Vermont Family Trip 2016?

[surfsnowgirl]

Ditto to what @Dtrick924 said. I've never been to Okemo or Stratton but have been to Killington early season and had a great time. I practically live at Mount Snow early season so their snow making is top notch.

Definitely hold off on Bromley. They have decent snow making but if this winter is anything like last winter (god I hope not) they will barely have anything open, particularly any greens off the top for your little one.

 

[HellaRuby]

We aren't stuck on it. Just thought we work our way down, but we could always start South and work our way up too. How early do the Southern resorts open? And are there a lot of trails? I am glad I am posting I need the "experts advice"....most of my skiing has been done in NH and usually January - March!

 

[HellaRuby]

I really liked Sugarbush. Got very lucky with the weather on a trip in early March. Fresh cold snow at both Sugarbush and MRG. I think Sugarbush has investment a fair amount into snowmaking in recent years. So would definitely be open in mid-Dec. But the harder terrain such as the trails off the Castlerock lift are unlikely to be open if looking for adventure in early season.

I know it's a longer drive from eastern MA, but the NY Adirondacks and Tremblant could be a fun trip at some point. Did that in early Dec one year after spending Thanksgiving in Lake Placid with my daughter. She was in school there for a few years. She'll be near Boston for a few years starting in the fall. So I may take the opportunity to get back to NH and ME, assuming decent snow conditions. Would love to ski Wildcat and Sunday River mid or late season when most, if not all, the trails are open. But not driving north to ski in the rain, or on too much ice.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...arly-dec-2013-tremblant-whiteface-gore.17093/

Boston is a great place! Is she still attending school here? We don't mind the driving. I have never been to NY skiing or Tremblant but I have done weeks at both Sutton and Mont St. Anne (which I really enjoyed!). More places to add to the list. Its nice now that my little fella has caught the bug He cannot wait to get back out there.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I skied Mont Sutton last January for the first time and had a blast. We also skied Orford and Owls Head. Fun, fun, fun.

Last winter was bad so Bromley had maybe 4 trails by New Years which is terrible so we'll forget them.

Last winter Mount Snow had as many as 8 trails open but in a normal winter I imagine this is a much higher number. I think they've got 85 trails and they are one snow making machine. What is guaranteed to be open is the 3.1 mile green run that really should be classified as a blue because its got some nice steep pitches and its pretty windy. Their other big trail which will be open is Cascade/Canyon which is a great blue and my first choice because Long John gets so crowded. Tons of off shoots off both these areas so you'll have many choices of where to ski. Most of the main face of Mount Snow are all blues so you aren't going to accidentally stumble onto a black.

I went to Loon only once at the end of February of 2015 and had a complete blast. So many fun runs off of the Gondola. The Kancamagus Express Quad also had some fun runs. Been meaning to get back here.

 

[Dtrick924]

We aren't stuck on it. Just thought we work our way down, but we could always start South and work our way up too. How early do the Southern resorts open? And are there a lot of trails? I am glad I am posting I need the "experts advice"....most of my skiing has been done in NH and usually January - March!

They all aim to be open by Thanksgiving, sometimes even earlier and usually have a decent trail count by mid-December. Of course it always helps if Mother Nature cooperates. Last was definitely tough even for the big snow makers and they didn't have full trail counts until January.

 

[HellaRuby]

[QUOTE="

Most of the main face of Mount Snow are all blues so you aren't going to accidentally stumble onto a black..[/QUOTE]

Which is EXACTLY what happened at Cannon last year when I got hurt!!!! We were skiing blue then RUH ROH...followed some signs and we were in a section of all Black. It was what do you do moment? 10 years ago I don't think I would have blinked but years out of the loop...recipe for disaster. For me at least

 

[marzNC]

Boston is a great place! Is she still attending school here? We don't mind the driving. I have never been to NY skiing or Tremblant but I have done weeks at both Sutton and Mont St. Anne (which I really enjoyed!). More places to add to the list. Its nice now that my little fella has caught the bug He cannot wait to get back out there.

