Couple questions to start it off

1) What are conditions like at Snowshoe in the first week of January? I went there for New Years about 5 years ago and half the slopes weren't open and I remember a good amount of ice. Is that normal for that time up there or did I hit a bad year?

2) Some friends of went to Breckenridge last year, and they're considering returning there or going to Vancouver (sometime in February). Can you all compare and contrast those two?


Looks like the 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver in mid-late February. I'm not sure if that's factored into their decision making or not...

10/27/2009 1:33:27 PM

I went to snowshoe last year over Christmas and there were a decent amount of slopes open and a couple of black diamonds. The day we left after the 4 day trip most of the slopes that were open didn't have enough snow and had to close.

10/27/2009 1:43:39 PM

I was up at snowshoe for New Years 08'/09' and there were a lot of slopes closed but they still had a decent amount. I went again march 3-6 and everything was open. My friend works in the ski shop on top and I get passes for $5-10 a piece for day passes.

10/27/2009 2:36:48 PM

YES! So glad to see this thread, means ski time is near.

Planning on hitting up Boone in early Feb., is Sugar Mtn. or Sevin Devils (Hawksnest) better? Never been to the latter.

Might go to upstate NY/VT after that. Any recommendations for off-the-wall, cheaper/less busy places up there? No Stowe / Killington. WAY too pricey and busy.

10/27/2009 2:41:44 PM

Quote :

"Planning on hitting up Boone in early Feb., is Sugar Mtn. or Sevin Devils (Hawksnest) better? Never been to the latter."

Hawks Nest was terrible the one time I went. Bare spots, only one or two open runs, and everything was a giant sheet of ice. As bad as Sugar and Beech are, they actually put that place to shame.

I won't go to Sugar again. Went last year with some friends...free trip minus food & lift tickets...One of those "grab your gear and hop in the car if you want to go" deals. The lifts had a 1 hour wait. We rode like three or four times and that was all we could squeeze in on our $50 lift tickets. Over crowded and poorly managed. It isn't even worth doing if that's how it will be.

If I was going to that area again I'd go to Beech. It's only about 10 miles further than Sugar, but that 10 miles seems to make the crowd a whole lot smaller from what I've seen. Or maybe you should look at some of the VA mountains like Massanutten or Wintergreen if you don't want to drive to Snowshoe.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 2:52 PM. Reason : s]

10/27/2009 2:50:57 PM

god, i can't wait to go snowboarding this year.

10/27/2009 3:18:59 PM

^QFT

10/27/2009 3:23:14 PM

Whistler (Vancouver) is considered the best skiing/snowboarding in North America. if you take a look at the trail map its about 5X bigger than snowshoe (maybe bigger).


Its expensive though.


I would say go to breckenridge. Or you can buy a summit pass for around $300 and go to a few different mountains.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 3:27 PM. Reason : f]

10/27/2009 3:26:22 PM

Going to Whistler the year that the Olympics are being held there seems like a monumentally dumb move. Increased crowds + increased prices = fail. I really want to go there, but I'll wait 1-2 more years before doing so.

I don't bother with NC mtns anymore. Not worth the hassle for the shit you get.

Right now it's looking like a late Jan/early Feb 3 day trip to Snowshoe and a late Feb/early March 5 day trip to Park City, UT.

All signs point towards a chilly and snowy winter, so skiing should be fantastic all over the place!!!!

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 3:36 PM. Reason : k]

10/27/2009 3:36:00 PM

I just found out today that we are doing research in COLORADO in JANUARY and FEBRUARY! whooo hooo... guess I get free plane tickets to slay chickens AND tear it up on teh slopies!

I love my jerb!

10/27/2009 3:37:39 PM

^^ They might still have a deal going on where you get buy one get one free tickets if you use an AM EX card.

If you dont have a card you can buy AMEX gift cards and use those. We did this last year and they didnt say anything about them being gift cards.

10/27/2009 4:17:47 PM

^is that some sort of yearly special that Whistler does with AMEX?

B/c I have AMEX cards...

10/27/2009 4:53:01 PM

going out to park city or somewhere around there in december as a graduation gift, can't wait to go out west since it'll be my first time there. probably going to have a trip or two up to wintergreen come january, cheap and only 3 hours away.

SO EXCITED!!!

