So what made you choose your home mountain?

[ski diva]

So why do you ski at your home mountain? Is it terrain, price, proximity? If you have several areas to choose from, why'd you choose the one you chose?

I live about 5 minutes from Okemo and the price for the midweek season price is right, so it's kind of a no-brainer. And though it isn't the most challenging mountain out there, it's still a lot of fun. Plus I like the atmosphere.

What about you?

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Proximity, rates, slopes, conditions, specials, races and people to ski with all have an effect on when and where I ski. The slopes in NC range fron just over and hour and a half to two and a half hours from where I am in SC. So, I jump between Appalachian (early season), Cataloochee (earlly and late season + "Women On Wed.), Sugar (best slopes but highest rates and crowds) Hawksnest (cozy & friendly) or Beech Mountain (two for one days).

In Vermont, I'm much closer to six mountains, but still hop around. Closest (and I consider it my home mt up there) and most economical is Suicide Six (two for one Tues., reasonable other days). Sundays I go to Quechee (cheap, friendly, excellent grooming and no lift lines). I learned at Ascutney (and have discount coupons), but they're not taking care of their slopes. Pico is great fun, but they weren't open midweek this year, when we've typically gone in the past. Killington is where I take guests because it's the only one most have heard of and that's what they've got their skis set on. And we all love Okemo, though the costs prevent us from going as much as we'd like. I'm pretty content anywhere I'm on skis as long as the conditions are decent (NO ICE!). By myself, I'll choose two days at the smaller cheaper mt over one day at the larger that costs double.

 

[Consuela]

Wow, good question! It made me stop to really think about this.

I guess my home mountain is Kirkwood

- Location: While only a little closer than the rest of Tahoe, the route there is much less traveled, which shortens the drive by over an hour or two.

- Terrain: KW has a variety of terrain and has plenty of growing room for us: 15% beginner, 50% intermediate , 20% advanced , 15% expert. While not quite as big as NorthStar, it still has 2,300 skiable acres, which will soon be increased. Base elevation is 7,800 and top elevation is 9,800. So, that's a 2,000 vertical rise!

- Lift Lines: It's not nearly as commercialized at NorthStar, Heavenly, Squaw, etc. So, the lines even on the weekend aren't that bad. Which means you can do more skiing and less standing!

- Snow fall: Some of the best snowfall in Tahoe due to the location and elevation.

- Lodging: some nice ski-in ski-out lodging with underground parking, ski lockers, hot tub, etc.

Cons: The nightlife and restaurants in Kirkwood are... limited. :( Similarly, it's a drive to anything, including a regular grocery store. The general store onsite marks everything up 100%.

 

[num]

My home mountain is Wilmot. I go there because it's an hour and a halfish drive, they have well lit night skiing (open til 11pm) and I can hit them a few nights a week after work, and on weekends if I'm not heading to a bigger place for an overnighter.

It's an older place, one that you'd describe as either nostalgic or decrepit depending on your outlook. I think of it as a place with a lot of history, that has played a role in making skiing accessible to a lot of people outside of the general image many have of skiing. Though I'd certainly appreciate upgraded lifts, I love Wilmot the way it is

 

[snowsparkle2]

Guess I'd never really thought why I go where I go (Courchevel 1650), coz from where we live the nearest skiing (bout 25min) is Champagny en Vanoise, which links to La Plagne & (until the giant cable car broke down) to Les Arcs and the whole Paradiski area, which is enormous. Or there's Pralognan, same sort of distance away and more of a family resort, probably a bit small really. We also pass through Le Praz (Courchevel 1300) & pass by Courchevel 1550 on the way up the hill each day, but most of my friends are based in 1650, so even tho it's more like 35 mins in the car we mostly seem to end up skiing from there. It's linked to the 3 Valleys, but at the very eastern edge, so if you want to ski in Val Thorens or Les Orelles (the 4th Valley!) it can take most of the day to get there and get back! There's no blacks & only a couple of vaguely challenging reds, but loads of little off-piste routes & some trees for a white-out powder day, and I love the way that being a bit out on a limb it's always more quiet & chilled out even in the middle of the school holidays. And then plenty of mates après ski for a few glasses of Mutzig (or jus de pomme if you're driving - that's normally me )

 

[SnowHot]

I chose mine because it was centrally located between me and my sister's house, and my niece/nephew were in the thick of skiing/boarding when we started getting passes.

Besides the location, we couldn't beat the price, which was 199/year/person if you filled a quad.

Cheap skiing with great friends an family!!! Who could beat that?

