Places to watch for U.S. Thanksgiving opening?

[marzNC]

A while back there was a thread looking for ideas of where to go for Thanksgiving skiing. The focus was on the northeast. What are the ski resorts to watch in other regions? Which ones are on a multi-resort pass (Epic, MCP, Ikon)?

While there is little reason to plan a Thanksgiving trip well in advance, it's fun to see which resorts open first and might be good candidates for a last minute trip making use of the vacation time. Even in the southeast, there have been years when a few slopes were open the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sugar, Appalachian, and Cataloochee are the places to watch in terms of when snowmaking starts up. Of course, Loveland and A-Basin are watched by folks who live in the Denver area. What resort typically opens first out west (CA, OR, UT, MT, etc.)?

 

[Christy]

Sun Valley makes snow to be open on Thanksgiving, but it's definitely a white ribbon situation. Not necessarily a WROD, because not enough people go to make it a death defying activity, but skiing is definitely limited to a handful of groomers. They do it on both mountains. The lodge does a big buffet, they have wagon rides and entertainment. It sounds like a fun weekend for someone that wants a getaway with a few turns thrown in.
https://www.sunvalley.com/thanksgiving

 

[marzNC]

Alta Lodge is open for Thanksgiving week. Usually skiing at Alta is part of the reason to go. But last year that didn't work out. Alta has snowmaking on key groomers specifically to allow for top to bottom runs during early season. But of course has to stay cold enough for enough days and nights in November to build up a deep enough base around the lifts that start at the Albion and Wildcat bases. Days warm enough for melting will happen in early Dec at the base elevation.

Think I'd be more likely to wait until the week before Christmas before traveling very far for a few ski days. But that only works when kids are younger. Used to spend several days at Massanutten that week with my daughter up to about third grade even though she would miss a few days of school. Later on she didn't want to miss the special events in her classroom.

 

[Skisailor]

Thanksgiving Day is Big Sky's opening day every year. It can range from great skiing with a lot of the mountain open on day one to a few white ribbons. Big Sky has relatively limited snowmaking. But I've been skiing there now for about 10 years and I would say the majority of opening days have been pretty darn good during that time. I can only think of one year out of the 10 where the skiing was extremely limited.

 

[marzNC]

Back in 2015, @MissySki noted that Sunday River has a Demo Day scheduled the weekend after Thanksgiving. SR has award winning snowmaking. Of course, being in the northeast even if slopes are open there is always the chance of rain. That's what happened the Saturday we had a Diva meetup at SR in early Dec 2014, not Thanksgiving weekend but the weekend afterwards. There was about 4 inches of fresh snow first thing in the morning, but the flurries later in the morning turned to rain around lunch time.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...y-river-after-whiteface-early-dec-2014.18818/

In 2016, I made it to SR during the Demo Day with my daughter. SR was barely open because it had been so warm that week. Could only load gondola cabins for the chondola because there was no snow at that base. Couldn't ski over to the other base lift that was open. Nothing was groomed that Sat because it was too warm on Fri night. Meant there were soft bumps for checking out demo skis, but definitely not a good weekend for a mixed-ability group that included beginners or cautious intermediates. We slept in and didn't bother to ski on Sunday.

In short, best to have lodging arrangements that can be cancelled for a Thanksgiving ski trip.

 

[racetiger]

Black Friday was when Giants Ridge in MN opened last year. I went on that Sunday there were only a couple runs open and there was a Ton of people there

 

[marzNC]

In the Mid-Atlantic, a go to resort for Thanksgiving is Snowshoe in WV. With the purchase of Intrawest by Alterra, a lot of money is being spent in 2018 to increase snowmaking. The total investment for upgrades in general is $4 million, which includes 150 snow guns. If Mother Nature cooperates by mid-November, could be a lot more terrain open by Thanksgiving. People with Ikon passes or Snowshoe passes could be very happy.

 

[Jilly]

Well if anyone wants to come north...that should be opening weekend at Tremblant. And It's NOT a holiday in Canada!!

