Has anybody not skied the west???

[Starter Jackets Rule!]

speaking of Boz-Land basing my trip out west in Feb at Disco mtn montana./Whitefish
then heading over the border to lake island and stuff.

 

[rueler]

I miss going out west...it's been awhile!

1990- Winter Park/MJ x8 with my parents and brother

In 1999, I took a cross country trip with a friend and hit:
CO: Keystone, A-Basin x3, Copper x2, Breckenridge, Loveland x2
UT: Snowbird x7 (only thing open in Utah at the time-late April-still tons of snow)
CA: Alpine Meadows x2, Squaw Valley x2, Mammoth, Boreal

2000: Whistler/Blackcomb x8 days

2001: Keystone, A-Basin, Copper, Winter Park/MJ x2

2002: Sugar Bowl, Squaw Valley x3, Big Bear, CA

 

[davidhowland14]

When are you moving to Bozeman..I lived there from 2002-2004..PM me if you have any questions about the Bozone..

sometime next summer. I'll be there for at least the next four seasons...

attending Montana State U

 

[Superbman]

I'm an east coaster-this will be my 9th season of skiing-but I get out west for 1 week (and once 1 extra week late season!) every season. The guy who taught me to ski (and still serves that role more or less) mandated that he would share his copious knowledge freely as long as I agreed to accompany him every year on a west coast trip. Well, I've kept up my end of the bargain!

Here's the rap, though for would be west coast travelers. There are NO snow guarantees-I've had heavenly days of powder but I've also been skunked at Alta in February (though I've been to SLC 4 times and had 'best day ever experiences' in little cottonwood canyon as well). And remember on these big mountains, when it's bad, it's WORSE than the average east coast ski area-the caveat being that at the legendary places it's good more often than it's bad. But if a place like Alta goes a week or so without fresh snow, it's miserable. And that's the risk, when you drop a lot of money and get on a plane you're hoping for Western conditions-but that doesn't always equal great conditions. Don't let anyone sell you the line that it always snows and the conditions are always great anywhere. It's just not true.

That being said, it's a risk very much worth taking! Go west!

My advice to would-be western ski travelers is this-Block out the dates you're going to ski early, but wait until closer to the actual trip date to pick where you are going, and go where the snow has been flying, bases are deep, etc. You'll get banged a little more on the airfare, but you'll hedge your bet for a better ski experience (which is why you're making this trip in the first place).

Oh-in 9 years I've been too:
SLC (4 times-it's the gold ribbon stand-by and as close to a sure thing in business!)
Tahoe (2 times-spring trips once great corn, the other pretty darn windy and firm)
Summit/ eagle County (once was plenty-lean Pickings-and this was early March!)
Taos (when the snow is in, which it was, it's magical!)
Jackson/Targhee (JH is as big and steep as you've heard-great town with good eating!)
Mammoth (Just didn't time the snow right..too bad 'cause the place is, well, Mammoth!)
Big Mountain (whitefish now)/Fernie (This was a cool trip-a bit of driving but two fantastic ski areas)

I need to eventually get to 1. Whistler, 2.Southern Colorado (a San Juan silverton, Telluride trip), 3. Big Sky and 4. A long ambitious Trip doing Revelstoke to Roger's Pass to Kicking Horse...but it'll be a awhile before I can get away with that long of a trip!

Sorry to go on guys, I'm just really have skiing on the mind right now!!

Liam

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

speaking of Boz-Land basing my trip out west in Feb at Disco mtn montana./Whitefish
then heading over the border to lake island and stuff.

Where is Disco mountain??? Turner???

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

sometime next summer. I'll be there for at least the next four seasons...

attending Montana State U

Awesome I like how you say at least 4 seasons..because college is a fun time and why not spend a few extra years..lol...I will say that the MSU students party harder than the kids at UVM..it's hard to believe but I experienced both..

 

[playoutside]

1969-1978ish - only skied in NJ at Craigmeur

No skiing for a bunch of years because I was playing HS sports, saving for college, going to college, in general living broke

1991 on a series of business trips to CO I ended up skiing again! Yeah! Think the snow and the invention of ski brakes are a big reason I love it today.

Since then I have skied in either the west or Europe most years.
CO - Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge, Vail, Winter Park, Steamboat
Utah - Canyons, Alta, Snowbird
CA - Alpine, Squaw, Northstar, Sugarbowl, Donner Ski Ranch
NV - Heavenly
Austria - Zell Am See, Kitzsteinhorn, St Anton
France - Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets

And last year my big west trip was to...PA -- Shawnee!! Woo hoo!!

