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Looking for ski resorts/mountains with a lot of greens and blues

slatham

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We bought a condo at Bromley specifically because a large portion of our ski days are major holidays and we did not want to deal with the crowds we experienced at the major resorts. This has worked out. A few comments:

The groomed expert trails, with the possible exception of upper Corkscrew, ski more like high intermediate trails (a couple of the ungroomed trails, with good snow, are also doable by high intermediates). If your family can handle this, then the East Side Blue Ribbon Quad will be a focus and experiences significantly less traffic than the HSQ.

Also keep in mind that the Sun double (3/4 lift) and Alpine double (1/2 lift) access good green/blue terrain (and get you to the Blue Ribbon Quad) and often have small lines vs. HSQ. So if riding a slower lift is better than standing and waiting for a HSQ then they are decent options for peak times.

And of course there's the obvious - good snow (fingers crossed) and holidays always bring some crowding regardless. 8:30 bell to 10:00; then around lunch, and after 2 are the off peak hours.....
 

snoseek

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Black mtn in nh would be a good place for a novice next weekend. The crowding on some of the popular areas will be far more intimidating than the pitch angle of the slope
 

bdfreetuna

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Bretton Woods would be a good choice

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

Bretton Woods is the mountain OP is looking for. I was up there a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed Dougs Drop and the pitch on a few of the other tucked away black diamonds. But it's pretty much the easiest "big" mountain in the north east and not a bad one either with the awesome grooming and lots of tree skiing and some weird /technical woods trails.
 

Pez

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I was at Butternut today and thought of this thread.

That entire hill is a green circle. even the black diamonds are easy.

They do a great job at keeping a good snow surface. I was impressed today I thought is was going to be crap.
 

Smellytele

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Black mtn in nh would be a good place for a novice next weekend. The crowding on some of the popular areas will be far more intimidating than the pitch angle of the slope
I love Black but very shallow base right now and snow making is that prime there nor grooming. Bretton woods is a good choice for the OP.
 

bdfreetuna

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I was at Butternut today and thought of this thread.

That entire hill is a green circle. even the black diamonds are easy.

They do a great job at keeping a good snow surface. I was impressed today I thought is was going to be crap.

Butternut is one of my first great ski memories as a kid. I've been a handful of times, last was 5 or 6 years ago teaching my wife to ski.

There is certainly something to be said for these small-medium areas when they can easily cover the acreage with snowmaking and conditions management, and on a weekday you've got the place to yourself.

When these smaller ski areas up their game it really opens up options for short drives and quality turns.
 

bdfreetuna

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We bought a condo at Bromley specifically because a large portion of our ski days are major holidays and we did not want to deal with the crowds we experienced at the major resorts.

Great choice, Bromley is heaven if you want to zoom groomers and rarely have to avoid another human. Or ride the lift with one if you're there on a week day.

I've got 4 Ski VT passes and one will be used at Bromley. Usually when I'm there it's hero snow, sometimes windblown at the top.

I don't rate their black diamonds as blues, although I note you said "groomed expert trails", it's worth mentioning that Havoc and a couple of the others have a nice pitch. I also *really* like their groomed blacks, it's hard to find similar terrain and especially not being skied off by large crowds in the region.

Saving my Bromley day for when the sun's out and it's a couple days after a decent dump.
 

KustyTheKlown

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bromley is the only major vermont area i have not skied (i havent been to middlebury or suicide six either, but don't really count them as major). i love peru and jj hapgoods, and obviously have a lot of love for londonderry and magic. need to hit bromley eventually.
 

kingslug

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Bromley has good glades..used to go there on bus trips and would hit the blue glades..but I know they have steeper ones. Its a South facing mountain so does get sun baked. But no crowds...
 

slatham

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A big selling point IMO if you know when to get the best conditions that might not be available elsewhere. Hero snow by 10:30am

Net net I’ve found it more a positive than a negative but you do need to be mindful of 1) the full on sun baked meltdown and 2) cold after a marginal soft day where north facing Mountains might stay dry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

lukafred

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I've only been a dozen times and all of that has been at Smuggs due to a deal I found here like 6 years ago. So I figured I'd come back here since I've gotten good advice before.

I still haven't left Morse Mountain and can do all the trails there besides the black with confidence. Madonna and Sterling look scary from a distance.

Would appreciate any advice where I can ski those kinds of terrain but with maybe more trail offerings? There's only around 12 on Morse.

I'm willing to drive up to 4-5hrs from Northern RI.

This is next weekend if that matters. Less crowded the better.

Thank you for taking the time to read and possibly offer some advice on Ski Japan?
Hello. We're currently in Rauris for the second time. Children (11 and 9) and I are confident skiers, but husband has lost all of his confidence after a couple of tumbles and has written off skiing for the week as his favourite, easy blue is closed in part and the only blues available to him now include some steeper sections that's he's just not enjoying getting down. We're in brand-new new, plush accommodation, so he's happy enough enjoying the spa and relaxing in between meeting us for lunch and at the end of the day. I've suggested booking in with a private instructor, but he doesn't want to this week, but has said that next time we go, he's going to do that, and go back to basics. He's absolutely fine on the gentler parts of the slope and I'd love to ski with him more as I like his company. He's more of a half day skier, with afternoons spent relaxing, so I'm happy to ski at his pace for the mornings. So we're looking for a resort with wide, gentle, cruisey blues and decent accommodation with a spa and pool near the lift and good ski schools for the children please. Reasonable sized ski area preferred, just for daily variety. Will consider all European countries with a budget of maximum 5k but less would be preferred. Happy to drive up to 10 hours from Calais, or fly. We can fly from London, Bristol or Birmingham (we live near Bristol). Ideally no more than a 2/2.5 hour coach transfer but even better if we can get to the resort by train from the airport (happy to use other public transport and taxis to access train stations and resort from nearest station).
 

foofy

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Hello. We're currently in Rauris for the second time. Children (11 and 9) and I are confident skiers, but husband has lost all of his confidence after a couple of tumbles and has written off skiing for the week as his favourite, easy blue is closed in part and the only blues available to him now include some steeper sections that's he's just not enjoying getting down. We're in brand-new new, plush accommodation, so he's happy enough enjoying the spa and relaxing in between meeting us for lunch and at the end of the day. I've suggested booking in with a private instructor, but he doesn't want to this week, but has said that next time we go, he's going to do that, and go back to basics. He's absolutely fine on the gentler parts of the slope and I'd love to ski with him more as I like his company. He's more of a half day skier, with afternoons spent relaxing, so I'm happy to ski at his pace for the mornings. So we're looking for a resort with wide, gentle, cruisey blues and decent accommodation with a spa and pool near the lift and good ski schools for the children please. Reasonable sized ski area preferred, just for daily variety. Will consider all European countries with a budget of maximum 5k but less would be preferred. Happy to drive up to 10 hours from Calais, or fly. We can fly from London, Bristol or Birmingham (we live near Bristol). Ideally no more than a 2/2.5 hour coach transfer but even better if we can get to the resort by train from the airport (happy to use other public transport and taxis to access train stations and resort from nearest station).
Ste Foy in France seems to fit the bill for your family.

Try posting on snowheads for more recommendations.
 
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