just finalized my western trips plans

i'm a planner. i know its risky for snow, but i need to for $ reasons, time off work reasons, other people's needs reasons.

all ski days are either ikon pass or silverton spring pass unless otherwise noted

Trip #1 - December 23-30 - Copper & Winter Park
- 6 ski days (possibly 7 if we ski day of arrival)
- with girlfriend
- total cost for my share of everything (lodging, air, car) = $900

Trip #2 - January 18-21 - Copper and A-Basin
- 3 ski days
- with girlfriend and a colorado couple we are friends with
- total cost for my share of everything (lodging, air, car, a-basin day ticket) = $550

Trip #3 - February 16-24 - Banff, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke
- 7 ski days
- solo
- total cost for my share of everything (lodging, air, car, day ticket at kicking horse) = $1400

Trip #4 - March 27-31 - Silverton
- 3 ski days
- 1 heli drop run ($39, came with my pass, which was $150)
- with 4 friends who live in colorado and are absolutely ripping skiers
- total cost for my share of everything (lodging, air, car, heli drop) = $700

so that is 19 days of western skiing spread over 4 trips, for ~$3500, all paid for in advance. its not cheap by any means, but its also not particularly expensive all things considered. incidental expenses will be incurred but are incurred every day of my life when i decide to eat food or drink beer or gas car

i bought the silverton pass because it was $150 and comes with 3 days each at smuggs (blackout holiday periods) and mad river (weekdays only). then my co friends were like 'lets go to silverton'. im excited but a bit scared. i need to condition. lift to ~12000, hikes to 13500. only one lift, and while there is terrain that is accessible without the hiking, the place is really about ridge hiking. need to start training properly

Silverton is such a cool and unique experience. Just don’t be one of those east coasters that cries every time you hit a rock! The guides love that guy.

What's the point of this post?

raisingarizona said:

Silverton is such a cool and unique experience. Just don’t be one of those east coasters that cries every time you hit a rock! The guides love that guy.

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Say what?

Most advanced EC skiers who venture off map are used to far lower base depths and dealing with plenty of rocks. Heck, people were skiing Starr Line at Wildcat last weekend on a foot of snow and that trail is basically a boulder field

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WWF-VT said:

What's the point of this post?

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He's just sharing his plans and how he will take advantage of his pass (base IKON?). He gets a ton of eastern skiing with that too. Plus the bonus areas from his Silverton pass. It's really amazing what these multi resort passes offer, but kind of complicated. It is interesting to see how folks from different home areas try to capitalize on them. I went on a 26 day, 7000 mile roadtrip to use MCP last year which scratched my itch to ski Banff, but was a crazy amount of road travel.

WWF-VT said:

What's the point of this post?

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Unabashed narcissism...


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oh the unabashed narcissism of discussing my ski plans on a ski forum

Well I'm always interested in hearing what other peoples plans are. I too am an early planner. Sometimes book the flights a year in advance in order to get the best miles redemption flights. Anyway, nice work on the costs.

Thats pretty inexpensive for all that. My clubs trips have gotten more expensive every year. Jackson trip was way more than last year. My pass and getting my own airfare saved a ton.
Your going to have a hell of a season.

stoked

picked up all 3 sets of skis from the shop yesterday, along with gfs seasonal rental

Killington next weekend to start things off

KustyTheKlown, since you travel so much with your ski gear, care to offer any packing tips for a n00b? Is it a pain in the arse to fly with skis?

Question, why do you do so many mini trips as opposed to a few longer trips? If I'm getting on a plane I shoot for 10 ski days minimum. Just not into the whole airport pain in the butt thing.

jaytrem said:

Question, why do you do so many mini trips as opposed to a few longer trips? If I'm getting on a plane I shoot for 10 ski days minimum. Just not into the whole airport pain in the butt thing.

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Probably the way time off work works. I'm in a similar boat. In the previous few years I've tried to do two weeks off, this year I think I can actually get more skiing in by doing a shorter 4 day trips around a weekend. It also lets me ski multiple different areas.

Jully said:

Probably the way time off work works. I'm in a similar boat. In the previous few years I've tried to do two weeks off, this year I think I can actually get more skiing in by doing a shorter 4 day trips around a weekend. It also lets me ski multiple different areas.

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Yeah, there is no way my boss will let me have 2 full weeks! I can take a long weekend here and there though.

work reasons. i'd love to take a few 10 ski day trips, but its not in the cards. i work a full time job with an average time-away policy. i do what i need to do to make it work. i also have lots of different people i want to ski with, including by myself, and lots of different places and scenarios i want to work into the plans.

i did a solo 10 ski day trip to BC last year, but cannot do it again this year. at a new job. need to accrue days off as time passes. can't take off 2 weeks at once. every one of my trips except the march trip is utilizing days where my company is just closed. we are closed the entire x-mas week so starting friday night 12/21, i don't go back to work til 1/2.

packing - i have a douchebag (https://douchebags.com/) and a 50L dakine boot pack. i pack all of my ski clothes and non ski clothes wrapped around my skis to give them an extra layer of protection. all of my ski accessories fit in my boot pack, which comes with me on the plane. i go places with access to laundry and pack lightly. my ski bag is on wheels and is very well designed - it is minimally inconvenient to travel with.

Got it, figured it was work thing more than preference. I always looked at is if I take the whole week, I get 2 weekends out there rather than 1. My go to week was always the week before presidents week. Figured I would get the extra Monday without having to take an extra day. Trickier now if I want to bring the kids. Got flights to Cali in April. We'll head to airport right from school and then they'll head to school right from the airport. We'll see how they do with the red eye, they're 7.

yea, canada feb is presidents week and is saturday to sunday with 7 ski days. flying on the saturday. was too hectic to fly out friday night, and ikon is blacked out feb 16-17 anyway (hence kicking horse on the 17th en route to revelstoke).

Would you like a Medal?

KustyTheKlown said:

oh the unabashed narcissism of discussing my ski plans on a ski forum

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Keep it coming Kusty and don't listen to the trolls. Perusing these kind of posts and trip reports has helped me plan out my western trips over the last 2 yrs and helped me save a bunch of $.

I also find it interesting to see if people focus on a single mountain when they travel or if they group visits to a couple of different mtns together on a trip. The "old way" was that you went to a single mtn and stayed there for the entire trip. But with the advent of the multi-mtn passes, trips like yours are becoming a lot more common.

Agree

Whitey said:

Keep it coming Kusty and don't listen to the trolls. Perusing these kind of posts and trip reports has helped me plan out my western trips over the last 2 yrs and helped me save a bunch of $.

I also find it interesting to see if people focus on a single mountain when they travel or if they group visits to a couple of different mtns together on a trip. The "old way" was that you went to a single mtn and stayed there for the entire trip. But with the advent of the multi-mtn passes, trips like yours are becoming a lot more common.

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I agree. I enjoy reading about stuff like this as it helps in planning and I get some vicarious experiences. I hope to do something similar next year. Plus it's nice to read something positive given all the political bullshit we've all been exposed to recently.