Living in Winter Park Reality

Everyone always talks about how amazing it is to live in the mountains and they see the photos on instagram of people skiiing in fresh powder or hiking in the summer wildflowers and they think wow that must be paridise but let me tell you it is not always what it seems. Living in Winter Park Colorado sucks in a lot of ways that people dont really talk about untill they move here and get stuck in a lease they cant afford. I want to be real with you about the culture and the high prices because it can be tough man and it really wears you down after a while.

When you first get here you have those rose colored glasses on and everything looks beautiful the mountains are huge and the air smells like pine trees but then you go to the grocery store and realize that a gallon of milk costs way more than it should and the produce looks like it fell off the truck three days ago. The cost of living in Winter Park is honestly insulting and i dont know how regular people who work regular jobs are supposed to survive here without having three roomates or working three differnt jobs just to make ends meet. It feels like you are paying a premium just to breathe the air and honestly the air is pretty thin so you arent even getting fully oxygenated for the price you are paying.

The Housing Nightmare is Real

Lets talk about housing because that is probaly the number one reason why living here sucks so much. Finding a place to live is like a competative sport where the losers end up sleeping in their cars or couch surfing for months on end. If you are lucky enough to find a place the rent is going to be astronomically high and the place is probally going to be a dump that hasnt been updated since the 1980s. Landlords know they have the upper hand because demand is so high so they charge whatever they want and they dont fix anything because they know if you leave there are ten other people lined up behind you begging to pay too much for a place with drafty windows and a heating system that barely works.

It is heartbreaking to see locals who have lived here for years getting pushed out because their landlord decided to turn their long term rental into a short term vacation rental to make more money off the tourists. The town says they are trying to fix it but it feels like nothing ever really changes and the workforce housing is impossibel to get into because the waitlists are miles long. So you end up living in a house with four other people and you have zero privacy and you are all fighting over who gets to use the kitchen or the one bathroom and it just feels like you are back in college except you are thirty years old and just want to come home after a hard day of work and relax but you cant.

Here is a little breakdown of what it feels like trying to spend money here versus a normal place.

And speaking of buying things lets talk about the shopping options or should I say the lack of options because there is basically nowhere to shop unless you want to buy expensive ski gear or tourist trinkets. If you need normal stuff like socks or underwear or cheap home goods you have to drive all the way down to Denver which is a huge pain especially in the winter when the roads are bad. You cant just pop over to a target or a walmart because they dont exist up here so you are forced to pay the inflated prices at the local shops or order everything online and hope it actually gets delivered because shipping to the mountains is a whole other nightmare where packages just disapear into the void sometimes.

The Culture is Kinda Wierd

Now about the culture because this is something that really gets to me and makes living here tough. Winter Park has this weird vibe where there is a huge divide between the locals and the tourists and even among the locals there are differnt cliques that are hard to break into. You have the super wealthy people who own second homes here and only come up for a few weeks a year and they drive up the prices and act like they own the town but they dont contribute anything to the actual community. Then you have the seasonal workers who are here to party and ski and they dont really care about the long term health of the town because they are leaving in five months anyway.

The dating scene is absolutly terrible and everyone says the odds are good but the goods are odd and let me tell you that saying is famous for a reason. Because it is such a small town everyone knows everyone elses buisness and if you go on a date with someone chances are they have already dated three of your friends or coworkers. There is no privacy and it can feel really suffocating when you just want to live your life without everyone knowing what you did last friday night.

Also there is this underlying attitude of “localism” where people who have lived here for five years look down on people who have lived here for two years and everyone hates the tourists even though the tourists are the only reason anyone has a job. It creates a really toxic enviroment sometimes where you feel like you have to prove you are “mountain enough” to belong here. If you arent skiing double black diamonds or hiking 14ers every weekend people look at you like why are you even here and it puts a lot of pressure on you to constantly be doing epic stuff when sometimes you just want to sit on your couch and watch netflix.

The Tourist Invasion

The weekends are a nightmare because the town gets flooded with people from the front range and out of state and suddently you cant go anywhere or do anything without waiting in line. The traffic is insane and the grocery store is wiped out and the restaraunts have two hour wait times. You start to dread fridays because you know the chaos is coming and you basically have to hide in your house untill sunday night when everyone leaves. It creates this cycle where you love the quiet weekdays but you hate the weekends and it makes it hard to actually enjoy the ammenities of the town that you are paying so much to live near.

The tourists also dont know how to drive in the snow which makes the roads dangerous and stressful. You see people sliding all over the place or blocking intersections because they dont know where they are going and it takes twice as long to get anywhere. I know we need their money to keep the town running but it is really hard to not get annoyed when you are just trying to get to work and you are stuck behind a line of cars going twenty miles per hour under the speed limit because they are scared of a little snow on the road.

The Weather Grinds You Down

People think they love winter until they have to live in it for eight months straight and deal with the realities of the cold and the dark. Winter Park is known for being colder than a lot of other ski resorts and the wind can be brutal. There are days where you walk outside and the air literally hurts your face and you question why anyone would voluntarily live in a place where the enviroment is trying to kill you.

• The Wind - It never stops blowing and it chills you to the bone no matter how many layers you wear.
• The Darkness - In the middle of winter it gets dark at like 4:30 pm and it feels like the day is over before it even started which is super depressing.
• The Snow Removal - Shoveling is not a fun workout it is a back breaking chore that you have to do constantly just to get out of your driveway.
• The Mud Season - When the snow finally melts everything turns into a disgusting mud pit and your car is filthy and your dog is filthy and your house is filthy.