10/27/2009 6:51:05 PM

http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/deals_packages/ebd/ebd_US.htm?crmcontact=$CDW_DW_PERSON_ID$&crmldg=CRM_WB_LDG_01_E6_091027


early booking deals for whistler

10/27/2009 10:09:12 PM

Quote :

"YES! So glad to see this thread, means ski time is near."

Jackson Hole in January, cannot wait! I got a whole new set up this year - after riding the same deck, boots and bindings for the last 8 years, it was long time to upgrade (although I only ride 5-6 times a year these days)

Anyone have advice for a rookie campaign at Jackson Hole? We have a group of 5 experienced riders going for 4 full days...staying in Teton Village.

10/28/2009 12:14:07 AM

^my coworkers next to me are working on the J-hole airport re-design under construction now, pretty sweet design if i do say so myself.

may go up to A-basin this weekend... was tempted to go earlier, but heard the lines were bad.

oh and btw, it's snowing right now here in Denver

got my board tuned and ready to go.

[Edited on October 28, 2009 at 12:25 AM. Reason : ,]

10/28/2009 12:24:21 AM

to counteract all of the Sugar-bashing ITT:

If you're just looking for a good, not super expensive or far away weekend of skiing, Sugar isn't that bad IF you catch it on a weekend with some legit snow.

I went for a couple of days during Spring Break this year and it snowed 10.5 inches, which was great. But the longest I had to wait in line was about 10 minutes. Not sure if it was because the forecast was way off in terms of snow and no one cared, or if its because it was the beginning of March.

But whateves, it was good skiing, I had a blast. Excellent conditions, small crowds. That and NCSU has the earliest break EVAR.

I want to make it out to Colorado at some point...

10/28/2009 12:32:04 AM

^ I've probably been to Sugar 8-10 times total. The time I went last year was the best conditions I had ever seen there. The 1 hour+ lift lines made it unbearable. Do good conditions bring the crowds? I don't know, but I'm not giving them another dime of my money.

Quote :

"Jackson Hole in January,"

Me too...Just paid for the trip reservations last week. Never been to Jackson Hole before, but here are a few things a friend of mine sent me via e-mail:

Quote :

"The Hostel X is at Teton Village is the deal http://www.thehostel.us/ Right at the base of the Ski Resort. IMO you don't want to stay in the town of Jackson b/c it's a 15 minute drive to the mountain. You can take a shuttle from the airport to Teton Village and the shuttle runs back and forth to town (Jackson) if you want to go."

Talked to my buddy (the same guy who sent me the Jackson Hole info) today...He owns a cabin at Snowshoe now. Can't wait to get some weekend trips to Snowshoe this year too.

10/28/2009 1:00:07 AM

Soooooooooo I need a new board and would like to complement it with new bindings and I need new boots. As soon as I get the clearance to buy these things, I am getting them :-)





I don't care some much about the boots; just that they give proper support... what do ya'll think?!

11/11/2009 11:55:49 AM

Good boots make all the difference in the world when it comes to all day comfort. My last boots were a little too big and I really regret riding them as long as I did. My heel lifted badly making the ride worse and I'd get terrible chaffing on my calf at the top of the boot. I picked up some Burton "Hail" boots last year and they were amazing.

11/11/2009 12:19:17 PM

i'd definitely rather spend a few extra bucks on boots than any other item in my setup.

11/11/2009 12:24:18 PM

While my old boots could have been a little smaller, there is a radical difference in construction between my old ones and the Burtons.

The old boots were built like really stiff hiking boots. The material was so stiff they needed some sort of ratchet straps or something to actually tighten them because shoelaces didn't really do much. You could lift your toes, you could lift your heels, you could twist your leg in them, etc.

The new boots have an internal lining with it's own quick lace system. After you cinch down the inner boot you lace up the outer boot. The result is an extremely solid hold with no movement, but it is still very comfortable. It doesn't feel tight or binding in any spots.

11/11/2009 12:42:56 PM

Looking to go out to tahoe mid february. I've skied Heavenly and Squaw Valley about 6 years ago, and we didn't stay at the resorts. Looking for any experiences with resorts that have good onsite places to stay and onsite daycare.

11/11/2009 1:10:38 PM

Embassy Suites - Heavenly Village!

Walk out the door and you are 100 feet from the casinos and 10 feet from the gondola...

[Edited on November 11, 2009 at 1:13 PM. Reason : x]

11/11/2009 1:12:30 PM

cool, i'll check that out.

Also, what airport is best to fly into?

11/11/2009 1:16:21 PM

Are you going to Tahoe before or after your trip to Gulmarg ?

