Bad weather and holiday crowds created the perfect storm of awful traffic Sunday. Here, cars try to merge onto a packed I-70 in Silverthorne. Special to the Summit Daily/Thomas Zieba

Winter has officially arrived in Summit County Colorado this past Saturday and Sunday.   It turned out to be quite the adventure on I-70, especially on Sunday, the end of a Holiday weekend.

I don’t understand why people don’t plan on spending the night on Sunday or leave a day earlier, or plan to come a day earlier.  Why not take that extra vacation day and save your sanity and be safe?  Why not plan to leave on Monday morning early?  I realize people have to work on Monday or go to school, but it is only an hour drive to the West side of Denver when there is no traffic or weather.  Combine traffic, weather, and a Holiday and it spells wasted time on I-70.  Now you are talking a 5-7 hour drive to get back to Denver.    Even if it doesn’t snow, just plan on spending the night or leave at 8am on Sunday.    A regular commute back to Denver on a  Sunday night could take you 2-4 hours without any weather related problems or a Holiday. The reason traffic is so congested is that everyone leaves the various ski areas at the same time, Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mtn. Loveland, Winter Park.  All of these ski areas funnel into I-70.

I-70 did end up closing until 10pm on Sunday night and several of the stranded motorist ended up camping out at the Silverthorne Rec center, which seems to be acting as a Holiday Inn more times that it should. 

 We had quite a winter last year, and even though it seems to be clear in Denver, it is another story in the mountains once the weather moves in.  Combine that with people that have front-wheel drive cars or who have never driven in snow and you end up with multiple accidents.  I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t like to end up in traffic for hours on end after a wonderful weekend in the mountains. 

 I did end up driving to Denver on Monday morning for some appointments and it only took me 1 hr 30 min. This was with snow packed roads and some traffic . So what is the solution?  Why not purchase that mountain condo as an investment, or a rental and a place your family can enjoy.  It will be a better investment than the stock market.  Our prices are stable right now.  Rest assured you won’t be one of the thousands of stranded motorist on I-70. 

 The interest rates are below 6% now.  Why not enjoy life, come to the mountains and have fun, and relax!  Check out my website www.leahbaxter.com or call me 970-389-6367.

Currently, there are 1648 properties on the market in Summit County.  These include Condos, Town Homes, Duplexes and Single Family homes.  The least expensive property is $114,900 which is a modular home, and the most expensive home is a single family home for $5,995,000 in Breckenridge. 

Summit County is still a bargain for a resort area considering that the highest priced property in Vail is $19,200,000 for a little over 6500 square feet.  The highest priced property in Aspen is $60 million dollars!!!  So don’t wait too long to buy your resort property.  Even though our inventory levels are up, the prices are still steady. What happens now that winter is coming, many homeowners will take their properties off of the market and rent them during the winter and then raise the price next spring.  So if you want to get that special piece of property, don’t wait!  Contact Leah at 970-389-6367 or email me at leah@leahbaxter.com. . 

In the quaint mountain town of Frisco, Colorado spring has finally arrived!!!! Frisco is in the center of Summit County and is a wonderful small town with world class restaurants.  The snow if finally melting and I’m sure many of the locals as well as myself are thrilled.  Even though it has been an epic season for skiing and riding and other snow sports, we are definitely ready for biking, hiking, camping, fishing, boating, etc.

On May 17th, the town of Frisco will host the annual town clean up day followed by a BBQ at Walter Byron park.  The Marina Season Opener is scheduled for May 24th at the Frisco Bay.

Frisco is located 1 hr/minutes from the west side of Denver.  It is convenient to Copper Mtn. (5 minutes), Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, and 25 minutes to Vail.  It is a charming town with world class restaurants, local shops, bike paths that will take you all over Summit County, and a great marina to go sailing and boating.

If you are interested in property in Frisco, check out this beautiful duplex that has awesome views of Mt. Royal.  For any more property information in Frisco or Summit County please contact  leah@leahbaxter.com  or search the MLS for free on my website www.leahbaxter.com.