Jagged a couple of good seats to LAX Jan 29th, so that's me locked in. Loose plan at this stage is a couple of weeks in Tahoe then across to Park City, but nothing firm at this point. What's everyone doing?
You're on an Epic Pass obviously? I'm flying into Salt Lake just after Presidents Day in Feb and will be road tripping while hitting up the Mountain Collective hills. Alta/Jackson/Big Sky/Snowbird and finally onto Aspen. I'll also visit Yellowstone NP and Canyonlands NP. If you've not been to that part of the world you should know there's fantastic opportunities to sample great micro brewery beers.
kids seem a bit blasé about skii holidays at the moment so we might hold off until Feb and combine a work trip to Van with 7 days of skiing somewhere.
10 days in Whistler booked in so far. Haven’t decided which Epic area to visit for the next 10 days. Jan 20-Feb 9. Fly into Vancouver and out of SFO.
It could only be Tahoe or I70 in Colorado surely? The Park City terrain could be a let down after Whistler? Having said that the Vail Colorado hills aren't know for there expert terrain either are they. I hope Tahoe puts on a good year for you.
I don’t need expert terrain, just good snow. I have been to both Co and Tahoe but not Utah. But more options at the other two plus some film festival is at PC during my dates. Just trying to decide which, I know I can get around CO without a car, Tahoe is better with. Hard decisions
I'm in for my first USA trip, arrive San Fran 14 Jan 2020 and depart Denver 5 Feb 2020. A bit of a rush, I'm hoping to get two days each at Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Park City, Beaver Creek, Vail, Breckenridge, and Keystone. Then after visiting family in the UK a stopover in Munich 6-10 Mar 2020.
Try to give yourself as much flexibility as possible so that you can change your plans if poor conditions dictate.
Hi guys - just locked in 3 weeks in Utah (split between Park City and Alta) in Jan. Been watching some youtube of Alta/Snowbird (some excellent stuff on there actually....) over the weekend with my eldest and it is apparent that what I really need to be doing now is getting fit!
Alta and Snowbird are fantastic, as is canyons. Solitude is also very good. Parkcity skiing is a bit meh but the town is lots of fun. Deer valley a bit meh too.
Is there (demo level) snowboard hire in Main St PC? We are at Marriot. Any big ski shops in SLC, like Level Nine Sports?
There are several places to rent good gear around Park City. But my sense is that Main St is not where you'd find ski shops. Parking is a lot easier farther out. The bus system in Park City is quite good, so locals never drive. They even take the bus with ski boots on. I spent a day with friends skiing Deer Valley in April. One of my ski buddies has a good friend who retired to Park City. She didn't even want us to give her a ride at the end of the day because it would be quicker for her to take the bus since we booted up at the base. There are plenty of ski shops in SLC. A lot easier to go shopping with a car. My favorite place to look around is 2nd Tracks, which has consignment stuff as well as new stuff. 2nd Tracks became part of L9 in 2017 and has multiple locations. The big L9 shop in SLC is 12,000 sq ft (you do the math). It's close to the DPS Factory. https://www.levelninesports.com/retail/salt-lake-city-utah-ski-shop
If you are looking at videos of the hike-to terrain, definitely helps to be in decent shape. Although there are little hikes (5-15 min) that are quite fun. You might enjoy these trip reports by a man from upstate NY. He skied Alta and Snowbird for the first time this season. Also did a guided tour up Mt. Superior. Although he went during late season (late Mar, mid-May), he caught powder storms both trips. https://nyskiblog.com/forum/threads/alta-snowbird-march-30-april-1-2019.524/ https://nyskiblog.com/forum/threads/snowbird-may-18-19-2019-with-a-little-alta.523/ https://nyskiblog.com/forum/threads/a-big-day-on-mount-superior-ut-3-31-19.475/
If you get the chance you have to go to Ski Trucks https://www.skitrucks.com/ this place is amazing, thousands and thousands of skis, but don't expect to see any good gear, the owner buys entire ski shops and then stores it in his warehouse, the only problem with the L9 stores is they don't have the stock in store that they do on their website, so you cant check the website out and then got to the store and pickup what you wanted.
