Denver vs. Salt Lake City vs. Lake Tahoe

[skiNEwhere]

I am generalizing big time here but where would you consider the best skiing in the United States to be? Where would you move if you could with no strings attached? I know there are a few of you out there who live in CO (myself included), but for Utah and Tahoe we are gonna have to rely on you TrailBoss and snoseek since the other few members on the board from there haven't been on in a while.

As far as I see, the breakdown looks like this.

Denver, CO:
Pro's: Most likely of the 3 to be able to find a job (Big selling point for me) Sports! Wide array of ski area's within a 2 hour drive, and great nightlife. Ton's of backcountry to rip
Con's: Less snowfall than Utah. Weed is legal (I don't have a problem with potheads but I have an issue with them moving here to smoke and then ripping up all the powder!)

Salt Lake City, UT
Pro's: Godly powder (From what I've heard). Ton of ski area's within only an HOUR drive (or less)
Con's: Less jobs than Denver? Stricter nightlife? (I'm guessing here)

Lake Tahoe, CA:
Pro's: When the snow is pure, it is dumping from the heavens. Large selection of resorts to ski from
Con's: You can get Sierra Cement, which I've heard is no fun. I looked for my job title (Voice Engineer) in Tahoe and surrounding areas and couldn't find anything, I'm assuming a lot of jobs are hard to find in Tahoe proper. On average, Californians do NOT know how to drive in the snow. Gambling (Could be pro or con)

 

[gladerider]

to answer your question:
1- SLC, hands down. little cotton wood canyon powder is addictive. unmatched IMHO.

2- i like this thread. i'd like to pull a trigger on a move like this one day.
i agree on denver. prolly my choice as well. although, i have seen more and more companies moving jobs to SLC.

one location on my list that's not on yours is seattle/vancouver.
- you can hit many places including stevens pass, whistler, etc...
- job situation may be decent in the seattle area, may not be so in vancouver

 

[gmcunni]

i too dream of a time when i will move out west once my kids are grown. my wife and i talk about it occasionally and denver seems to be the place based on job/city life. the one thing that scares me is the traffic. having seen it a few times, the trek from denver to the mountains looks to be a nightmare. we'd be downsizing so my wife's plan is to have an apartment in the mountains and small modest house back in the denver area. :roll:

 

[abc]

I am generalizing big time here but where would you consider the best skiing in the United States to be? Where would you move if you could with no strings attached? I know there are a few of you out there who live in CO (myself included), but for Utah and Tahoe we are gonna have to rely on you TrailBoss and snoseek since the other few members on the board from there haven't been on in a while.

As far as I see, the breakdown looks like this.

Denver, CO:
Pro's: Most likely of the 3 to be able to find a job (Big selling point for me) Sports! Wide array of ski area's within a 2 hour drive, and great nightlife. Ton's of backcountry to rip
Con's: Less snowfall than Utah. Weed is legal (I don't have a problem with potheads but I have an issue with them moving here to smoke and then ripping up all the powder!)

Salt Lake City, UT
Pro's: Godly powder (From what I've heard). Ton of ski area's within only an HOUR drive (or less)
Con's: Less jobs than Denver? Stricter nightlife? (I'm guessing here)

Lake Tahoe, CA:
Pro's: When the snow is pure, it is dumping from the heavens. Large selection of resorts to ski from
Con's: You can get Sierra Cement, which I've heard is no fun. I looked for my job title (Voice Engineer) in Tahoe and surrounding areas and couldn't find anything, I'm assuming a lot of jobs are hard to find in Tahoe proper. On average, Californians do NOT know how to drive in the snow. Gambling (Could be pro or con)

You say no strings attached, but then start talking about jobs...

If money is an issue, keep in mind season pass prices. With the Epic pass covering almost all the mountains in the Colorado front range, that's one big advantage. My ski buddy moved to Part City but they got stuck skiing one mountain. There's no combo pass and the season pass are quite expensive compare to Colorado.

By that token, Tahoe is out cold. No job, no international airport. You can fly in and out of Reno but no many direct flights except to SFO and LAX. No to mention there's no cultural life to speak of (I'm talking about musuems and concerts, or for that matter, decent resturuants).

