Family of six looking to replace Max pass options for next season - ideas welcomed!

[jpmorgan78]

Thanks for all of the great thoughts and ideas. We, for better or worse, have kids who also swim and play soccer in addition to skiing. So, about half of our days skiing are day trips up and back because we have competing activities on the other weekend days. This year we've done two four-day trips to Sunday River and Sugarloaf and we will be at Okemo over Easter. Because we can't dedicate the weekend to skiing (that would be awesome!) having access to a reasonable (and again, four kids under 11 in the car means shorter is better) day trip option is critical.
As it turns out, finding places to stay as a family of six can be pretty tricky! The world is certainly built for families of four . . .

 

[tumbler]

Cancel the soccer- it's a fall sport and forget the swimming altogether. Swim lessons yes, competitive swimming no. If you want to be a skiing family the winter is only about skiing. The older they get the more time is demanded by the other sports esp swimming. We have friends that were every weekend skiers and are now primarily just vacation skiers or if they do weekends the family is split up between home and skiing because of swimming. Any other sport besides skiing is done during the week only.

 

[speden]

jp what is your maximum driving time for a day trip? I find 3 hours to be my upper limit. So I can day trip Killington from Boston, but Stowe for example is a little too far. When my kids were that age, we'd set them up with a video player so they could watch a movie during the drive.

 

[boston_e]

Cancel the soccer- it's a fall sport and forget the swimming altogether. Swim lessons yes, competitive swimming no. If you want to be a skiing family the winter is only about skiing. The older they get the more time is demanded by the other sports esp swimming. We have friends that were every weekend skiers and are now primarily just vacation skiers or if they do weekends the family is split up between home and skiing because of swimming. Any other sport besides skiing is done during the week only.

This is going to be true with any winter sport... especially as the kids get older. At 10, 9, 9 and 5 though, you should be able to swim and then pick and choose your races so you have plenty of weekends to go up skiing.

Also, if you do have a "permanent home" in the winter for skiing, it makes a one night trip more doable since you are not worried about packing everything up etc. A one night trip is a lot easier if you just have to hop in the car and go.

Other option if you pick a true "home" mountain is to sign the kids up for the race program and make that their winter sport.

In our hometown we joke that there are skiing families or hockey families and there is zero crossover between the two.

 

[Zermatt]

Who on earth would have four kids....on purpose?

Spring sports are effing killing me right now. Snow is absolute best of the season (not including the long and warm days) and we are stuck dealing with spring sports.

 

[jpmorgan78]

I'd say 2 hours. Ideally. Maybe 2h15m

 

[BenedictGomez]

Cancel the soccer- it's a fall sport and forget the swimming altogether.

When did kids playing seasonal sports year-round become a thing. There are kids here in Jersey that are in year-round baseball. Baseball! These are little kids, not 18 year old draftees playing in a winter league.

 

[mikes]

When did kids playing seasonal sports year-round become a thing. There are kids here in Jersey that are in year-round baseball. Baseball! These are little kids, not 18 year old draftees playing in a winter league.

Both my girls (9 and 11) play travel softball. Spring season is just starting although the weahter isnt copperating yet. It will go into early July. Fall season starts late August and goes to the end of October. Winter workouts indoors are in January and February but are more laid back. I help coach both teams and am at the field 6 or 7 days a week in season. Way different then when I was a kid! Girls really enjoy it and more than likely they won't get to play past HS. Lots of kids on their teams play other year round travel sports... its nuts!

I did finally introduce them to skiing this winter and they loved it. Now they have a sport that can carry with them the rest of their lives. Good excuse for me to get back into it after a very long time.

 

[speden]

I'd say 2 hours. Ideally. Maybe 2h15m

Then you're probably limited to southern NH. So that would basically be Crotched, Sunapee, Gunstock, and Ragged. I don't know of a combined pass for those, so you could pick your favorite and get a pass there, then look for bargains during the season to add some variety.

If you're a fast driver then the White Mountain areas could still work. The speed limit is 70 on long stretches of I-93 now, so you can go 75+ and not worry too much about speeding tickets. So the Superpass places for example are in the 2h30m range.

 

[tumbler]

When did kids playing seasonal sports year-round become a thing. There are kids here in Jersey that are in year-round baseball. Baseball! These are little kids, not 18 year old draftees playing in a winter league.

It is nuts and one thing I truly despise about where we are now as a society. Kids have no free time to be...kids! Playing multiple sports a season and the parents pushing thinking their kid is the next league MVP. We limit our kids to one sport per season so they have free time. People question us frequently about it and don't comprehend it. We will fill in with tennis and golf lessons and they are already pretty much expert skiers. Sports they will use the rest of their life.

Don't get me started on the crazy parents...

 

[elks]

I agree that it is cheaper to rent a room or condo on a weekend by weekend basis than seasonal rental. also keeps the options so much more flexible. I'm also a guy in my 30s who doesn't care if there are chalk outlines of bodies on the floor of my $50 rutland motel. ymmv.

