I'll knock out Park City and Breck tomorrow. Sun Peaks is a completely different beast than Breck. The attraction of Sun Peaks is the myriad of super friendly people, you and your family, can meet and ski with every day, just by posting in MS's forum. You can also socialize with them at night. All, If that's important to you. If you're bringing your own big group. Or prefer keeping to yourself. Then Breck edges out Sun Peaks, due to the superior terrain. imo.
If recommend Snowmass or Big Sky to an intermediate going to the US. They both have huge amounts of intermediate terrain.
Park City Report What we liked compared to other resorts. Nice wide Green and Blue runs from top to bottom. Glades and black runs under the chair, chris-crossed the easy runs so skiing together was easy for all levels. Lots of very advanced terrain easily accessed. Easy bootpack to less frequented areas. Reasonable ski in ski out prices at $2300 a week. With the link to Canyons, this resort was huge. But easily accessed even for intermediates. Cheap shopping nearby. Lighter crowds. Link ski runs very picturesque. Fly in to International Airport was very close. What we disliked compared to other resorts. Stairs from reception to first lift. Terrain Parks were difficult to access from general lifts. Ski School expensive. Parking is expensive. Conclusion . Loved Park City . Great value for money.
2300 is reasonable? may not hit the states. I'm paying $838 bucks virtually ski in ski out in japan this year. yikes I thought it was cheaper. (this is not a brag post, cause we are considering the states for a groomer trip)
You can do it cheaper than that. Most of our trips to the USA, including the Canyons Utah, have cost us less than $150 a night for 1-2 bedroom apartments. Mind you with the exchange rate now around 70 cents it would make it harder.
Mind you the USA places will be nice than a 2 bedder in naeba .... mind you... i don't mind how fancy a place is.
So as an example @Donza this was the complex we stayed in at the base of the Canyons (now linked to Park City resort). Short walk to lifts or a shuttle came round every 15 minutes. Keep in mind if you stay for a week or more you'll be able to negotiate a lower nightly rate. https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-renta...55264374419556,17z?sort+by=Bedrooms/Ascending
I lived at Red Pine for a winter - was a good spot. I think if I was there on a holiday I would want a car. That said there's a lot more in the area than there was back in 2003. The Redstone complex was a swamp!
As an unencumbered skier (ie single), for a private room through Airbnb I am paying: $448 for 3 nights in Old Town Park City (ski Park City / Canyons) $348 for 3 nights in Tahoe (ski Lake Tahoe resorts) $404 for 3 nights in Frisco (ski Colorado resorts) $606 for 4 nights in Edwards (ski some other Colorado resorts) Hotel Honda is far cheaper.
$230US a night for a 1 bedroom with loft. That was about a 20 metre walk from Payday Chairlift. When skiing with family who aren't as keen to ski as you. The easier you make it for them to go skiing. The more chance they'll want to come back. Being my sixth season in a row, in the Nth America. The strategy is working. .
At Beaver Creek we stayed about a 400 metre walk from the Riverfront Gondola. It was only about $1100 AUD a week. But trying to get the crew out once they had come in for lunch was difficult. So they enjoyed it less. There are cheap options close to the lifts. But skiing to and from the door at these resorts is expensive.
Just booked big white 2 bed ski in/out with outdoor hot tub 5min walk to village 9nights $2100 mid jan 2017 thru ownerdirect hoping to do same in usa utilising my epic pass
If Big White, Silver Star or Sun Peaks was on the Epic Pass. I'd do 2 weeks in Canada and 2 weeks in USA. Canada is very cheap for Ski in Ski out. Stayed at the White Crystal in Big White for $900 a week in Jan. That location was perfect.
Taking +1 and 7&9 year old could have found cheaper but wanted to make experience as easy as possible with all the trimmings. Found out we are inbetween 2 lifts that are free to use so any lazy days kids can ski some green runs for free looking forward to sitting in the tub while kids ski past.Thanks for the great trip report astro will be using your insight to plan a USA trip.
Free lifts become irrelevant if you are skiing in one place for more than about 10 days. Early purchase season passes become economic at or before that point. Or much earlier in many cases for kids - a few years ago I bought my teenage daughter's Telluride season pass for $225.
Breckenridge Report What we liked compared to other resorts. 5 awesome peaks to choose from. Peaks 7, 8 and 9 had top to bottom, huge wide easy runs to follow. Impossible to get lost on Peak 9. Almost all runs went to Beaver Run Chairlift. Gladed areas accessible everywhere. Dedicated Family Zones where speed and attitude of skier was patrolled. Lots of Kids Adventure Zones. Great variety of Terrain Parks. Best beginners areas I have seen. You could choose from carpet to very slow poma to dedicated chairlift. Young Astro loved the Alpine Rollercoaster. Lots of very advanced terrain easily accessed. Easy bootpack to less frequented areas. Cheapest ski in ski out prices at $2100 a week. And these rooms were spacious and spectacular. And ski right to your door. HD Digital TV. Watching the hockey each night was awesome. Internet was flawless. Full hospital quality Medical Centre right in Village. Cheapest on mountain eats. Cheap shopping nearby. Lightest crowds of all the resorts. Mainstreet was gorgeous and a short stroll from the village. Great indoor hockey rink with kids drop in hockey 3 times a week. What we disliked compared to other resorts. Had to check in and out at external building about 2km away. Altitude requires acclimatization. I had a headache all the first day. High Avalanche Danger. Ski School expensive. Conclusion . Best resort I've ever been to. Great value for money. It just did everything really well.
