Looking for recommendation for ski resort near NYC

[jack_ingoldsby]

Hi,
I just moved over from the UK, and am trying to organize a long weekend skiing for some friends early next year. There should be 6-10 of us, in our early to mid 30's, of mixed abilities (I have only skied for about 4 week-long trips in the French Alps, and would describe myself as average for the amount of times I have done so).
Most of the others are from the US, and none are expert skiers.

We are all based in NYC, and and are looking for recommendations for a place you could get to for a long weekend (we would be prepared to fly), where you can get good ski instructors, and there is cross country skiing as well.

Really, I just need the name of the resorts, and a good time of year to go... with some recommendations, I can do further research and choose myself.

Thanks a lot,
Jack

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Killington..

 

[icedtea]

If you are prepared to fly go to Colorado, Utah, Montana, etc.

 

[RootDKJ]

Killington..

Killington, in March

 

[JerseyJoey]

If flying is an option, skiing in the east should not be.

 

[Eski]

... none are expert skiers ...

then you won't have fun at Hunter :wink:

 

[jack_ingoldsby]

thanks for the responses... my only concern with being away from the east coast is that I don't know if the travel time would be a problem for some people, as we are only looking at doing a long weekend. When is the earliest it is practical to ski on the east coast or other areas?

 

[icedtea]

I would say by next week Killington will be open with a decent amount of terrain.

The flight to Co. is really quick. Hit up Loveland early season or A-basin. Or whatever, lots more terrain out West.

 

[rjc1976]

If most of the group is not experts, consider Okemo if you don't want to fly or drive too far. It has tons of groomed terrain and usually has good coverage by January. It's about 4.5 hours from NYC. Another one that is good for a large group like yours might be Stratton. It's similar to Okemo in terrain, but also offers a base village for when people are done skiing for the day. Drive time is about the same; maybe a little less.
www.okemo.com
www.stratton.com

If you don't mind driving the extra (total 6 hours) to Stowe, I'd highly recommend that. Unlike the other two, Stowe offers expert trails, however there should be more than enough to keep the intermediates happy. The town of Stowe is also a great town, and Burlington is an easy side trip if you decide to skip a day of skiing.
www.stowe.com

If you are willing to go 8 hours, Mt Tremblant in Quebec is often the most popular ski resort in the east with the general skiing public. It offers a Euro-like atmosphere, good food, a pedestrian friendly village, tons of intermediate terrain, and generally an all around nice vacation experience.
www.tremblant.com

One more comment...I generally find the end of February to early March the best time to go. Of course it does vary from year to year, but that's what I would plan for if I were you.

 

[rjc1976]

One more note, you can easily combine Okemo and Killington into the same trip for some more variety. They are only about 30 minutes apart from each other, and between those two places, there is plenty of terrain to keep your group busy for a long weekend.

 

[jack_ingoldsby]

Thanks for that... we may be going on vacation first week of March so might try late Feb... I'll see what the reaction is from the group Colorado vs Vermont vs Quebec

 

[hardline]

what was the other thread we did that would help him. i just dont feel like shearching im feeling to lazy.

 

[Geoff]

Utah is the easiest access by airplane. Frequent non-stop flights where you can work most of the day and still catch the last flight west. ...or you can take an early morning flight and be skiing by noon-ish. You can ski the last day and catch the last eastbound flight.

Park City has the only real night life and the three ski areas there are good for groups with mixed abilities. Ideally, you want to stay in the center of town. If your group has no snowboarders, Deer Valley has very good service. Otherwise, Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons are both available. The golf course is set up as a Cross Country skiing center.

 

[tequiladoug]

My vote for a long w/e, close to NYC, non expert group is Mount Snow.

www.mountsnow.com

 

[Geoff]

My vote for a long w/e, close to NYC, non expert group is Mount Snow.

www.mountsnow.com

If I lived in NYC, I'd consider JetBlue from JFK to Burlington, Vermont. They run four flights per day and it's a very short flight compared to battling traffic around NYC and then spending hours in a rental car with crappy all season tires. Flights are $79.00 in each direction. By the time you pay taxes, it's $179.00 for a round trip flight. Northern Vermont is much less expensive than ski areas closer to NYC (other than Stowe) so you'll recover the airfare with what you save on lift tickets.

 

[tjf67]

If you are all willing to fly go to Utah.

If you want to stay on the east coast. Check out whiteface/ Lake placid NY.

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

Take the ski train (I forget what it's called) from NYC to Killington. If I had rail service to VT close I'd be using it.

 

[Geoff]

Take the ski train (I forget what it's called) from NYC to Killington. If I had rail service to VT close I'd be using it.

Expensive, slow, and a crappy schedule.

 

[OppositeGeorge]

Expensive, slow, and a crappy schedule.

Yeah -- $135 r/t fare from NYP. Factor in the inevitable delays and the logistics once you get to Rut Vegas and it probably isn't the best choice for a group. Still, it'd probably be interesting to do it, once, if I ever have the dough and the time.

The schedule is here if anybody wants to judge for themselves.

 

[catskills]

Ski Windham by bus

Belleayre by Bus

IMHO - For intermediate and advanced intermediate I don't recommend Hunter on a weekend.

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