 

[mustski]

Mammoth is scheduled to open on November 8. It is always open for Thanksgiving and it is always a zoo. How much they get open is variable however.

 

[mustski]

Here is a link to worldwide resort opening and closing estimates based on historical trends.
https://www.snowpak.com/opening-and-closing-dates

 

[marzNC]

Here is a link to worldwide resort opening and closing estimates based on historical trends.
https://www.snowpak.com/opening-and-closing-dates

Snowpak has good info for destination resorts, but like Tony Crocker's website there is only so much that can be learned from just snow depth data, especially given the increased emphasis on early season snowmaking. Same issue for the info on OnTheSnow for N. American skiing (also has companion websites for other continents). Snowpak is based in Australia. That's one reason it has a more global viewpoint. A fair number of Aussie take advantage of their summer vacation in Jan-Feb to ski in the northern hemisphere in Japan, N. America, and Europe. For more than Americans who ski in S. America or Australia/NZ. I know something about Snowpak's strengths and weaknesses as a contributor of info for a couple of resorts I know well.

Ski areas are not consistent about how they report snow depth. For Thanksgiving, the real question is when conditions are decent for snowmaking to begin. What I'm curious to get is first hand suggestions of ski resorts that people have skied at during Thanksgiving week. If not actual on-slope experience, then knowledge based on paying attention to a favorite ski area/resort over a period of years.

While it's interesting that Appalachian in NC is included by Snowpak and has an estimated opening date in late Nov, fair to say that no one who works at Snowpak will ever ski in the southeast. I follow the regional ski forum to learn about how things are going at App by the time mid-Nov rolls around.

 

[ilovepugs]

Well if anyone wants to come north...that should be opening weekend at Tremblant. And It's NOT a holiday in Canada!!

I’m tempted!!!

 

[Jilly]

I'll be there!! Got an Ikon pass? Opening day will be the Friday. Now that all depends as mentioned on snow making. And it could be the WROD too!

 

[LKillick]

Have really been hoping Snowshoe's new snowmaking capabilities will make Thanksgiving a quality possibility!

 

[ski diva]

Killington will definitely be open; after all, they'll be making a TON of snow to host the women's World Cup that same weekend. So you can bet they'll be firing the guns and starting snowmaking ASAP.

Okemo tris to be open then, too, at least on a limited number of trails.

 

[nopoleskier]

Whiteface is usually open on man-made and usually not many people.

 

[Jilly]

I think Killington might be a gong show with the races. And if there is not enough cold weather all efforts will be on the race run, not to open other runs for general skiers.

 

[ski diva]

I think Killington might be a gong show with the races. And if there is not enough cold weather all efforts will be on the race run, not to open other runs for general skiers.

It wasn't bad at all there last year during Thanksgiving week. But as for skiing while the races are on -- which is two days, Saturday and Sunday -- forget it. The parking is ridiculous.

 

[CarverJill]

Every year I have high hopes for skiing before Christmas but it never seems to happen. I guess I just never find it worth it to head out for the one or two runs that are open.

 

[marzNC]

My curiosity about what places are open for Thanksgiving is more for fun and early season stoke than actually planning a trip. Although I've skied at Whiteface and Sunday River the Saturday right after Thanksgiving a few times because I was with my daughter during her Thanksgiving break while at boarding school in the northeast (Lake Placid, Boston). Even with only a few trails open, it was fun to get in a few turns. The bonus at SR is that they have a free Demo Day that weekend. Prices for day tickets are discounted.

It's fun to see which resorts open first and might be good candidates for a last minute trip making use of the vacation time. Especially for people who have bought one of the multi-resort passes (Epic, Ikon, MCP). I know Loveland and A-Basin are watched by folks who live in the Denver area and typically open well before mid-November.

Which resort typically opens first out in the other western states/provinces (CA, OR, WA, UT, MT, ID, BC, AB, etc.)?