Ideal ski towns for the future factoring in all issues?

[mikec142]

This topic came up in a different thread. Although I still have a decent way to go, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on great places to settle down after the kids are in college and in retirement. Some of the obvious ones to me haven't been affordable in years so I'm curious about up and coming or alternative type places. Places like Park City, Telluride, Aspen, Jackson, etc. are just plain unaffordable these days.

I mentioned Saratoga Springs, NY. It's probably on the expensive side if you live right in town, but to me, it has a lot going for it. It's a college town so it remains young and vibrant. It has a bustling downtown area full of restaurants, shops, and bars. The track makes things really fun and interesting in the summer. The performing arts center gets great shows. Albany is 30 minutes away for bigger city things and an airport. Quick access to outdoor recreation and Gore is one hour away.

 

[jimk]

Every place has it's pros and cons. I know that if you are looking at a 2nd home or retirement home near skiing you need to think hard about what it's like there during the offseason too. For example, I've spent a lot of time in Utah the last few years and have some notions of moving there. If you'd asked me where I'd go five years ago I would have quickly said Park City or nearby. Now that I've been out there quite a bit I actually find SLC and suburbs of pretty high interest because they have a much milder spring and fall than Park City and Heber City. You get a long warm season with good biking and golfing, yet are still near great skiing/snow during winter.

I swear, the winters in SLC are milder in many ways than the winters in Wash DC metro area. SLC may have more snowy days, but also many random 55-60 deg sunny days all during the winter.

PS: this is a crazy time in vacation real estate with it booming. I've been wrong before, but it's probably a good time to patiently watch for a while and see how things shake-out in the post covid environment.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

eastern winters are brutal. in my experience SLC and Denver both stay pretty mild most of the time. the elevation gains to get up to the skiing are pretty major.

 

[raisingarizona]

eastern winters are brutal. in my experience SLC and Denver both stay pretty mild most of the time. the elevation gains to get up to the skiing are pretty major.

So is the traffic.

 

[mikec142]

So is the traffic.

On the east coast? For sure. My concern about SLC and it's burbs would be the traffic getting to LCC and BCC.

But again, a major city like SLC has a lot of offer.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

he was saying the traffic in denver and slc to ski is brutal, and it is. population growth outpacing infrastructure.

 

[drjeff]

This topic came up in a different thread. Although I still have a decent way to go, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on great places to settle down after the kids are in college and in retirement. Some of the obvious ones to me haven't been affordable in years so I'm curious about up and coming or alternative type places. Places like Park City, Telluride, Aspen, Jackson, etc. are just plain unaffordable these days.

I mentioned Saratoga Springs, NY. It's probably on the expensive side if you live right in town, but to me, it has a lot going for it. It's a college town so it remains young and vibrant. It has a bustling downtown area full of restaurants, shops, and bars. The track makes things really fun and interesting in the summer. The performing arts center gets great shows. Albany is 30 minutes away for bigger city things and an airport. Quick access to outdoor recreation and Gore is one hour away.

Arguably, if you are considering the Saratoga area, I would even throw in a bit further North in the Glens Falls/Queensbury area as well.

You have all the Saratoga features roughly 20 minutes away, you have the Lake George region less than 20 minutes away, you have some redevelopment in and around the original mill town heritage of Glens Falls, you have for local, quick skiing, West Mountain right there, as well as close to the ADK's and Green Mountains.

Out West, the Park City area has always caught my wife's and my interest as a potential retirement location, but even if you get down into KImball Junction it certainly can be on the pricey side We have also thought of the Bozeman Montana area as that area has been under a bit of a renaissance over the last decade or so and is becoming more than just a gateway to either the Northern Entrance of Yellowstone National Park as well as the Big Sky region

 

[NYDB]

I've had a place in southern VT for coming up on 25 years now. I plan on moving on once the kids are grown up and the length of the car ride for a weekend trip is no longer the primary consideration. It just doesn't snow as much there anymore. Or maybe I should say it seems to rain more.

I don't know if another place further north might be the ticket. Sugarbush? Maybe Saddleback? I like the stowe area but Vail ownership makes it unappealing.


I also always think about getting a place in the interior of BC. At one of the lesser known areas. Someplace with great mountain biking too. there are a bunch.

Idaho seems like it has a few options as well.

I agree it just seems like its too late for places like SLC or Jackson.

I've also been toying with the idea of just AirBNBing retirement skiing. 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, etc. More trips to Europe, etc.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i dont really know anything about it, but i hear that boise is kind of cool, with a fairly young and very healthy outdoorsy population

 

[snoseek]

#westslopebestslope

 

[abc]

I've also been toying with the idea of just AirBNBing retirement skiing. 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, etc. More trips to Europe, etc.

1 year here, another year there...

 

[KustyTheKlown]

a friend does that now. he's not retired, just spoiled and out of touch.

6 months in Mexico, 6 months in Chamonix, 4 months in Japan, 1 month at Burning Man, come 'home' to NYC for 3 months, etc.

he's been in Tulum for all of COVID. its taxed our friendship. there's a huge community of ex-pats in tulum behaving like peter pans and as if covid doesn't exist.

