Heck, we even got married in Beaver Creek (during the summer). Once we visited Tellluride,
where at Beaver Creek did you get married?
where at Beaver Creek did you get married?
Ranking Ski Resorts
- Thread starter Triggermv
- Start date
We saw someone getting married there when we were there this past Saturday. I was like whoof.... hate to see that price tag. It was a beautiful setting though.
It was in July 15 years ago. The service was outside, a couple hundred yards from the Park Hyatt in an outdoor gazebo with two small creeks on either side. The entire wedding party stayed in the Hyatt. We rented out the Whiskey Bar (a bar that was owned by Cindy Crawford’s husband Randy that is no longer in the hotel) also at the Hyatt for the reception and had the rehearsal dinner outside by the fire pit adjacent to the main lobby and the ski hill out back. In the attached picture you can see the Hyatt and ski hill directly behind us.
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Hope it was on top of Grouse Mountain.
very nice. Thanks for sharing. Love the Park Hyatt. BC in the summer might even be better than the winter. We are headed up in a few weeks.
Just got back from my first ever Oregon ski trip with my cousin who lives out there, and outside of tweaking my knee on the final 3rd afternoon of our trip and bad raining conditions the first day, it was a really great trip. We skied Mt Bachelor the first two days, my first time ever skiing a volcano, and Mt. Hood Meadows the final day. We had fresh powder both of our last two days, and Mt. Bachelor opened the summit lift and Mt. Hood Meadows opened its upper Cascade lift as well while I was there. Both of those are relatively rare occurrences apparently, so we got really lucky.
Not gonna lie, but if one gets to factor in the summit lift for Bachelor, that mountain is fantastic and far exceeded my expectations for great terrain as well as diversity of terrain. It is up there with the best of them. There isn't much out there cooler than skiing the upper crater of an actual volcano where you need to bomb down the one side of the crater to be able to pop out the other. There was something epic about it. Being able to ski a full 360 degrees in any direction while up there is unmatched nearly anywhere.
Even Mt Hood Meadows exceeded my expectations while still landing somewhat in the middle of the pack for North America ski resorts. Meadows was fairly steep in general too with amazing canyons in the back to ski. It somewhat reminded me of A-Basin, but bigger, lower altitude, and with better lifts.
With that said, the following is my updated ski resort rankings including both of these resorts. Its also worth mentioning that staying in Bend (near Bachelor) for two nights was incredible. Not only is the town sweet, but if you are into microbreweries or cider houses, it might be unmatched in all the U.S.
Not gonna lie, but if one gets to factor in the summit lift for Bachelor, that mountain is fantastic and far exceeded my expectations for great terrain as well as diversity of terrain. It is up there with the best of them. There isn't much out there cooler than skiing the upper crater of an actual volcano where you need to bomb down the one side of the crater to be able to pop out the other. There was something epic about it. Being able to ski a full 360 degrees in any direction while up there is unmatched nearly anywhere.
Even Mt Hood Meadows exceeded my expectations while still landing somewhat in the middle of the pack for North America ski resorts. Meadows was fairly steep in general too with amazing canyons in the back to ski. It somewhat reminded me of A-Basin, but bigger, lower altitude, and with better lifts.
With that said, the following is my updated ski resort rankings including both of these resorts. Its also worth mentioning that staying in Bend (near Bachelor) for two nights was incredible. Not only is the town sweet, but if you are into microbreweries or cider houses, it might be unmatched in all the U.S.
- Jackson Hole (Wyoming) - best terrain, steepest terrain, coolest tram, great snow, best for expert skiers, great views, beautiful resort, lots of vertical feet, good lifts, little spendy,
- Snowbird (Utah) - amazing snow, 2nd best terrain, 2nd steepest terrain, 2nd best for expert skiers, great views, good lifts with a tram, fun tunnel to backside, crowds can get bad
- Alta (Utah) - amazing snow, amazing terrain (relatively steep), good for expert skiers (hard terrain, but a little lighter than Snowbird), best value, no boarders allowed
- Whistler Blackcomb (British Columbia, Canada) - biggest resort in North America, most vertical feet by far, crazy-long fun Peak to Creek run to do 5,000 vertical feet, best views, great terrain, best ski village, good lifts, decent snow, little crowded
- Mount Bachelor (Oregon) - big resort, great terrain with high diversity to terrain, great views, good value skiing the summit of the volcano, including its crater, is unlike anything out there and one of the coolest experiences available, low crowds, Bend is one of the coolest towns in the U.S.
