North America - is it worth the trip

Road-Hog

Interested on views from those who have been to Canada or USA for a ski trip. Unless you go to east coast of USA I would think ten days min would be required. Add in the more expensive flights and it would probably quite easily creep up toWards €1800 to €2k for the 10 days. However I have heard that mountain food, ski passes and equipment rental may offset some of the additional travel costs. Plus pistes are supposed to be better groomed and maintained and much better queue discipline. Anyway I would be interested in hearing from those of you that have made the trip across 'the pond' to ski. It's a trip I will have to try once before global warming puts paid to winter sports overall !!!

Fattes

Road-Hog wrote: »

Interested on views from those who have been to Canada or USA for a ski trip. Unless you go to east coast of USA I would think ten days min would be required. Add in the more expensive flights and it would probably quite easily creep up toWards €1800 to €2k for the 10 days. However I have heard that mountain food, ski passes and equipment rental may offset some of the additional travel costs. Plus pistes are supposed to be better groomed and maintained and much better queue discipline. Anyway I would be interested in hearing from those of you that have made the trip across 'the pond' to ski. It's a trip I will have to try once before global warming puts paid to winter sports overall !!!

Lift passes are more expensive, expect $75-90 per day!! Food and drink however are much cheaper!

That said slopes are empty, no Q's except one or two resorts (Whistler and Aspen)

Slopes are shorter for the most part not really any better prepared, just quieter so they don't chop up as quickly.

I would look at Bannf, 5 excellent resorts within 3 hours, all very different cheap accommodation, winter is their off season and amazing skiing. DO NOT GO IN JANUARY, the reason N.american skiing is cheap then is because it's cold (-15 to -30) averages

Bigus

If you were a really wealthy American you'd go to Europe if you could afford it , think logical .

prunudo

I looked into it a couple of times and was amazed by the cost of lift passes, also the piste/hill often seem to be away from a town so you have to drive or bus it each day. Although id like to go sometime I think value for money and use of time you're better to go to two different European resorts than one North American one.

oxysept

I learnt to ski ther in 05/06 been back every year some times twice if business trips worked out. Skied in Europe 1st time last year Going back to N.America this season.
Colorado Utha British Colombia to me are the best spots.
pros
snow plenty of and lots of powder
Empty runs
Short que's
Accomidation and food cheep
Equipment rental not expensive

Cons
Yes some resorts are a distance from Accomidation
Limited après ski
Lift passes can be very expensive - my buddies are good at finding deals
Lots of Americans
Long flight / jet lag
Flight cost

I like it especially a ski only mountian out side Salt Lake City called Alta and Breckenridge in Colorado, Breckenridge is pretty tough due to altitude but that Altitude guarantees the snow and the town is righ at the foot of the lifts got an old westerns ell to it, and of course up in BC Banff .....watch out Banff can be realy cold but a pretty cool town.

For me I prefer the U.S. but overall cost and travel time is a big downer, I go because I can combine business and meet friends.

fannymagee

No it's not. Go to Soll ;-)

masseyno9

oxysept wrote: »

...and of course up in BC Banff .....watch out Banff can be realy cold but a pretty cool town.

Banff is in Alberta :P but yes it can get very cold! And for 10 days, you have a great choice of hills. In BC, until you go as far west as Whistler, I think 10 days would be pushing it. Unless you're road-tripping the powder highway, which would be amazing!

Bigus wrote: »

If you were a really wealthy American you'd go to Europe if you could afford it , think logical .

Doesn't really make sense, it's always natural to want to explore the new and different. Really wealthy Europeans like to go the States and Canada.
I live really close to some great resorts, but I'd love to take a trip down to the States ($1 beers!) to some smaller hills and see what's there.

The point about queue discipline is true! They've generally got lifties out front organising people into 4's or 6's to keep things moving and there's basically no queue jumping. I remember in France once the police had to come to the lift after a fight broke out over queue pushers.

Fattes

Skied Sunshine in a balmy -35 degrees one day, it had actually warned up from a more temperate -40 earlier in the morning!

I still suffer the effects of the frostbite from the continental divide chair!!

oxysept

masseyno9 wrote: »

Banff is in Alberta :P

Oops..... yes I stand corrected.

Fattes

oxysept wrote: »

Oops..... yes I stand corrected.

Yes but sunshine village resort is in Both B.C & Alberta and straddles the continental divide

Road-Hog

masseyno9 wrote: »

Banff is in Alberta :P but yes it can get very cold! And for 10 days, you have a great choice of hills. In BC, until you go as far west as Whistler, I think 10 days would be pushing it. Unless you're road-tripping the powder highway, which would be amazing!


Doesn't really make sense, it's always natural to want to explore the new and different. Really wealthy Europeans like to go the States and Canada.
I live really close to some great resorts, but I'd love to take a trip down to the States ($1 beers!) to some smaller hills and see what's there.

The point about queue discipline is true! They've generally got lifties out front organising people into 4's or 6's to keep things moving and there's basically no queue jumping. I remember in France once the police had to come to the lift after a fight broke out over queue pushers.

Q discipline or lack of it would be a fairly minor issue would it not, bar Andorra years ago (late 90's) I don't recall being in a Q for more than 5 mins apart from the first lift in the am on some occasions which can be avoided if you go either side of the peak time.......always try to be before the peak. Once up in the mountain in the larger resorts long q's are rare or maybe I've just managed (by chance) to avoid resorts where they occur?

fmlarnapairce

coldest chair i've ever been on was at Araphoe basin in colorado, needed 2 pairs of gloves and was still in pain getting off lift, just about warmed up by the end of each run then on the lift again!

masseyno9

Fattes wrote: »

Yes but sunshine village resort is in Both B.C & Alberta and straddles the continental divide

Correct...but straddling is a generous term. Maybe "it dips it's baby toe into BC!"
Anyway, semantics aside, Banff would be a great base for a 10 day trip. It has that ski-town atmosphere that you'd want on a holiday, and is easily accessible from the airport. The last thing you'd want after 12-ish hours of flying is a 4 hour drive.
I avoid the divide chair a lot of the time, unless it's a good weather day. Generally too windy to be comfortable on the way up, and too windy to have any nice snow on the way down! It took a few times around to learn that though!

Road-Hog wrote: »

Q discipline or lack of it would be a fairly minor issue would it not, bar Andorra years ago (late 90's) I don't recall being in a Q for more than 5 mins apart from the first lift in the am on some occasions which can be avoided if you go either side of the peak time.......always try to be before the peak. Once up in the mountain in the larger resorts long q's are rare or maybe I've just managed (by chance) to avoid resorts where they occur?

I meant more the attitudes of those in the queues, if and when they occur, rather than the actual existence of them, which is hugely variable depending on time of day, day of the week, week of the year etc.
In the grand scheme of things, yes it's minor and certainly wouldn't justify the cost of the trip to this side of the world, but you'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes to your day. I used to hate queues in Europe. People just barging into the queue, walking all over your gear, passive-aggressively blocking you out etc. Even after years of perfecting my "death-stare" it didn't seem to improve. Over here though, generally, people just accept they'll be there for 2 or 3 minutes, line up nicely in an organised way and even apologise if they hit your board/skis. Keeps the smiles ratio up, I suppose!