Snowboarding mountain suggestions

[mshaw200]

Obviously a little off topic for BOS but I'm trying to plan a snowboarding trip for my girlfriend and I and I'm looking for suggestions. Good mountains. Good (preferably) inexpensive places to stay.

 

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

[alex38]

what region?

[mshaw200]

Well we live in Orlando but I'm good with going out west. Colorado, Utah, Cali....

[alex38]

im northeast, but been out west a few times, utah seems inexpensive and unbelievable, of course if you go to so cal you could get a set in on a lake and then drive to mammoth for 8 ft of powder in the same week (done it)

[Marco]

Check snow conditions before you book. Colorado is hurting for snow currently (except for Wolf Creek and Crested Butte), and I think Utah is in the same boat, although maybe not as bad, but that could change with a few good storms.

[eleeski]

Best advice for a snowboarding trip: GET SKIS!

 

Sorry. Big Bear In Socal is very snowboard friendly. Good parks, tolerant of less than fully loaded chairs, skilled coaches and instructors, reasonable hills and quiet weekdays. Plus the manmade snow is reliable and the grooming is great. And you can venture to LA, the beaches or the desert easily. But the manmade snow isn't great so unless you are really lucky you won't get powder.

 

Squaw rocks! Massive mountain with frequent storms and hair raising vertical. PM me if you are planning Tahoe. California is getting snow right now - I'm going out to catch some powder!

 

Eric

[ejj]

If you are looking for value and ease, it's pretty hard to beat Utah. Easy flights into SLC, 1 hour drive to several good areas. Snow fall is a relative term there. Many good options there, depending on your interests--Snowbird is self-contained with great snow, Park City is more like a Colorado town with the life, Canyons and Brighton and Solitude are more like mellow smaller resorts. California does have fun spots as well. Skip Colorado.

 

As far as the snowboard thing goes, it does exclude you from Alta, but if skis are not an option, I guess you gotta make do.

 

For the record, I have skied nearly everywhere. A lot.

 

ejj

[Marco]

@ejj - Just curious as to why you say to skip Colorado. Other than we are currently below average in snowfall total this year, there is some awesome skiing here, and many of the ski towns are low key historic mining towns.

[ejj]

@Marco - Colorado is great. Particularly later in the season. The towns are the best. I grew up skiing in Aspen mostly, but I made the rounds.

 

I guess for the money and time from someone coming by plane, it's not the best. Getting up through the tunnel, etc. If a person is looking for lots of good snow, I'd say Utah and Alaska. Both are best for pure skiing though--when I bring my kids, it's Steamboat or Big Sky.

 

For a good place to live and ski, Colorado would be a good choice. Utah would be my last choice.

[ScaredOfCorbets]

Yes, I'd say you should go to CO.

[Marco]

@ejj Makes sense about the Front Range commute from Denver, but for a ski vacation, Crested Butte or Telluride are great options, and you avoid the hassle of of the I-70 commute from Denver. I do have to agree with you that from purely a skiing standpoint, it is hard to beat Little Cottonwood Canyon if the conditions are good.

[Brady]

@Marco. I will tell you why to skip Colorado and ski Utah --polygamy! They are running a special here right now that for every season pass purchased, they are throwing In a free wife in the deal......an ex VS model I believe. @scotchipman has already bought three passes this year.

[Jordan]

Being Canadian, I'll throw in a vote for Whistler Blackcomb.

 

Huge, epic and already loaded with snow. They have already received about 18' of snow so far.

[SocalWaterSki]

Just got back from salt lake. Granted I'm a skier, park city was great if you wanted the "experience" your girlfriend would love it. Great town great people. The snow was incredible.

I however like alta, which if you board, won't work for you. I'm a get out and get away from people kind of guy. Pow was deep, steep, and treed... It was also dead quiet.... Which I like

[RichardDoane]

you can ride your snowboard right next door to Alta at Snowbird

[lakeaustinskier]

Utah can't be beat especially Powder Mountain which is located just outside Ogden (where Goode is located). Powder Mountain caters to locals and prides itself on not grooming the slopes very much - lots of ungroomed back country. Snow Basin is also located in the area - very nice facilities for also cheap.

[schroed]

It's hard to beat Whistler/Blackomb for an overall ski/snowboard vacation experience. Flights to Vancouver are usually easy to get and don't have the weather problems that many other ski vacation spots have with flights. You can take a bus up to Whistler from Vancouver so you don't need to rent a car. You can usually find condos to rent that aren't that expensive.

 

The skiing at Whistler is really good. I think it's the biggest resort in North America with plenty of different types of skiing (trees, glaciers, steeps). Their terrain parks are huge if your into that. Thier back country access is easy and the terrain you can get to with a short skin out of the resort is exceptional.