11/11/2009 1:22:12 PM

I think you are way more familiar with India than I am.

I have no idea where that is.

Yesterday someone showed me an address they were trying to ship some equipment to. It was like 7 lines long. They wanted to know what state in India it is. I can name exactly one state in india, and only because that's where my parents are from. All I could do was cackle.

I guess it would be like me asking you where the giraffe-necked bitches in africa are. You don't know that, but I'm sure you know when the nest J.Crew catalog comes out.

11/11/2009 1:34:00 PM

I only took that course on East Indian Culture because of the generous grade distribution; I never knew it would end up paying such huge dividends

[Edited on November 11, 2009 at 1:48 PM. Reason : x]

11/11/2009 1:46:56 PM

Quote :

"My last boots were a little too big and I really regret riding them as long as I did. My heel lifted badly making the ride worse and I'd get terrible chaffing on my calf at the top of the boot."

Dude, you have nooo idea... when i got my first setup, I went cheap because i just wanted to see if boarding would be something I'd want to invest more in. WELL... Last season, my boots got soo badly loose that I could feel my feet start to slip out :-( It just made it incredibly hard to control the board too So I drank more baileys and hot chocolate and dealt with it... I shouldnt have; twas dangerous :-(

11/11/2009 2:28:31 PM

Quote :

"I guess it would be like me asking you where the giraffe-necked bitches in africa are. You don't know that, but I'm sure you know when the nest J.Crew catalog comes out."

LMAO

Bobby, if you're going to Tahoe I'd fly into Reno. It's a helluva lot closer than Sacramento. Ironically enough when I went to Tahoe last year I flew into Sacramento (but that's a story for another day...)

11/11/2009 2:31:35 PM

Anyone ski with dynafit? I'm looking to unload some barely used boots...

11/11/2009 8:49:05 PM

Quote :

"Looking to go out to tahoe mid february. I've skied Heavenly and Squaw Valley about 6 years ago, and we didn't stay at the resorts. Looking for any experiences with resorts that have good onsite places to stay and onsite daycare."

Talk to CarZin. He planned the trip I went on last year and can offer a lot of advice. We ended up skiing at Kirkwood because of the weather that week. It was shitty at Heavenly and most other mountains, but Kirkwood was at a much higher elevation than anywhere else in that area so the precipitation was coming down as wet snow rather than rain.

11/11/2009 9:20:40 PM

A friend of mine has booked a place to stay in lake tahoe for Dec 6th -13th. I want to go out there cause i wouldnt have to pay anything for sleeping arrangements but I dont know if there is going to be some decent snow out there by then.

About half of the resorts will open around thanksgiving but several others dont even have a date when they open. WIll it be worth the trip out there or should I hold off and try and go in february or march but will have to pay for hotel etc?

decisions

[Edited on November 12, 2009 at 10:02 AM. Reason : spell]

11/12/2009 9:55:34 AM

How's New England skiing, like Stowe or Killington, or whatever else is supposedly good up there?

My thought has always been that it's a waste--if I'm going that far to ski, I'm going to go out west. However, I'm closing in on visiting all 50 states, and I could knock out one or two New England states with a ski trip up there. How inferior are places like Stowe or Killington to the western resorts?

11/12/2009 11:59:54 AM

As far as east coast skiing goes those are the best mountains to go to.

Compared to the west coast, they are smaller and depending on the snow fall that year not nearly as much powder. A couple years ago they got something like 250 in of snowfall for the season, which is solid for them. Its definately hit or miss and not nearly as consistant as the west coast.


Both mountains have solid tree runs though, if you're into that kind of thing.

11/12/2009 12:18:36 PM

Stowe is my favorite and Killington is great too (for east coast skiing). Both are fairly large and get good snow. Killington seems to get more traffic but has some good tree skiing. I hear Jay's Peak is awesome for east coast but it is far out in the boondocks and very cold. Not a big fan of Whiteface (iceface) in Lake Placid.

[Edited on November 12, 2009 at 12:40 PM. Reason : []

11/12/2009 12:39:57 PM

It's not as great any most anything out west, but it's the best of anything east of the Rockies. Well worth the 4 hour drive from NYC that I made several times a season when I lived up there.

11/12/2009 12:58:03 PM

I'm not that big on tree runs...they're kinda like moguls--something fun to do a couple of times per day as a change of pace. I don't really attack them--that's just an open invite to get a face-full of tree trunk.

