I'm looking to go on a ski trip

[WJenness]

A quick note... One of the areas that billski suggests is MRG... while MRG is a good place, you won't be happy as a snowboarder there... They'll make you rent skis. (MRG is one of the last four holdouts in the country that doesn't allow snowboarding).

-w

 

[snowboarder05]

is Flatton Stratton and Pokemo Okemo>>>????? Im confused

 

[mattchuck2]

Go to Killington . . Get some kind of cheap ski discount (go to that cheap skiing thread for tips) Stay in Rutland for cheap ($39 a night or so), hit up happy hours for cheap eats at The Lookout and Outback.

 

[CapeSkier]

Come try Sugarbush. Some of the best boarders I have ever seen call it home.

 

[ccskier]

Jay has some pretty sweet deals. $99/person/night includes condo and lift ticket. Look there, most snow in the east and may be fully operational soon.

 

[bvibert]

is Flatton Stratton and Pokemo Okemo>>>????? Im confused

Yes.

 

[OppositeGeorge]

It isn't too late to hook up with a member club of the Connecticut Ski Council and take advantage of some Council Awareness Days. Bolton, Stratton, Jay and Loon all have Awareness Days going on various mid-week January days. $90 for 3 days at Stowe? Can't beat that. You don't have to be a CT resident to join; my club has members from NY, NJ, MA, RI and even MD and VA. Many, if not most clubs have a lodge members can stay at for very low rates (ours is $20 a night -- I know another club that charges less for ski-on/ski-off accomodations.) You'll make back the 35-50 bucks or so you'll pay to join a club after just a couple awareness days.

Where to stay if you don't join a club? Burlington is very centrally located -- about an hour or less from Stowe, Bolton, Smuggs, Sugarbush/MRG and Middlebury. Just a bit farther from Killington, Jay and the Adirondack resorts. There are a lot of inexpensive (< $70/night) motels, but you can't beat the Motel 6 which is less than $40 if you reserve on the internet and is much cleaner and nicer than most of the local budget motels. I've stayed in a lot of Motel 6's and this is like the Taj Mahal -- new, clean and well-maintained mid-rise building with interior corridors, big bathrooms with tubs, in-room heat control, HBO, guest laundry -- the only things they don't have are WiFi and shampoo (a Motel 6 gimmick -- they just give you the world's smallest bar of soap, but hey, I'll stop at the dollar store and pick up a bottle of Suave if it saves me $40 on a room.)

If you feel like hitting Jay and Burke, and maybe ducking over the border to Quebec's Eastern Townships for a day here and there the Super 8 motel in Newport, VT is reasonably priced, clean and has WiFi. Closer to Burke is the Fairbanks Inn in St. Johnsbury, which is a bit fancier but spotless (also with WiFi.) They sometimes run deals in the winter -- call or check on kayak.com or sidestep.com. They also had a CSC discount going last year but I'm still waiting for the final CSC lodging discount list to come out.

I can also recommend the Town and Country Motel in Gorham NH (super-nice, a bit pricey sometimes, cheap other times so check, very close to Wildcat, Sunday River, and the Conway/Mt. Wash Valley resorts -- a little further to Cannon.) The Town and Country is where the candidates stay during primary season, if they stay in Gorham. Then again, this is Gorham so don't expect the Ritz-Carlton. Luckily the NH primary is early this year -- Jan 8 -- so you shouldn't have any problem finding a room in the state.

The Mt. Madison Motel in Gorham is also okay, and reasonable if you get the owner on a good day (the last time I called I asked why she was quoting me a higher price than her web site and she hung up on me.) Both motels, IIRC get CBC as well as the US networks so if you like watching docudramas about the 1972 Canada/USSR Summit Series that's a plus.

Two good buys in the Franconia Notch area (Cannon, Loon, a longer drive to Conway area and Burke) are the Country Squire Motel in Littleton NH and Parker's Motel in Lincoln NH (by the Indian Head). Parker's is about as close as you can get to Cannon without sleeping in a tent. Both are clean but older and maybe a little rough around the edges. Parker's especially has great deals for singles and couples mid-week, offers discounted lift tickets and just added WiFi if that matters to you (Country Squire charges for internet access, which IMO is kind of tacky but the place is still a good deal.)

Central and Southern Vermont: Some folks on killingtonzone.com talk about the Turn of River Lodge in Killington, which has dorm-style accomodations for ~$35/night. Supposedly it's a great deal (and mid-week you might have a room to yourself) but I've never stayed there. Sometimes, if they aren't fully booked-up with bus tours, you can catch a good deal at the Red Roof Inn in Rutland (not the one in Killington) which is very nice but maybe not so likely mid-January. There are two Rodeway Inns in Rutand which are your best bet for cheap lodging with WiFi. I wouldn't do surgery in either one, the beds are kind of saggy and they both need some attention but the heat works and I never saw bugs so if slightly-gritty, somewhat-downscale accomodations don't bother you then go for it.

Brattleboro is a great town in Southern VT with lots going on day and night. It's about 1/2 hour from Mount Snow and 45 minutes to an hour from the awesome Berkshire East and offers lots of reasonable accommodations.

The queen of Brattleboro budget lodging has got to be the Motel 6 (about $40 last time I checked.) It's an older-style Motel 6 so it's not as nice as the Burlington one but they do, as Tom Bodett used to say, still offer a clean, comfortable room for a reasonable price. Bring your Suave. No internet.

If you're a slave to the WiFi your best bet in Brattleboro is the Super 8. Clean/comfortable/etc. If you're after affordable luxury, try the Colonial Motel and Spa. Rooms are reasonable, if just a bit more than the budget motels, but your stay buys you access to their excellent club facilities -- Olympic-sized indoor heated swimming pool, hot tub, locker rooms with showers and sauna and exercise room. Wired (ethernet) internet access. Sometimes they run deals so check. This is the only place, ever, that has actually asked me to show a current AAA card when I asked for a discount. The Econo Lodge is older, with small but recently redone rooms and WiFi. Fridges and microwaves in all the rooms. A little pricey, usually, considering the competition. Not my first choice in Brattleboro but far from my last and just fine for a night or two. Stay away from the Quality Inn and America's Best Inn.

Be careful on the resorts' ski-and-stay deals if you're on your own. Most of the quoted prices are double-occupancy and double if there's only one in your party (IOW, that $79/person/night is really $158/room/night.)

Sidestep.com and kayak.com are your friends here -- they search all the major reservation engines to find the best prices. Tripadvisor.com can be a bit quirky so I wouldn't rely on them for reservations or quotes but they are an excellent source for traveler reviews of smaller motels (just be sure to read them carefully to try to pick out the obvious shill reviews and disses from the competition.)

Also don't be afraid to ask for a AAA discount when you book your room at any hotel/motel (you didn't hear this from me but most of the time they don't even check your membership at check-in.) And don't forget about AAA's travel services which are free if you're a member. And a lot of motels local to ski areas offer discounted lift tickets so ask about that too. Also ask if the motels have microwaves and/or fridges in the room (more and more do these days) -- if you're really on a budget, hitting the supermarket and eating in is a great way to save major bucks.

One last thing -- some areas have deals with local supermarkets to offer discounted lift tickets. I talked to the girl at the courtesy desk at the Burlington (well, actually Colchester) Price Chopper last week and she said the rep from Smuggs had just been in and they'd be doing a deal this year but she wasn't sure of the price yet. Ask at local ski shops too -- even if they don't sell discounted tickets they will know who does.

I've ski safaried throughout VT, NH and ME for the last three years and the above just scratches the surface. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about any specific areas (esp. Sugarloaf.)

Good luck and have fun!