Considering 4 days in Big Sky followed by 3 in Jackson Hole - limited by work leave. Anyone done this trip and recommend it?
What kind of terrain do you prefer? What month? My preference for a trip to Big Sky is to include a couple days at Bridger as a warm up, and some time at Grand Targhee over JH. Big Sky is definitely worth the extra travel time or cost if you fly into Bozeman. My most recent trip to GT and Big Sky was this past Feb. Also skied three days at Bridger, including two fluffy powder days with 10-20 of fresh snow the first day of the storm. Bridger is a non-profit ski area with mostly local folks, so very reasonable prices for lift tickets. https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...and-targhee-powder-days-feb-17-18-2019.23650/ https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...sky-mt-in-late-feb-2019-cold-and-snowy.23685/
That was nearly my trip (until plans changed to Utah) so had done a bit of asking around amongst those I know who have been. Their feedback was the same - Big Sky was well worth the effort in getting there and GT was better than JH if you were more of a powder chaser than a double black diamond chaser (and the "nice ski-town" factor wasn't high on your list of priorities).
just booked flights to LAX jan20, pretty exciting. been a while most likely going to mammoth dont really want extra flights on this trip
Wondering about a trip staying Boulder, CO and day skiing different resorts locally...Anyone else ever done this, particularly with primary school age kids? Miss 11 is a keen skiier, but sometimes a day off mountain at the movies or ten pin bowling is the go. I did a solo work trip back in 2014, working at UC Boulder, and staying with locals, they suggested I catch a local bus ($2.50 I think the ticket was!) from the town bus terminal up to a local day ski hill, Eldora - which was great fun - and I was back at UC by 4pm in time for rehearsal! Just like catching the bus to the beach for the day! Anyone else got locals tips for the resorts up that particular highway, if staying in Boulder, CO? What needs a car, and what can you get to on public transport? Family friendly downhill & nordic skiing great for us.. we’ve also stayed up on the hill at Breck a few times. Thanks all!
Park City > SLC. Need to be at SLC around 9 -9:30am with wheelie luggage only (not skis). Would weather delays (or rush hour) be a risk in early December for Uber, or is it safer to use shared shuttle 4WD ? Looking at around 08:00 pickup, 2 pax.
Early Dec, meaning before Dec. 15? Uber/Lyft won't be busy but I have no idea how many drivers are looking for fares from Park City since I would guess most of them live in SLC. Booking in advanced with Canyon Transport would be my choice. Once out of Park City itself with all the traffic lights, it's all major highway to the SLC airport.
Probably will only have in indirect impact on Aussie Epic passholders who are heading to Vail Resorts resorts in the Rockies or Tahoe in Jan-Mar 2020, but the Americans who live in the midwest and east coast near several major cities are buzzing about the new aquisition. VR made the announcement on July 22, 2019 of a 100% buyout of Peak Resorts, a publicly company that has 17 locations. If someone with an Epic pass has a reason to be in Washington DC or New York City or Boston and wants to drive a few hours to experience U.S. northeast skiing, there are 10 possible places to check out. Only two are medium size resorts: Mt. Snow in southern Vermont, Hunter in the Catskills Mountain north of NYC. Wildcat in NH is fun on a day when it's clear enough for views of Mt. Washington. Worth a drive from Boston. From what I've heard, all 17 locations are very busy on weekends and many have night skiing. Can ski until 3am at Paoli Peaks on selected nights. https://www.epicpass.com/info/peak-resorts-release.aspx The best overview I've found is in Forbes magazine by someone who has followed N. American multi-resort passes for a while. July 22, 2019 - Ski Travel Revolution: Vail Acquires 17 More Ski Resorts, Expands Epic Pass https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryo...e-ski-resorts-expands-epic-pass/#60447f9a711d ” … For skiers and snowboarders, the big impact will be for those in large urban areas on the east Coast and Midwest, tens of millions of Americans. One of Vail’s most successful strategies has been to use smaller feeder mountains near large cities, like Michigan’s Mt. Brighton, which serves the Detroit and Chicago metro areas, to lure travelers into