Relocating to Denver - Want Snow Daily - a few questions...

I am due to relocate to Denver from the UK in September this year and am considering my options of actualy living in a ski resort due to the passion I have for snowboarding (eek!) and skiing . I will be working in Highlands Ranch near Littleton and wanted to know if it would be feasible for me to consider buying a place in the mountains and commuting to work (it will not be mon-fri as i will be working shifts). I cannot seem to get an idea from a mapquest route planner and would like to hear from locals on their thought for this. I would like the resort to be the best available nearest Denver with good nightlife due to my age and will be travelling alone so I thought "ski resot..mmmm!". The route planner from Beckenridge states it will take 3hours 32 minutes round trip which will be a little too long for me at unearthly hours. How true is this - what are the speed limits on the roads I will be travelling on and will it be possible to not get stuck behind coaches etc on a regular basis? I realise I may already know the answers to these questions but I have only ever been skiing in Europe where the towns are very small and only have one mountain road in. My beliefs with the `bigger and better` US styles would be that the roads would not cause a problem for somebody on a schedule from a ski resort to the city???
Do many people commute from resorts to Denver as they enjoy the mountain lifestyle or is it simply not the done/reasonable thing?
If anybody could help me on this before I travel out to look for accomdation it would be appreciated. The thought of being on holiday for the rest of my life with a little inconvenience of work for a couple of days a week sounds right up my street!!
Can I also have a little lowdown on where would be good to snowboard within the range for an experienced boarder as i am having great trouble getting a picture of how good each place is - local knowledge required..

I think you need to be looking rather closer to Denver than Breckenridge Whilst the road between the two is a four-lane interstate highway it does pass over the continental divide at Eisenhower tunnel. Despite this, on our visits to Colorado, the road is closed quite regularly for snow clearing work, and I wouldn`t want to rely on it for getting to work with a 3-hour commute.
If you are willing to risk it with the snow, then there is a ski resort on the Denver side of the tunnel at Loveland. That would probably cut the commute by half, but I`m not sure how much of a `resort` there is.

That leaves Georgetown to the east, or Summit county to the west. With all that driving, I don`t think there would be much time for night life AND sleeping.

Yes, there are folks who live in Summit County and work in Denver. A lot of it depends on where in Denver you work. It is a big metro area, and the west side would be a lot closer (read - one hour or so) than the far east side to Summit County.
Given that, be aware that while it is a 4 lane interstate, you will find extremely heavy trafic (like it takes you four hours) on weekends to go one way due to all sorts of folks wanting to ski also. Heavy going west on Sat AM or east on Sun PM.
Also, there will be times when the road is closed - mostly due to accidents with big semi`s sliding ut of control, and at times the highway is totally closed for seeral hours. There are no good alternatives.
Also, it does not snow everyday in the mtns, and real snow generally does not come till January-February. However, all of the ski areas do have snow making equipment.
Also, depending on your budget, it may be pretty expensive living full-time in the mtns, although folks do it all the time.
If I were you, I would live on the west side of town or foothills (if they haven`t all burned down by then) so that I would have easy access. You might consider Idaho Springs as an alternative or the Genesee area.
Have fun. Feel free to contact me further if you wish. We live on the east side of Denver and have a condo in Smmit County. (Family Web Page)

Thanks to everyone for their more than generous comments on whether this would work. It sounds like pipe dreams if I`m realistic but I will have a drive up that way when I get over there in the next few weeks as it would be a dream come true if I can make it work.
My shifts will require me to be onsite at 07:00 per day and leaving at 19:00. This, I believe will be against the contaflow of traffic for winter skiers and if I leave at 05:00 then would maybe give me enough time to get my shovel out to clear the driveway and get to work?? hmmm
The beauty of this is that I only work seven days out of fourteen . So I had this vision of getting up early on my day off and looking through the binoculars at the lift queue before contemplating another half hour in bed!!
Visa International have a new datacentre being opened early next year in the town of Highlands Ranch (Below Littleton) if people are interested within the area for jobs etc. Please contact me and once I have more information about the state of the building etc. I will more than happily put you in touch with HR.
Thanks to all for your comments Danny