No shit. In 2 minutes last night I found 4 or 5 SISO options at SP that, for 4 weeks, cost less than 1 week on-snow (not necessarily SISO) at some of the higher profile properties at Perisher. Some of the figures quoted above for the US are in the same ballpark. Unfortunately I can't get 4 weeks' leave from work this side of mid-April this year, but if I apply early I can get 25th Jan to the end of Feb next year. Much research to be done...
Does take a few days to acclimatise to the high altitude. Great historical background to the town. Has Falls Creek element at lower levels. Good medical centre in that complex you posted way back. Treated there with a bruised tibial plateau.
CAD to AUD being on par helps big time. But yeah, it's hard to beat a 6 birth loft, right in the heart of the village, ski right from and to the door, for $1100 AUD a week in January.
Would be travelling solo as I did in Perisher in 2012. Had no trouble meeting people in the bar. Is an Aussie accent still a drawcard in NA or are they over us now?
In 2012 I was offered a 2.5 bedroom apartment in Breck for $2000 for 6 weeks, including over Christmas!!!! You never know what you'll get on vrbo.
They were certainly over us in Park City. Every chairlift: "Oh, you're Australian. There are a LOT of Australians here right now." Not rude, just totally non-impressed by the novelty factor.
I first skied Jackson with a mate in 1986. He had been there before a couple of years earlier. He was such a freak that he was interviewed on local radio as a curiosity.
I skied there with a mate in 1981. No interviews for us. Probably because we were quite intimidated by the place and barely said boo to anyone. Took the family to Breck in 93. Really liked it. Stayed at Beaver Run Resort. Great location and good value. Wonder if it's getting a bit worn out by now? The kids had a bit of trouble with the altitude for the first couple of days as well. Enjoyed your report rastro.
Actually I have rethought the chronology. He must have been there in the early 70s, before I first knew him. He had a condo there for a while.
I was looking at a studio in Frisco today, A$2821 for a month through Trip Advisor. Not the cheapest on their list either. I suspect that I could find something closer to $2k with a bit of digging. I also suspect that Syd/Denver would be cheaper than Syd/Kamloops? Looks like CO could be a very cost effective option for me.
A lot of places over there are going to give you far better value than Perisher. Comparing ski terrain options is not even worth doing.
We haven't skied Breck for ages - it was before kids so a very interesting read from you Astro. We certainly loved the options over there but we loved Breck but based ourselves at Keystone. You've got me thinking of throwing that out as an option down the track. I would love to try Snowmass and the other Aspen mountains so I have too many options...
Oh BTW. My snowboarding buddy Mike sent me this gif from our bootpack up Peak 6. Should be familiar to @DidSurfNowSki , who did it recently. It's a large one. Might take a minute to load.
Mate ..... I have airfare prices updating daily on my phone to San Francisco, Vancouver, Denver and Tokyo. We just don't know which resort we are going to yet. It all hinges on Young Astro. He's currently negotiating with several autonomous car companies in the US. He meets with Google and Uber in the US next week. And Facebook the following week. But Facebook is for the Oculus Rift Virtual Interface for Virtual Staffing. He's also got phone interviews with Microsoft. Young Astro and I have been blogging on a UNSW forum about all the innovations in the Autonomous and Virtual World. I'd have more information about it in here, but I tried to run a thread with updates from these discussions, and it was shutdown. Sort of went the way of the Sun Peaks Thread. Anyway, to cut a long story short. If he ends up at Google or Facebook, we'll be skiing at Heavenly, Kirkwood and NorthStar. If he ends up at Uber, we'll be skiing Breckenridge and Keystone. If he ends up at Microsoft, we'll be returning to Sun Peaks. Google seems the most likely, but he may initially be in Australia, in which case, Japan was discussed. It should all shake out and be sorted by the end of March. And I'll book the airfares immediately after. Anyway mate. Hopefully the stars will align and we'll ski together again someday. Say Hi to Jasper, the girls and Mrs Chunky.
Uber are building an autonomous car and I'd love to discuss it. But the last thread was met with hostility and Ian axed it. So as not to muddy this thread. I'll start a SkiDotCom blog on here once Young Astro is settled. That way in a blog, I can delete any inappropriate comments.
I'm referring to the recent Uber driver revolt. Uber is sinking the fares low and pile of the Uber evangelist drivers are now anti Uber and the many criticisms of it are unfolding. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...ike-over-uber-price-cuts-20160219-gmygve.html Just doesn't look like as solid as the others you mentioned.
Hey @Astro66 and All . I have Daughter headed to the States for 6 months student exchange in January. Looking into mobile phone plans and internet data options. Not so sure about whether better to hot spot from her mobile phone or purchase a Drongle for wireless internet . She is on a Boost mobile plan here I have found we can get over there but doesn't look so good on the internet / data side of things. Any advice appreciated as always.
We always get an at&t pre-paid sim but that is because we have found it has the best coverage in the Rockies. Might be an idea to have a look at a coverage map and see what has the best coverage in the area she will be in. The at&t works well but even it has some black holes in some areas.