 

[BushMogulMaster]

CO is the only Western (sorta) state I've skied in.

Let's see, last year I did:

>Copper
>Cooper
>Monarch
>A-Basin
>Loveland
>Breck
>Vail
>Beaver Creek
>Steamboat
>Winter Park/Mary Jane

I'd love to get to UT sometime in the near future. And Wyoming. Oh, and Oregon. And Montana. And Washington. California, too. Even New Mexico. And maybe British Columbia! :wink:

Someday!

 

[bigbog]

...another ECoaster

Not yet....Steeze, you looking to finance? ;-) OTHW..I think it's gonna be one more year down the road...unless I decide to apply/interview out there...

 

[Bostonian]

Did one trip to Mountain High in Wrightwood, Cali when I was visiting some friends in the LA Basin.

 

[ctenidae]

Used to nothing but ski in New Mexico and Colorado, but that was when I was a kid, over 20 years ago.

 

[Phillycore]

Pretty weak....but so is my ca$hflow

06-07 Breck, Vail, Keystone
05-06 Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee

 

[icedtea]

i've been to copper, keystone, and steamboat in colorado and brighton in utah.

 

[Zand]

Never... maybe in college. I still haven't skied half of New England yet haha.

 

[andyzee]

I've skied PA.

 

[Justin10]

I've gotten out to:

Jackson Hole
Grand Targhee
Vail
Breckenridge
The Canyons

The year I went to the Canyons, they had basically 0 snow. I was back in high school for that and it was a family trip that was planned before we had any idea who had a lot of snow and to make a short story they had like half of their terrain open and we had more snow here in NE than what was out there. Although I skied there in a thundersnow storm, that was siiiiiiiiick...like 6 inches of snow in not even an hour - I've never not been able to see like that before. It definitly takes white-out conditions to the next level.

Jackson was by far the most gnarly. They have the most challenging terrain I've skied or boarded (yep, do both) in my life, it was absolutly incredible spending 5 days there pushing myself to do more and more ridiculous terrain. I definitly improved my powder skiing. We did targhee for a day while on that trip which was sweet, but there really wasnt much powder there, it had been a few days. I was surprised the mountain wasn't very similar to jackson hole, but on a deeeeeep pow day that place would be pretty awesome. Looking to hit Jackson/Targhee again in the very very near future...

It was very depressing to come back to New England to ski, but then I remembered that it was still skiing and was happy I wasn't back in florida where I was born.

 

[Skier75]

Nope, maybe someday.......since we are empty nestors now....have been for about 7 years now....now it's just the money thing......need more money....

 

[kingslug]

I'll never forget the first time we went to Utah. It was the 48 in 48 storm and we couldn't see a thing the first day. It was so deep we didn't know what to do...lots of falling mostly. The next day brought clear skies and we where floored by the sight of Alta and Snowbird. I've been to most of the resorts in Utah, some in CO, BC, WY, And Cali. Nothing compares with Utah.....

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'll never forget the first time we went to Utah. It was the 48 in 48 storm and we couldn't see a thing the first day. It was so deep we didn't know what to do...lots of falling mostly. The next day brought clear skies and we where floored by the sight of Alta and Snowbird. I've been to most of the resorts in Utah, some in CO, BC, WY, And Cali. Nothing compares with Utah.....

Nothing like being in the White Room..call me crazy but I'll take 20 inches of untracked powder over 40 inches of untracked powder..simply because in knee deep powder I can keep my speed up.

It snowed 105 inches of snow in 5 days at Bridger Bowl when I was living there right around New Years eve 2003..it gave a solid base until April but at the time it was too much of a good thing and large swaths of terrain were initially closed due to Avalanche Control work. One Telemark skier who was a manager at Bar 3 BBQ in Bozeman went head first off a cliff off the High Traverse and suffocated to death in the deep snow. Snowboarders were getting stuck up to their necks. Definitely nipple deep snow. The best technique was to ski in others tracks on the more moderate pitches and then on the steep pitches..jump into the fresh..make a few turns and when momentum starts to slow..ski back into others tracks to avoid getting stuck. Eventually the deep snow settled and there were powder stashes to be found in the woods for a solid 7-10 days..insane in the membrane..

 

[DPhelan]

lived in boulder CO 2003-2005, bozeman 2005-2007
4 seasons, over 500 days on the snow.
had a blast at sundown yesterday morning and heading to okemo tomorrow