What's the deal with President' day week?

[thetrailboss]

I just go skiing, crowds be damned.

+ 1.

 

[ScottySkis]

Small hills like Elk, or Magic should be fine, Bolton, B east.

 

[BenedictGomez]

My plan this year was to hit either Jay Peak or Sugarbush Friday (whichever has better conditions, likely Jay) and Mont Sutton on Saturday (Pres Sat is the worst) for crowd avoidance. But I dont know if that will happen anymore given Sutton is reporting:

"granular, frozen, man-made, crusted" for conditions. Sounds awful. Might hit Bolton Valley instead, who knows. With the crap conditions we have everything is in play-it-by-ear mode.

 

[skifree]

best seat for lunch is on the chair lift.

 

[crank]

best seat for lunch is on the chair lift.

Been there - ate the sandwich. Sugarbush gondola a long, long time ago.

 

[4aprice]

The real season dosen't start till after Presidents week.

Alex'

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[abc]

I almost always ski President's Day weekend. That being one of the long weekend I get off and snow tend to be more reliable than MLK weekend.

I've found crowd not be a huge problem. Although if snow allows, I tend to xc on Saturday just to escape from the worst of the chaos. Monday is usually not too bad at all. Like someone else mentioned, on par with a lite weekend but quieter than a holiday weekend.

Cost is a different matter. There's typically zero discount/deals. And even loding are at full rack prices. Finding place to eat also requires some thought (both at the base lodge and restarurant for dinner).

The "usual" strategy applies:
a) lessor known out of way resorts (Plattekill, Magic, Burke or anything in Quebec)
b) out of way lift serving advance terrains (e.g. West Mountain in Bretton Woods, Hunter West) if your pass is on a popular mountain
c) out of sync hour (eating early and skiing through lunch hour, eat dinner early and go to hotel hot tub late)

 

[ss20]

Go to a resort with a lot of lifts that are far from a lodge. Sugarbush and Okemo are good places for this. Obviously eat lunch at a "different" time. Trails to avoid: Greens, main blue trails, and trails that lead to terrain parks are the ones you want to avoid at all costs.

 

[mlkrgr]

Bill, two words during holidays: ski bus. It's the only way of getting skiing in that is discounted from full rack window pricing. Plus, I find the exact spot on the resort where the bus parks is just as good on average than preferred parking. There's plenty of trips that Nacski and BSSC offers right down the highway from you in Woburn. If I were to pick between the two, go with Nacski even though they scaled down the schedule to one trip a week unless it's a holiday. At about $80 for either of them, the effective lift ticket cost (once you think about car expenses) are pretty darn cheap and does not come close to other options. When you do the math for Sunday River from Woburn, there's $11.50 in tolls now to go up 95, and you're spending 15 gallons of gas now which is $55 or so, and then you have wear and tear on top of it, the value proposition is pretty good vs other alternatives. I would avoid Loon to state the obvious. I do like Sunday River for crowding as the lift system is spread out, but like any other mountain, if there's a wind hold, forget about it.

I went to Sunday River last year during Pres weekend holiday period and it was probably the quietest I have seen it even though it was the day after they got 9" and people had the opportunity to get up there (even if it were just for the day).

The type of skiers aren't really that much different than usual from what I see. Of course, every mountain attracts their own clientele; it's just that it'd be a higher crowd. Even areas like White Cap may see 1/2 full chairlifts w/ long lines at Barker and South Ridge, so it's more in the line of you have to know where to go to have fun in any given mountain.

 

[ZYDECORICH]

I just go skiing, crowds be damned.

+2

I'll be at k mart and pico...git out my way!

 

[ZYDECORICH]

You got a problem with ty?


View attachment 7522

Almost wet my pants.. you guys funny.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

At the Bush there area a couple things you can do........use the Valley House Lodge, open only weekends and holidays instead of Gatehouse Lodge, arrive early and spend some of your time at Mt Ellen if LP is packed.

 

[riverc0il]

Sugarbush and Okemo are good places for this.

Bill, two words during holidays: ski bus.

