Best Old School Ski Resorts.

[ski diva]

Budget Travel listed its top ten "old school" ski resorts, where lift tickets max out at $52. Here they are. Any thoughts?

1. Powder Mountain, UT
2. Burke, VT
3. Wolf Creek, CO
4. Homewood, CA
5. Lost Trail, MT
6. Bridger Bowl, MT
7. Magic Mountain, VT
8. Bogus Basin, ID
9. 49 North, WA
10. Willamette Pass, OR

The entire article is at https://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010400879.html

The only one I'm familiar with is Magic (always loved the name; it's so Thomas Mann), which has had lots of financial difficulties for a number of years. In fact, it was recently sold to a group of investors who says it plans to expand snow making -- which was never its strong suit and which it sorely needs -- and turn it around. I hope they can.

 

[snowflake]

I've veen to both of the Montana ski areas, and they're both fun.

They're both relatively small, and have a quaint family feel.

Bridger Bowl is a little more "extreme", but they're both places locals love and will always love.

Here are links to both so you can check them out
Lost trail... https://www.losttrail.com/index.asp
Bridger Bowl.... https://www.bridgerbowl.com/

 

[Lilgeorg]

I am surprised that Mad River Glen, VT didn't make the list.

 

[Jilly]

I think we could all add resorts/hills to that list. I would add Mont Sutton, Owls Head and Jay Peak to that list! But they only wanted 10, so????

 

[chitownski]

I grew up just about next door to Powder Mountain, and it's great. Fantastic snow, tons of space, so there's never any crowds, and friendly locals. It's super bare bones, though - so if you like all of the bells and whistles of a Deer Valley or Vail, you're not going to be happy.

 

[dburdenbates]

I LOVE Wolf Creek! Never have I been in a lift line there longer than about 30 seconds.

I'd love to check out some of the other places listed.

 

[marta]

Burke is great. St Johnsbury VT is a really nice town also.

 

[ski diva]

Never been to Burke, and I'm dying to give it a try. Maybe this year.

 

[marta]

Support your local small ski areas!

I'm going to check out Magic this year, it's very near my mom's house. Also Bromley is nice, still with a lot of old-school flavor.

For those who ski the Catskills, I highly recommend Plattekill. It's a real Ma & Pa type of place, family owned and run. They're only open on Fri,Sat,Sun. But if there's a 12" dump, they'll fire up the lifts on a weekday, for 100% ungroomed paradise. Lift tix are $46, and $30 on Fridays. And some of the best top to bottom steeps around. No lift lines, ever! Worth the extra 20 minute drive past Hunter and Belleayre, especially to avoid weekend mayhem. In a good snow year, this place is heaven. In a lean snow year, they suffer however, snowmaking is not up to par with the big guys. Consider this place Mad River South. This is the type of place you'll see construction worker types ski in their tan canvas coveralls. Also seems to be popular with Tele skiers. And the best Catskill mountain biking in the summer.

 

[marzNC]

Support your local small ski areas!

I'm going to check out Magic this year, it's very near my mom's house. Also Bromley is nice, still with a lot of old-school flavor.

For those who ski the Catskills, I highly recommend Plattekill. It's a real Ma & Pa type of place, family owned and run. They're only open on Fri,Sat,Sun. But if there's a 12" dump, they'll fire up the lifts on a weekday, for 100% ungroomed paradise. Lift tix are $46, and $30 on Fridays. And some of the best top to bottom steeps around. No lift lines, ever! Worth the extra 20 minute drive past Hunter and Belleayre, especially to avoid weekend mayhem. In a good snow year, this place is heaven. In a lean snow year, they suffer however, snowmaking is not up to par with the big guys. Consider this place Mad River South. This is the type of place you'll see construction worker types ski in their tan canvas coveralls. Also seems to be popular with Tele skiers. And the best Catskill mountain biking in the summer.

I know this is a very old thread, but having discovered Plattekill just wanted to say that it's still pretty much the same. Price has gone up, but still a pretty good deal. I paid $38 on a Friday.

Plattekill is working together with Magic for 2014-15. Season pass holders get a free day at the other mountain. Apparently Plattekill is looking for other ski areas to work with as well.

 

[geargrrl]

I"d put Lookout Pass and Mt Spokane on the list, and take off 49. Any resort that is running a quad isn't old school. Any resort that still runs fixed grip doubles and triples, is.

 

[abc]

Budget Travel listed its top ten "old school" ski resorts, where lift tickets max out at $52.
2. Burke, VT

Huh? Excuse me! Burke under $52??? Don't think so. Or are we talking half days???

I am surprised that Mad River Glen, VT didn't make the list.

Perhaps because MRG refuse to adv ertise on budgettravelonline.com? ;)

I wonder how much advertisement Burke commited to. This is soooo blatently WRONG!!!

