Skiing Rag "Best Mtns in No. America"

[KustyTheKlown]

Tentative list is Heavenly(staying at the base).. Mt Rose(looks like nice chutes).. Sierra at Tahoe and Homewood(trees and trees) and Alpine Meadows (looks more fun and low key than Squaw to me).

Open to all suggestions but I've researched a lot.

come on man. you go to tahoe, you ski squallywood. it's a mecca. it's shane. it's where this whole thing kind of took root in its modern form.

and kirkwood is no slouch.

sugarbowl is underrated.

heavenly, sierra, homewood? you've chosen...poorly.

 

[thetrailboss]

So back to the reviews. Just skimmed through mine. Wow. It was like the writers thought they were doing Tweet articles--ridiculously short. The Burke comment about powder days was nice...the other one was lame. Not really of much use for folks.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I got SKI and SKIING in the mail same day. SKI was at least worth looking at, if you could get past the 24-page Deer Valley ad. SKIING was an embarrassment unto itself.

 

[thetrailboss]

I got SKI and SKIING in the mail same day. SKI was at least worth looking at, if you could get past the 24-page Deer Valley ad. SKIING was an embarrassment unto itself.

Yeah if it wasn't for Deer Valley SKIING would have been gone a long time ago....


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

 

[raisingarizona]

Tightest tree skiing found anywhere.

That's a good thing?

 

[raisingarizona]

I'm going to Tahoe this season but it's partially to visit family so I figure might as well ski 5 days at different places. They look like nice mountains and some with good woods skiing too.

I'll let you know after the 2nd week in March. Squaw Valley terrain for example does't even appeal to me so it's probably not making the 5-mountain cut.

I was gonna go to SLC last season but I was hardly that stoked so decided to save it. I really do want to ski Bachelor though.

Ridiculous. Stop touching yourself.

 

[dlague]

Tightest tree skiing found anywhere.D

That's a good thing?

Right? Did not catch that - Not a fan of bushwacking! Although, I have skied some pretty dense woods here so far.

I was gonna go to SLC last season but I was hardly that stoked so decided to save it.

Not stoked for SLC - OK!

 

[bdfreetuna]

Ain't for everybody I guess. I don't find myself "bushwacking" on skis very often :lol:

Don't get me wrong there's a lot of western mountains on my bucket list and I've enjoyed what time I've had in the rockies. But going back to my point, I wouldn't choose anywhere but upper New England to be my main ski zone. This could very well change and I could easily see spending a decade or two of my life in western locations.

I'm far from bored with what we got around here though.

 

[deadheadskier]

I love living in New England and there's plenty of great stuff to ski. The best season since I started in 83 was 2000-2001 by far. I got 100+ days in at Stowe that winter. I won't kid myself and say the best of my lifetime comes close to what's available out West in a normal year.

The vertical, acreage, quantity and quality of snow, weather are all vastly superior. I do love New England skiing, but skiing certainly isn't my primary motivator for living in New England.

 

[4aprice]

I love living in New England and there's plenty of great stuff to ski. The best season since I started in 83 was 2000-2001 by far. I got 100+ days in at Stowe that winter. I won't kid myself and say the best of my lifetime comes close to what's available out West in a normal year.

The vertical, acreage, quantity and quality of snow, weather are all vastly superior. I do love New England skiing, but skiing certainly isn't my primary motivator for living in New England.

Ok so I will bring up a question I asked in the past and was a little taken back by the responses. Just A little back ground, 2011 was good skiing spring. Spent a very memorable day (perfect mix of quality snow, weather and company) at Killington with some friends from the home mountain Camelback, a day where the entire mountain was in play. At the end of the day one member of the group made the statement that he thought it had been "world class skiing" so I asked the question of the board "Is New England world class skiing?" My own answer "yes" because I believe while not as big and snowy, New England offers fine skiing that has its own challanged and flavor, and takes skill to master. Its not the same as the Rockies, Alps, Sierra etc, but has its own niche that it fills.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[deadheadskier]

Sure, world class skiing is available in the East; just not as frequent as what's available out west.

 

[bdfreetuna]

I've had days at Berkshire East that were "world class skiing".

