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World Class Skiing

4aprice

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Couple of years ago a buddy of mine and I were gloating over a particularly good day at Killington. He said to me "How could you not love the sun, snow and world class skiing?". I had never really thought of New England in terms of "world class skiing". I have skied and thought of Europe and the west in those terms but after thinking about it for a while I have to agree that we do indeed have it here in the east. (we're talking NNY and NNE). My feeling is that the advent of woods skiing (yes we've always had it but its really taken off in recent years) has really added to our eastern experience and maybe some of the finest in the world. Agree or Disagree?

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

ScottySkis

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Couple of years ago a buddy of mine and I were gloating over a particularly good day at Killington. He said to me "How could you not love the sun, snow and world class skiing?". I had never really thought of New England in terms of "world class skiing". I have skied and thought of Europe and the west in those terms but after thinking about it for a while I have to agree that we do indeed have it here in the east. (we're talking NNY and NNE). My feeling is that the advent of woods skiing (yes we've always had it but its really taken off in recent years) has really added to our eastern experience and maybe some of the finest in the world. Agree or Disagree?

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

I think of Stowe,.Smuggs, Sugarloaf, Killington, Jay, sugarbush, as Maybe world class for east because of size and natural snow fall. But does not compare to the west, I heard about back country at Stowe migth but I need someone to please show me that spots.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 

dlague

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I think it all depends what your perspective is - our hills here in NE are not that tall so comparing ski resorts to those that are three times the elevation well obviously there is more acreage, more vert and often more snow! But having skied similar resorts in Southern California and Germany - we do have resorts that do a fine job and are world class if you compare apples to apples! My list would be more like Sunday River, Stowe, Sugarloaf, Killington, Jay, Sugarbush and Okemo in no prefered order!

BTW conditions vary so much in the North East - one day can change the way you view your experience! A couple of examples -

Try driving 3 hours to get to Sunday River and find out that most of the lifts are on wind stoppage (Last Year)
Then this year we drive the three hour stretch and the skiing was awesome.

or

Ski Jay Peak three times in a row and experience freezing rain, pelting snow/sleet and high winds
Then going there last February 26th to experience a 51" dump (World Class Day)

Both of these are great resorts and we never let the bad days cancel the great days but even world class resorts will have bad days!
 

St. Bear

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Northeast mountains can compete with the vertical of the majority of mountains out west, it's the acreage and sprawl where they can't compare.

The key word about the east is variability. Hell, northern VT gets almost the same amount of snow as many CO resorts, but we have events like last weekend where we need a few storms just to recover and get terrain open.
 

Morwax

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Plenty good here.. it snows sometimes, great beer, trail character like nowhere else:beer:
 

skiking4

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I feel like maybe Sugarloaf with the new expansion can be compared as a big resort and pretty close to world-class skiing. Just... it's gotta all be open...
 

ScottySkis

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I think it all depends what your perspective is - our hills here in NE are not that tall so comparing ski resorts to those that are three times the elevation well obviously there is more acreage, more vert and often more snow! But having skied similar resorts in Southern California and Germany - we do have resorts that do a fine job and are world class if you compare apples to apples! My list would be more like Sunday River, Stowe, Sugarloaf, Killington, Jay, Sugarbush and Okemo in no prefered order!

BTW conditions vary so much in the North East - one day can change the way you view your experience! A couple of examples -

Try driving 3 hours to get to Sunday River and find out that most of the lifts are on wind stoppage (Last Year)
Then this year we drive the three hour stretch and the skiing was awesome.

or

Ski Jay Peak three times in a row and experience freezing rain, pelting snow/sleet and high winds
Then going there last February 26th to experience a 51" dump (World Class Day)

Both of these are great resorts and we never let the bad days cancel the great days but even world class resorts will have bad days!

I wonder what temperatures were like when the north East hills were mountains millions a years ago that went to 12000, feet. Were lucky to be enjoyed the oldest mountains range in the county. I guess it was pretty dam cold.
 

ScottySkis

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The key word about the east is variability. Hell, northern VT gets almost the same amount of snow as many CO resorts, but we have events like last weekend where we need a few storms just to recover and get terrain open.

I am pretty sure Jay and Stowe average close to 350 inches of snow and that is more then Aspen and some other resorts in Colorado get. That why I like flying to SlC because more chance for great snow and snow fall.:thumbup::):)
 

bobbutts

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Considering how popular on groomed trail skiing is I can see the point sort of. Lots of places in the NE have great trail character. I think it can compare well to resorts at Tahoe for instance if you consider just the groomed trails. We are a near failure at in bounds alpine terrain and way behind in natural terrain though. For people who avoid that stuff I can see it. I think the biggest shortcoming is the tendency for hardpack, which isn't an issue when you're at the right place at the right time.
 

bobbutts

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I am pretty sure Jay and Stowe average close to 350 inches of snow and that is more then Aspen and some other resorts in Colorado get. That why I like flying to SlC because more chance for great snow and snow fall.:thumbup::):)
CO doesn't suffer from many in season rain events. Also helps that it's bone dry.
 

fbrissette

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Come on. Let's get serious. As much as i like skiing out east, we are not even in the same league as real world-class skiing resorts. We can have world class days, but if you really think we have world-class skiing out east, you really ought to go try Whistler-Blackcomb or les Trois-Vallées in France. Les trois vallées alone have nearly 200 lifts. You can ski there a week and never take the same lift twice (let alone the same run). Chamonix has nearly 10000' vertical in good snow conditions.
 

abc

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Agree and disagree at the same time!