 

[jimk]

The grass is always greener, or I should say the slopes are always whiter. Some of my Utahn friends dream of Grand Targhee or even little Anthony Lakes, OR for crowd avoidance.

I'm still quite content with LCC on a sunny day when there is no powder frenzy, April and May can be pretty dang awesome, small crowds, great spring snow, and good apres ski tailgating weather too. Of course, the best is a sneaky weekday when they predict 2 or 3" of snow and get 8 or 10. This happens several times a winter. Catches the locals off guard, few take the day off and vacationers and retirees rule the roost.

 

[snoseek]

Carson city, Ogden, grand junction, Montrose, Reno. All close enough to good skiing but far enough to not have to pay ski town prices

 

[jimk]

a friend does that now. he's not retired, just spoiled and out of touch.

6 months in Mexico, 6 months in Chamonix, 4 months in Japan, 1 month at Burning Man, come 'home' to NYC for 3 months, etc.

he's been in Tulum for all of COVID. its taxed our friendship. there's a huge community of ex-pats in tulum behaving like peter pans and as if covid doesn't exist.

I had some interesting chairlift conversations during my recent three week stay in UT. My modus operandi was to ride the quad chairs with one other person, each of us sitting on the far ends of the lift with masks up. One of the memorable chats was with a guy about age 35 who lived and worked in Philly. We got going on the pandemic and he admitted that 2020-21 has been the best year of his life. He's been working remotely the whole time and has taken frequent ski trips while working remotely. He mentioned making a lengthy stay in Miami when his work team didn't even know he wasn't in Philly. He was an example of a white collar person doing well, when we all know many on the lower end of the scale have suffered great economic hardship.

This dichotomy reminded me of stories my Dad used to tell about the 1930s. He grew up in Quincy/Weston area of MA during the Great Depression, but had few memories of hard times. His father had a good job with Kellogg cereal company. They lived in a big house and my grandfather always drove a nice car. Cereal was one of those things that sold very well during the Depression, sort of like how grocery stores have done well during covid.

 

[dblskifanatic]

So I would not look at ski towns - real estate prices are nuts and locals can not even afford it. We have been in Colorado for 5 years but moved and are planning on returning and are looking at places that are more remote but not to an extreme. We also want some land to have horses so a place like Fairplay in Colorado seems to fit the bill for us. There are others areas like that that are 30-40 minutes from skiing in this case Breck. If I chose a town it would be Dillon/Silverthorne CO - that is in the middle of much of Colorado's ski country.

We lived in Colorado Springs which was nice since we were not committed to I70 but it was 2 hours to Breck the back way, hence why 30-40 is no big deal. Denver is still a consideration for a few years but you become committed to I70 and need to plan accordingly.

 

[dblskifanatic]

Carson city, Ogden, grand junction, Montrose, Reno. All close enough to good skiing but far enough to not have to pay ski town prices

Our son and his wife just moved to Ogden and he is young, well 25. Going to school and working in Sundance as a sous chef. He decided to start now and live there while he can get after it!

 

[jaytrem]

i dont really know anything about it, but i hear that boise is kind of cool, with a fairly young and very healthy outdoorsy population

I remember the first time I was in Boise I saw some house prices (at least 15 years ago). Couldn't believe how low they were. I did look not too long ago and they didn't seem as crazy cheap anymore. That being said, Bogus is real nice and you also have Tamarack and Brundage right up the road. So good call.

 

[ss20]

I'll be moving out west this fall. Even with all the traffic woes it's tough to beat the skiing options of SLC and you can't beat the housing prices of the area. At this moment I'd like to work at Deer Valley or Sundance to escape the LCC traffic, although Alta/Snowbird has always been the dream. Midweek tho it doesn't seem like its any problem to get up there.

Also looking at Carson City, NV at the moment. 30 minutes to Heavenly and 45 minutes to Northstar. Cash in on those inflated CA wages.

I wouldn't touch Colorado with a ten foot pole. My understanding is that I-70 traffic makes LCC/BCC look like a Sunday drive. I70 sounds like it's a crapshow every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And there's no real way to improve it. LCC/BCC from my 2,000 mile away view is only a true problem on powder day weekends. I monitor the traffic from here near-daily, and at least it seems while volume is up on the weekends even when it's dry you're not going to be sitting for hours and hours. @thetrailboss

I hear good things about Bend and Bozeman.

 

[abc]

I'm not leaving New York City. But if I were to get a 2nd home, top of my list to choose that's relatively cheap and good skiing would be Reno.

Perhaps because I used to live in California and ski Tahoe. Reno is close enough to day trip to many of the best mountains there. (and if people don't spoil it, I will neglect to mention the closest mountain which is neither Vail nor Alterra).

The vibe is not something anyone would recommend. But with the casinos, there's sufficient level of services that you expect in a "city".

Tahoe has TONS of recreation in the summer. In that regard, it fits the cliché of "come for the winter, stay for the summer".