- Solitude (Utah) - amazing snow, awesome terrain, highest chance of getting untouched terrain, no crowds, great tree runs, too many slow lifts, great value, similar to Brighton, only a little bigger, and a little more challenging
- Vail (Colorado) - 3rd biggest resort, nicest resort, great runs, best back bowls, one of the best ski towns, too many catwalks
- Mount Hood Meadows (Oregon) - great terrain with good variety, fairly steep overall, great tree runs, has some of the best canyons on back-side to ski, one of the best value tickets out there, good lifts
- A-Basin (Colorado) - very high altitude, very cold, good views, smaller resort, very good terrain, fairly difficult overall, cheapest and best food (ribs are incredible), terrible lifts (only one speed lift), 2nd best value in Colorado, very laid-back, kind of a blend of Kirkwood and Alta with less speed lifts
- Snowbasin (Utah) - good lifts, nice resort, good variety of terrain, decent value, fun small tram at top to Olympic Downhill Course
- Brighton (Utah) - very simple and laid back (I like), amazing snow, great tree runs, no crowds, amazing value, best place to take young family for value skiing
- Kirkwood - (California) - almost an exact blend of Alta and Brighton, only with not as good and consistent of snow and too many slow lifts, no crowds, good value, very laid-back, fairly challenging terrain
- Keystone (Colorado) - some of the best tree runs, great lifts, best night skiing, fun cheap snowcat skiing, terrible crowds
- Heavenly - (California) - amazing unique view of Lake Tahoe, nice resort, very large resort, great lifts, good tree runs, best for Skiing in t-shirt, bad consistency to snowfall
- Copper Mountain (Colorado) - very good value for colorado (especially when using coupons), nice runs overall, fun back bowls, slightly less crowded, free snowcat skiing, laid-back, unique layout of sectioned run difficulty
- Park City Mountain Resort (Utah) - 2nd biggest resort now that combined with Canyons (I skied it prior to being combined), really cool town setting, very nice resort, great lifts, so-so views, decent snow, worst catwalks, not great diversity of terrain for how big it is
- Breckenridge (Colorado) - decent overall, too crowded, too many boarders, good lifts, good village
- Beaver Creek - very homogeneous mid-level in-tree-line terrain, very expensive, so worst value, good lifts but no gondolas for high price, very nice village, good cookie, so-so views, low crowds
- Loveland - very high altitude, very cold, so-so views, smaller resort, so-so terrain, not super difficult, great food, terrible lifts (zero speed lifts), very laid-back, good value
- Sunrise Park (Arizona) - fun simple place, not Colorado or Utah skiing, still lots better than Iowa
- Snow King Mountain Resort (Wyoming) - fun enough place, very steep terrain for a small resort, super good value, good snow, the smallest crowds you might get anywhere (nobody skis here), very cold skiing since mountain faces North and the sun never touches it)
- Chestnut Mountain (Illinois) - beautiful decent runs for Illinois, slight uptick in nearly every category from nearby Sundown, underrated for being in the Midwest
- Sundown (Iowa) - closest ski resort to me, best in Iowa, rentals are terrible and the place is kind of a dump, but decent runs for Iowa
- Mount Kato (Minnesota) - better and larger than expected, but has half the vertical feet of both Sundown and Chestnut, kind of a bit of a dump like Sundown
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Hitting up a few resorts in Tahoe next week so will be fun to modify my list.
That is great man. Would love to hear your thoughts there. I've only been there once and it was on their last year of like a 7-year drought so the snow was pretty crappy. We skied both Heavenly and Kirkwood while we were there. Views are tough to beat, but it can get pretty slushy due to the T-shirt skiing you can run into. What resorts are you going to?
I literally just decided last night to join the group as had no idea if the kids would be in school full time or not and if we were quarantining!
