Dec. 2005 Best Bets- West??

F

frontrange

New member
Okay- future planning- I'm thinking of a trip west one to two weeks before Christmas- if I start now I can probably get some free tix. I'm looking for a combination of great snow and great prices- budget powder in other words. Coming from Cleveland.

Tony- u tha man (even though you missed the forecast big time for snow during my late-March Montana trip- glad you were wrong!). What's the best bet? Other opinions welcomed of course.

Thanks!
 
i heard whistler is very good, but it is very expensive during chirstmas... snowbird and alta are probably awsome but when are they not
 
awf170":37rir4ct said:
i heard whistler is very good, but it is very expensive during chirstmas... snowbird and alta are probably awsome but when are they not
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Whistler jacks up their prices the week before Xmas. The first 2 1/2 weeks of December are a very good value with great hotel deals and discounted day ticket prices.

Utah and the Pacific/Northwest are the best bets for December.
 
yep, whistler can be pretty nasty at xmas. they don't even honour mid-week season passes during the holiday week. i'm not sure exactly what dates they jack up the prices, but everything is full pop starting about the week before till first week in jan.
on the bright side, the snow's been pretty good in whistler in december the past few seasons. but i would think you should look at someplace a bit smaller scale with a reputation for good early season snow.
 
I'm looking at Dec 5 or 12. I know its a crap shoot anywhere before Xmas but if there is somewhere south of Greenland that is more consistent than others I'd look there. I can always leave it open and just drive to Vermont for a few days but the west sure sounds good. I'm hoping for discounted early season tix by going before Xmas. I'm leaning towards Utah if it is pretty reliable.
Thanks
 
I have an article on this subject on skiingmag.com: http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/travel/ ... 38,00.html

For big mountain terrain Whistler is by far the best bet historically. Geoff is right about Christmas price gouging, but you're earlier than that and prices should be reasonable. Since you're going into Vancouver you might want to leave a day or two aside for Mt. Baker.

Utah is probably the next choice. If this is a one-week trip and you have a car Targhee/Jackson are a 5 hour drive away as backup.

The early season reliability issue can be looked at 2 ways. By Christmas you're looking for consistency, who's in full operation the highest percentage of the time, a category which Targhee wins handily, with Baker and Whistler the next most reliable. In November you're shooting crap anyway so here you're looking for an area that tends to get its snow in big dumps, so if there is snow there might be a lot of it: Cottonwood Canyons of Utah, Wolf Creek, Kirkwood, Mammoth. This past season all of these got the October dump and were in full operation throughout November.

Early December you need to consider both aspects above. But the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is slow in the vacation travel business and great deals abound (not just skiing, check cruises for example), even at the last minute. If that's the time you have I would wait until November to see who has snow. The airline seats aren't full either, so I don't think it's a particularly wise move to use FF miles either, if that's the motivation.
 
Hey Tony- great article. I like the choices- Targhee, Steamboat, Mt. Baker. I've always wanted to try Steamboat. I did Whistler / Blackcomb the year Blackcomb opened- it was fantastic. I always worry about r**n in the Pac Nwst but I guess its usually snow if you're high enough. You're probably right about waiting until November and watching- FF miles aren't bad if you're not at a peak holiday time. Plus Frontier is coming to Akron- supposedly they'll be $219 for a round trip to Denver. Sounds pretty good to me. I can almost commute!
 
frontrange":1yliamj9 said:
I've always wanted to try Steamboat.
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Just be forewarned: if you want steeps, you'll be disappointed. It's a great family hill, but somewhat lacking in the expert department, IMHO.
 
Steamboat also has bad exposure (southwest) so you can get crust, etc. if it hasn't snowed in awhile. Steamboat is what I call a "powder dependent" mountain. If you have fresh snow it will be great (decent fall lines, renowned trees). If not, I agree with Marc that you may be disappointed.
 
Admin":2wnae5yc said:
frontrange":2wnae5yc said:
I've always wanted to try Steamboat.
Click to expand...

Just be forewarned: if you want steeps, you'll be disappointed. It's a great family hill, but somewhat lacking in the expert department, IMHO.
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Yeah, but Shadows & Closet on a thigh-deep powder day make for one of life's better ski memories. :D Nothing like untracked aspen trees. It's not stuffed with oh-my-gosh steeps other than those really short numbered chutes at the top but there's enough advanced terrain there to keep just about anybody entertained for quite a few days.
 
I'm sure that they have more than enough steeps for me. I'm more interested in good snow. My favorite runs are the easier blacks (no moguls please- old skiing injury) with knee deep snow on them. Targhee has always been intriuging as well. I think Tony had the best advice- wait until the last minute and check the snow conditions.
 
True, (as usual) Tony's advice is spot on, but FWIW Targhee has gobs of the type of terrain you seek. It's smallish, and therefore a bit limited, but often has great snow (much more than its neighbor as it's on the windward side of the Tetons rather than the leeward, and with much better elevation & exposure), has everything but nosebleed steeps, and is so uncrowded per acre that I'm sure bumps are tough to form. Things like dinner options are very limited up there, so be prepared to sleep hard as well as ski hard.
 
If you end up in Utah Powder Mt. has that type of terrain also. Marc can comment on whether PowMow in current configuration is as big as Targhee. In 1991 it was not, but that was before the Paradise lift. Also among early season favorites with the terrain you like is Wolf Creek, though it's 4 hours drive from anywhere and smaller than Targhee or Powder Mt.
 
At last check PowMow is 5500 acres - that's bigger than Vail, believe it or not, but much of that is in the form of the "bus runs" back down to the acccess road with a bus shuttle back, or their "cat skiing" terrain ($6 a run).
 
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