Ski Bum Dream Realized - but where?

 If you want to live on-piste (that is, real close to the mountain) I would suggest a few other places besides summitt county.  If you like Colorado, hands down Telluride is the spot.  I also like Steamboat and Aspen.  I lived in Fraser/Granby (Winter Park/Jane) which was great, just very small town.
Of course Jackson Hole is nice, but expensive and a bit well....
Big Sky is nice, but isolated.
I lived in Sun Valley for four years and that is certainly on-piste if you can handle the culture there.  Talk about hot springs, but they don't call it Snow Valley.
If you could hook up something in Alta or Snowbird on the mountain that would be nice, but it is hard.

What month are you looking at going to play?  You mentioned friends, how important is access?  Do you want lots of ski areas (Tahoe) or just one (Steamboat or Whitefish)?  Do you want gnarl (Jackson Hole) or cruisers (Vail). 

I am very jealous!  Think I'll go to interior of BC and sulk for the winter.

Summitt county colorado, Park City would fit criteria re friends flying in and shuttling to your place. lots of sking at both with free bus trans between resorts.  

+1

Breck now has the Gondola (3rd year?) which lets you go from bus to base of Peak 8 in a snap. Its the best thing that happened to my neighborhood since they added bus service.

I would choose breck myself, but i'm just throwing ideas out there.

you might consider heavenly which has buses to RNO and to the south lake casinos all the time, and talk about your party areas; or you might look into squaw and alpine, giving you 2 resorts and all of Tahoe and seeing what the transporttaion is to RNO. i would think there's something that runs fairly often to RNO.

Yes, you'll love Breckenridge.  Be sure to go to the Breckenridge Brewery, you'll really like it.

I would think $4k - $5k will cover it.  I used to rent my 2 bedroom townhome for $1350 a month, but that wasn't a short-term rental situation.  Find someone with a long-term rental looking to make a few extra $$$ off a short-term deal.  Odd idea - call a realtor and see if they know anyone selling their condo who'd like to make a few $$$ on it before the sale closes.  Even if the condo is on the market, it's doubtful they'd be able to close a deal in 30 days.

My friends/neighbors who run www.vacationtimelodging.com have done a fair number of multi-week/month rentals.  

If you haven't done so already, remember to buy your ski pass by 11/15 to get the best deals 

Hi Kevin,

I spent 7 weeks in Breck last year, Xmas till mid-Feb, and then another week at the end of March.  A couple of notes:

1. Living in Breck itself is really the best option in Summit, but certainly expensive.  I don't think of Silverthorne as being much of a ski town at all, whereas Frisco at least has the main drag which seems to have plenty of restaurants and bars.  Breckenridge on the bus routes is the best.  A buddy spend the season in a Wildernest condo, up above Silverthorne.  It was ok, but not walkable to anything.

2. I had 6 out of 7 powder days during the last week in March.  However, you are not likely to catch that much new snow.  Not a bad thing, but conditions might not be what you were looking for.  It sounds like you have your time period in mind, but it won't be prime conditions.  I guess you know this.

3. Epic pass = no brainer

4. Lots of great food options.  Breck Brewery and Quandry were my preferred post-ski hangouts.  For Food, Downstairs at Erics, Lucha Colorado Cantina.  Quandry has two-for-one burger specials one night a week.  Check the Summit Daily paper (free) for deals on weekdays, lots of good ones

5. Put out an ad on Craigslist with specifically what you are looking for.  I did this, and ended up in a sweet house off Washington St for under market value for 5 of the weeks I was there.  In this economy, people might take the sure thing over the higher rates they might be able to charge on weekends only.

Good luck, I'm jealous (despite doing the same thing last year!)  People out here gave me lots of good suggestions and helped me decide on my trip last year as well.  You'll get a lot of input.

This is well covered in past threads.

You never know what you're going to get in April.  The resorts almost always close with 100% of their terrain open, though that's not always true.  I've had some of my best days in April and some of the worst.  Breck and Copper will do better than Keystone and Vail/Beaver Creek.  A Basin will do even better.  There will almost certainly be dirt patches on the lower parts of the mountain before they close.  March is pretty much a sure thing, and I would recommend planning on skiing March 15th - April 15th.  I'm going to guess Breck's last day will be April 18th this year.

Agree that going after spring break will make finding a rental easier (& cheaper)- especially if you are no longer only thinking of ski in/ski out in Breck.  The other thing that not all rentals will have is a hot tub, but there should be enough choices in April if you are flexible about location. 

I also prefer Frisco to Silverthorne, espeically if you want to walk to go eat.  Silverthorne has some ammenities like the Rec Center & Outlet stores, but it is not nearly as pleasant to walk as Frisco.

For non-skiing visitors, summer is probably the best time to visit, but March/April is not bad as days are getting longer, temps warmer and the snow that does fall tends to melt off the streets & sidewalks quicker.