 

[Jilly]

Well we've been skiing Tremblant for along time. Seen all the changes from Lapointe to Intrawest. About 6 years ago a friend rented a condo for the season. Something on his bucket list. We had so much fun visiting him that we decided a few years later to do the same thing. It's a 4 1/2 hour drive, but 4 lane highway most of the way. We've rented the same place for 3 years now and the owner has mentioned if we ever were thinking about buying to call him first. The unit isn't a palace, but its clean and on the hill. I took a CSIA course with some of the supervisors from the snow school the year before we rented the first time. Gary talked me into part time teaching with the school. I didn't teach last year, but I'm going back next year for the busy weeks. There are closer hills/resorts, but Tremblant offers the best conditions, vertical and ski buddies around. Ontario resorts average 500-600', Tremblant is triple or more. The only draw back, besides that drive, it the season pass cost. It's ridiculous. I just renewed it and mine was over $ 1100. Hubby gets his cheaper as he's considered a senior! Still the total bill was over $1600.

 

[marge]

Proximity and price. With 2 small children we need to be near a "home base" so we can go home for naps/lunch/or just not be too far when someone decides they've had it. Also nice for dropping them off to grammy and going back alone!

Price plays a HUGE factor! I got a full season pass last year for $99.00!! And.... kids ski free up north around here until they're 8. I only had to ski about 2-1/2 times to pay for the pass.

 

[Marigee]

Proximity and terrain. There are three "hills" close to the D.C. area - all owned by the same company. All 3 are 1 1/2 - 2 hours from D.C - in different directions. My home mountain - Whitetail - has the biggest vertical drop and the best terrain of the three. There are better ski areas in the Mid-Atlantic, but most are 3-4 hours away and make it difficult for a day trip.

 

[skiso]

We ski at Crystal Mountain in Washington state for the best and most varied terrain within a 2-hour drive. When I lived in Vermont I skied at Pico because it was close to home and had a comfortable, "local" atmosphere.

 

[Bravosarah]

I chose Blue Mountain as my home hill for a variety of reasons, here are the top 5:

Terrain - a vertical of 720 feet , 34 trails with separated green, blue & black trails - very few crossovers. 14 lifts, including 4 high-speed express chairs make line ups scarce.

Price - a 5x7 Seasons pass is $160. :D (5 days, 7 nights)

Proximity - It might be a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it's closer than Whistler!

Ammenities - Great dining and nice hotels in the village if we're to tired to drive home.

Snowmaking - Blue Mountain boasts the largest snowmaking system in Canada. Although I live in Canada it's not as cold here as you think it is! And we really don't get a lot of snow here in south central Ontario. (Although my neighbour tends to disagree!)

There are smaller hills near me within a half hours drive, but they don't compare.

 

[sibhusky]

Well, I chose my home mountain without ever having skied it. I figured if I could ski Camelback in PA for 27 years, anything would keep me happy. I had been looking for a retirement destination for a while as we'd always said we didn't want to retire to NJ (where we were living at the time). So, I convinced my husband that the best way to find a small town that was open to newcomers and had some "culture" was to find a ski town. He wanted New England, I wanted Rockies. I convinced him that New England was bone-chillingly damp and not for oldsters most of the year and that the Rockies had a drier cold. He didn't like Colorado ("too brown"). So, started looking at Canadian Rockies, New Mexico, PNW, Sierra Nevadas, etc. for a ski area "no one" had ever heard of. Why? So the real estate would be cheaper, of course. Made a short list of areas and started looking at real estate prices. Winnowed out some more. Started hitting these areas at Easter vacations and found Whitefish. Loved the place we stayed (BIG FACTOR as they were so friendly and welcoming), loved the townspeople (in Safeway they bagged our groceries and asked us if we needed help taking them to the car!!! Incredible to someone brought up in the NYC/Philly metro areas.) Found lots of fantastic restaurants that didn't leave us with totally empty wallets, a local brewery, two handy lakes, Glacier National Park (also relatively unheard of by many), an airport where large planes landed only 15 minutes from the town (and you could find parking and everyone in the terminal was super friendly and there were only three gates and it was squeaky clean). Anyway, snagged a real estate agent or two and drove around a lot. Decided where the best deal was for acreage (ski area is only 16 minutes away and at the time it was $15k an acre...now $85k an acre...). Bought some land that August exactly where we wanted it. The theory was it was our "retirement" home. BUT, daughter wanted to move NOW, even though she was still in school. And we felt silly visiting our empty land each year. Finally skied there after we owned the land, turned out to be fantastic ski area. Then 9/11 happened, a mere 35 miles from us. The papers ran obituaries for months and months and months. Looked at the idea of moving while my daughter was still in school. Decided it was going to happen in between her sophomore and junior year or it wasn't going to ever feel like her true home. Decided that if we were lucky in our real estate sales and built our house in stages that we could JUST do it that fast.

So, here we are, five years later. The daughter was able to race for the mountain while she was in high school which helped her make friends. The house is ALMOST finished. We get by financially, although we do worry about my husband losing his job. (He telecommutes and makes WAY MORE than the normal Whitefish person.) As long as he stays employed, it'll be a successful move for us. If he loses his job to someone in India and has to look here it might be really tough for us, however.