Seasonal affective disorder is a very real thing here and a lot of people struggle with their mental health because of the long winters and the isolation. It is easy to start drinking too much or partying too much just to cope with the bordem and the darkness and that is a trap that a lot of people fall into. The “peter pan” syndrome is real where people refuse to grow up and they just want to ski and party forever but eventually that lifestyle catches up with you and you look around and realize you have no savings and no career path and you are just aging in a ski town while your friends in the real world are buying houses and having families.

Transportation and Isolation

Getting around is another huge headache because public transportation exists but it isnt always reliable or convinient. If you dont have a car you are kinda screwed but having a car is expensive because the gas is pricey and the wear and tear from the harsh weather and the salt on the roads destroys your vehicle way faster than normal. And lets talk about Berthoud Pass because that stretch of road is the bane of my existance. It is the main way in and out of town towards Denver and it closes all the time whenever there is a big storm or an avalanche or a wreck.

When the pass closes you are literaly trapped in the valley and you cant get out and nobody can get in. If you had a flight to catch or a doctors appointment in the city or just wanted to go see a concert you are out of luck. That feeling of isolation can be really scary especially if there is an emergency. Even when the pass is open it is a stressful drive with steep drop offs and switchbacks and crazy drivers and I have seen so many accidents up there that it makes me nervous every time I have to drive it.

If you are trying to run a business or just get to work reliable transportation is key and that is where companies like Winter Wagon come into play because dealing with the driving yourself is just a massive stressor. But even with shuttles available the infrastructure of the town just struggles to handle the volume of people and the weather conditions. The roads are full of potholes that could swallow a small car and they never seem to get fixed properly they just patch them up and they break open again the next winter.

Dining and Nightlife is Mediocre

If you consider yourself a foodie you are going to be severly dissapointed living here because the food scene is pretty sad. There are a few decent spots but mostly it is overpriced bar food or mediocre pizza and because of the staffing shortages the service is usually slow and not great. You end up paying fine dining prices for food that would be considered average at best in a city like Denver or Chicago. After a while you get so sick of eating at the same five places that you just stop going out altogether and cook at home which is fine but sometimes you want a nice meal out and it just isnt available.

The nightlife is pretty much non existant unless you like sitting in a dive bar drinking cheap beer with the same ten people every night. There are no clubs or cool lounges or music venues that get big acts so if you want entertainment you are pretty much limited to local cover bands or trivia nights. It gets boring really fast and you start to feel like you are missing out on the culture and excitement of living in a real city.

Is It Worth It?

I guess that is the big question everyone asks is if the skiing and the views are worth all the hassle and the expense and the weird culture. For some people maybe it is worth it if they are absolutly obsessed with skiing and dont care about anything else but for a lot of us the shine wears off pretty quick. You start to resent the high prices and the rude tourists and the freezing cold and you wonder why you are working so hard just to scrape by in a town that doesnt really care about you.

The reality of living in Winter Park is that it is a struggle and it takes a toll on you mentally and financialy. It is not the winter wonderland that the marketing brochures sell you it is a hard place to live with a lot of challenges that most people arent prepared for. If you have a ton of money and can afford a nice house and dont have to work a local job then maybe it is great but for the average person it is a grind.

You really have to ask yourself if you are okay with having roomates in your thirties and eating ramen noodles so you can afford your ski pass and dealing with the drama of a small town where everyone is in everyone elses business. It is a tough trade off and honestly a lot of people burn out after a season or two and move back to the city where life is a little bit easier and a lot cheaper.

So yeah Winter Park sucks to live in mainly because the culture is tough and the prices are insane and unless you are rich or willing to sacrifice your comfort and your financial future it is a hard place to make a life. The mountains are beautiful sure but you cant eat the scenery and eventually the view just isnt enough to make up for all the other crap you have to deal with on a daily basis.

There is also this feeling of being transient that never goes away because so many people come and go that it is hard to make deep lasting friendships. You make a friend and then six months later they move away because they cant afford rent anymore or they get sick of the winter and you have to start all over again. It makes you put up walls and stop trying to connect with people because you know they probably wont be here next year anyway.

And dont even get me started on the healthcare situtation because if you get seriously sick or injured you basically have to go to Denver because the local medical facilities are limited. It is scary to think that if something bad happens you are an hour and a half away from a major hospital assuming the pass is open. It adds another layer of stress to living here that you dont really think about untill you need it.

The job market is also pretty limited unless you want to work in hospitality or tourism or construction. There arent a lot of professional jobs that pay a living wage so a lot of people are underemployed or working jobs they are overqualified for just to stay in the mountains. It can be demoralizing to have a degree and be washing dishes or bumping chairs just to pay rent on a room in a basement that has mold issues.

I dont want to sound totally negative because there are moments that are cool like when you catch a perfect sunrise over the divide or you have a powder day with your friends but those moments are getting harder to enjoy when you are stressed about money and dealing with all the other headaches of living here. The town is changing and it feels like it is losing its soul a little bit to the developers and the big corporations and the regular locals are getting left behind.

So if you are thinking about moving to Winter Park just know what you are getting into. It is not a vacation it is real life and real life up here is harder and more expensive than almost anywhere else. You need to have thick skin and a full wallet and a lot of patience to make it work and even then you might decide that it just sucks too much to stay.