Is it safe to drive from Denver westbound on I-70 in winter?

No worries. You will have zero issues. Even heading up through Frazier to Winter Park on the more severe switchbacks is easy. Colorado has mastered winter snow removal. Just watch your speed going up and down the hill.

You shouldn’t have an issue. CDOT does a good job of keeping the interstates drivable as skiing is a money maker for the state and people must be able to get there.

We flew into Denver and drove to Breck last winter.
No issues whatsoever, even with the local Forumla 1 drivers.

Now the road our AirBnB was on is a different story. So if you're renting a property outside of town you might ask the property owners about their location.

First of all, like everyone says, you'll be fine. People have to get around using normalish cars all over the mountains during winter. If theres a bad storm then travel is restricted in a few stretches for several hrs until they get the roads cleared. Traffic is bad on the interstate Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons.

All that said, if you're just going to Breck to ski then you should take a shuttle from the airport. Once youre there, you can walk most places and then if its further than you want to walk, theres plenty of uber. Why stress yourself out doing something that youre clearly nervous about.

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Are the chain on tires sign meant only for 18 wheelers? Recently drove from Denver to Winter Park this summer and could not imagine taking those turns going up and down with the roads frozen.

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Yeah, chains are required for truckers but not for passenger vehicles. For passenger vehicles, they enacted a law a few years ago where you must either have >50% tread life on your tires or have winter tires. If you are involved in an accident and dont have this then you are liable and are fined in addition.

The fact is that unless it just snowed or is snowing, the roads are very good if driving during the day and you dont drive like an idiot. Good maintanence, asphalt and sunlight. 4wd and snow tires are often just peace of mind.

For the most part I agree you will be fine, however there are always exceptions.

My last trip went like this. Rented a nice, 4WD SUV from DEN. Traffic through Denver was horrendous but that was to be expected. Then when we hit the mountains the fog was so intense we never saw a mountain for 30 miles. Everyone was going slow so it wasn't the end of the world but still sucked.

Real pain was driving back to airport from ski resort. Left early in the morning and all was well at the ski resort. We get a few miles onto 70 and we hit a blizzard. To DOTD's credit they were working like hell to make the road drivable but it was white knuckle for over an hour. The pass is no joke to the inexperienced. I was going 30 mph and sometimes it felt like I was going 100. More than likely will just fly into Eagle from now on.

So, uh, getting a tad nervous with the news of the avalanche on I-70. We’re going next week but are taking a shuttle. Just hope they get that situation under control.

I’ve been living here 8 years and that’s the first time I can remember there being avalanches on 70. Berthoud Pass closes from time to time so they can do avalanche mitigation. You’re fine, you are coming here to ski you want these big snows.

We have been in a drought for years we really need all the snow we are getting. It should be an epic rafting season.