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Places to watch for U.S. Thanksgiving opening?
- Thread starter marzNC
- Start date
marzNC
Angel Diva
Bretton Woods is offering an early season deal for $22. Have to ski before Dec. 15. Anyone know how early Bretton Woods usually opens?
Since skiing the week after Thanksgiving is usually a bit too early in VT/NH/ME, I'm planning a little ski safari starting mid-Dec. Going to pick up my daughter in Boston for her winter break, which starts Dec. 21. Other than a weekend at Sunday River, I'm going to check out as many places as practical. Have only skied at Loon and Wildcat in NH so far.
Since skiing the week after Thanksgiving is usually a bit too early in VT/NH/ME, I'm planning a little ski safari starting mid-Dec. Going to pick up my daughter in Boston for her winter break, which starts Dec. 21. Other than a weekend at Sunday River, I'm going to check out as many places as practical. Have only skied at Loon and Wildcat in NH so far.
Abbi
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Unless it’s a complete ice day, you need to try Cannon at least once in New Hampshire. Challenging terrain and a lot of local, long time skiers. You can run the front five where Jean Claude Kiely raced decades ago! Ride the aerial tram if it’s open for great views. And visit the New England Ski Museum.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Have been to the Ski Museum. The year I stayed at Loon the week after Thanksgiving, I was going to check out Cannon too. But Cannon wasn't open so I skied two days at Loon instead. When I drove thru Franconia Notch on the way to Wildcat, it was blizzard snow where I-93 narrows. I followed the plow truck for a bit and was very happy that the snow was limited to that little area when I took the exit to head east.
That experience is one reason I'm doing my early season safari in mid-December instead of right after Thanksgiving. I'll be in Boston for Thanksgiving week but not planning on skiing. Went to Killington the Monday before Thanksgiving last year. First time so it was fun to get a feel for how spread out the mountains since Killington has multiple peaks.
mountainwest
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Grand Targhee is planning to open the week before Thanksgiving. The groomers are usually a bit rocky for the first few weeks though, and you have to be super-careful off-piste. (My husband did a scorpion while traversing at low speed off piste early season a couple seasons ago, which was very scary to witness. He hit a fallen log that was completely invisible until it happened.)
Abbi
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My bad! You are right, Cannon rarely opens until December.
mustski
Angel Diva
We usually ski Thanksgiving week. Locally it's usually one or two WRODs and we only ski for a couple of hours until it get's stupid. Last year was the first year that there was nothing local open. I hope it's better this year. We usually hold off on Mammoth until it get's enough open to warrant the drive and the expense of renting a place for a couple of nights. Maybe, we'll hit it in early December.
kiki
Angel Diva
LOL! I had to google to find the dates of American Thanksgiving! Yes, I think that is likely the opening weekend at Whistler, fingers crossed!
It’s the benefit of the cold northern climate!
Moonrocket
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Winter Park replaced their 40yo snowmaking system this summer. I am optimistic with the latest tech we will get a top to bottom run by Thanksgiving. The past two years have been really rough early season (and I say that as someone who usually skips work one day in Oct to ski Loveland WROD just to do it.)
A-Basin and Loveland are the early go tos for man made. Generally Wolf Creek and Steamboat do better than average early season on storms.
A-Basin and Loveland are the early go tos for man made. Generally Wolf Creek and Steamboat do better than average early season on storms.
Ski Sine Fine
Angel Diva
Can I ask a stupid question...what is WROD?
marzNC
Angel Diva
Generally skiing with lots of people on a few relatively narrow groomers during early season is not that much fun. But families end up skiing Thanksgiving weekend because the kids are out of school and parents have a holiday on Friday. Fair to say that the reason ski resorts try to open that weekend has nothing to do with whether it makes sense in terms of snow conditions and everything to do with the fact lots of people have free time for Thanksgiving and are itching to get on snow.
Even out at big mountains out west, most places need until mid-Dec to have good conditions even just on all the groomers. In the Mid-Atlantic, getting open by Thanksgiving is highly unlikely. So people who live in DC or Philly end up driving to Snowshoe or up to Lake Placid or somewhere in VT to find skiable slopes. Even Whiteface usually only has one or two ways down from the top of the gondola the weekend after Thanksgiving, and that's only because of snowmaking.