None of those areas are my preference. But if I must take one of the 3, I'd take Utah. For the best summer outdoor scence.

My top 3: Vancouver (Seattle included), Calgary, Jackson Hole. Note all of them have wide range of summer activities. ;-)

 

[snoseek]

I've done three in SLC, three in Colorado and working on two in Tahoe.The snow in SLC is by far the finest of the three, the skiing there I think is overall the best. Sierra snow can be super fun and that added denseness can be a blessing as it covers rocks and steep stuff up real nice. It's surfy. Yeah California drivers are pretty bad in the snow but I-70 takes the cake imo with everyone funneling up from the airport and all the Teaxan transplants in Denver suburbia.

I like Denver alot as a city, much more than salt lake. There's way more going on, baseball, women that like to have sex, the platte, a good restaurant scene and overall its outdoor friendly. Salt Lake is ok, it can be a fun night out, one can get drunk, the public transportation is top notch. It's a big plus to be that close to good skiing, it makes it easy to balance a normal life and ski a ton. The LDS culture is more prevalent in some areas than others. If you're a tolerant person this shouldn't be as bad as some make it out to be. It can be be socially tough for some people. I will say Utah is sorta a police state and the politics appear to be fucked but I'm calling that from a distance. Still plenty of potheads there and yes they don't exactly fuck around here in California too, weed is everywhere. I haven't speant too much time in Reno but from what I saw I really liked...it's up and coming. I love medium sized western cities like Grand j, ogden ect...Reno is a step up from that and dirt cheap to buy real estate.

Colorados western slope would be ideal for me to settle, just not enough snow comes down there. The MTB riding is top notch however along with various other outdoor activities. For me Tahoe is just a little too far, the snow is super hit or miss and I hate the idea that it could very well rain straight to the top in January. Other than that when Tahoe is on its pretty WOW. This year is on so far. Plus the terrain here is incredible, steep, techy, great trees. It is close to major population centers like the bay area and at times it shows. No worse than going to Summit County though. I'm overall looking to get away from Vail resorts mostly because my skiing experience is worth more than a cheap pass.


With all that said next winter I'll be going back to Utah....

 

[skiNEwhere]

You say no strings attached, but then start talking about jobs...

I meant you could cut all ties from where you live, friends, family, job, to enable you TO move. You'd still need to worry about moving in, that's all.

I technically live in Idaho Springs, but actually in St. Mary's Glacier. Plenty of outdoor activities. And you can ski in July and August! I'm 45 minutes from Loveland, 1 hour from Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper, and an hour and a half from Vail.

I thought of listing Jackson, WY, but that is kind of a one trick pony. I'm sure Jackson Hole is awesome, but I gotta mix it up a little bit and I don't think Grand Targee and Snow King would cut it.

I am not a religious person, and while I think Utah has premium skiing, I feel like I wouldn't really fit in with the LDS crowd, which could make me more isolated during the non-skiing months

I used to drive I-70 to work everyday, I was never in traffic except when the weather was really bad and caused an accident. As long as you avoid ski traffic on Sunday's on I-70 Eastbound, you'll be in the clear

 

[bdfreetuna]

I like Denver alot as a city... There's ... women that like to have sex,

:-o

I have not been to either of these destinations. My western skiing experience is limited to the Banff area.

That said I strongly prefer more technical terrain over champaign powder. I'd rather ski Goat on crusty snow than some open bowl full of powder. So I think Tahoe would have more terrain I'd really enjoy, plus probably more variable snow which I might also enjoy.

I'd probably pick Burlington over all these for being a better place to live plus great eastern skiing.

 

[snoseek]

:-o

I have not been to either of these destinations. My western skiing experience is limited to the Banff area.

That said I strongly prefer more technical terrain over champaign powder. I'd rather ski Goat on crusty snow than some open bowl full of powder. So I think Tahoe would have more terrain I'd really enjoy, plus probably more variable snow which I might also enjoy.

I'd probably pick Burlington over all these for being a better place to live plus great eastern skiing.

