C-Rex
New member
Everyone who grew up skiing/snowboarding in the Northeast should definitely go out west. Not only is it awesome, but it'll show you how good you really are. If you can ride the icecoast, you can ride anywhere.
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Have any of you guys NEVER skied outside of the Northeast?
- Thread starter Nick
- Start date
this really, really surprised me. I was tearing up slopes that the locals were scared of and my thought was "this isn't even really that icy"
I was scared dropping into big bowls for the first few times though
...... ??????
Typical New England attitude :lol:
I've skied pretty much my entire life and have never skied out west. A trip was in the works this summer but derailed it when we decided to buy a condo at Killington this fall. I have skied MI and minn but who counts that.
CoolMike
New member
Went to Utah for the first time last year. Snowbird was life changing. PCMR was fun and affordable with a four pack deal. I can't wait to go back and really attack the steeps. First few times dropping into the steep bowls freaked me out as well. Never found any ice. We were fortunate to have a nice snow squall on day one and a huge powder dumping at the end of the trip.
SkiFanE
New member
45 years in skiis or so, probably 3 "real" powder days in that time. I mean like 2' of untracked. So yeah, it's weird haha. And my last big pow day, an hour of two of just cruising untracked, I wanted at the bumps. So ditched my midfats and got my SL skis for second half of day. Having never experienced the real pow, I have no idea what I'm missing. But today in NE I'd take a bump run (of perfect soft bumps) over untracked. Id school them out west lmao
Rowsdower
Member
Colorado once when I was about 14. Hardly counts, right?
Not Sure
Well-known member
Like BD I've only skied Banff out west, it as a long time ago and there were only three choices, Mt Noriquay, Lake Louise and Sunshune villlage. They had'nt had snow for a while in Banff , But Sunshine was the best 4" flurries every night. Lake Louse terrain was good but the snow conditions were'nt as good. Never skied Mt Noriquay (smallest) but looks like it would be great given some new snow. In the middle of the week we went heli skiing 1985 $ it was $150.00 for 10K vert.
You'll have a great time
VTKilarney
Well-known member
I've skied in Europe and out west. But I've always been in those places for other reasons. Is the skiing better out west? Of course it is. Is so much better that it is worth the expense? Not to me.
I feel the same way about people who take Caribbean vacations in the summer. Sure, the beach in the Bahamas is better than on Cape Cod. But it's not a couple of thousand dollars better.
There is also an opportunity cost that needs to be factored in. For example, my wife and I are going to Italy this fall. I can ski at home. But I can't experience Italy at home. If we spent our vacation dollars doing something we could do at home, we would forgo experiences that can only be had elsewhere.
There is no right or wrong answer, since it's entirely subjective, but I'm a fan of multiple experiences rather than degrees of the same experience.
I feel the same way about people who take Caribbean vacations in the summer. Sure, the beach in the Bahamas is better than on Cape Cod. But it's not a couple of thousand dollars better.
There is also an opportunity cost that needs to be factored in. For example, my wife and I are going to Italy this fall. I can ski at home. But I can't experience Italy at home. If we spent our vacation dollars doing something we could do at home, we would forgo experiences that can only be had elsewhere.
There is no right or wrong answer, since it's entirely subjective, but I'm a fan of multiple experiences rather than degrees of the same experience.
4 days in Colorado then 3 years later did 5 days in Utah. Going from Boston in the morning to skiing Keystone that night and having a few local beers in the gondola was interesting, definitely a little light headed. Then skied Copper, A-Basin and Keystone. A-Basin was the highlight, nothing like the northeast. In Utah skied Snowbird, Canyons, Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and Park City. Snowbasin was amazing with 3 high speed lifts with over 2k vert each. And I was hesitant about Deer Valley's reputation, but we had a great day skiing deep powder in untracked glades 4 days after the last storm. Those rich people don't venture into the trees much.
I hate traveling and has lots of areas in NE that I haven't visited, but was really glad that I did those 2 trips. And the fact that my Dad paid for myself and my brothers to go with him didn't hurt either. Now I'm just praying for some snow in NH!!!
I hate traveling and has lots of areas in NE that I haven't visited, but was really glad that I did those 2 trips. And the fact that my Dad paid for myself and my brothers to go with him didn't hurt either. Now I'm just praying for some snow in NH!!!
AmmergauerTele
Member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2014
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Grew up in New England and have hit many of the areas there in NH, ME, and VT. Been out west - Utah, couple in Colorado, Tahoe, Mammoth. Heading to CO in early April. Was in NH for Xmas. Skiing was great before Xmas eve. Lived in Europe for a couple years. Was able to ski quite a bit in Germany, Austria, and a little in the Dolomites in Italy and a couple in Switzerland. The European experience is tough to beat. Nothing really compares here. Skiing in St. Anton. Hitting different villages in the Dolomites. Drinking wine from a carafe at lunch while eating spaghetti while enjoying some great skiing. In Austria and Bavaria you can set a backpack down and you don't have to lock your skis - they don't really have theft. Pretty impressive. The culture is really cool.
skiNEwhere
Active member
Didn't ski outside the US under I went to Big Bear in 2005, which is in SoCal and doesn't even really count. Mammoth in 2007 was the first real western place I've skied. Felt kind of weird skiing bowls at first....
