Purgatory is not so much a mountain as it is the edge of a plateau. Consequently, there are few sustained pitches and a whole bunch of rollers, terrain changes and unique fall lines. It's more like skiing a series of cascades than skiing a mountain face. This is great place to learn as you are forced to stay forward and on top of your skis with all the fall line changes. It's also as beautiful a ski area as you could hope for, surrounded by no less than six mountain ranges within the San Juans of Southwest Colorado. As the crow flies, it's only a few miles from Telluride (as the car drives, it's 2.5 hours) and gets the same storms that hit Wolf Creek too.
Terrain on the back side is a little more consistent and offers some challenges. Trees here are pretty tight due to its southerly location.
Families love Purgatory as it's more affordable than many places but it's not a true destination for the international skier.
Durango is a very fun town roughly 28 miles from the ski area. There are lodging options at the ski area but the base area is small and lacks night life.
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Some of the best value skiing available. Lift tix and lodging are generally 60% the equivalent cost at the larger resorts and piste trails are great for intermediate and weaker advanced riders. We go in late February, and while pow days aren't at all reliable we usually get a couple inches to refresh the conditions roughly 25% of days. Little to no crowds except the main lift on weekends. Bonus is that only about 30min of mountain/winter driving is required to get there.
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Do not utilize ski school at Purgatory! I signed my 4 year old daughter up for 3 days of group ski school. My confirmation said to bring her to Columbine ski area in the morning. Well that is apparently only for kids 7 and up. I actually had to bring her to the main building (complete other side of the resort) for ski school.

Then when I dropped her off, the employee asked if she had ever skied before. I explained yes, she had skied 3 full days last season. When I went to take a peek at her later that afternoon, she (and her oversized class) were just sitting in the snow. They looked like they had been sitting there for a long time. After observing for 20+ minutes, I skied down closer to her and chatted with her a bit. After an instructor noticed that, her class got SOME attention. Still took at least another 15 minutes before my daughter got any attention. Then they only put 1 ski on her. When I inquired at the bottom they said it was what they did with, "never skied before kids". At that point her ski school was almost over for the day. When I went to pick her up, I inquired with an employee (a girl in a white, "thrasher" sweatshirt) why she was placed in that class after I clearly explained her ski experience. The rude, "thrasher girl" said it was because she asked my 4 year old if she had skied before and my daughter said no. First off, I'm the parent and I was clear about her prior experience. Secondly, she's 4. 4 year olds do not always answer correctly. This employee was very rude.

The next day at drop off I explained to another employee what happened the previous day and that she indeed needed to be in a different class- they did put her in the next level. However, I observed a lot the next 2 days- and it it clear my daughter got very little instruction. I bet she skied down the very small hill 5 -7 times a day. That's not much, especially if you are aware of the very small learning area for this age group.

The ski area was very overcrowded for all the kids they had over there and definitely not enough personnel- or enough experienced instructors. There was one older instructor who seemed to know what she was doing and I do appreciate her- although, there were 30+ kids so obviously she can't help them all.

I also witnessed one child, whose ski came off- there was an instructor trying to teach him how to put the ski on- but yet, she said she didn't know how and they were going to, "learn together".... another kid had to tell her how to do it.... what on earth is an instructor doing teaching kids to ski if she doesn't even know how to put a ski on? Even if she was there to teach boarders, she should know the basics if she's going to instruct a skier. She probably did more harm than good with the kids on skis.

Also, the website says they strive to have 1 instructor with a max of 5 kids. Well there were at least 7 to 1 instructor based on a couple pictures I have... but truly, it was probably even worse than that.