 

The only problem could be the weather. Sometimes you get rain in the village and dense fog in the Alpine, but if the weathers bad, there's plenty of stuff do do in the village.

[SocalWaterSki]

My condo in Park City might be available when you go... message me when you know the dates. If it's open, it's yours. BOS pricing = leave beer in the fridge. good beer please... no pbr

[buechsr]

If the priority is a lot of vert, can't beat Sun Valley. 3500 ft of vert and you will NEVER wait for a chair anywhere on the mountain. More uphill capacity per skier than anywhere in the country. Downsides: tough to get to and can be tough to get cheap lodging. However, rooms are usually widely available at the Sun Valley Lodge and Inn, both of which have a charm which is quite unique in this day and age (read: unless your girlfriend prefers a commercialized mass operation hotelier, she'll love it and it is worth it). IF you go, take the sleigh ride to trail creek cabin for dinner, go the Pioneer for Prime Rib, get a burger and pickled egg at Grumpy's for lunch, and a Hot Pedro on the rock from Cornerstone Bar. Good living right there!

[lpskier]

Is your interest park/pipe or all mountain riding? For all mountain riding, I agree with those that recommend Whistler/Blackcomb. You do not need a car; bring your board, your tennis racquet, your appetite (the on and off mountain food is fabulous) and your liver, and you are good to go. A further benefit is the fact that with a maximum altitude of 7500 feet, you don't have the breathing problems you an have at the higher resorts. In a single week, you can ski a different trail every run every day and virtually never ski the same trail twice. The mountains offer everything from large open bowls, extremely steep chutes, long groomed trails, bump runs, trees and a couple glaciers. If you are fast and in shape you can ski top to bottom in about 45 minutes, covering all the terrain I just described. In my opinion, there is no finer ski resort (actually two resorts side by side) on this continent.

 

On the park/pipe side of the equation, Keystone and Breckenridge in Colorado and Northstar at Tahoe stand out above the pack. Of the three, Northstar is the easiest to get to, about a 45 minute drive from Reno airport. Breck offers the best off snow experience.

 

If you like diversity, the Breck/Keystone area offers Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper and Arapahoe Basin all nearby. Northstar offers Alpine Meadows, Squaw, Heavenly Valley, Kirkwood and six smaller mountains all within about 45 minutes of each other. Nevada offers gambling if that floats your boat. Whistler /Blackcomb offers Whistler and Blackcomb. You need no more diversity than that.

 

On the East coast, I recommend Whiteface (Disclosure: I live in Lake Placid). Great ski mountain with a vertical drop greater than Vail (or anywhere else in the East), and an even better village. We have lots of very good restaurants and bars, great hotels at all price points, and off mountain recreation that is hard to match anywhere. You can cross country ski, go for a ride on a bobsled or a luge sled or a dog sled. You can slide on the toboggan chute out onto Mirror Lake or go sledding on the sledding hill. You can snowmobile or ice fish (really ice fishing is just a cover story for drinking during the day). You can ice skate, play hockey, or watch figure skating and very high quality boys and girls high school hockey. The local movie theater has four screens. If you are looking for instruction, our snow sports school is second to none. Our snow right now is very good - a least it was when I skied last, and that was about six hours ago. If you pick Whiteface, give me a call and I'll show you around.

[otisg]

If you & your girl friend are about equal in ability and really good - then Whiteface is a Great Mountain. The fundamental problem is that there is very little intermediate terrain that is easily available - I.E. you will have ski or board on some very hairy stuff to get to or get out of much of the moderate terrain.

Most of the trails have compound fall-lines (side-hills) and the bulk of the vertical happens in the top half - from there down is a long flat run-out.

For example a Blue Square run at Whiteface is a Black Diamond at Stratton is a Double Black Diamond at Flat-Kemo (slight exaggeration) but not much.

I, too grew, up dividing my time between Vail, the "Tilted Rink" (Whiteface) and Lake Placid for soft-water skiing...

But, IF you put in a solid winter at Whiteface and you will be competent to ski anywhere and in all conditions. Even out West - IF, there is enough snow to gain mountaineering experience in the "Slides" which as the name implies is what the snow does over there.

And then there are all of the 1932 & 80 Olympic facilities including one of the few Bobsled runs in North America.

If you want less of a challenge? Then I would suggest Jay Peak (often has much better snow -different weather pattern), Stratton, Killington or Sunday River. If you don't want to head that far north try Windham Mountain in the Catskills surprisingly good terrain for a small area.

 

And then there is Colorado or Utah - Snowbird and Aspen Mountain are among my faves.

For snow and lots of it - Mammoth Mountain is hard to beat - 226" so far this year. It is like driving around NY City but instead of granite buildings you have 2 or 3 story snow banks that you can not see around at the intersections...