(Ooops...oh man, this was an 8 year old thread! OMG! I have no idea what price was lift ticket back then! I guess the only good news is all on the list are still operating... 8 year is eternity in the ski business! For that matter, Burke is getting a brand spanking new hotel at the base. And Magic is now more crowded than Mt. Snow!)

 

[marzNC]

I"d put Lookout Pass and Mt Spokane on the list, and take off 49. Any resort that is running a quad isn't old school. Any resort that still runs fixed grip doubles and triples, is.

Hmm, that would also take Powder Mountain off the list. Bridger too. Although the only quad at Bridger is Sunnyside, which serves mostly green terrain. Most of the other lifts are triples. For me, it's more about the lodge(s) and the vibe of a place than the type of lifts. Of course, a place with a gondola or tram is unlikely to have anything like the vibe that I associate with the idea of "old school."

Smuggs certainly feels old school in comparison to Stowe (on the other side of the same mountain), especially if you don't go over to the Smuggs base village at all. The lifts are slooow, and it's very much on purpose. Even though Alta started upgrading lifts in 1999, certainly has more of an old school feel than Snowbird. Note that I don't think any of these ski destinations fit in the list that Budget Travel was going for back in 2006.

 

[geargrrl]

maybe we had all better come to a consensus on what exactly "old school" means.

 

[marzNC]

maybe we had all better come to a consensus on what exactly "old school" means.

Maybe that's why Budget Travel used the lift ticket price as a starting point. Hard to know since the original article link doesn't work any more.

Let's assume Burke was about $52 in 2006 . . . it was $68 in 2013-14 for an adult day ticket. So sounds like Burke made the decision to move beyond "old school."

Powder Mountain was $65. Bridger was $52. Apparently the 1-day ticket price for Homewood was $79 but they also had a 3-pack for $59/day. Pretty sure Plattekill wasn't more than $50 even on weekends.

 

[abc]

Pretty sure Plattekill wasn't more than $50 even on weekends.

$58!

(BTW, the only non-weekend day Plattekill open was Friday)

 

[marzNC]

Okay, so I got curious. Here are the rates for 2013-14 for a 1-day adult daytime.

1. Powder Mountain, UT - $65
2. Burke, VT - $68
3. Wolf Creek, CO - $58
4. Homewood, CA - $79
5. Lost Trail, MT - $39
6. Bridger Bowl, MT - $52 (non-profit)
7. Magic Mountain, VT - $63 (weekends)
8. Bogus Basin, ID - $25
9. 49 North, WA - $57
10. Willamette Pass, OR - $49

Plattekill, NY - $58 (weekends)
Lookout Pass, ID - $39
Mt Spokane, WA - $52

As has been discussed elsewhere, lift ticket prices vary a lot. Especially when looking at different regions. Interesting to see where relative bargains can be found in all the major regions.

One of these days, I'll look up the skiable acreage for these places. Wonder how many ski areas with over 1000 skiable acres have lift tickets under $70.

 

[geargrrl]

Bogus- $25 is the discounted price until closing this season, not the regular price. Regular price was $49
https://www.bogusbasin.org/the-mountain/2013-14-season-passes.aspx

 

[marzNC]

Okay, with the correction to Bogus and vertical and skiable acreage added from mountain vertical.com .

1. Powder Mountain, UT - $65, 2010 vert, 5000-5500 acres
2. Burke, VT - $68, 1928 vert, 100-250 acres
3. Wolf Creek, CO - $58, 1400 vert, 1500-2000 acres
4. Homewood, CA - $79, 1625 vert, 750-1000 acres
5. Lost Trail, MT - $39, 1780 vert, 750-1000 acres
6. Bridger Bowl, MT - $52 (non-profit), 1950 vert, 1500-2000 acres
7. Magic Mountain, VT - $63 (weekends), 1468 vert, 100-250 acres
8. Bogus Basin, ID - $49, 1819 vert, 2500-3000 acres
9. 49 North, WA - $57, 1875 vert, 1000-1500 acres
10. Willamette Pass, OR - $49, 1525 vert, 500-750 acres

Plattekill, NY - $58 (weekends), 1100 vert, 100-250 acres
Lookout Pass, ID - $39, 1030 vert, 500-750 acres
Mt Spokane, WA - $52, 1565 vert, 750-1000 acres

My personal take away from this list is that if I were to fly into Spokane to start a ski safari, adding a day or two to go explore 49 North and/or Mt Spokane might be fun. Could be a good way to acclimate for skiing out west. For me, starting at Bridger before skiing at Big Sky has worked out very well.

 

[abc]

For me, starting at Bridger before skiing at Big Sky has worked out very well.

Bridger was so big and gnarly. It didn't feel like an "aclimization mountain" for me! After 2 days, I only started to feel I wanted to ski some more of it!!!

But then, 4 days at Big Sky was far too short as well! Left with so much terrain not touched.

If I go again, I will simply ski Bridger, or Big Sky (unless I have more than 1 week)

(but then, I often prefer "small" mountains, old school or not)