Looking for a base mountain for next year

mikestaple · Mar 11, 2014

deadheadskier said:
Man, for $25K, I'd be taking trips out west during the holiday weeks and day tripping in between. That's some serious coin.

Have to completely agree here. Go to Steamboat for a week. Plenty of trees for you (epic) and tons of long (and for a low intermediate) challenging blues. The ski school rocks. Your little one will be blasting through east coast blacks and moguls after a few days in their immersion program. Great town. Tons of ski on or at least very close and free shuttle options. And it will cost you less than 10k for the best skiing of your season. Then day trip the rest out east or long weekends further north in VT. No brainer.

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snoseek · Mar 11, 2014

deadheadskier said:
Man, for $25K, I'd be taking trips out west during the holiday weeks and day tripping in between. That's some serious coin.

I'm certain I'm considered poor as hell on here.

I pay under 2k to live here for six months, complete with everything, even weed. These places for 25k better be pretty sweet. I don't think I've paid 25k to live overall in winter for the past four or five years combined. I'm so happy I never had kids.

boston_e · Mar 12, 2014

15K seems high (although I never personally have priced out ski on / ski off at Okemo).

There are plenty of decent rentals in the Killington area that are in the 8K - 11K range, that would be big enough to share with another family comfortably. Granted they wouldn't be ski on / ski off, but for the price I wouln'd think a 4 minute car ride in the morning would be too bad.

Find a family to share it with and you are looking at 5K-ish for the whole family for a place to stay for the winter.... not too bad.

spiderpig · Mar 12, 2014

HD333 said:
Haters gonna hate but Okemo matches a bunch of your criteria:

Is within 4 hours of driving - Check

Generally has good conditions: good snowmaking, high elevation and/or northern exposure to preserve snow, etc. - I was very impressed with Okemo's early season snowmaking, they have a had a ton open all season even during the thaws. Still has great coverage now.

Preferably has a good kids' ski school, or even a season program - Check, we have only done a few day lessons but have been happy, our neighbors have kids in the Hopefuls Program and they rave about it.

Is not super small (Don't mean huge, but not tiny either) so that it will keep everybody interested over the season - Check, as much as the haters say Okemo is boring there is plenty to keep it interesting.

Preferably slopeside or ski-in/ski out, depending on affordability - Check, TONS of slopeside/ski in/out condos. We moved to Okemo this season doing a seasonal rental and we have been more than happy with the mountain and the area in general. If you have any specific questions PM me.

I agree with all of the above and would answer questions, as well. There is a new development being built below South Face, but I have no idea about the pricing; it might be opening some units for next season. Okemo has pretty well-defined mountain areas, so you can stay one one lift for a little while and treat it like a small mountain sometimes. Several years ago, when Double Diamond and Outrage were the only difficult glade trails, I can see why it was called boring, but they have added eight more and a few regular natural snow trails.

x10003q · Mar 12, 2014

If you do not go with slope side you should consider Gore. The seasonal rentals are usually less expensive than VT. It is a pretty easy drive as Gore is only 20 miles off the highway. Gore is also generally less crowded than VT.

Tin · Mar 12, 2014

ss20 said:
My picks:
Variety: Mount Snow, Okemo, Stratton
Least Crowded: Okemo, Stratton, MS

You just picked the three flattest and crowded places in Vermont.

deadheadskier said:
Man, for $25K, I'd be taking trips out west during the holiday weeks and day tripping in between. That's some serious coin.

This, quality over quantity.

wa-loaf · Mar 12, 2014

deadheadskier said:
Man, for $25K, I'd be taking trips out west during the holiday weeks and day tripping in between. That's some serious coin.

If you are hauling kids out there each time you'd burn through that pretty quickly.

Smellytele · Mar 12, 2014

wa-loaf said:
If you are hauling kids out there each time you'd burn through that pretty quickly.

My trip for 5 cost me about 4.5-5K with 7 days of skiing. Of course there were no lessons involved. ~ 1k rental car, 1k airline tix, 1k ski tix, 1k accommodations, 500 spending money, 500 food/beverage.

Abominable · Mar 12, 2014

x10003q said:
If you do not go with slope side you should consider Gore. The seasonal rentals are usually less expensive than VT. It is a pretty easy drive as Gore is only 20 miles off the highway. Gore is also generally less crowded than VT.

That's a good idea.

I wonder how Bromley's prices match up to Stratton / Snow / Okemo. Smaller, but good terrain, easier to keep an eye on the kids (from the bar!), less crowded, a few minutes closer. I'd guess less expensive overall, but haven't looked at the pricing. Perhaps less reliable from a season length / snowmaking standpoint if we have an off year.

Seems like I run into quite a few Westchester families when I talk to folks on the lifts.

This is something I've thought about when staring into the future... interesting to get peoples' take on it.

If I was in Fairfield Co I might even pick Berk East. Great terrain, good family atmosphere, and I like that area year-round. You're within striking distance of S VT for some variety. Then again, a storm like this shows you what a difference 40 miles can make in snow vs rain, especially early and late in the season. Not much in terms of lodging or amenities right there though....

ss20 · Mar 12, 2014

Tin said:
You just picked the three flattest and crowded places in Vermont.

