Skiing out west
 

Hi guys,

I would like to go skiing out west with the family in early March. Any resorts that you recommend for beginners? Good, reasonably priced, close accomodation would be helpful also (I was hoping for less than 150 a night)

--Joey

I'm assuming you mean western North America. :) Lake Tahoe is a good place to start if for no other reason than the vast array of choices, and someone (probably Omisan) will pipe in with further info about that. There's also Whistler, near-ish to Vancouver, BC.

:cheers:

Colorado is of course the mecca and with all the powder they've gotten in the last month it should still be a absolute blast come march. For beginners I would recommend either Winter Park, Copper Mountain or Keystone.

There are a ton of ski resorts out there but you want to stick with a big name. Almost all of the resorts have a bunny hill section but if you want to have a blast take a class, they generally don't cost all that much and once you learn you will have a ton more fun.

SV: I probably should have said Western North America not just Western US, as Canada is certainly included in my hunt :)

Jake: Yeah I should have used another word than beginner. I have skied before, I am just not that great (I would take a lesson or two still). I usually just stick to green circle runs.

Thanks guys!

--Joey

The snow in Tahoe is largely crap so far this season, so I can't really recommend it. I'm a snow fiend and I still haven't been happy enough with the conditions to make the drive up :(

I have continued looking but I need a slight twist on this plan

In addition to my father, sister, and mom, my grandmother would come too. She can't ski (I think tubing may be out of the question for her...if not for physical reasons, for mental ones). My mother can't ski because she hurt her knee so she and my grandmother need a place where they can walk around and see stuff.

How is Whistler for this? They have some packages that look decent.

--Joey

Yeah, snow's been horrible everywhere this season. I spent four days over my Christmas leave snowboarding in Tahoe. We were lucky because we went right after a nice storm, but for the mostpart it was still really crappy snow. And for beginners especially, you want softer, fresher snow.

If you're still sorta a beginner, I recommend the smaller resorts. You'll avoid the lines and prices of the big names, and since you won't be needing endless slopes to have fun I think this is your best choice.

I don't know anything about Colorado, but I can help you out with Tahoe. Mt. Rose is a great mountain for beginning skiiers. It can suck for beginner snowboarders in a few spots because it's too flat near the bottom, but that's good on skis. Alpine Meadows is my favorite, shorter lines and great runs, and a great policy allowing you to go off the slopes and out of bounds at your own risk (that's where I get my rocks off). That's so stupid that it's allowed at so few resorts in the States, that's a big advantage to European resorts. But anyways . . .

Squaw Valley is a favorite with the non-riding folks. The lifts and resorts on the mountain are a big attraction for the riding-impaired folks.

Don't bother with Boreal unless it's already past 3pm and you just want an easy place to ride until 9pm. Otherwise, that place sucks.

And . . . ummmmm . . . let me know if you have any other questions. I could give ya more.

Good advice. I looked up some packages for Lake Tahoe and they aren't that bad. That would also give nonriders the healthy drinking and gambling alternative.

Mount Rose looked like it had about 4 beginner runs. Are the intermediates easy?

--Joey

The beginner runs at Mt. Rose are REALLY flat, but long enough to keep picking yourself back up and go... So I think they're good for learning. But you should use the easy intermediate runs for learning, anyway, and Mt. Rose is good for that. They also have good instructors should you choose to go that route - I had my first good snowboard lesson there, and I've been hooked ever since.

The other cool thing about Rose is that it's the closest to an airport (RNO), which makes things easier if you're flying in.

Snow levels still aren't all that great, but hopefully they'll get some more dumps before the month's over. Otherwise, my board's gonna stay dry all season :(

^And I can get a flight from Tampa to Reno for 250 dollars. Sounds like a winner to me :)

Now here is my next question. If my family bails on the idea, what resorts are best for beginners traveling solo?

--Joey

You should come up to Alberta or in BC, Fernie's resort has a killer base. Our snow up here isn't too shabby.

Aww, man, I'm dying to go to Fernie.

Joe - going solo's going to be the same about anywhere. Mt. Rose is fine because it's closest to Reno and that makes transit easier. My "home" resort is Kirkwood, but that's because it's the hardest to get to - not much by way of transit makes it a little more isolated, the people that much cooler, and it also gets the deepest snow in the Sierras. Whatever you do, avoid Heavenly and Squaw Valley like the plague.

I was going to suggest skiing in Vancouver. You could stay in North Vancouver, in a motel, and then ski Grouse, Seymour, or Cypress, and the non skiers in your group would have access to all that Greater Vancouver has to offer. I don't know how the snow is there at the moment, but it's a possibility.

:tumbleweed:

Probably a little late now . . . but if you're going to Tahoe, and you can find a good deal on a hotel in Truckee I'd go for that. There are so many resorts near Truckee, it'd save you a ton of driving. And you can probably find shuttles to the resorts from Truckee, but I'm not sure about that. And the nightlife is better in Truckee. Truckee's a smaller mountain town, it has that adventurous feel to it and you'll find some cooler folks to hang out with there. Reno's nightlife sucks, in my opinion. It's just full of old drunk gambling cowboys. But maybe there's something I don't know.

^ Good idea. We still haven't "booked" anything because we are procrastinators :p

I'll look into it. Thanks for the advice (and to everyone else as well)

--Joey

Colorado and New Mexico ski resorts have pushed their normal closing dates back due to great snow.