But if you want to be serious about it I think Sugarloaf, Sugarbush/MRG, Stowe, Killington, Whiteface, Jay are pretty ser biz when it's full on / good conditions.

Above treeline / alpine skiing is more rare here. Technical hardwoods tree skiing is more rare in other places. It's all good. Beautiful country we live in with huge variety. You won't find something like Breckenridge out here and you won't find something like Saddleback or Smuggs out west. Totally different experience, we're lucky to live in such a vast country with all this snowy geography and opportunity.

 

[dlague]

Don't get me wrong, I have skied New England all of my life and have enjoyed it 100%. I have also skied the Alps where places were really wide open and enjoyed that too. I skied in Southern CA which reminded me of New England.

However, I have always wanted to live in CO - just like the vibe from hear say. I have a job that can be located just about anywhere so I took advantage of it. Not because I am bored with New England but more out of interest. Now that I am in CO, I have hiked more than ever - no black flies, mosquitos, ticks etc. Did not hike much for that reason back east. Also hardly any humidity, people are super friendly, views are crazy good, there is boat loads to do. We have been more active than ever. Even lost about 12 pounds,

Now, our family is all in NE and that is hard. Do miss the ocean somewhat but like the west coast more which is a quick flight on the weekend. New England has a denser resort distribution than most places in the US which provides great opportunity for beginners with so many feeder hills and the are plenty of other ski areas for everyone else.

From a skiing perspective there are trees to ski that equal that of New England IMO and I only have skied 4 places here and have a total of 16 days in. I think the best is yet to come. Having skied here I think the snow is far superior due to more natural. Heck Loveland stops making snow in November so the base never gets messed up. What I find lacking here are the sub 400 acre places. Also limited routes to the ski areas can be an issue but the locals have strategies.

World class? I think there are many in that category. SL, SR, JP, Stowe, Sugarbush, Killington and while NH has it share of ski area they are not in the same class as Vermont.

 

[steamboat1]

It's all good.

 

[jimk]

It's all good.

A good day at Wildcat will make you forget why you ever wanted to fly West to ski. The trail layout features a legit 2,000 vertical feet of varied terrain imparting a genuine big mountain feel with long runs, dispersed crowds, and scenery unparalleled in the East.

This photo was taken at Wildcat about five years ago. If anybody recognizes this guy let me know. He was a friendly stranger I met on the hill and he agreed to let me take his picture. I thought he had a look that would make for a great photo.

 

[Scruffy]

We, I guess we'd need to define World Class Skiing to come to some consensus.

To me, WCS is more that the average snow consistency/depth/texture of a region.

I'd say that there are not all that many WCS regions in the world, and that the NE USA is one of them, for reasons other than simply the occasional pow day.

WCS regions:

Western Canada
NE USA
Rockies USA
West Coast USA
Chile South America
Alps: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland
Japan
New Zealand

These are places people from all over the world travel to to ski.

 

[BenedictGomez]

That's a good thing?

Yes.

 

[deadheadskier]

Regarding trees east vs. west. I've only skied Colorado out West, but several times and about half the resorts in the state. The big difference I see is that much of the tree skiing available out west is natural tree skiing vs. virtually all tree skiing in New England requires human intervention to be passable.

Even the areas of Northern VT that have well spaced hardwoods, there's still a ton of pucker brush between the trees the resorts or locals clear in the off season. Evergreen forests in the East? Fuggetaboutit. No such thing as a "natural" evergreen glade in the East. That's one of the reasons VT has better tree skiing than NH. Not only does VT get more snow, but there's a lot more hardwood forests that are easy to develop into passable trees.

Contrast that to Colorado where you've got places like Steamboat with perfectly spaced Aspens and many more areas with perfectly spaced evergreen trees. I won't really say that one is better than the other, but for those who like the often tighter Eastern glades, that's only the case because they've been made by man.

 

[deadheadskier]

These are what NH trees look like without human intervention. They're almost impossible to enjoyably walk through nevermind try and link turns on skis.

 

[Smellytele]

The higher elevation of some NH Mnts above the hardwoods in the scraggly evergreens make them shitty. as dhs shows above (although that is a birch in the front)