its Epic Pass program. The idea is that if you ski at home on weekends and take one or more big ski vacations a year out west (or to Europe or Japan), by choosing the Vail-owned local spot as your home hill and buying the Epic Pass, you also get the free skiing at many of the best and most famed destination resorts on earth when you travel, a real win-win for skiers. However, until now, this has been limited to a few key metro areas like Boston (Mt. Sunapee) and Minneapolis (Afton Alps). With today’s move, Vail now adds many of the best options that are closest to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis and Kansas City. The highest profile spots in the collection are Hunter Mountain in New York, which has long been the closest major mountain to the New York city tri-state metro area, the place many Big Apple residents up skiing; Attitash, Wildcat and Crotched Mountains, a trio of major New Hampshire ski resorts serving the Boston market; and Mt. Snow, the southernmost major resort in Vermont and the closest of the top New England resorts, which in turn are by far the best skiing in the Eastern half of the United States, to New York City. In terms of the ultra-desirable New York market, Vail could not have picked up two better positioned resorts than Hunter and Mt. Snow, and now basically has no rival in this region, since there is nothing comparable to these for any competitor to buy, and Vail already owns Stowe and Okemo in Vermont, two of the Northeast’s best and most popular big resorts.
Just booked 10 days at the end of Jan. we did a week at Squaw two years again but wanted to do more resorts in that area so... Fly into Reno. A day at Diamond Peak before heading on to stay at Northstar. 3 days at Northstar. 3 days staying in Tahoe City, either skiing Homewood, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadow’s or even Sugar Bowl 2 days at Heavenly Last day at Mt Rose before heading back to Reno. Can’t wait.
Sounds like a fun trip! What was the reason for staying at Northstar and Tahoe City? I've stayed a full week in a VRBO condo in Tahoe City and had a great time. I prefer to move as little as possible during a ski trip. Did you drive to South Tahoe from Squaw the last trip? Making the drive two days in a row to Heavenly . . . wouldn't be my idea of fun. The shorter route is often closed during the winter. Best to stay flexible. In general, when driving it pays to get up early and arrive at a parking lot an hour before lifts open up. Especially important on weekends. Homewood is worth it just for the views of the lake. The terrain is pretty fun too for a day. Have heard Diamond Peak has good views too.
Hmm . . . with the added newbies to the Epic pass from the northeast and midwest . . . it's could be pretty crowded in Park City over the holiday weeks in late Dec and early Jan. Meaning the families who have never been out west before because they were put off by the relatively high lift ticket costs. Plus working young adults willing to drive overnight from the midwest (OH, IN, MO) who jump on Epic. Just like the first year of Ikon, the first season people who've been at Peak resorts may be over excited about the idea of a ski vacation out west. My BIL used to drive with his son and another father & son from Chicago to ski during school breaks when the boys were in high school. I know of another father who used to drive with his son from DC to Colorado to ski during winter break. Those drives take about 20-24 hours. The payoff for the DC father is that his son has a great job and a house in SLC now. Father retired completely recently and has enjoyed having a home base in Utah as they continue driving for ski trips.
Staying and skiing at Northstar cause we wanted to stay on snow, but moving on to Tahoe City for a change of scenery and to be closer to Squaw/Alpine and Homewood to enable us to go to whichever we choose those days. We'll be leaving Tahoe City and driving down to Heavenly and staying down there for the 2 days. Last time we only stayed in Tahoe City and did the small trek to Squaw each morning, this time we plan to see a bit more of the area - hence moving around. Homewood was the reason we went 2 years ago but unfortunately it was closed due to no snow, fingers crossed this year.
@B-Dub : now I get it. A mini-safari around Lake Tahoe. I've done driving safaris like that in New England when I've had other reasons to be in Boston. For Tahoe I've always stayed in one place, either north Tahoe or south Tahoe. Hope you get good weather!