She starts school in the Boston area Sept 2016. I know Boston pretty well because I went to prep school there, plus used to take business trips annually for a while. A lot nicer wandering downtown compared to the 1980s.

Lake Placid is a fun place for a family who wants to do more than just ski all day long. The most unique attraction is the toboggan slide. It's on old ski jump on the south end of Mirror Lake that lets you slide right onto the lake. Can go solo or with up to four people. Great fun!

From a skiing standpoint, I think I like Gore a bit better than Whiteface. But haven't really skied either when everything is open.

 

[HellaRuby]

Based on the feedback here, I think we are going to readjust the early season trip and try either Sunday River or Killington/Okemo (DH is willing to give it another try!) based on the snowmaking endorsements. And we found quite a few pet friendly rentals on VRBO that are reasonable in that area. Always nice to be able to bring Meatball (our Boston Terrier) with us. He hates being boarded as he sleeps in bed with us at night.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I checked the trail map of Mount Snow because I knew there were a 2-3 blacks amongst the blues on the main face but wasn't quite sure where they were. One is off the top and the other 2 are tucked in mid mountain but all are short and off of main blue trails so they wouldn't sneak up on you and you'd have an out if you wanted to continue down the blue.

I'm sure you'll have a great time on your trip. It's already mid June, fall/winter will be here before we know it.

 

[HellaRuby]

I checked the trail map of Mount Snow because I knew there were a 2-3 blacks amongst the blues on the main face but wasn't quite sure where they were. One is off the top and the other 2 are tucked in mid mountain but all are short and off of main blue trails so they wouldn't sneak up on you and you'd have an out if you wanted to continue down the blue.

I'm sure you'll have a great time on your trip. It's already mid June, fall/winter will be here before we know it.

Hey thanks for that info! I have quite a bit of anxiety about that now and have found I study trail maps like a lunatic. I even went so far as to grill the lifties at Killington my first time out after my unfortunate experience at Cannon as to what was open and what I should avoid. I will say, that same day I got hurt, I *almost* took the lift to the summit with DH but instinct told me to ask the lift attendant what was open as there were no signs and it was only Blacks. Naturally it was right after that I got messed up anyway over on another section (who lotta good that did!).

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Hey thanks for that info! I have quite a bit of anxiety about that now and have found I study trail maps like a lunatic. I even went so far as to grill the lifties at Killington my first time out after my unfortunate experience at Cannon as to what was open and what I should avoid. I will say, that same day I got hurt, I *almost* took the lift to the summit with DH but instinct told me to ask the lift attendant what was open as there were no signs and it was only Blacks. Naturally it was right after that I got messed up anyway over on another section (who lotta good that did!).

I understand. I have trail map anxiety when going to a new place or just somewhere I'm not as familiar with as my home mountains. I often ask for trail recommendations here on skidiva. I have have gotten some fabulous trail comments from divas with quite a few "try this run" but "avoid that run" suggestions.

 

[HellaRuby]

So far we still haven't booked an early season trip. But we did get our week long January trip to NH booked. Talk about anticlimactic Trying to work with people on VRBO has been "challenging"? Some of them just never respond. We were hoping to get a pet friendly condo and bring our dog to avoid the boarding. I booked the ONLY response we got from a NH VRBO listing! So anyway - 7 days skiing during MLK week hitting Loon, Cannon, Attitash, Wildcat, Black Mountain and Cranmore. Most likely spend one day at each - unless we split up - we are going with another family my DH LOVES LOVES LOVES Cannon so he might want to do an extra day there why some of us head over to a another hill.

Still working on the VT trips due to lack of responses from these condo owners...but now thinking just staying at a hotel and doing Northern Vermont in February and Southern Vermont in March. we still have to work around school for DS...

