VT Thanksgiving skiing?????

[powbmps]

Killington is the best bet for Thanksgiving skiing, right? My boss is planning a trip up this way for the holiday weekend. He is talking about going to Okemo, but I'm thinking that may not be the best option.

Any recommendations for nice lodging at either area? Sounds like a family trip with two kids.

Thanks!

 

[crank]

IMO Okemo is the more kid friendly of the 2 mountains. Both have massive snow making operations so I put them on equal footing there.

 

[Rogman]

It's too soon to tell. If November is cool, then lots of areas will be aggressive in their snowmaking and your boss will have a lot of options. If warmer weather prevails, then it becomes more of a crap shoot. Killington, Sunday River, Mt Snow, and Okemo (and others) should all be open by then. Who has the most terrain by then is anyone's guess. If your boss has young children, skiing a white ribbon of death over Thanksgiving may not be a pleasant introduction to the sport for them. I'd recommend deferring any reservations for a while. If they get shut out because of crowds, they are probably better off not going anyway.

 

[OppositeGeorge]

I don't love the mountain, but for early season Okemo's a safe bet. Might be icy up top. Probably only one or two ways top-to-bottom that early though.

 

[Puck it]

I went with Killington. We are staying at the The K-ton Grand. I think they are the best bet for most terrain open.

 

[Geoff]

It's too soon to tell. If November is cool, then lots of areas will be aggressive in their snowmaking and your boss will have a lot of options. If warmer weather prevails, then it becomes more of a crap shoot. Killington, Sunday River, Mt Snow, and Okemo (and others) should all be open by then. Who has the most terrain by then is anyone's guess. If your boss has young children, skiing a white ribbon of death over Thanksgiving may not be a pleasant introduction to the sport for them. I'd recommend deferring any reservations for a while. If they get shut out because of crowds, they are probably better off not going anyway.

Thanksgiving lodging usually isn't an issue. Very few people book it very far in advance.

Under the new ownership, Killington hasn't been blowing snow on family-friendly terrain early. Their theory was that only advanced skiers tended to ski early so they focused on getting intermediate/advanced terrain open first. That saved them a lot of operating cost since they only had to staff up to operate one base lodge and a fairly small number of lifts. 2 years ago, the options for an advanced skier were really good on Thanksgiving. Snowshed and Rams Head didn't open until December.

They've announced that they're going to try a little different approach this year and try to get something open for Thanksgiving that's more advanced-beginner/family friendly. Rams Head faces due east and Snowshed is low elevation so it's a crap shoot whether they'll be able to follow through on that plan. If November is cold, they will have the most terrain open and adequate terrain for most ability levels. If November is warm or they have a big thaw, they might not even be open. Back in 1999, the only thing you could ski Thanksgiving was Rime and it had rocks, dirt, and grass in every trough. Under today's ownership, Killington would be closed if that happened.