Go West! ~ But, but, but where?

[arik]

U ta!

Ute A?

 

[Trekchick]

I took a trip to Utah at the end of March which was planned last fall. We had fun and I enjoyed the turns I took there, but.......
The Colorado Road trip I just got back from was absolutely incredible and cost a tiny fraction of what the trip to Utah cost.
Soooooo much depends on what mother nature serves up!
See the TR here.
http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?p=526204#post526204

 

[Geoff]

Take Lech/Zurs in Austria with 27,500 skiable acres, the Chamonix Valley with 188,298 acres, Verbier with 28,171 and Zermatt with 97,361 now these are resorts that take a long time to explore!!!

I'd toss in Les Trois Vallees and Tignes/Val d'Isere which are equally immense.

Personally, I've been doing my major ski trips to Chile for the last decade. Most of my western skiing has been at ski areas that do not make the list. I'd rather have little Monarch or Ski Santa Fe to myself than trade elbow shots with the Powder Nazis at Snowbird. I don't need a huge resort. I want a good surface and I don't want to share it with the masses. If it has high speed lifts, I probably don't want to go there.

 

[tekweezle]

checkout www.snowcountry.com

seems like Lake Tahoe is getting new snow, Utah too.

 

[Trekchick]

The drought riddled resorts in the west are all getting some of the good stuff. Some more than others....
Good for them!!

 

[AdironRider]

Havent read the whole thread, but I voted Jackson. Easy call as I made the same decision three years ago and have loved every second.

Jackson just has it. Sure there are uppity types, there are the enviro nuts, there are the redneck conservatives, and the good ol boy conservatives, but man it just has it.

Most other resorts have areas of the mtn that are good. Outside of base area lifts, you can find better terrain than anything else lift served on the east coast. AV included. Tram. 459" a year.

The summer is incredible as well. Ive been blown away.


All that being said, Im looking at property back east.

 

[kcyanks1]

Voted a while back, also for Jackson. I've been there a around 5 times. I've only been to Utah (Snowbird/Alta) once (late Dec. this season). It was early season snow depths so I didn't get the full experience there, and I would love to go back. But I have to put the terrain at Jackson ahead, which is the most important thing to me. Snowbird/Alta gets more snow on the whole but Jackson's total isn't exactly shabby (unfortunately I always seem to pick the wrong week though when I go).

 

[bousquet19]

TC, thanks so much for starting this thread and poll! Thanks, too, to everyone who replied. I bookmarked it and continue to refer to it as my three Virginia friends and I consider our first ski trip our West, maybe for a week in March 2012. Very helpful information. Since this is a thread from last season, I hope you won't mind my hijacking it a bit with some trip-specific Qs.

If anybody wants to add suggestions to the long list on these 7 (so far) pages, please do so. Here's our situation:

• Our schedule gives us a one-week trip in March with 5 days of weekday skiing and travel back-and-forth on the weekends. Flying out of DC or Baltimore.
• None of us has a friend out there, so we'll have to pay for accommodations. In the past, we've found good deals through VRBO.
• We like to focus on 2 or 3 areas for variety. We ski the blues and can handle some blacks at places like Sugarloaf, Saddleback and Stowe.
• Apres ski is low on the list. We cook supper in the place we rent but eat on the mtn.
• Each of us may travel with a non-skiing spouse, so a cozy place to "coccoon up" and a town to explore (real towns preferred over faux ski villages). Will need 3-4 bedrooms.
• Minimizing cost is important. Always looking for deals and coupons.
• I enjoy planning ahead.

Woody

 

[mikestaple]

I would suggest Steamboat. You can fly into Hayden from a number of big cities and then Alpine Taxi (25 miles) right to the resort. Lots of VRBO for ski on and off. And most of the condos have free shuttles into Steamboat (2 miles) for the non-skiers. (it's a real town with plenty to explore - the city has a free bus service too, so no need to rent a car and drive the 3.5 hours over the mountains from Denver.)

Steamboat has amazing powder, lots of glades and blues and bumps you would probably enjoy. The blacks are usually black due to glades and / or bumps - not the steep steeps of JHole. So it sounds like your level would have a blast.

Good luck.

 

[tjf67]

TC, thanks so much for starting this thread and poll! Thanks, too, to everyone who replied. I bookmarked it and continue to refer to it as my three Virginia friends and I consider our first ski trip our West, maybe for a week in March 2012. Very helpful information. Since this is a thread from last season, I hope you won't mind my hijacking it a bit with some trip-specific Qs.

If anybody wants to add suggestions to the long list on these 7 (so far) pages, please do so. Here's our situation:

• Our schedule gives us a one-week trip in March with 5 days of weekday skiing and travel back-and-forth on the weekends. Flying out of DC or Baltimore.
• None of us has a friend out there, so we'll have to pay for accommodations. In the past, we've found good deals through VRBO.
• We like to focus on 2 or 3 areas for variety. We ski the blues and can handle some blacks at places like Sugarloaf, Saddleback and Stowe.
• Apres ski is low on the list. We cook supper in the place we rent but eat on the mtn.
• Each of us may travel with a non-skiing spouse, so a cozy place to "coccoon up" and a town to explore (real towns preferred over faux ski villages). Will need 3-4 bedrooms.
• Minimizing cost is important. Always looking for deals and coupons.
• I enjoy planning ahead.

Woody

March 2012?

 

[bousquet19]

Yes, 2012.

 

[jaja111]

I gotta throw a bone in for Whistler/Blackcomb. The only reason I ever went was because of its proximity to in-laws that we were visiting. When we got into setting up a week there mid winter we were happy to find tickets to Seattle for $240. (Current tickets from Baltimore are $200) We borrowed my in-laws Jeep and stayed in the Creekside area. All total in the end no one that came from NY spent over $900. We were quite happy with the variety of the mountain and the accommodations were fantastic (Lodge at Creekside - base of Gondi). Snow was great (as long as you were on the top half if you wanted powder as opposed to the lower wet cement / cookie dough). Things we were shocked by:

You could get a burger for $6 (opposed to usual experiences of $15), pint of Guiness for $5 in the village (as opposed to $9-$10), the amazing drive made up for the length, BC is known for more than just its skiing (botanical fame), really nice people, touristy yet not over the top idiocy, no one hiding their "secret stash" (locals showed us some quasi OB trails and glades), $20 got you not only first tracks from the Whistler Gondi 1 hour before open but at least that much in food at the mid mountain lodge buffet.... the list goes on.

I think most people see Whistler as being a high end expensive trip... maybe even once in a lifetime from the east coast. The truth is, flying into SEA and renting a vehicle + the lack of incidental wallet damages makes it on the cheaper side of any out west experience.