On the right day, when it's powder and sunshine, ANY resort would feel like "world class"! What more does anyone want?

Vert doesn't matter, acerage doesn't matter, rain is a distant memroy, nor does it matter it's already March and this is the first storm!

But if I'm not living in the east, I wouldn't travel half way around the world to ski Killington! World class my a**s
 

deadheadskier

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Skied in Europe, skied plenty out West. Yes it's better, but the Northeast is a pretty darn good place to be, an exceptionally good place to be/live as a diehard skier. If you don't think so, you're doing it wrong. Dozens and Dozens of great ski mountains and thousands upon thousands of acres too explore. I've lived here for all but three of my 30 years skiing and in 27 years I've never gotten bored of what our mountains have to offer. Our skiing is not the best in the world, but I'd say it's World Class for sure.
 

Terry

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Skied in Europe, skied plenty out West. Yes it's better, but the Northeast is a pretty darn good place to be, an exceptionally good place to be/live as a diehard skier. If you don't think so, you're doing it wrong. Dozens and Dozens of great ski mountains and thousands upon thousands of acres too explore. I've lived here for all but three of my 30 years skiing and in 27 years I've never gotten bored of what our mountains have to offer. Our skiing is not the best in the world, but I'd say it's World Class for sure.

+1 for sure!
 

ScottySkis

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Come on. Let's get serious. As much as i like skiing out east, we are not even in the same league as real world-class skiing resorts. We can have world class days, but if you really think we have world-class skiing out east, you really ought to go try Whistler-Blackcomb or les Trois-Vallées in France. Les trois vallées alone have nearly 200 lifts. You can ski there a week and never take the same lift twice (let alone the same run). Chamonix has nearly 10000' vertical in good snow conditions.

So I feel this way about it. World class the way our resorts are run compare to Mountains in poor countries and bad old lift chairs and things break down. Here the US we have really excellent set of standards compared with most of the world. So not judging what left of the east coast hills after gravity and millions of years have brought them down in size. So yes I say the resort's here are world class.:thumbup::thumbup::):):):):thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 

goldsbar

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I've said many times that as much fun can be had at a place like Sugarbush (Castlerock) as Jackson Hole, Alta, etc. Problem is, there's zero reliability. I've skied after rainfall and refreeze in JH and it was awesome. The snow dries right up. I'm not saying it's good all the time, but there's always coverage. In the NorthEast it rains a lot and it turns everything into an ice skating rink once temps drop below freezing again. Coming from someone who really likes skiing hard groomers (but off piste much more), it gets boring after a few hours if that's all there is.
 

hippiechick

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I think it REALLY depends on your snow conditions. I'm admittedly biased, being from out west, and this is the first year I've really been able to ski here, since last year sucked. If you get fresh, quality snow, it's 100% comparable, and the only differences being the actual terrain, facility quality, etc. However, as others have pointed out, it can change so quickly from day to day, whereas out west, even if it rains in town, the sheer elevation of the ski hill preserves great snow, and you've always got good coverage, at a minimum.

I've only gone skiing here on good snow days, and I've been fairly impressed so far. I know several people who've skied in Europe, and I don't think we have a hill in the US that would consistently hold up to comparison.

IMHO.
 

mister moose

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I've lived in Colorado. Some of those years were in Breckenridge. I've skied the rest of my years in New England, lately skiing 50-70 days in VT. So here's how it shapes up for me.

Colorado:
Wake up to avalanche cannons.
It never, never rained in ski season.
Bowl skiing: Deep breath descents into trackless expanses.
Bone dry snow.
Powder days are a religious experience
Cold has a whole new meaning.
1920 is an old building.
What rain doesn't bring, sun crust delivers.
More bikini tops per acre in the spring.


Vermont:
Killington opens a month earlier and closes (hopefully) a month later than Breck.
Vermont has a way higher quaint factor.
Real maple syrup is served at breakfast.
Even after living at 10,500 ft, I can ski longer sets of bumps at Killington than I could at Breck.
There is summer employment in New England. Summit County, not so much.
Better spring BBQ scene.

Both are true destination resorts attracting from a dozen states away and foreign countries. Breck has better skiing, and more consistently, hands down. No real surprise there. Killington has the longer season. Breck does nearly twice the skier visits.
 
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