• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Ski Resort Advice Needed (NC/VA/WV)

Ghostsurfer

Ghostsurfer

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
802
Reaction score
99
My Brother-In-Law wants to schedule a ski trip and rent a cabin with our families next winter. He is looking at going over the Christmas break (12/26-12/30) so that we don't use too many PTO days. I love that idea, but my concern is that the resorts will be packed with longer lift lines, and the weather may impact the number of lifts and trails that are open. We will probably only ski/snowboard (novices) one or two days max. I heard that Snowshoe is the best, but would be almost a 5-7 hour drive for families and cabin costs would be higher. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Ghostsurfer said:
My Brother-In-Law wants to schedule a ski trip and rent a cabin with our families next winter. He is looking at going over the Christmas break (12/26-12/30) so that we don't use too many PTO days. I love that idea, but my concern is that the resorts will be packed with longer lift lines, and the weather may impact the number of lifts and trails that are open. We will probably only ski/snowboard (novices) one or two days max. I heard that Snowshoe is the best, but would be almost a 5-7 hour drive for families and cabin costs would be higher. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Yes, it's hit or miss. Snowshoe is probably the best bet for conditions. However, Colorado and Park City have had terrible seasons thus far with only roughly half of the trails open.
 
Ghostsurfer said:
My Brother-In-Law wants to schedule a ski trip and rent a cabin with our families next winter. He is looking at going over the Christmas break (12/26-12/30) so that we don't use too many PTO days. I love that idea, but my concern is that the resorts will be packed with longer lift lines, and the weather may impact the number of lifts and trails that are open. We will probably only ski/snowboard (novices) one or two days max. I heard that Snowshoe is the best, but would be almost a 5-7 hour drive for families and cabin costs would be higher. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Don't try to ski NC during that time frame - way too crowded.
 
Agree. Hard to ski over Christmas here. If push came to shove I would bite the bullet and drive to snowshoe. It’s a bigger mountain and gets less day traffic given it’s location.

Xmas out west is even hard as it takes a while to get the snow to pile up.

Next year we are hitting Montana big sky over the break. Not terribly crowded and usually snow central.
 
Snowshoe is going to be the best bet but will be super crowded.

You could look at Wintergreen in Virginia. Not nearly as good and trails may be limited.

My advice would be to wait and take a few days off later in the season in the middle of the week.
 
About the only thing you can count on at ski resorts in the Christmas-New Years week is crowds.
 
Hey, thanks for all the input! I'm going to try and convince him to do a Sat - Tues trip in Jan or Feb. NC resorts would be close enough that we only lose a day and 1/2 of PTO. Kids can ski Sun. night and Monday. At my age, an hour or two would be just fine for me. : ( I'm thinking I am more of a snow tube guy anyway!
 
Ghostsurfer said:
Hey, thanks for all the input! I'm going to try and convince him to do a Sat - Tues trip in Jan or Feb. NC resorts would be close enough that we only lose a day and 1/2 of PTO. Kids can ski Sun. night and Monday. At my age, an hour or two would be just fine for me. : ( I'm thinking I am more of a snow tube guy anyway!
Click to expand...

Avoid MLK weekend - that's the busiest day of the year for NC ski resorts. Staggering crowds at Sugar this year over that weekend. By 10 am on Saturday, the line to buy lift tickets stretched almost the entire way to lot #2. I doubt those people were ever able to buy a ticket and, if they eventually did, I bet they were miserable.

Buy your lift tickets the day before, if you can, and consider renting at Ski Country Sports or somewhere else off mountain.
 
I went to beech last weekend and the ONLY thing that was good was the snow....which was not expected. It took 30 min to get into the parking lot; 20 min to pick up lift tickets that were already reserved and paid for; and 2 hours to rent equipment.....all to go stand in LONG lift lines for really slow lifts. Hard pass on doing that again....we got in about 7 runs all day. Definitely rent somewhere that's not at the resort and avoid the weekends.

We went to Copper last year over christmas and it was outstanding. Looking hard at Big Sky for next Christmas, so I may run into CHDeac there!
 
Big fan of Big Sky...went there with the fam 2 weeks ago. It was a perfect week...temps were reasonable and 18" of new snow that week.
 
