Tell me about Glenwood Springs

There is a 50/50 chance the Fischer clan may be moving to Glenwood Springs, Co.  I would be interested in patrolling at a mountain.  Do the larger resorts have volunteer patrols?  Anyone ski Sunlight?  Where is a good place to live?

Sunlight is a really pleasant place to ski. Beautiful 360° panoramic view from the top of the main lift. Not near the madhouse that the Aspen resorts are. Don't know much about the real estate situation there, but I understand Carbondale is growing rapidly.

Glenwood is awesome.  You can't go wrong. 

Sunlight is right there and an undiscovered jewel.  You have the hot springs, Glenwood canyon, easy access to Vail (50ish miles) or Aspen (40ish miles).  You would want to stay there as it is one of the cheaper places in the area to live.  I go shopping in Glenwood because it is too expensive in Aspen. 

Glenwood is just a normal town amidst all the insanity that is rocky mountain resorts.

Sunlight does have a volunteer patrol. I am not sure on the specifics though. I just know an army of them show up on Saturdays and Sundays and track up my nice corduroy before the guests. There are also volunteers during the week.

I would say Sunlight is awesome but I am biased because I run the terrain park and groom there. You will have to get past our small resort feel. No high speed lifts, but the crowds are almost non-existent. Good powder can be found for days after a storm. I love working there because of the size, every employee knows everyone.

Glenwood, personally I am not all that impressed. The place shuts down at 6pm every night, there is little to no night life. There are a couple bars but nothing all that great. This could be said for every town in this valley. It is not a cheap place, Aspen's prices easily flow down valley. Gas is hovering around $3 a gallon right now. I am sure if I drove 40-50 miles in either direction on I-70 prices would drop at least 30-40 cents a gallon. Glenwood has a Target, Walmart, Lowes, and Staples. Any other kind of shopping other than little specialty stores will require a trip to Grand Junction or Denver.

Places to live, the further from Aspen the cheaper. Rent and housing prices have started to drop but can still be outrageous. I have not checked in awhile but one bedroom condos where all $300,000+ in Glenwood. New Castle(west on I-70 ~10 miles) has a few decent neighborhoods with slightly better housing prices.

If you are an outdoors person there is all kinds of things to do. Lots of hiking, decent mountain biking, 4 wheeling, rafting, good fishing, and camping. The weather in Glenwood is a good mix. The town itself stays fairly warm and typically does not get much snow. The summers can get hot with temps hitting triple digits(no humidity) but not as hot as Denver. This week it has been upper 80's where I am but dropping to the low 50's at night, Glenwood being down valley from me was probably 5-10 degrees warmer. In the middle of winter if you want to get away from the snow a short drive to Fruita or Moab can do the trick. Or like today I was up skiing south of Aspen.

Thanks for the input.

With 6 kids, night life is not important.  I have plenty of distractions at home.

Surprised the real estate prices are still high.  Looks like we may have to do some shopping around.

The valley is feeling the recession but this valley is also know for being very recession proof.