to honor my military discount, (even though I had one last season and this season was already purchased) front desk staff didn't know how to do anything because they were training and overall attitude was poor. read more

PATHETIC CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! I would want to give -stars if possible. I booked a skiing lessons this January. The address and the receipt said to come to Indian Peaks Lodge. There was no street resort or anything provided. We put Indian Peaks Lodge in google maps and ended up going to a totally different remote location which was 3 hours from Denver. Hence missed our lessons. We consistently called them to reschedule it but no one picked up the phone. We were present in Denver for one more day, so we could have rescheduled for the next day but no one, absolutely no one picked up the call for 2 days. Left infinite number of voice mails but no one got back. Finally after a week when I was back in my home state of California, I could reach to a representative that said sorry its our policy that we cannot refund the money. I feel there policy is more to harass the tourists who decide to choose El Dora Resort for their ski lessons. Absolutely pathetic service and being in hospitality business I don't think this is how they should operate. My advice is if you are traveling to Denver, PLEASE DONT GO TO EL DORA MOUNTAIN RESORT. read more

Close, no I-70 hassles, and decent runs (if too few). Eldora is no major resort, but what it lacks in size and amenities it makes up for with a big heart. Friendly staff and instructors are always willing to help. Yes, it can be windy and icy, but often it will get some upslope powder while Summit County gets none. Take it for what it is and leave grand expectations at the door and just enjoy some local BoCo skiing/ boarding. Plus the bar has one of the best local microbrew beer selections around :-) read more

No automated kiosks and not adequately staffed to sell lift tickets. Wasting over an hour in line getting tickets and I'm still not even close to the counter. read more

A crapshoot. If you live in the Boulder/Ned area and can afford the season pass, go for it. When I was nurse at BCH I would head up alone before work on a weekday with my pass and if the snow was decent, man, you couldn't go wrong - close, nice folks, decent terrain for a pinhead like me... easy to ski frequently. It's what got my tellie-turns to the next level. Problem is snow is not consistent these days in that snow shadow. Best combo is to have a season pass at Eldora and Winter Park for the long days with friends.. read more

If you are staying in Boulder CO, and just want to make lots and lots of runs on some interesting...and perhaps challenging (tho' short) runs, this is the only game in town. I skied on weekdays; there were no lines. Turned down the opportunity to drive (2.5 hrs each way) to Vail, and instead skied nonstop from 9am to 3pm. No regrets. read more

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Eldora! Their classes for kids are AWESOME. Each season we put our child in ski school they have a super fun and pumped up teacher who she adores. Then there is the added benefit of her abilities excellerating. We have an awesome ski kid now! The terrain has been expanded to have lots of new runs and lifts. That means more fun for parents while the kiddo is in class. There are two restaurants now and both have standard mountain food. Convienence to Boulder and that this mountain is on our Rocky Mountain Super Pass means we will be coming here for years to come. read more

Poor management and customer service, particularly increasing parking from free to $20 mid season

We arrived right as it opened at 9:00 and then proceeded to wait in over two solid hours of lines. Everything seemed completely disorganized and the signage was either missing or confusing. My wife skis and I board. The easy trails were very easy, but packed, so there was a lot of dodging and weaving. The blue runs that looked like fun on the trail map were closed. The trails on the big side of the hill were not bad. All of them that we tried went from challenging to boredom to challenging, which was kind of nice because you get a breather mid-way down. They were also pretty crowded. We went to Eldora instead of Vail or Breckenridge because we had just one day and wanted someplace close to Denver and relatively cheep. Eldora fit the bill, but next time I'll happily spend the extra time on the road and $20 per lift ticket to go to one of the big hills. read more

We signed up for Eldorables five week program for my son. Program seemed a little unorganized. The instructors were nice but not as attentive as I would have liked for the whole group. We had to miss a class because my husband broke his ankle and could not drive my son up there. They we completely inflexible!!! They would not allow us to reschedule the class. I spoke to two mangers begging and pleading because my son loved it but they would not budge at all. It was very disappointing. Since we live in Boulder- we planned on having both our toddlers learn to ski there but we won't be back. Their lack of customer service and just all around poor attitudes in the management office is enough to keep us away. If you have small children and may need a little unforeseen flexibility due to sickness or any circumstance this is not your program. We did Shreddders in Boulder and they are the complete opposite- totally awesome and family friendly!!! read more

My rating here is medium because it is an average of a good and bad experience. Yesterday, I spent a great day at the resort. I arrived early, got my rental equipment, and everything was fantastic. Today, a different story. I only wanted to do a half day, so I arrived about 11:00. I figured the rental line might be long, and I am ok with that, but when I finally got to fitting skis, I discovered there were no rental skis, helmets, or poles in my size. By this time, I was well past the start time for a half day lift ticket, which I was not allowed to buy at 12:10 when I got to the front of the line, because you could not buy them until 12:20, even thought we would not get our rentals by that time. Additionally, there was no rental baskets available to store my things for the day, so I would have had to leave my bag in the cafeteria unattended. After a wait for the manager, I did receive a refund, and all staff were attentive to my concerns. I appreciate that. All this is to say that, yes, you can have a good experience here, but in my view the resort does not do enough to accommodate half-day skiers. If the business wishes to offer a service to its customers, it should be prepared to provide its value as advertised. read more

Their Nordic Center is incredible. Super friendly staff, great rentals and amazingly beautiful terrain for classic or skate XC. I even ran into a moose on the trail. read more