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Help us choose the right mountain!

Inessa

Diva in Training
This year we will only be able to take one trip, for 4-5 days maximum. We have a 1 year old and child care is a big issue.
Plus, now we have to save vacation days to use for baby's needs.

I want to choose a new mountain that would be best suited for our needs and skills to really enjoy it.

So far we only skied in the North East. We live in NYC but skiied in north NY, Most of Vermont (my favorites are Jay Peak and Mad River Glenn)
We used to take one week-9 days ski trip each year and just chased the snow across Vermont (we made is as far as Canada, Mont Tremblant).

Now we won't have that time, so we don't want to spend that much time on transportation. So direct flight would be best (and cheapest?).

We never flew to a ski vacation. Not sure if it is worth it money-wise to bring your own skiis and gear (airlines must charge an arm and a leg?)

We have an AWD. (though before we had no problems driving to Canada and back in an old Galant)

Our lever was solid blues and some blacks. Started on glades a little. (Now this is in iced-over North East.)

BUT... this was 2 years before -- last year we did not go once -- my first baby was just born, I was exclusively breast feeding, couldn't leave the baby, plus we were completely exhausted.

I have never been or tried those powdered slopes in the West that people talk about.

So what would be a good mountain for our needs? I don't know anything about mountains outside the North East.
 

Mom of Redheads

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Personally, I love the daycares at both Stratton and Sugarbush. But you say you want to try something new outside of the Northeast...

Can't answer that question, since I haven't skied outside the Northeast too much. I will weigh in and say if I were you I'd definitely rent your skis, if for no other reason than traveling with babies usually means baby gear of some kind, and I can't imagine juggling baby gear (a pain) and ski gear (also a pain) on the same flight!:eek:

I remember from another thread a couple of years ago that not all resorts out West have daycare (which I remember being surprised about). And it sounds like your young 'un is not old enough for ski school, correct?

Back when I had kids that age I'd have looked for condos raher than hotels (for the kitchen), a separate space in your accommodations for a good night's sleep, and easy commute to the daycare, and then the skiing would come next!:redface:

You're brave to be considering flying to the slopes! The ease of being able to pack whatever we needed into a car (booster seats, toys, videos) was always worth its weight in gold to us... (but then again even as babies our kids were never very flexible, LOL)...

Good luck! Surely someone else will chime in about resorts offering good daycare...:goodluck:
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, Delta does direct flights to the SLC airport from NYC (SLC is one of their main hubs). We did that route last year before Christmas - drove to SLC from SoCal, parked the loaded-with-gear truck in secure parking, then flew to NYC for 5 days before Christmas. Flew back to SLC on December 23rd, retrieved the truck, skied through the 30th then drove home.

Our Utah mountain is Snowbasin, and we love it dearly. My "kid" is 18 so I can't speak to the quality of the daycare, but I have heard many good things about it. They take children starting at 6 months, and do both full and half day programs. Lunch and snack are included with full day, and snack with half day. They are state licensed, which I think is very important.

There is no on-slope lodging, but we like this because it's less crowded. We stay at the Lakeside condos about 15 minutes away. They have 2, 3, and 4-bedroom condos, but you can rent a 2-BR condo locked down to a 1 BR if you want to save money. They are really lovely, and I think they would be happy to get a crib set up for you or whatever other things you might need for your little one. They have great package deals including lift tickets and on-mountain credit. They have a link under "Resort Services" then "Lodging Partners" on Snowbasin's website.

You can probably book flight & rental car together at a discount too.

Snowbasin is a great mountain, lots of varied terrain including some of the 2002 men's & women's Olympic runs. It's owned by the folks who own Sun Valley in Idaho. The day lodges are exquisitely beautiful (the bathrooms just finished in a Top Ten list of nicest bathrooms in the country!) and the food is top-notch. Not expensive either, especially for what you're getting! We can eat lunch cheaper on the mountain than we can in SoCal and it's way better.

Across the valley is Powder Mountain, but I don't think they have childcare. Personally, I would have felt more comfortable with on-mountain facilities than someone I didn't know hired back at the condo.

It's peaceful and quiet at the condos at night. We are not party-hardy types (we're too tired after skiing!) and it's nice to be able to go to sleep without the insistent bass of someone's stereo from next door, or someone yukking it up in the next-door hot tub. Oh, that's the other extra perk at Lakeside: each unit has its own hot tub. NICE. :becky:

PM me if you need to or post more here. I am partial to Snowbasin (obviously) and it's a good choice for an easy trip to a completely different ski experience.
 