 

[marzNC]

Yep, first test for a potential VRBO place is to see how quickly the contact person responds.

Sounds like a fun week in NH!

 

[HellaRuby]

Thanks MarzNC! We are excited.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Sounds like a fabulous week of skiing and your other monthly plans sound great too. Isn't it awesome making ski trip plans in July

 

[HellaRuby]

Sounds like a fabulous week of skiing and your other monthly plans sound great too. Isn't it awesome making ski trip plans in July

I just finished with our "ski plans".

Mid December - Sunday River - got a great deal on a Ski & Stay package for Wed-Sat

January - MLK week in NH (staying near Loon, but will ski different places everyday)

February - Northern VT - Wed - Sat (Stowe, Smugs, Sugarloaf)

March - Wed-Sat - Killington & Okemo

Its tough with my DS6 being in Kindergarten. I don't want him to miss a ton of school, but figured I would take advantage while he is still little.

So that's it! Our family ski trips planned. Hoping to hit Wachusett Mtn a few times on the weekends in between.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Its tough with my DS6 being in Kindergarten. I don't want him to miss a ton of school, but figured I would take advantage while he is still little.

My friend Tracey with whom we ski in Vermont always says that about her daughter when she pulls her out of school on a friday to head up to Vermont for the weekend. She always says she's x age and in x grade so a day/afternoon out of school won't kill her. Of course she's going on 10 now and she's still saying this

Sounds like you have a fun winter planned.

 

[HellaRuby]

My friend Tracey with whom we ski in Vermont always says that about her daughter when she pulls her out of school on a friday to head up to Vermont for the weekend. She always says she's x age and in x grade so a day/afternoon out of school won't kill her. Of course she's going on 10 now and she's still saying this

Sounds like you have a fun winter planned.

I am sure we will be doing the same, but like your friend probably change to just having him miss Fridays. And when I write the notes to the teachers I tell them we are going away skiing. Last year the teacher (same school) wrote back that family time trumps school when they are little. Not sure my DD13's 8th grade teachers would feel the same way LOL But thankfully she doesn't want to ski with us. So she stays home with family. Hates the snow, the cold etc.

How about you surfsnowgirl? Any trips planned?

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I am sure we will be doing the same, but like your friend probably change to just having him miss Fridays. And when I write the notes to the teachers I tell them we are going away skiing. Last year the teacher (same school) wrote back that family time trumps school when they are little. Not sure my DD13's 8th grade teachers would feel the same way LOL But thankfully she doesn't want to ski with us. So she stays home with family. Hates the snow, the cold etc.

How about you surfsnowgirl? Any trips planned?

Brianna loves to ski. We are going to be courtesy staff at Bromley this winter for season passes and one of the benefits for Tracey will be ski school for Ms. B. That's cool your little one had such an awesome teacher.

We are headed to Banff and Lake Louise at the end of February with the ski club. Waiting to see if the ski club will be headed to the eastern townships in Quebec over MLK weekend because if they do we are doing that trip too. Other than that it's my local mountain in western Mass and splitting the rest of my time between Mount Snow and Bromley. I'd also like to get to Wildcat and Loon in NH. Might try to take on Jay Peak and Tremblant onto our MLK quebec weekend.

 

[SallyCat]

. Last year the teacher (same school) wrote back that family time trumps school when they are little. Not sure my DD13's 8th grade teachers would feel the same way LOL

Heck, I'm a high school teacher at a college prep school, and I think family trumps school, too. Honestly, our students are under so much pressure (whether real or perceived, externally- or self-imposed) to perform at high levels constantly, that they can lose perspective and really suffer. A little family time away from home, even if it falls outside of the school break schedule, has to be good for their overall wellness and is probably academically healthy, too.

I ran our school's outing club for a few years, and I remember hiking next to a boy at one point when he said "I love Outdoor Ed; it's one of the few times in my life where I'm not being ranked or evaluated."

I say quality, intentional family time is just as important as school.