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Utah and Colorado Skiing

Just got back yesterday from Banff/Lake Louise and loved it. Skied two days at Sunshine and then two at Lake Louise. Much preferred the mountains and terrain at Lake Louise. Liked their back bowls better than Vail's, and the scenery may be the best I've ever seen - up there with the Alps and Whistler. Helped that we got probably 5-6 inches the 2nd to last day.

Sunshine was cool too, but it's about a 30 min drive from Banff, and there's only one gondola where you park that you have to take to get to the real base area, which takes another ~20 min. Also, at Sunshine the first day, the high temperature was like 5 with around -20 wind chills. Lake Louise is only a 5-10 min hotel shuttle with several base lift options. We got a great deal at the Fairmont, which is an awesome place right on the lake with a lot to do for non-skiers.

Skied some pretty extreme terrain (they have a ton of it) - lots of tight trees and double black chutes, and had a blast. No bad falls, but somehow tweaked my back the last day in the moguls and 2 previously ruptured discs feel like they're being stabbed with knives. Drugs are good, mkay.
 
Just finished 2.5 days at Vail. Mountain needs snow bad. Everything is skied up and there are tons of thin spots. Groomers are ok. My first time there... Would love to go back on a powder day, obviously those back bowls would be amazing with fresh pow.
 
Not Utah or Colorado, but we went to Sun Valley this year.

They had had little natural snow but had by far the best man-made stuff I've ever enjoyed. It's a great place if you want to check it out.
 
Anyone ever ski Big Sky? Sounds amazing (sorry, wrong thread I guess)

Definitely amazing - tough/expensive to get to from the east though - connect in Denver/somewhere else, fly to Bozeman, drive an hour.

Different from lots of big resorts that it's only one mountain (literally called Lone Peak), but has an absurd amount of terrain, especially now that Moonlight Basin on the baskside is connected/included. Have been getting great snow in recent years (as has Jackson) with the more northern storm tracks. Can be very cold/windy.

Great snowmobile excursions.
 
Anyone ever ski Big Sky? Sounds amazing (sorry, wrong thread I guess)

Was there in January and heading back at the end of March. Love that place...

PM me if you have specific Q's...
 
Definitely amazing - tough/expensive to get to from the east though - connect in Denver/somewhere else, fly to Bozeman, drive an hour.

Different from lots of big resorts that it's only one mountain (literally called Lone Peak), but has an absurd amount of terrain, especially now that Moonlight Basin on the baskside is connected/included. Have been getting great snow in recent years (as has Jackson) with the more northern storm tracks. Can be very cold/windy.

Great snowmobile excursions.

Or fly direct to Bozeman from Atlanta :)
 
Spent the weekend at Winter Park; got 10” overnight. So fucking sweet to have a powder day on a Monday.
 
Just got back yesterday from Banff/Lake Louise and loved it. Skied two days at Sunshine and then two at Lake Louise. Much preferred the mountains and terrain at Lake Louise. Liked their back bowls better than Vail's, and the scenery may be the best I've ever seen - up there with the Alps and Whistler. Helped that we got probably 5-6 inches the 2nd to last day.

Sunshine was cool too, but it's about a 30 min drive from Banff, and there's only one gondola where you park that you have to take to get to the real base area, which takes another ~20 min. Also, at Sunshine the first day, the high temperature was like 5 with around -20 wind chills. Lake Louise is only a 5-10 min hotel shuttle with several base lift options. We got a great deal at the Fairmont, which is an awesome place right on the lake with a lot to do for non-skiers.

Skied some pretty extreme terrain (they have a ton of it) - lots of tight trees and double black chutes, and had a blast. No bad falls, but somehow tweaked my back the last day in the moguls and 2 previously ruptured discs feel like they're being stabbed with knives. Drugs are good, mkay.

Headed there in a couple of days, what were your favorite zones on each mountain to ski. I can get down anything on a mountain, but enjoy mixing in some easier stuff nowadays to save the legs. Really excited about this trip, at the price we are paying compared to CO and UT skiing, it may become a more annual event if we enjoy the skiing.
 
Yeah tell me more about Banff. Just looked it up and the lodging prices are crazy cheap compared to US resorts. Where did you stay? Was it close/convenient to slopes or is there some transit in? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Yeah, flights especially, and lodging were much, much cheaper than Jackson, Big Sky, Aspen, etc. We rented a Tahoe for cheap (comparatively) near the airport.

We stayed at The Moose Hotel in Banff for the first three nights - it was OK - great location (all of downtown Banff is walkable) and slightly nicer than average hotel rooms. Eat at the Grizzly House in Banff. Awesome fondue/steakhouse combo type place with a great atmosphere. Sunshine Village is probably a 20-30 min drive from Banff, and we didn't really feel like taking shuttles, although they run constantly and are probably more convenient without worrying about parking. Sunshine is weird because there's only one lift at the parking lot base, which is a gondola that takes ~20 min to get to the main base. We chose to get off at the midpoint each time, which is Goat's Eye mountain (one of 3 peaks you ski). That was probably my favorite part of the mountain with some solid double black chutes/bowls far right off the lift. Also good glades. Lookout Mountain from the main base is the highest and almost all above timberline. The first day we went it was so windy/cold that my dad started to get legit frostbite. 2nd day was great some long mogul runs. Never made it into the Delirium Dive free riding area, which looks pretty intense, as I didn't have avalanche gear. Mount Standish was also solid with much shorter runs if your legs are weary, and a good mix of cruisers and tough stuff.

We left fairly early the third morning and drove to Lake Louise where we stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise - didn't originally even think it would be an option, but we got a great deal. It's definitely a mega-resort, but everyone is incredibly nice and it lives up to its 5 star reputation. Would definitely recommend. They have private shuttles that are only 5 min or so to the slopes, so a car is not necessary. We had probably 5-8 inches of fresh snow at Lake Louise, which certainly helped, but I enjoyed it more than Sunshine. You've been warned that the trail map does not do it justice in terms of size, and you will get in a lot of long, intense runs. The entire upper and backside of the mountain is all awesome. The J bar is worth doing a couple times, especially to get into the highest terrain in the back bowls. Everything off the Paradise lift is great and similar to the back bowls at Vail with 5% of the people. The double black glades to the right of Larch are a lot of fun, albeit pretty tight. Easier glades all around the Ptarmigan lift. On the front side, the moguls and trees to the right of Top of the World were solid, and cruising the World Cup Downhill a few times all the way to the base is definitely a rush.

There is one slopeside hotel up at Sunshine, but we wanted the experience of staying in the town of Banff. No slopeside at LL, but the shuttles are so convenient it's irrelevant. If you don't care as much about the town and like really nice resorts with the better skiing, I'd recommend spending the entire time at LL and drive/shuttle to Sunshine for one day. We didn't ski Norquay (although one poster here liked it a lot), as some family friends said it's very small/not worth it, plus it doesn't get as much snow. PM me if you want any more details, as this is already very long-winded.
 
Thanks for all that info. I had all but decided to take my oldest to Jackson for a HS senior-year trip but I will give that some thought as another option.
 
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to tigerswood again. - someone help me out
 
also, it ain't Banff... but I got my Ridiculous Pass for Snowshoe and we're driving up Friday to get two final ski days in. they've had around 4 feet of snow out of all these northeasters and it's supposed to snow more on Saturday.
 
Damn near perfect day at Big Sky today. Got my ski legs back under me today and am looking forward to really hitting it hard tomorrow.

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