We're debating condo purchase, ski house rental, or hotel for next season. Our kids want to get more involved with racing and will need to be at the mountain both weekend days for the whole season. This season, we did day trips every weekend, but can't fathom that twice a weekend even if just going to Crotched, which takes us about 80 minutes. I can do it one day, but twice a weekend is too much back-and-forth for sanity.

What resources have you used to find ski house rentals? We're not particularly attached to being on the mountain. It could be a house within 20 minutes from mountain. How many months are typical for such a seasonal rental? We'd only really need from mid-December to early March or end of February.

 

[Domeskier]

It is nuts and one thing I truly despise about where we are now as a society. Kids have no free time to be...kids! Playing multiple sports a season and the parents pushing thinking their kid is the next league MVP. We limit our kids to one sport per season so they have free time. People question us frequently about it and don't comprehend it. We will fill in with tennis and golf lessons and they are already pretty much expert skiers. Sports they will use the rest of their life.

Don't get me started on the crazy parents...

I have a theory about kids and sports and parents, but it wasn't coming out as offensive as I wanted it to be, so I decided to keep it to myself and work on it some more.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

bet it wouldn't offend me, as my default position is that children are the worst, and that parents who have children are narcissists who think the world should start revolving around them after they pop one out.

i went to see four tet last week. four tet is a british house/techno producer who falls on the more artsy/brainy end of the spectrum. his show was at national sawdust, which is a venue that hosts pretty highbrow music (world music, modern classical, abstract jazz, etc). some couple brought a kid who couldn't be any older than 7 or 8. while this show was not in a typical electronic music club, and was not at all drug soaked or anything like that, it just struck me as a wildly inappropriate place to bring a child. inconsiderate to the child and to the other paying members of the audience.

 

[prsboogie]

bet it wouldn't offend me, as my default position is that children are the worst, and that parents who have children are narcissists who think the world should start revolving around them after they pop one out.

That's because of your geographical location.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[KustyTheKlown]

new york city is certainly not a very child friendly place, and i cringe whenever i see children in restaurants etc around my neck of the woods. see edit to my post above re: concert last week.

i subscribe to the arrested development milford man mantra "children should be neither seen nor heard"

 

[Domeskier]

bet it wouldn't offend me, as my default position is that children are the worst, and that parents who have children are narcissists who think the world should start revolving around them after they pop one out.

i went to see four tet last week. four tet is a british house/techno producer who falls on the more artsy/brainy end of the spectrum. his show was at national sawdust, which is a venue that hosts pretty highbrow music (world music, modern classical, abstract jazz, etc). some couple brought a kid who couldn't be any older than 7 or 8. while this show was not in a typical electronic music club, and was not at all drug soaked or anything like that, it just struck me as a wildly inappropriate place to bring a child. inconsiderate to the child and to the other paying members of the audience.

I kind of like kids. Except when they behave like adults on TV talent shows. That's the worst.

 

[Domeskier]

bet it wouldn't offend me, as my default position is that children are the worst, and that parents who have children are narcissists who think the world should start revolving around them after they pop one out.

Sorry - I edited that before I saw anyone had replied.

 

[tumbler]

bet it wouldn't offend me, as my default position is that children are the worst, and that parents who have children are narcissists who think the world should start revolving around them after they pop one out.

Well, you were once a child too...as you said it is the parents that are the problem, not the kids, they only know what they know.

 

[tumbler]

We're debating condo purchase, ski house rental, or hotel for next season. Our kids want to get more involved with racing and will need to be at the mountain both weekend days for the whole season. This season, we did day trips every weekend, but can't fathom that twice a weekend even if just going to Crotched, which takes us about 80 minutes. I can do it one day, but twice a weekend is too much back-and-forth for sanity.

What resources have you used to find ski house rentals? We're not particularly attached to being on the mountain. It could be a house within 20 minutes from mountain. How many months are typical for such a seasonal rental? We'd only really need from mid-December to early March or end of February.

There have been discussions on here somewhere, I can't remember which thread. Use a local agent in the area of the mountain you want to be near. There was debate about AirBnB, Craigslist and doing it yourself. I prefer the agent as they will generally know who the owner is, pros and cons of location and a knowledge of price. Yes, you will pay a small commission but they do most of the work for you. Where we are seasonal rentals are usually Nov 1-April 30. With kids in racing program you will start to go to different mountains on Sundays for races, so it will help to have a home base in the mountains to shorten drive times. You will need two cars quite a bit especially if kids different ages, could be at two different mountains for races. I'm sure Dr Jeff can expound on that.

 

[Domeskier]

Well, you were once a child too...as you said it is the parents that are the problem, not the kids, they only know what they know.

I think parents get a bad rap. Peers and older siblings share a lot of the blame for ruining kids.