SIKSKIER
New member
I don't get why this question is so hard for people to understand.
Cannonball
New member
SoCal can feel very foreign to New Englanders. But I'm pretty sure it's still in the US!! :razz:
Old Duderino
Member
I can see why there is confusion, the thread is titled "Have any of you guys NEVER skied outside the northeast?" while the poll is titled "Have you skied outside the northeast?" I voted yes on the poll but since the thread has taken a life of it's own I'll post as if the title where "Did you never (or never again) think you would ski/ride the northeast?"
My first trips to the NE where when my older brother was going to school in upstate NY and I would visit him to go ski Killington, Bromley or Stratton. They were always miserable trips, freezing rain followed by sub zero days, it was more surviving than skiing. Years later I lived in Utah and then after getting married and skiing less frequently we started taking the once a year trips to Colorado. Didn't have much time for skiing with a young family, although I did learn to snowboard at the local hills during those years, but I just assumed the few trips we took would always be western trips.
As my kids grew and became more avid snowboarders it occurred to me to reconsider a NE trip over a four day weekend when my wife and younger daughter were going to Florida. I waited until about two weeks out to spring the idea on my daughter since I wanted to have some idea what the weather was going to be like. It started out disastrously as the cheap commuter flight I booked from Washington DC to Albany was cancelled after multiple delays. We took the cab home, loaded up our bags in the car and drove all night to get there since I had non-refundable Liftopia purchased tickets I had to get there to use. I was calling on the way to try to cancel rental cars and hotel rooms and although I had to eat the rental car costs the hotel did the very cool thing of letting me cancel without any charges and still letting us check in early that morning to change into ski clothes and hit the breakfast buffet on the way to the mountain (Best Western on on Killington access road).
We ended up having a great time, it was single digits but bluebird and no wind the entire weekend at K and the last day at Pico it warmed up to the mid-20s and snowed all day. We had such a good time that I brought my entire family back last year for the same long weekend and although the conditions weren't quite as good we all enjoyed ourselves. Everyone who's been west knows what the NE lacks comparatively but the NE has a unique vibe of its own. The smell of the waffle cabin, the unique character of NE glades, young collegiate types who look like they actually go to class once in a while. The NE may not be a skiing/riding mecca but its so much better than what most of the country has. I'll be heading to Colorado in early March but I'm kind of disappointed not to be making another NE trip also. I'm thinking next year we may make a trip to Stowe and/or Sugarbush.
My first trips to the NE where when my older brother was going to school in upstate NY and I would visit him to go ski Killington, Bromley or Stratton. They were always miserable trips, freezing rain followed by sub zero days, it was more surviving than skiing. Years later I lived in Utah and then after getting married and skiing less frequently we started taking the once a year trips to Colorado. Didn't have much time for skiing with a young family, although I did learn to snowboard at the local hills during those years, but I just assumed the few trips we took would always be western trips.
As my kids grew and became more avid snowboarders it occurred to me to reconsider a NE trip over a four day weekend when my wife and younger daughter were going to Florida. I waited until about two weeks out to spring the idea on my daughter since I wanted to have some idea what the weather was going to be like. It started out disastrously as the cheap commuter flight I booked from Washington DC to Albany was cancelled after multiple delays. We took the cab home, loaded up our bags in the car and drove all night to get there since I had non-refundable Liftopia purchased tickets I had to get there to use. I was calling on the way to try to cancel rental cars and hotel rooms and although I had to eat the rental car costs the hotel did the very cool thing of letting me cancel without any charges and still letting us check in early that morning to change into ski clothes and hit the breakfast buffet on the way to the mountain (Best Western on on Killington access road).
We ended up having a great time, it was single digits but bluebird and no wind the entire weekend at K and the last day at Pico it warmed up to the mid-20s and snowed all day. We had such a good time that I brought my entire family back last year for the same long weekend and although the conditions weren't quite as good we all enjoyed ourselves. Everyone who's been west knows what the NE lacks comparatively but the NE has a unique vibe of its own. The smell of the waffle cabin, the unique character of NE glades, young collegiate types who look like they actually go to class once in a while. The NE may not be a skiing/riding mecca but its so much better than what most of the country has. I'll be heading to Colorado in early March but I'm kind of disappointed not to be making another NE trip also. I'm thinking next year we may make a trip to Stowe and/or Sugarbush.
skiNEwhere
Active member
Lol whoops. Looks like my brain was off when I typed that one!
Reasons:
- Waist deep un-tracked powder for those that want to get out of bed early on a powder day
- On powder days everyone has this huge smile on their face like it just doesn't get any better than this
- Out west you don't hear the sounds of skis and boards scraping across Eastern hard pack that has a tint of the color blue.
- Boot top powder
- some powder
- good friends on vacation unless its a powder day and then you have no friends.
- did I mention powder that is the opposite of thick mash wet potatoes
- did I mention powder
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