I think we're doing Heavenly, North Star, and Maybe Squawk Valley?
I'm just taking it on this year as excited to ski no matter the snow conditions. I've been to Colorado and Utah enough that I've had those "near perfect" days when you have great snow and weather.
if you go to Tahoe, you really need to ski Squaw Valley at least one day.
I think that's the plan for a week from today. I'm joining the group so late (past years I've done all the planning) I'm going to go off of whatever they want to do.
Late January, my wife and I skied had a ski-in ski-out Park City Mountain Resort trip for 3 days of skiing. Was pretty great and we got new snow every day. I had skied the Park City side before Canyons got added to the mix, but had never skied the Canyons side, so that was all new. We also stayed in Canyons village. While not my favorite resort overall, its proximity to the airport is great, and I do enjoy the resort overall. I preferred the Canyons side to the Park City side. The Park City side has too many short runs that all lead into the same catwalks. Man, as a combined resort, that resort is huge, especially looking at how wide it is now. One of the days, we trekked all the way across from the Canyons side and back, which is quite the endeavor. Whistler is huge too, but it is more tall than it is wide. Plus, both Whistler and Blackcomb share the same base, so it is much easier to bounce back and forth.
The dichotomy of looking west towards CA, then doing a 180 and looking east to NV on the top of Heavenly is something I will never forget.
Ski resort experts...
If the cyfan92 family wanted to go skiing in Jan-Feb 2022. Where would you recommend, if we wanted:
Nice housing options without the 5 star expense (not looking for cheap, just good value)
Best skiing for beginner and moderate skiers
Entertainment options away from the slopes. Kid/family friendly
Less crowds and less snowboarders
Good food
If the cyfan92 family wanted to go skiing in Jan-Feb 2022. Where would you recommend, if we wanted:
Nice housing options without the 5 star expense (not looking for cheap, just good value)
Best skiing for beginner and moderate skiers
Entertainment options away from the slopes. Kid/family friendly
Less crowds and less snowboarders
Good food
For east coast folks, I've gotta plug Snowshoe, WV. They've had an incredible season of snow. Conditions have been remarkably fantastic this year. And business is not down nearly as much as they'd feared because folks are coming for the whole week and working from their condos. And, for us 60+ folks the runs are perfect in length; the lifts even better. No need to take a breather mid run. And no freezing on the lifts. As a person who has skied all the major US resorts (too many to list), three major European resorts (Val D'ISere/Tignes, Chamonix Mont Blanc, Patscherkofel, Rangger Köpfl), and two Canadian resorts (Whistler and Banff), Showshoe really surprised me. The one thing that still is difficult to grasp is that it is an 'inverted' resort (ie the town is at the top). Other than that, if you're D.C. area and want to get some decent skiing in, trek on over to Showshoe.
Anybody else seeing a major uptick for crowds at Midwest ski hills this year? I've got a weekend season pass at Sundown Mountain near Dubuque and I've been amazing how large at consistent the crowds have been on the weekends. Granted, I've seen crowds gradually increases over the past few years there due to the popularity of their weekend warrior pass, but this year has really seen quite the leap. I've personally chalked it up to it being a new Covid popular item. Its outdoors and something you can actually do during these times remotely safely, similar to camping. Just wondering what others are seeing in other parts of the Midwest.
I’d suggest Beaver Creek. While it can be more expensive, it has a great family atmosphere and good beginner and intermediate terrain. Also, it’s one of the farthest west resorts on I-70 in Colorado so it’s less busy than the resorts closer to Denver. There’s plenty of affordable lodging options in the town of Avon below the resort and relatively cheap parking in some lots ($10 per day), shuttle service, and good skier drop off for those days when only half the family wants to get on the mountain. To top it off, you’re only about a 45 minute to an hour drive away from Glenwood Springs.
Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I skied Sundown a few weeks ago and there were a lot more people than I thought there'd be, considering the high that day was like 4. Afton Alps even on a Friday was noticeably busier than when I went last year. Also, I think Seven Oaks is drawing way more people this year than before.
Check it out. It’s a little different feel than the I-70 resorts. The Strawberry Point Hot Springs are worth it and the town is a real “ski town”.