True, but the Mount Snow is the least flattest of the three and Okem is the least crowded. All relative to the region.

x10003q · Mar 12, 2014

ss20 said:
True, but the Mount Snow is the least flattest of the three and Okem is the least crowded. All relative to the region.

You have no idea which is least crowded.

My opinion is Okemo is the flattest and not worth the extra 45 minute drive past Stratton. For terrain I would say Stratton, Mt Snow then Okemo.

One thing we do know is that Gore is way less crowded than all three.

drjeff · Mar 12, 2014

Smellytele said:
My trip for 5 cost me about 4.5-5K with 7 days of skiing. Of course there were no lessons involved. ~ 1k rental car, 1k airline tix, 1k ski tix, 1k accommodations, 500 spending money, 500 food/beverage.

Sometimes though the secondary motive, and hence potential "value" is 15 or so weekends of skiing with one's family. Time without the usual home "stresses" of kids sports, hometown social events, etc, so that seasonal rental may be more "appealing" than just a weeks vacation.

I know of many families who would rather have all those weekends that a seasonal rental gives you and the often new found, like minded family friendships that happen over the single vacation. It may seem like a weird thing to some, but perfectly logical to others... C'est la vie!

BenedictGomez · Mar 12, 2014

x10003q said:
If you do not go with slope side you should consider Gore. The seasonal rentals are usually less expensive than VT. It is a pretty easy drive as Gore is only 20 miles off the highway. Gore is also generally less crowded than VT.

Yeah. I mean, I would never do this because: A) I'm cheap B) I like variety - but Gore is by far the best option IMO. Great terrain, close to home, cheaper, etc....

boston_e · Mar 12, 2014

drjeff said:
Sometimes though the secondary motive, and hence potential "value" is 15 or so weekends of skiing with one's family. Time without the usual home "stresses" of kids sports, hometown social events, etc, so that seasonal rental may be more "appealing" than just a weeks vacation.

I know of many families who would rather have all those weekends that a seasonal rental gives you and the often new found, like minded family friendships that happen over the single vacation. It may seem like a weird thing to some, but perfectly logical to others... C'est la vie!

Makes perfect sense to me. Our kids are developing their "ski house" friends, and there is a lot of value in that.

The other thing too... i find day tripping solo to be no big deal, but to do it with the family is more of a challenge, unless you are going to a close local hill. At least for my kids, you can forget the 2.5 hour drive each way to get to a bigger mountain.

mlctvt · Mar 12, 2014

Seasonal rentals in the complex I own at, Bear Crossing at Mount Snow, go for $9K-10K for a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit with loft so its actually a "3 bedroom" place.

We have a "ski home" trail so we can take the bus to the lifts in morning a ski to my door at the end of the day. Some weekends we don't even use the car until we leave Sunday afternoon. The buses run every 1/2 hour 7am -5pm so you can even ski home for lunch then take the bus to get back to the base area.

The Seasons condo's are more convenient but much more $$

x10003q · Mar 12, 2014

drjeff said:
Sometimes though the secondary motive, and hence potential "value" is 15 or so weekends of skiing with one's family. Time without the usual home "stresses" of kids sports, hometown social events, etc, so that seasonal rental may be more "appealing" than just a weeks vacation.

I know of many families who would rather have all those weekends that a seasonal rental gives you and the often new found, like minded family friendships that happen over the single vacation. It may seem like a weird thing to some, but perfectly logical to others... C'est la vie!

There is the added attraction of not paying extra during your kid's vacations. While the crowds can be difficult, there are many days during the holiday periods that are not crowded.

Skiing 7 days in a row out west is also physically difficult for most people.

deadheadskier · Mar 12, 2014

Smellytele said:
My trip for 5 cost me about 4.5-5K with 7 days of skiing. Of course there were no lessons involved. ~ 1k rental car, 1k airline tix, 1k ski tix, 1k accommodations, 500 spending money, 500 food/beverage.

Exactly. And even if you upped the amenities to bring the trip to $7.5K; you could do two trips per season (probably save some coin getting an Epic Pass as well) and still be left with $10K for doing day trips and weekends in the east. $10K is a lot of scratch to play with and would allow flexibility to go where the snow is.

But, too each their own.

ss20 · Mar 12, 2014

x10003q said:
You have no idea which is least crowded.

Well it certainly ain't Mt Snow. Stratton and Okemo could be arguable.

boston_e · Mar 12, 2014

deadheadskier said:
Exactly. And even if you upped the amenities to bring the trip to $7.5K; you could do two trips per season (probably save some coin getting an Epic Pass as well) and still be left with $10K for doing day trips and weekends in the east. $10K is a lot of scratch to play with and would allow flexibility to go where the snow is.

But, too each their own.

The thing is though, with kids you are limited to your western trips over Christmas break and presidents break, unless you are pulling them out of school. I'm a fan of the western trip, but those are not my first choices to go.

Im also still wrestling with that $25k number. I know you could do a season of lodging and season passes for a lot less than that.

deadheadskier · Mar 12, 2014

Of course holiday weeks aren't desirable times to go out west both from an expense and crowding standpoint. Not desirable in the east either though. I've skied Steamboat and Breckenridge presidents week before. Major new England resorts, especially southern Vermont ones are a nightmare in comparison in regards to handling the crowds and snow conditions. No comparison regarding the quality of ski experience most years.

Looking for a base mountain for next year

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