Altabird=champagne pow+steep techy terrain.

 

[snoseek]

I meant you could cut all ties from where you live, friends, family, job, to enable you TO move. You'd still need to worry about moving in, that's all.

I technically live in Idaho Springs, but actually in St. Mary's Glacier. Plenty of outdoor activities. And you can ski in July and August! I'm 45 minutes from Loveland, 1 hour from Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper, and an hour and a half from Vail.

I thought of listing Jackson, WY, but that is kind of a one trick pony. I'm sure Jackson Hole is awesome, but I gotta mix it up a little bit and I don't think Grand Targee and Snow King would cut it.

I am not a religious person, and while I think Utah has premium skiing, I feel like I wouldn't really fit in with the LDS crowd, which could make me more isolated during the non-skiing months

I used to drive I-70 to work everyday, I was never in traffic except when the weather was really bad and caused an accident. As long as you avoid ski traffic on Sunday's on I-70 Eastbound, you'll be in the clear

Idaho Springs is a great little town...good pick

The average person living in denver, working m-f and travelling up on the weekends does have to deal with some pretty bad traffic though, not just in bad weather, not just in winter. Summit County is a machine and honestly I don't think the skiing is bad but its definitely better in so many other locations. I couldn't deal with suco when i lived there and just skied loveland or copper/wp on the weekdays, or better yet drove south for better skiing wit less people. I would MUCH rather live on the western slope than Denver but that just me. No traffic, more central, cheaper, better biking, drier, 4 hours from salt lake..the list goes on

 

[bobbutts]

Expand your job search in the Tahoe area to include Reno.

 

[thetrailboss]

I read the first few posts, but will jump in here. We looked at all three of these areas before we moved out here in 2011. My wife could have done her residency at any of these. She interviewed at Denver, Salt Lake, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. I went with her in December 2010 to Denver and SLC.

Tahoe: this was the first place we skied out west ever and we loved it. This is what got us thinking of Rocky Mountains as a place to live for a while. The only option for her for residency was Reno. We initially were going to check it out further, but after spending our last day/night of the trip in Reno before flying back east, we quickly reconsidered. The city is very seedy and Nevada's economy then, 2010, really sucked. Skiing was within 45 minutes, but with that criteria we had a lot of other options.

Denver: Rocky Mountain high, right? Wrong. We spent three days in Denver and hated it. I've lived in Boston and learned quickly that access to the mountains and shores is not bad, but you have to fight with 100,000 other cars going to the same place. I hate that. Well, everyone my wife and I talked to said, "skiing? Yeah, get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning to try and beat the traffic." That was not going to fly with me. I did Loveland for two days and loved it, but 70 is very interesting in snow as we found out and honestly Loveland would be fun but I'd probably want something else. It is good sized, has a long season, has good terrain and snow, but the weather can suck up there. Denver had a good economy but it was simply too damn big for what we wanted and much further from the mountains than you'd think.

Salt Lake: we went from Denver right to SLC on the same trip. Wow, what a difference. Airport? Big and easy to get in and out of. 15 minutes from my house now. Mountains? We dropped out of the clouds to see the tops of snow covered mountains and it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings or something, looped around the lake, and landed at the airport with the Wasatch almost out the window. We were in awe because they are right there. We spent no time in "downtown Denver;" on our trip to SLC we walked around the downtown and were there everyday because we could get in and out. Skiing? We went right to Alta. I was expecting a long, slow 90 minute drive from the U, where we were staying. I kid you not that it was 35 minutes door-to-door and that the roads were spotless and fast. The skiing? Incredible. Unreal. Best snow and terrain combined. Economy? Good. Culture and night life? Decent considering we are from Vermont. Big downside: the weird culture of the "majority" in Utah. A strong counterculture exists and folks laugh at some of the nonsense. SLC is very diverse and a nice place to live. But I will admit that I did have a tougher time finding a job because I did not know the "secret handshake". That said, I am where I am and a lot of younger folks of the "majority" are nice and don't do the whole BS that older folks do (shunning us, not letting their kids play with non-members, etc). Living here now: great. My commute to work is now 25 miles a week; in Vermont it was 250 miles. The cost of living is much lower; our opportunities much better and compensation is much higher than VT. And there are tons of young folks here...which is amazing. Skiing? Yeah, pretty kickass and close.