I can't think of much worse advise for holiday week skiing than these two suggestions. All of the major resorts, including Sugarbush, Okemo, and all resort big enough to warrant a ski bus are going to be packed to the gills. Look towards smaller, mid-sized and lesser known areas. Places like Black NH, Black ME, Abram, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Whaleback, Suicide 6, etc. These areas all offer great uncrowded skiing for no more than $45 or so, many quite a bit less. If you really need that 2k vertical drop, look towards places like Magic, Burke, and Pico (Saddleback probably not so much, that double probably has crazy lines on a holiday). Also, if you go mid-week, you really only get typical weekend traffic levels, it is the weekends that are absurd, so mid-week at the majors may not be terrible if you avoid places that holiday families will gravitate to at each resort (i.e. use secondary lots, avoid the main lifts, ski straight through lunch, etc.). Finally, Eastern Townships offer four great places to ski and they don't jack up prices for the holiday week

 

[ss20]

I can't think of much worse advise for holiday week skiing than these two suggestions. All of the major resorts, including Sugarbush, Okemo, and all resort big enough to warrant a ski bus are going to be packed to the gills. Look towards smaller, mid-sized and lesser known areas. Places like Black NH, Black ME, Abram, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Whaleback, Suicide 6, etc. These areas all offer great uncrowded skiing for no more than $45 or so, many quite a bit less. If you really need that 2k vertical drop, look towards places like Magic, Burke, and Pico (Saddleback probably not so much, that double probably has crazy lines on a holiday). Also, if you go mid-week, you really only get typical weekend traffic levels, it is the weekends that are absurd, so mid-week at the majors may not be terrible if you avoid places that holiday families will gravitate to at each resort (i.e. use secondary lots, avoid the main lifts, ski straight through lunch, etc.). Finally, Eastern Townships offer four great places to ski and they don't jack up prices for the holiday week

You changed the meaning what I said, which was Okemo and Sugarbush are good places for lifts that don't start at lodges. When is the Lynx triple ever busy? Same with the Glades and Ledges quads at Okemo.

 

[riverc0il]

You changed the meaning what I said, which was Okemo and Sugarbush are good places for lifts that don't start at lodges. When is the Lynx triple ever busy? Same with the Glades and Ledges quads at Okemo.

Neither are good options if you want to avoid the crowds and avoid paying top dollar during Presidents Holiday. Starting at a lift that doesn't start at a lodge doesn't change the fact that those two areas are super crowded and top dollar on holiday weeks, it was an irrelevant point in response to the thread topic.

 

[abc]

Neither are good options if you want to avoid the crowds and avoid paying top dollar during Presidents Holiday. Starting at a lift that doesn't start at a lodge doesn't change the fact that those two areas are super crowded and top dollar on holiday weeks, it was an irrelevant point in response to the thread topic.

When is the Lynx triple ever busy? Same with the Glades and Ledges quads at Okemo.

I haven't to either often enough to recognize the lifts. Much less how crowded or uncrowded they're on holiday weekends. But if there's a lift and a sector of the mountain that are not busy, it does change the equation.

One can also argue the reverse. That it really doesn't matter how busy the rest of the mountain is, as long as you find a lift and a pocket of good terrain you can yo-yo happily all day freely without waiting.

 

[mlkrgr]

Neither are good options if you want to avoid the crowds and avoid paying top dollar during Presidents Holiday. Starting at a lift that doesn't start at a lodge doesn't change the fact that those two areas are super crowded and top dollar on holiday weeks, it was an irrelevant point in response to the thread topic.

I'd buy Black as being an Ok option to hide from the crowds, but still, running a car up to Black for $49 a ticket is more expensive than taking a bus to Sunday River, Stowe, K, etc. and paying $80 for the ticket and transit costs. You're spending $2 in tolls at a minimum to get to Black by car, and you're running 300 miles round trip, which is $50 in gas from the Boston area. Add in wear and tear and you'd better hope you can pack your car in with at least 4 people to make the travel expense worthwhile. I love the cache of smaller resorts but the larger ones just have a better value unless you want to clump in a stretch of numerous skiing days in a row; though usually I've had enough by the end of the 2nd day as much as I like the sport. And even as far as hotels go, the bargains book far in advance when it comes to holidays and anything decent is $125 at a minimum per night.

So the only thing that really convinces me to not take a bus in a world where gas is $3.60 a gallon is if I have a free voucher for a lift ticket, and that's why I've been taking my car up to Waterville, and I'll still gladly fork over $40 for bus only should a bus be running there.

As for crowding, the big resorts are going to have at least a lift or two to avoid, but anywhere will have a place that can be used to escape from the masses. With Killington, you'd avoid the K-1 and Skye Peak Quad, and board Skyeship at the base if you really want to ride in a gondola, use Needles quad, Canyon, Slowdon and Superstar Quad. Needles Quad hasn't seen much traffic since the Skye Peak Express installation for the times I've been there. At Sunday River, keep to White Cap, Aurora, North Peak, and Oz. At Stowe, keeping to Spruce for the middle few hours of the day will keep it going well. Anywhere will be a place to avoid going to on a rain/freeze day or one that has windholds.