RuthB

Angel Diva
We don't live in North America and didn't ski there until our son was 6, so can't comment on daycare - but we did go to Snowmass last year and their daycare did look amazing, and our experience with their kids ski school was very positive (and organised, clean and friendly). And snowmass is a fantastic mountain to ski.

I would second what Mom of redheads said;

regarding gear, I would probably take your boots and helmets and rent skis.

And we also go for condo's over hotels - for the kitchen and the separate bedroom (I love DS but he has never been a great sleeper and it was nice to be able to get him to sleep and then chill out in front of the fire).

Also, does your baby readily go to others, settle into daycare? At 11 months our DS hated daycare at the resort we went to and wouldn't settle at all. (It was him, not the daycare) In the end DH and I took turns staying in daycare with DS while the other skied. So, I would also look for a condo within easy walking distance of the ski slopes, or do what other friends have done and convince grandparents to come too, so if your baby doesn't settle then your ski holiday isn't ruined.

Good luck with your planning
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
No matter how you cut it, fly west or drive north,one day is going to be required to get wherever and get back, so 2 days total. With a child just at 1 y/o, the whole destination/fly thing is going to be.....well, challenging. In your shoes, I would opt for a regional destination and wait until child is ax 3 to make a fly-ski trip. Spoken from experience. 3 wasn't easy, either - but we managed. Was 3 ski days for us, but in conjunction with a business trip.
 

Inessa

Diva in Training
Thank you all for your suggestions.

The baby is 12 month right now, so he will be 14-15 month at the time of the trip.

We were thinking of leaving the baby with grandparents that is why the time is 5 days max, but if we took him with us, we can go longer.

Now that read all of your responses I think that it may be possible, just not as relaxing.

Few more questions:

Will we be able to take advantage and ski most of the mountain? Is black in NE same as black in the west?

How much does it cost to bring your own gear on the plane? (DH has gold status with Delta if that matters).

I'll look at Snowbasin and Snowmass. I've never even heard of them before, I only heard of famos ones like Vail, Aspen, Park City, Breckenridge, so good to know.
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The slope ratings are relative to one another on the mountain. In other words, blues at Snowbasin are harder than greens at Snowbasin and easier than blacks at Snowbasin. However, blues at Snowbasin tend to be harder than the blacks at my little local mountain in SoCal. However, I'm told if you can ski NE ice you can ski anything, at least on piste. The only thing limiting terrain access at Snowbasin is weather - if it's foggy, the Strawberry side will be closed because visibility is absolutely zero. (Well, weather and snow coverage if it's early in the season.)

I understand it costs a bloody fortune to bring your own skis on the plane. I would leave the skis home and rent locally (bring your boots though). Gold status might make it cheaper or free, but check to see what they'll do for you if they destroy your skis en route. Last season Snowbasin had Nordica Conquers available.

The other plus for the SLC area resorts is they're almost all no more than an hour from the airport.
 

RuthB

Angel Diva
Snowmass is one of the four mountains of the Aspen/Snowmass resort, but it is the most family friendly and has heaps of good intermediate skiing, including powder and glades. If you go to Snowmass I would only do it if you could fly to Aspen/Pitkin airport, it is a long drive from Denver.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Skis are counted as regular baggage by airlines, so regular baggage fees apply (usually $25 per bag). There are sometimes rules about the type of bag you can use, but every airline's website has details. If your husband gets a free baggage allowance on Delta due to gold status, he wouldn't pay extra (you can check the website). And Southwest doesn't charge anyone.

Don't worry about the ratings. I too am under the impression that if you ski in the East, you're tough and you know what you're doing. :smile: Even in the West there's a fair amount of variation (there are some blues at Steamboat that would be green at Whistler, and greens at Sun Valley that would be blue almost anywhere else). If the blacks are too hard for you somewhere, just move to the blues.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Makes quite a difference if you are bringing a toddler vs doing a quick trip with two adults. Finding day care for a toddler requires more research. For me, in the SLC area it would be worth checking out Alta and Brighton.

I flew a lot with my daughter as a toddler and preschooler. But for a ski trip, I would rather drive than fly. Much easier to bring everything that seemed like it might be useful. We started doing that regularly when she was 4. Didn't start taking her to Alta until she was 7 and quite capable of skiing blue runs out west.

For a first trip out west, I'd say bring boots and rent demo skis. Then you can get skis appropriate to the conditions and your abilities.
 

Inessa

Diva in Training
What do you guys think about Vail or Lake Tahoe? (they have nice Marriotts where we could stay for free).
 

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