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2017-18 Winter Seasonal Rental

SkiMom80

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As a mom to 3 young kids (8, 6, and 3), I know where you are coming from. We did the seasonal rental thing for the first time last year, and it was awesome! So awesome, that we are buying a place up north, but that's not what you asked. Here are my thoughts on some things to think about:
1. Location - you will pay a premium for being on the mountain. Get a locker instead.
2. Drive time - we would head up on Friday night after work and dinner (usually leaving around 6:30 to let the traffic die down). 2.5 hour drive time would put us at the house around 9, giving us time to have a glass of wine or a beer and make lunches for the next day and still get to bed relatively early.
3. Mountain daycare - We spent most of last season at Bretton Woods, where daycare is expensive and they don't do "real" lessons until 4. Therefore, my 3-year-old learned to ski with me. I was lucky he was amenable to it, and after spending all of December on the bunny slope, he was ready for the "big mountain." By the end of the season he was skiing almost all the trails on the mountain. However, had we had the option to pay for "seasonal daycare" like at Cannon or even Attitash, we probably would have done that. He was often done by 1 or 2pm.
4. The kids are tired at the end of the day, so you don't need much else to do, but having a space where they can sled or burn some additional energy before/after dinner is useful.
5. Skiing any 1 mountain for the season gets old. By the end of the season we were (paying) to mix it up a bit, and decided to get the White Mountain pass for next year.
6. I found our rental by looking at VRBO homes and contacting the owners about seasonal rentals. We paid much less than their published rate to rent for the whole season (Dec-April).
 

tumbler

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I think boring depends on what is your home mountain and the skiing ability of your kids. When they are a bot older and can shred=less boring
 

BenedictGomez

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I think boring depends on what is your home mountain and the skiing ability of your kids. When they are a bot older and can shred=less boring

Depends on the person. I definitely get bored skiing the same mountain over and over again. Not a season pass fan.
 

machski

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Well, for seasonal rental price slopeside, you will not be able to beat Sunday River. Of course, the condos are typically not as luxurious as some other resorts but they have all that is needed. There are quite a few off hill activities now in Bethel including dog sledding and the movie theater reopened and is better than ever. Not sure how old the kids are, but SR offers up night skiing off SRQ and Chondi so obtaining a rental in the South ridge basin would give direct access to this.

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Jully

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Well, for seasonal rental price slopeside, you will not be able to beat Sunday River. Of course, the condos are typically not as luxurious as some other resorts but they have all that is needed. There are quite a few off hill activities now in Bethel including dog sledding and the movie theater reopened and is better than ever. Not sure how old the kids are, but SR offers up night skiing off SRQ and Chondi so obtaining a rental in the South ridge basin would give direct access to this.

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Good to hear Bethel is gaining more off hill activities! Compared to places like Conway, that was always a knock on Bethel.
 

dlague

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I think boring depends on what is your home mountain and the skiing ability of your kids. When they are a bot older and can shred=less boring
I always found skiing with my youngest was not boring. It was awesome to see them progress and I was happy to see them happy. Same applied to my wife while she learned. I skied green trails with her for the first two years.
My kids get bored with any NE mountain after 3 days in a week. Couldn't imagine what they would be like a whole year at the same mtn.
We thought that would be the case but our first passes were at Cannon and our son never really got bored with it and neither did we. We did mix it up with The Ride and Ski Card tour and Ski Vermont passes plus early and late season at K town.
Depends on the person. I definitely get bored skiing the same mountain over and over again. Not a season pass fan.
I was not either. But once we decided to go for it the pass worked our as a family average to less that $20 per day. As I mentioned above we did mix it up with other places.

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SkiFanE

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Oct 14, 2010
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HMy $.02. We jumped in to buy off mountain at SR rather then rent. Really is cheap to buy if you're committed. We get a free shuttle to Mt, walk to every ammentity (pubs, movies, hardware, coffee, sushi, groceries...) - from Bethel.

Get your kids to be good skiers while ski passes are free lol. My kids have gone (still going) thru the SR seasonal programs (kid #2 was a coach for the wee kids last winter- full circle). Love it!!! For your little kid - skip the ski program and take him up magic carpet yourself. We would rent skis/boots from SR when our littlest was 2.5 - $10/day. We'd bring a small sled or snow shovel for him to play with while we were hanging. They really only offer a daycare at that age. Trust me - takes away from your ski time now but memeories I have of that fun winter are awesome.

check mahoosuc realty in Bethel, or SR real estate. I know they offer seasonal.

We leave fridays by 7pm, arrive by 10, get wood stove cranking and relax til the bed. Get everything ready for kids for easy AM. And going up each weekend is soooo much easier when ALL your ski stuff is already up there. Really just food and whatever ski clothes we washed back home.

I love the SR area. Kids never got bored. When in seasonal programs they make friends - that helps a lot. I love the shuttle - can take one car and split up if need to take someone home.

Either way - do it to test how you like a ski area. I ski 50+ days at SR and rarely get bored. I'd like more bumps but I honestly love it every day.
 
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