Ski Sine Fine
Angel Diva
Maybe I should rethink Keystone in early-mid December, especially since I’d have to get airfare weeks in advance. Maybe it’s better to stay close and do last-minute overnight trips to Snowshoe when conditions warrant. I really want to get on the snow before Christmas.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Can be a big difference in snow conditions between the first week of Dec and the second. All it takes is one snowstorm to get more trails open because the natural snow base is deep enough.
I did a couple of ski safaris in the northeast the week after Thanksgiving. After those experiences, I'm actually going to Boston to spend Thanksgiving week with my daughter and other family up there, driving home, then going back mid-December to ski for a week before picking her up for winter break. Still will be early season conditions but regular day tickets rates start Dec. 15, which means should be more than just 1-2 lifts running for 3-4 trails.
The usual advice for early season trips is to wait as long as possible to make travel plans. Flights and lodging do not fill up before mid-Dec. There are always early season deals in every region.
I recently noticed that Sugarloaf in Maine has a resort lodging deal that's a bit different. Zoom Rooms are based on paying $99 in advance. Then call 24 hours before arrival to get assigned to a condo. Only guaranteed to have one queen bed, but could be a studio or bigger depending on what's empty. Good any night before Dec. 16, then only good midweek, meaning Sun-Thu nights. Only sell a limited number and transferable, value can be applied to weekend stays during the regular season.
marzNC
Angel Diva
It's definitely a factor that the American Thanksgiving is Nov. 22, 2018. The destination resorts are clearly hoping that snowmaking in early November will mean decent skiing by Nov. 23. Without the holiday, the first weekend of December makes far more sense for opening days.
It's notable that Deer Valley won't open until Dec. 8, while Snowbird doesn't plan to open until Nov. 30. Seem to remember that in 2017 Snowbird opened and then had to close for several days. I bet there were some very annoyed travelers in resort lodging that week. Alta lifts are scheduled to spin starting Nov. 23. But the relatively few people who book flights and lodging for a Thanksgiving ski vacation at Alta are probably more knowledgeable than some folks who going to Snowbird for the first time during early season. The Snowpine Lodge re-opening is not scheduled until January 2019 so they don't have to worry about early season travelers this winter.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Never easy to come up with a good list given the number of ski resorts to choose from in N. America. This list of 8 for Thanksgiving 2018-19 includes Snowbird. In recent years, Snowbird had a few trails open by Thanksgiving weekend. But Thanksgiving is early this time. Snowbird has announced Nov. 30 as Opening Day even though Thanksgiving is Nov. 22. That means anyone who books lodging at Snowbird for Thanksgiving week will have to get a free shuttle to ski at Alta (a mile up the canyon).
THE 8 BEST RESORTS TO SKI THANKSGIVING WEEKEND 2018/19
Killington makes the list for the northeast, as does Whistler-Blackcomb for the PacNW. In fact, Banff is #1 and W-B is #2. A-Basin and Wolf Creek are #3 and #4 on the strength of snow coverage, not vacation lodging and non-skiing activities.
THE 8 BEST RESORTS TO SKI THANKSGIVING WEEKEND 2018/19
Killington makes the list for the northeast, as does Whistler-Blackcomb for the PacNW. In fact, Banff is #1 and W-B is #2. A-Basin and Wolf Creek are #3 and #4 on the strength of snow coverage, not vacation lodging and non-skiing activities.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Update on Bretton Woods' opening date: the Friday after Thanksgiving, Nov 23rd. This is not official; there is no official estimate that I can find, and I've looked as I'm starting to work there this season. I found an "updated" date published on the snowpak website, but have no idea where they got their information. The day after Thanksgiving is considerably later than Bretton Woods' usual opening date, but may reflect the issue of the unfinished Gondola sitting right there in front of the main lodge, an active construction site.
https://www.snowpak.com/new-hampshire/bretton-woods/opening-dates
https://www.snowpak.com/new-hampshire/bretton-woods/opening-dates
