Resort Homework -what's your style?

[geargrrl]

I'm just curious - when you are planning a ski trip, what kinds of things do you look for, and what would make you choose or not choose a ski area for a visit? What got me thinking about this is conversations I've had with people that would never go somewhere that didn't have high speed quads. Other factors might be how steep, how much grooming, (or not) general "flavor" of an area, size & ticket cost, nightlife, how far from an airport etc. etc. Discuss...

We choose areas based on in no particular order
-whether we can get comp tickets or no
-how the Canadian exchange rate is ( used to be great!!!!)
-variety of terrain, must have steeps and trees
-snow expectation, powder is a good thing
- atmosphere, we'd take funky and out of the way over fancy resort any day.

Things we don't care about
-nightlife and shopping
-amenities such as valet service and so on.

this is just our style, what's yours?

gg

 

[Gloria]

Our trips are all pretty much last minute.
Based primarily on:
Where it is or has been dumping
Friends in the area sometimes is a great motivated
How far away
Can we drive there

We tend to prefer more low key areas. I am not very comfortable skiing in crowds, or around other people, so less crowded. My list of priorities flies right out the window when the resorts start offering their late season packages. I'll pretty much go anywhere that's offering a great special. Why not? Especially if it's close.

 

[Shellski]

Our requirements are... roughly in order of priority:

Quality and quantity of snowfall, reliability - we have to book way ahead, so we need to know the snow will be there.

Quantity and quality of ski area - an area that is big enough to keep our interest - we like big, say on the Vail/Aspen scale, or a series of interlinked smaller resorts. Also the right mix of terrain - advanced/expert.. bowls, trees, off piste.

Apres activities - we don't need 'nightlife' eg bars and clubs, but when we are not skiing we like to stroll around an attractive village area and shop. And eat in nice restaurants.

Accessibility - we prefer not to have to drive everyday, but ski in/out isn't necessarily a priority.

I am going to start planning next years trip (Italy) soon, so this is what I will be looking for.

 

[abc]

Each trip is different.

Everyone likes great snow, that changes every year, every month, every week and everyday! So, last minute trips are usually based on that and nothing else.

But if I do go into "planning" a trip in advance...

It still depends on my mood.

Since it's a ski trip, it need to be a place that has reliable snow. On a good snow year, the area that tend to have iffy snow actually gets priority. (e.g. I can go to Alta any time and get pretty good snow, but only some time of the year in Taos or Crested Butte.)

I have two goals when I travel to ski: ski and sight seeing.

So places that has dramatic scenery gets pretty good priority. (that's why I like Taos so much, and can't wait to go to Jackson Hole)

For skiing, decent amount of varied terrain, couple with good snow will do. Size isn't too important. I tend to repeat runs I like so I really don't need a very large area. But variety is more important. I'd cruise the groomers a for day or two in between the more "challenging" days of bumps & trees.

Scenery? It's personal. I like the Wasach more than the Colorado Rockies. The Sierra is great. And the Alps is fantastic! Whistler? Despite its reputed great skiing, I just can't get excited about it since I've been there in the summer and hte scenary is, well, underwhelming...

If I'm only going for a short trip of a weekend plus, it need to be REALLY close to a big airport. Not just a small one that grasshoppers occasionally land, a real airport so I can fly in and out even if the weather is a bit iffy. But for a week long trip, I'll take the time to get to the good stuff.

Night life? What night life? You mean a bed to crash? OK, it'd better clean... Good restaurants are the icing on the cake, but it doesn't influence my choice of where to go. Only when I got there, it may influence where I go to eat.

Since I have to overnight just about everywhere I ski, the total price of loding and lift does make a difference. If everything else is equal, of course the cheaper places wins. But everything is rarely equal...

The biggest trump card is local guide. If I have local friends to show me my way, I'd jump up and go at the earliest instance! (Did that at Canyons of Park City. My boarder friends found all the stash of powders DAYS after the last snow fall...can't beat that!)

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

For a week long ski trip where I need to fly to the following are important to me:
Amount of runs the resort has for my level
Nice views/scenery
Relative affordability of slopeside lodging
A town or base area that doesn't close up at 6pm-- I always travel alone, so I need fun restaurants or ski shops to look in during the evening-- otherwise I get bored.
Reliable snow-- I don't necessarily need fresh everyday, but there needs to be snow-- not rain.

For a day trip I need:
A mountain where the drive is 3hrs or less
I look for places that will have the best conditions based on recent weather
Not too small so as to get bored

 

[cyn]

I just finished booking our annual trip out west.
We always wait to see how conditions will be when we're there. We usually go late in the season, so higher elevations are a must.
So I guess our priorities are: snow, terrain, then prices of accomodations and airfare. We don't care at all about nightlife or shopping. We're too tired from the skiing to party and too broke from paying for the trip to shop!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

It's been so long since I've been on a "real" ski trip....but I think this would make a great separate discussion, where divas could specifically list what they're looking for (if unsure of actual/eventual destination) and get some direct responses. For instance: gg sounds like she and family would like Steamboat. Possibly not enough steeps, but certainly a plethora of major tree skiing (see recent trip report of same). Kind of a "match game" kind of deal. Just a thought. Might be lame, but should I ever need destination input, this is the first place I'd ask

 

[AnnKH]

Cost and transportation are my biggies, and they go together. That's why the 3 trips I've made to the mountains in the last 20 years have been to Whitefish. The train schedule is very convenient for us, and much cheaper than flying. Once we arrive, and take a shuttle up to the village, we don't need a car for anything (which also eliminates a huge expense). And there is very nice lodging conveniently located.

It helps that they tend to get a lot of snow, the people are very friendly and helpful, and it's certainly big enough for 4 days of skiing. The one time I skied Colorado (Copper, Keystone, Breck), the altitude bothered me for 2 days, and that's not an issue at Big Mountain.

 

[Bravosarah]

- The snow and terrain
- Events
- Ski-in-ski-out
- Village transportation (Shuttle around town etc.) or pedestrian village.
- Dining
- Ski Storage/waxing facility
- Hotel room with kitchen