We woke up and got on the road to Keystone a little later than we would have liked.

The drive was really beautiful and I was grateful for our new snow tires. A lot of the parking was full by the time we got there (we should have left at least an hour earlier) but Keystone has great family parking and we got an awesome spot.

We took our time to figure out the lay of the village and picking up Emmy’s season pass. We rode the gondola up to the top to see the learning hill, ice fort and lodge. The fort was still being worked on but that will be fun for future trips.

The views from the top are incredible, Dillion Lake, Ten Mile Range and Breckenridge were all visible on this clear day.

Emmy really liked the hand warmers.

We met some friends that were up skiing as well for lunch and tried to learn as much from them as possible as they have been skiing with their kids for a few years now.

We grabbed our ski gear and went back up the gondola to try skiing for the first time. I have been skiing a few times as a teenager in Oregon but basically remember nothing, Cory has only ever been snow boarding so we were all learning together.

Our friends let us borrow their ski leash and this REALLY helped the kids feel confident and learn without sliding all the way down the mountain.

Emmy was scared to try but with the leash she loved it and can’t wait to go again.

Cannon could go without the leash but it was easier for him to learn technique with it so we will definitely be buying a couple of these.

The kids did great on the magic carpet as well, I on the other hand almost bit it getting off. I did better than I though I would and can’t wait to do longer runs.

The village was super cute and we had the best day, we can’t wait to learn more and see the other side of the resort, we only explored the River Run section today.

If you ski or snowboard where is your favorite resort? We are thinking we might need the full Epic Pass next year so we can visit many more of the resorts.