 

[thetrailboss]

Jackson Hole: we'd love to live there, but it is too much like VT in that there are no good jobs, the housing is too expensive, the taxes are high, and pay is low for what jobs there are. Amazing place...we love to visit...but realize that we probably won't live there anytime soon.

 

[thetrailboss]

:-o

I have not been to either of these destinations. My western skiing experience is limited to the Banff area.

That said I strongly prefer more technical terrain over champaign powder. I'd rather ski Goat on crusty snow than some open bowl full of powder. So I think Tahoe would have more terrain I'd really enjoy, plus probably more variable snow which I might also enjoy.

I'd probably pick Burlington over all these for being a better place to live plus great eastern skiing.

Let me show you some stuff at Alta or Snowbird and I think you'd reconsider....

 

[thetrailboss]

SLC Economy: in November I only heard of companies in VT closing or laying off folks (GE, OMYA, Energizer, etc.).

Here we have Adobe coming, several other high tech companies, and some manufacturers. We have about 5,000 well paying jobs coming in the near future to this area.

No comparison.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Let me show you some stuff at Alta or Snowbird and I think you'd reconsider....

I have no doubt. Will you also show me the secret handshake? lol

 

[skiNEwhere]

Let me show you some stuff at Alta or Snowbird and I think you'd reconsider....

I have no doubt. Will you also show me the secret handshake? lol

Me 2!

 

[thetrailboss]

I have no doubt. Will you also show me the secret handshake? lol

:lol:

Yeah, I don't know the secret handshake, but I know the secret pow stashes

 

[gladerider]

I read the first few posts, but will jump in here. We looked at all three of these areas before we moved out here in 2011. My wife could have done her residency at any of these. She interviewed at Denver, Salt Lake, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. I went with her in December 2010 to Denver and SLC.

Tahoe: this was the first place we skied out west ever and we loved it. This is what got us thinking of Rocky Mountains as a place to live for a while. The only option for her for residency was Reno. We initially were going to check it out further, but after spending our last day/night of the trip in Reno before flying back east, we quickly reconsidered. The city is very seedy and Nevada's economy then, 2010, really sucked. Skiing was within 45 minutes, but with that criteria we had a lot of other options.

Denver: Rocky Mountain high, right? Wrong. We spent three days in Denver and hated it. I've lived in Boston and learned quickly that access to the mountains and shores is not bad, but you have to fight with 100,000 other cars going to the same place. I hate that. Well, everyone my wife and I talked to said, "skiing? Yeah, get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning to try and beat the traffic." That was not going to fly with me. I did Loveland for two days and loved it, but 70 is very interesting in snow as we found out and honestly Loveland would be fun but I'd probably want something else. It is good sized, has a long season, has good terrain and snow, but the weather can suck up there. Denver had a good economy but it was simply too damn big for what we wanted and much further from the mountains than you'd think.

Salt Lake: we went from Denver right to SLC on the same trip. Wow, what a difference. Airport? Big and easy to get in and out of. 15 minutes from my house now. Mountains? We dropped out of the clouds to see the tops of snow covered mountains and it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings or something, looped around the lake, and landed at the airport with the Wasatch almost out the window. We were in awe because they are right there. We spent no time in "downtown Denver;" on our trip to SLC we walked around the downtown and were there everyday because we could get in and out. Skiing? We went right to Alta. I was expecting a long, slow 90 minute drive from the U, where we were staying. I kid you not that it was 35 minutes door-to-door and that the roads were spotless and fast. The skiing? Incredible. Unreal. Best snow and terrain combined. Economy? Good. Culture and night life? Decent considering we are from Vermont. Big downside: the weird culture of the "majority" in Utah. A strong counterculture exists and folks laugh at some of the nonsense. SLC is very diverse and a nice place to live. But I will admit that I did have a tougher time finding a job because I did not know the "secret handshake". That said, I am where I am and a lot of younger folks of the "majority" are nice and don't do the whole BS that older folks do (shunning us, not letting their kids play with non-members, etc). Living here now: great. My commute to work is now 25 miles a week; in Vermont it was 250 miles. The cost of living is much lower; our opportunities much better and compensation is much higher than VT. And there are tons of young folks here...which is amazing. Skiing? Yeah, pretty kickass and close.