I reached out via phone and email (twice) to discuss some of these issues before writing a review, but no one responded. I also was emailed a survey from the resort, of which I took and addressed these same issues- again, no response at all. Clearly, Purgatory has no concern or standards for ski school. Absolutely unacceptable for a ski school. Do NOT entrust your children to develop any skills with this ski school.
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Full transparency: This is my local mountain. So here's the deal... we get more snow than Telluride and less people. Plus the lift tickets are about half what they are at T-ride. Now if you show up on a holiday weekend, you're going to deal with huge liftlines. This is how it is at any resort. But generally, Purg is not a destination-type ski area. Off-holiday, midweek you will have runs all to yourself. And never a liftline! Stay in Durango for the restaurants and nightlife. People love the town's "Old West" feel. The drive is on a well-maintained (mostly) four lane highway.
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The poet Dante informs us that purgatory is an indifferent realm of apparently interminable waiting. This resort strives to earn its name!
After a friend with comp passes flaked on us and we paid full price, we got to wait for one hour and fifty minutes for my son's rental gear. The efficiency of the rental shop was hampered by the vices of its employees, two of whom took cigarette breaks while the rental line wound out the door and down the stairs. Lift lines are similarly lengthy, and the operators similarly indifferent.
At lunch, in an exhausted-looking restaurant called Dante's (get it?!) a wad of humanity swelled through the greasy turnstile and toward the vicinity of the grill. Maybe the patrons of the resort are weary of lines and could not muster the energy to form one.
At the grill, one employee belatedly observed that he ought to cook a few more burgers. There was one burger on the grill and approximately one hundred people hovering in front of him. At 12:47 pm, one of the three beers was already tapped out. Employees at this establishment typified the unique degree of attention to detail and interest in the happiness of customers that distinguishes this resort from any other I have visited.
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Our family of 7 (5 kids ages 18 to 6) visited over Christmas 2014. We were lucky with the snow....over 26 inches fell during our week and a good base had formed before our arrival. We had 2 days of skiing powder and LOVED it!

We stayed at Eolus. The resort is quiet at night which was fine as we were all exhausted from skiing all day. We cooked most of our meals. The eating places are quite pricey as you would expect.

The skiing levels range from beginner kids to experienced adults. EVERYONE had a blast! The ski school was wonderful for the 2 little kids (they loved it). The family lessons for 2 teenagers and mom with Pete was fantastic. The teen snowboarder and Dad had plenty to do. The best part was the older kids felt comfortable taking on the trails on their own and returning to the condo as they wished.

The lift lines were nonexistent even after Christmas (maybe 5/7 minutes for the 6 pack). My husband who is the most experienced said DMR offered enough to keep him challenged and have time with the family. We didn't experience off-piste, but there were quite a few people who were and seemed to be having a good time with the powder. Lots of ski/board tracks seen in the trees.

The family left DMR making plans for our return. A FANTASTIC holiday!!

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As an adult beginning alpine skier, I would have to agree that this resort is probably better suited to beginners and intermediate skiers. I visited this past season with almost no exposure to alpine skiing, though I have skied cross country my entire life. The first day on the slopes was a little intimidating, but by day two I skied some intermediate runs without incident and after three days few of the intermediate runs were overly intimidating.

I skied no expert runs for obvious reasons, but they are a smaller overall proportion of the total runs, so I had plenty to keep me occupied. Some of the lifts are older, but very serviceable, and I felt that the runs were generally well laid out and fun to ski. Also, the instructors at the ski and snowboard school were great. My five year old son was treated very well - he is a quiet kid, but the instructors really drew him out and were very patient and friendly.

I would definitely recommend for beginning and intermediate skiers. The resort has less to offer more seasoned expert level skiers, but they can probably still enjoy some of the more difficult blue runs and the expert runs that are available.
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Pros: perfect for families; very well suited to beginners and intermediates with an abundance of big long cruisers; interesting groomers for strong intermediates; terrain parks and a half-pipe (when it’s been built); cheap accommodation in Durango; good nightlife in Durango; and lots of nearby activities including the very interesting Mesa Verde.

Most of the black runs are generally covered in moguls so this is pro or con depending on your love of bumps.

Cons: limited snowfall; little to entertain experts; minimal tree skiing (the new section is good but more is required); and no alpine terrain.
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