It was a wonderful house and everything was great. I would certainly recommend it. And the price fit the location. So these tips are to fill in the blanks for the next traveler.
LOCATION & ACCESS
* great ski in/out access, but far enough removed that you will spend considerable time if you plan to "stop in" to warm up or have lunch. Best to eat/warm up in a lodge.
* ski out is only served by the gondola, which is awesome, but also the first lift to close when the wind blows. We were lucky to have suburbans to shuttle our group to snowpark base lodge, but would have otherwise been stuck figuring out what to do. No resort shuttle from gondola to other lodge. Evidently, Deer Crest (the community) has a shuttle available? Not sure how convenient or quick or if its is real? Just be prepared.
* deer crest trail map (to house) needs an update. We took an extra right turn near the end, not on map, which caused us to remove skis and cross a street. Our neighbors did that too. Not a big deal though.
* Finally, and the biggest last minute scare for us, was the availability of the deer crest ski trail system. There is no place to learn if the trails are open. We noticed on the rental photos/video that there appears to be snowmaking on the trail system which led us to assume that they would be open. (particularly by late January). We inquired 3 days before departing and were informed they were not open yet. Wow. That sucked. Luckily, they got 15" the day before we arrived. Everything was open. And the ski patrol told us that they had been open "for weeks". Who was right? Dont know. But very concerning when the entire point of staying here was for the ski-in ski-out. Be very aware.
* our beginners (kids) were able to ski all the way, with only a couple of scary spots.
HOUSE
Great House, as advertised, but the photos and descriptions weren't clear on the following things:
*the table seats 10, photo shows 6. Its tight, but accommodates. Plus 4 seats at kitchen bar top.
* the one bedroom downstairs has a detached bathroom that enters through the ski hallway. Inconvenient, but functional.
* the twins into king was very comfortable. In fact all bedding is real comfortable.
* photos show haphazard TV wiring through, so it came as no surprise that some of the electronics didn't work. We weren't there to watch TV, and had our own apple TV for the kids.
* WIFI: its there, but painfully slow. We tried a reboot to no avail, so used our own hotspots.