thanx for sharing your experience TTB. as soon as i saw this thread, i immediately thought about you and was waiting for you to jump in.

btw, i was there during the xmas week and was going to give you a haller but i brought a big family out there and was difficult to get out of my obligations. next time i head out that way, i definitely would like to meet up.

 

[thetrailboss]

thanx for sharing your experience TTB. as soon as i saw this thread, i immediately thought about you and was waiting for you to jump in.

btw, i was there during the xmas week and was going to give you a haller but i brought a big family out there and was difficult to get out of my obligations. next time i head out that way, i definitely would like to meet up.

Hope you had fun. Yeah, PM when you come out next time.

 

[ScottySkis]

I read the first few posts, but will jump in here. We looked at all three of these areas before we moved out here in 2011. My wife could have done her residency at any of these. She interviewed at Denver, Salt Lake, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. I went with her in December 2010 to Denver and SLC.

Tahoe: this was the first place we skied out west ever and we loved it. This is what got us thinking of Rocky Mountains as a place to live for a while. The only option for her for residency was Reno. We initially were going to check it out further, but after spending our last day/night of the trip in Reno before flying back east, we quickly reconsidered. The city is very seedy and Nevada's economy then, 2010, really sucked. Skiing was within 45 minutes, but with that criteria we had a lot of other options.

Denver: Rocky Mountain high, right? Wrong. We spent three days in Denver and hated it. I've lived in Boston and learned quickly that access to the mountains and shores is not bad, but you have to fight with 100,000 other cars going to the same place. I hate that. Well, everyone my wife and I talked to said, "skiing? Yeah, get up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning to try and beat the traffic." That was not going to fly with me. I did Loveland for two days and loved it, but 70 is very interesting in snow as we found out and honestly Loveland would be fun but I'd probably want something else. It is good sized, has a long season, has good terrain and snow, but the weather can suck up there. Denver had a good economy but it was simply too damn big for what we wanted and much further from the mountains than you'd think.

Salt Lake: we went from Denver right to SLC on the same trip. Wow, what a difference. Airport? Big and easy to get in and out of. 15 minutes from my house now. Mountains? We dropped out of the clouds to see the tops of snow covered mountains and it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings or something, looped around the lake, and landed at the airport with the Wasatch almost out the window. We were in awe because they are right there. We spent no time in "downtown Denver;" on our trip to SLC we walked around the downtown and were there everyday because we could get in and out. Skiing? We went right to Alta. I was expecting a long, slow 90 minute drive from the U, where we were staying. I kid you not that it was 35 minutes door-to-door and that the roads were spotless and fast. The skiing? Incredible. Unreal. Best snow and terrain combined. Economy? Good. Culture and night life? Decent considering we are from Vermont. Big downside: the weird culture of the "majority" in Utah. A strong counterculture exists and folks laugh at some of the nonsense. SLC is very diverse and a nice place to live. But I will admit that I did have a tougher time finding a job because I did not know the "secret handshake". That said, I am where I am and a lot of younger folks of the "majority" are nice and don't do the whole BS that older folks do (shunning us, not letting their kids play with non-members, etc). Living here now: great. My commute to work is now 25 miles a week; in Vermont it was 250 miles. The cost of living is much lower; our opportunities much better and compensation is much higher than VT. And there are tons of young folks here...which is amazing. Skiing? Yeah, pretty kickass and close.

+1 , I been to Denver and its a few hours to the Mountains, and it might snow if your lucky. I been to Slc.6 different times in 3 years, and I probably never go to Colorado on vacation again, Snow it will be great in Slc, Craiglist apartments 1 studio in the city go for $300 month. You can make very little money and live a great life in Slc. And I plan on it.

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