 

[Jilly]

This is neat. I've skied some of these places. DH and I skied 3 vallee for 2 weeks many years ago. The year before we were in Tignes and went off the backside and ended up in Champagny en Vanoise for lunch. Then off to Les Arcs to ski.

few glasses of Mutzig

Got the beer steins!
I've also skied Blue Mountain - Collingwood, Ontario. Its a sister resort to Tremblant now. And about 14 years ago we skied Big Mountain Montana. Stayed in Whifefish and bused out every day. I can totally understand why you moved there.
A couple of weeks ago I found on facebook a place to list all the ski hills/resorts you've skied. It took a while to find and log in all the places I've skied.
We all have our favourites and for some it may be our home mountain. It's interesting to see just what the reasons are.

 

[Severine]

I'm in between 2 small ski areas, Mohawk Mtn and Ski Sundown. I'm actually 2 miles closer to Mohawk but hubby's home mountain was Ski Sundown (he grew up skiing there) so that became my home mountain, too.

Next season things will likely be changing for a few reasons, and it's quite possible Mohawk will become my home mountain instead. It's okay, I like Mohawk, too. :D

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I have the somewhat happy circumstance of having 3 large ski resorts about 45 miles from my home (in different directions). So when I first moved here in '01, there was plenty of "investigating" to do! Sugarloaf initially intimidated the heck out of me, so I actually spent more time at Sunday River in the earlier years here (same ownership=same pass). And Saddleback, a "gem in the rough," was and still is an occasional diversion.

Sunday River has "evolved" in the past few years, and not necessarily in a positive way. Busy and crowded on weekends, skier traffic, parking traffic, ski thefts, condo break-in's. Not for me. Non-holiday weekdays can still be nice.

Sugarloaf is now my home mountain. It just has a more laid-back vibe to it. The skiing is more challenging, and I really don't mind if every single run is NOT groomed edge to edge every night!! Boot bags aren't disturbed, skis aren't touched, the parking lot shuttles run constantly, and everyone's friendly. Just a great, great mountain.

Except when it's WINDY !! Nothing's perfect...

 

[joycemocha]

I kinda ended up with Timberline by default. Meadows is further on, and more expensive, and Timberline is open after Ski Bowl closes. Now that I'm comfortable skiing most of Timberline, I'd like to branch out and try Ski Bowl and Meadows--but I like the feel of Timberline, to be honest. It's not the hardest hill in the area, for certain. But it does have the longest season (I went skiing today).

 

[Daria]

I live in the San Francisco bay area so we needed to choose between north and south Lake Tahoe. We like north Lake because it is less commercial. So then we chose Northstar vs. Squaw and Alpine because of their children's program back in the very early 1990's. We had rented a nearby house and got snowed in over the Christmas holiday in 1991 and vowed to never be that far from the slopes again. So we picked Northstar because they had the best kids program and our diva daughters were just seven and three at the time. Northstar is not the most challenging of mountains but it has what we have grown to love...great bump runs, beautiful tree runs and eveyone has a freindly attitude!!!

 

[SkiNurse]

Hmmm. I consider Copper my home mountain. it is where I'm completely comfortable skiing by myself. I feel at home. I enjoy the varied terrain..so I can ski bowls if I want, open natural terrain, trees or long groomers. I really lilke the way the terrain is naturally divided from most of the mountaintot the west being for beginners, middle for intermediates and the east for advanced/experts. Easy drive...right off the freeway. Big free parking lots with good shuttle service. Excellent bloody marys @ Jacks.

 

[volklgirl]

Caberfae is closest to me and I race there on Wednesday nights, but I consider Crystal Mountain to be my "home" hill. Caberfae has its own charm and higher vertical but its antiquated lift system and inattentive ops means long lines at the base of each chair and the crowd that hangs out there on the weeknights lack any slope or lift etiquette.

Crystal has close and easy lift access, great lifts and ops, stellar grooming and varied terrain as well as a very affordable unlimited season pass rate.

However, I'm unhappily finding that I like their attitude less and less each year as they begin to cater to the "cottage" and "condo" crowd. The day skier amenities and access keep getting more and more remote and less friendly. I'd think that 10 years of myself, my family, and most of my friends having season passes and eating there several times a week would make us as valuable a customer as the "Four Seasons" members. Apparently not. :mad:
Rant Off.

 

[pinto]

Hmmm. I consider Copper my home mountain. it is where I'm completely comfortable skiing by myself. I feel at home. I enjoy the varied terrain..so I can ski bowls if I want, open natural terrain, trees or long groomers. I really lilke the way the terrain is naturally divided from most of the mountaintot the west being for beginners, middle for intermediates and the east for advanced/experts. Easy drive...right off the freeway. Big free parking lots with good shuttle service. Excellent bloody marys @ Jacks.

Yeah, me too. Also, my brother worked at Copper for 10 years, and it was nice to go see him when we skied.

Plus, it was the first place I ever skied, in Copper's first year ever open, so that has a nice symmetry. Or maybe it's a full circle analogy. Something ....