DeacDiggler said:
I went to beech last weekend and the ONLY thing that was good was the snow....which was not expected. It took 30 min to get into the parking lot; 20 min to pick up lift tickets that were already reserved and paid for; and 2 hours to rent equipment.....all to go stand in LONG lift lines for really slow lifts. Hard pass on doing that again....we got in about 7 runs all day. Definitely rent somewhere that's not at the resort and avoid the weekends.

We went to Copper last year over christmas and it was outstanding. Looking hard at Big Sky for next Christmas, so I may run into CHDeac there!
Click to expand...

We were also at Beech this past weekend. We spent Friday night and Saturday night so we got there at opening time on Saturday, having already procured our gear offsite and picked up our lift tickets on Friday evening. It was totally packed by 11AM on Saturday and they eventually sold out of lift tickets. The cafeteria was a Covid bacterium's fantasy, but luckily we had a picnic. Everything was a lot easier to manage on Sunday. Maybe half as crowded.
 
yeah it's a miracle if none of us got COVID from that cafeteria.
 
DeacDiggler said:
I went to beech last weekend and the ONLY thing that was good was the snow....which was not expected. It took 30 min to get into the parking lot; 20 min to pick up lift tickets that were already reserved and paid for; and 2 hours to rent equipment.....all to go stand in LONG lift lines for really slow lifts. Hard pass on doing that again....we got in about 7 runs all day. Definitely rent somewhere that's not at the resort and avoid the weekends.

We went to Copper last year over christmas and it was outstanding. Looking hard at Big Sky for next Christmas, so I may run into CHDeac there!
Click to expand...

Lets do it! Ive been to Montana in the summer and loved it so looking forward a change of pace.

We have an annual father-son trip ski trip with 4 dads/4 sons in PC each year and this year its not happening (we thought of each renting our own condos et al but the cost and lack of snow sorta killed it). We would go during Sundance which translated into more costs but no crowds and the boys loved hitting the town. They are all seniors this year so that may have eded which is sad. Big Sky might be the replacement for that when they are all home from college over xmas.
 
Last edited:
My last trip to Big Sky was around 1982. There were 5 lifts and it was spectacular. I see pictures now and recognize Lone Peak but that’s about it. Can’t wait to get back.
 
DeacDiggler said:
My last trip to Big Sky was around 1982. There were 5 lifts and it was spectacular. I see pictures now and recognize Lone Peak but that’s about it. Can’t wait to get back.
Click to expand...

In between college and law school, I was an instructor in Telluride, which in my mind is hands-down the best mountain for a family ski visit in the US. Getting there can be tricky, but definitely worth it.

Mrs. Clutch and I did St. Moritz in Switzerland this year for X-mas. The mountain was very easy, but apparently thats what the Swiss enjoy. To the Swiss skiing is a hobby, and for the French a sport.

All the Europeans I spoke with said that Colorado skiing is much better than Europe, but maybe to them its the travel aspect like for us.
 
DeaconCav06 said:
Snowshoe is going to be the best bet but will be super crowded.

You could look at Wintergreen in Virginia. Not nearly as good and trails may be limited.

My advice would be to wait and take a few days off later in the season in the middle of the week.
Click to expand...

Snowshoe looks to be booked until March regarding lift tickets. We went to Wintergreen last Sunday. Nearly every slope is open now. I've never seen it that crowded on a Sunday before. I'm guessing it's a direct result of the virus being that people are bored and don't have much to do. But all in all it was in good shape.
 
We have been to Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana a few times and it is an excellent mountain for families. Tons of slopes, not crowded at all and kids up to 6 get free season passes.
 
Also at Beech last weekend, conditions were awesome. We also stayed 1 min from the parking lot and were there when it opened. Lines were awful all day after about 10am. Miserable going from top to bottom in one minute then waiting 30 to get a lift back up. Other than that, it was a perfect day Saturday, snow great, everything open. But the damn lines...
 
DeacDiggler said:
My last trip to Big Sky was around 1982. There were 5 lifts and it was spectacular. I see pictures now and recognize Lone Peak but that’s about it. Can’t wait to get back.
Click to expand...

One of the main hi-speed lifts at Big Sky...Ram Charger...was recently converted to an 8-person, HEATED lift. The next busiest lift...Swift Current...will be converted in the off-season.

If your ski trip requires shopping and fancy restaurants, Big Sky isn't the answer. But it usually gets great snow, terrain is awesome and crowds are often very thin due to proximity to....nothing.
 
I usually ski so much that I can barely make it to dinner or have more than four beers after skiing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top