I'm happy to spend 80% of my time streaking down groomers at warp speed.

11/12/2009 1:23:27 PM

I am supposed to go up to Hartford, CT for work in early December. Hopefully, some of the places in So. VT will be open. Okemo is like 2 hours away, has anybody ever been there? I would really like to make it to Mad River Glen, I've heard they've got some of the best glades.

I was up in CT in January for work, went skiing to Jiminy Peak and Berkshire East, not very big, about the same vertical as Sugar/Beech, but a lot more trails and a lot cheaper. Jiminy Peak had an e-special and it was $28 for 8 hours of skiing. Also, ended up in Maine for work earlier this year, went to a place called Shawnee Peak and hit up their $10 Monday Night Madness ($10 lift tickets at night).

I've got to go to Seattle in Febuary for two weeks. Anybody ever been out to Crystal Mountain or Snoqualmie Pass? I was hoping to make it to both of those places while I was out there. I would drive up to Vancouver on the weekend, but that's a no-go with the Olympics going on.

For some good deals you can check out http://www.levelninesports.com. They've got some good stuff on here for cheap.

11/12/2009 1:28:45 PM

never skiied Crystal or Snoqualmie. I've skiied Mt. Baker and Stevens' Pass a SHIT TON, though (like probably a dozen times each).

11/12/2009 1:34:18 PM

Baker opened this morning!

11/12/2009 1:49:46 PM

^^^Okemo is a great place. I've been there 2-3 times. And I have no doubt they'll have most stuff open a month from now. It gets COLD up there

11/12/2009 2:28:12 PM

FYI if you ski atomics

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09077.html

11/12/2009 3:21:17 PM

Skack and I are headed to Jackson Hole, WY at the end of January. Started out as a small group, now we have 12 people going. If anyone else wants to join us, send me an IM for details. The room is all booked up, but at least you'd be going with a group of people.

BIG TIP FOR GOING TO JACKSON HOLE
USE THEIR TRAVEL AGENT. They can work wonders. The base price of the ticket on expedia was $480. They got it for $365. On top of that, they had a promotion that for every 3 people we had, the fourth flew free. They still have that deal. That meant the average ticket price was under $300 a person!! And the room they got us was $300 cheaper than the cheapest price I could get online. I've never seen a travel agency with deals like this.

[Edited on November 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

11/12/2009 3:36:49 PM

Good boots make a world of difference.

1) ALWAYS wear multiple brands and styles of boots to make sure it fits well, don't base your decision on a single brand-name or color, it's retarded, a good fitting boot will make you a better snowboarder, heel lift is the devil, so is cold feet & sore feet.

2) I prefer laces to Boa's, make sure it fits like a glove if you go that route.

3) Bindings, if you go with flows, get their high-end bindings, their lower-end bindings suck. Personally I love my Union Force bindings, they're bulletproof. More important if you go 10+ days a year or more. 1-more minute at the top of the slopes is worth it when your runs are 20+ minutes long. And deciding on bindings based on their color is also not very wise, get what fits your athletic level and riding style best.

--

On a side note, just made a reservation for a rental with some friends for 4-nights, 5-days at Breckenridge the first week in March, we may scoot over to Keystone for night skiing one of those days. Looking forward to it.

[Edited on November 12, 2009 at 7:28 PM. Reason : /]

[Edited on November 12, 2009 at 7:31 PM. Reason : .]

11/12/2009 7:26:37 PM

Going to Steamboat in March!

11/12/2009 8:39:50 PM

steamboats nice, beautiful area too.

11/13/2009 10:44:55 AM

definitely +1 on spending a little more and getting the right boots the first time. i bought some 32 lashed last year that i didnt wear around the store long enough and they were just wayy too loose when i was actually on a slope. i ended up buying a pair of forum boots on the way home after literally trying on every pair the store carried in my size.

also i'm sooo ready for some boarding.

11/14/2009 2:02:37 AM

bttt


can anyone help me find some skis and boots on craigslsit? i'm 5-8, 155 and would consider myself intermediate (love the blues, probably wont go near the blacks)...I think that puts me in the 155-165cm range. figured i might as well buy something vs renting every time.

I've seen a few listings but I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking for/at.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/search/spo?query=ski+-women+-youth+-machine+-junior+-jet&catAbbreviation=spo&minAsk=min&maxAsk=max

11/19/2009 4:31:29 PM

tramdock.com

11/19/2009 4:46:25 PM