 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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And I can say I skied with you at "At least one"
Wow, does that make me special? 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well I'm still stuck on No. 1 - the rest will just have to wait a bit longer (unless I win the lottery of course)
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Beats me how Stowe made it to number 4. Stowe is appalling. A tiny ski area with only a handful of steeps, surrounded by an overrated town up to 10 miles from the slopes.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Well I've done 9 of these (not had Red Mountain experience yet) and I'm struggling to agree with the list (especially when I look at the judging criteria). For starters, Alta has snow to die for but that's all yet it makes it to number 3. Crested Butte is in there but no Telluride? no Vail? no Heavenly? no Steamboat or Winter Park? no Park City? All of 'em better than CB. Stowe is a very nice place but would you go there rather than, say, Vail on your precious 2 week trip? And what about Taos (in a good snow year) or Big Sky? Me no understando.
As I say, not done Red, but I'm told it can be hit or miss regards to the weather and there's a bit of a one horse town in which to play and stay.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| Beats me how Stowe made it to number 4. Stowe is appalling. A tiny ski area with only a handful of steeps, surrounded by an overrated town up to 10 miles from the slopes. |
They need to have an East Coast representative - Mad River Glen is probably a bit wild & Stowe is local to the biggest ski town on the east coast - Burlington (home of Burton Snowboards btw).
The list is quite eclectic including the likes of Red & Alta while spurning places like Vail & Park City & Deer Valley showing its not all about the $.
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Bearing in mind that the main, vital ingredient is errr... weather-related, I'd argue that Whistler shouldn't be anywhere near the top.. been there a few times now and been rained on more than I ever was on Cairngorm. Then look at last season! "Never go skiing where you can see (or almost see) fishing boats". Whistler sure has every other ingredient but it's mythical status as North America's Best or even World's Best (as a few surveys would have it) is surely wrong.
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Whistler has this week come top in almost every major resort ranking in North America:
http://www.stellarmag.com/news/2006/10/24/0067
Given the frequent rain at resort-level, and the biting cold at the top, it is hard to see how Whistler consistently gets so much praise.
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I presume that list has got a significant 'extreme' bias. Presumably that is what the elite is about in the title (?). If Jackson Hole is N. America's second best overall resort, as good as it is, N. America is struggling in the world stakes.
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| Quote: |
Beats me how Stowe made it to number 4. Stowe is appalling. A tiny ski area with only a handful of steeps, surrounded by an overrated town up to 10 miles from the slopes.
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It kind of surpises me too. That said, my wife and I love Stowe (call me a homer). I think the village compares very favorably with places like Lech, Saalbach, or Park City. Lots of really good dining options. There are two Mexican restaurants and we can't really decide which we like best, both are very good. There are a couple of apres ski bars that I could probably go to every day. Hell, I could go to the Matterhorn everyday and be happy. The skiing is limited in terms of extent but there is very good terrain. And if you're a back country tree skier it's supposed to be really good. My only reason for not hyping Stowe, and this applies to the entire North East) is that the weather is just so fickle. Rain followed by cold = ice. Last year we had a very good week in Stowe in January. It was pouring rain the day we packed up to leave. And the skiing for the next week or two was not very good. Actually, from what I've heard it was pretty bad. My two best days skiing were at Alta. My third best day skiing was at Stowe. I wouldn't recomend crossing the pond to ski in the North East, unless you had other reasons to visit. The west has much more consistent snow conditions. But when Stowe had good snow, it's pretty special.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It surprises me how much whinging goes on about rain in Whistler.
Season number 4 is coming up for me in Whistler, in all the past 3 seasons of around 150 days plus skiing each, I can honestly say that I've only had about 5 days in 450 days where I've had my gloves soaked through rain.
In the month of January 2006 the snowfall was over 180 inches. I certainly remember fresh tracks powder mornings, not rain.
Get a grip, ski the top of the mountain. With over 8000 acres of terrain, don't ski at resort level. Alternatively stay in Europe and whinge about the rain in Whistler.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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veeeight, cause it's easier to whinge and talk about how much better Europe is, than it is to spend a time in resorts, and find out what they are really like!
I've been to Whistler, and can well understand why it is consistently considered a top resort.
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Bode Swiller, a friend of mine publishes travel guide books. When he did the North American one, he had quite a job convincing resort marketing managers that he didn't actually want them to pay hard $$$ dollars to be included.
There is a much better correlation between resort marketing budgets and their placings than resort quality and their placings IMV...
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Whistler
raining in the village = snowing on the mountain (99% of the time)
snowing in the village = powder!! on the mountain - yippee!
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Poster: A snowHead
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I,ve done all of them at least twice some in double didgits.
Every season we get these league charts of resorts except they change the name from "greatest" to "best" to "biggesst" to "Elite" blah blah blah !
Why are Americans so obsessed with this kind of crap ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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veeeight, Having been rained on in Whistler a couple of times, and soaked through, yes the skiing is really really good, really really good - but getting soaking wet on your way back to the hotel doesn't actually enhance your holiday experience - especially if you are going to have to do some of your walking with kids. If you are younger and a bit more hardcore in your attitutude maybe this doesn't matter, but I for one like to walk around a resort village at night in crisp cold air with the hairs in my nostrils freezing, and not to have to dodge puddles. Skiing is not the only important bit of a Skiing holiday. This is one reason why I have been to Whistler just the once, but JH 4 times and LL 4 times and Vail (which should be on the list) twice plus other resorts in the Rockies which I would return to before Whistler.
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rain at resort level is always miserable.. even if it does mean snow up top..
whistler is a great resort.. but on the downside the apres is rather bland and its so very many hours and time zones away if your in europe ..
if you dont have weeks of ski time each winter then i would stick to the best sking mountians in the world for sking fun and atmosphere.. the alps.. and of course amuse yourself by talking about the rain on the west coast 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Read the article and you get an idea how they reached the decision:
"In an effort to narrow the list to 10 of the continent's best resorts, we polled six influential members of the ski community."
I would think that a few more than 6 people need to be asked to get a definitive answer even if they are influential members of the ski community (Fox are you one of them)!
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Sherlock Chalets, Probably put a thread on Epic and then wrote up the posts 
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My wife is Canadian and has only ever skied at Whistler. I was attempting to watch "Lex Bronzes Font du Ski" (basically a French version of a Carry On film, centered around skiing) with her and there was a shot of people sitting out on deck-chairs at the end of the day, enjoying a little apres ski. She could hardly believe her eyes being used to huddling in the Longhorn, trying not to get dripped on
Having said that, I really enjoy Whistler. The only real negative for me is that it's a bit of a victim of its own success - too many people chasing the freshies
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As this is turned into a bit of a thread on Whistler I'll add a few comments. The last time I went I had probably what is the single most memorable run of my life - first shot straightline in waisthigh fresh down Sun Bowl (Harmony Bowl had already been a bit tracked by access from th T bar) off about the third chair on Harmony. This was after about 3 days of upper mountain closure and a further 1.5 hours waiting for patrol clearance. The next day the peak opened and that was mighty fine too.
My parents who I was visiting were at the same time complaining about the miserable wet snow, overcrowded runs and ridiculous lift lines on Emerald. They are cruisers who like North American resorts for the quality of the grooming, the service, reliable natural snow and uncrowded slopes. They are not inclined to go back. I suspect they spend more on resort incidentals than me.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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fatbob, discovered sun bowl on my last trip - it's a lot of fun. but there's so much fun skiing at whistler. i do think it tries to be all things to all people and it isn't, really. if you're early advanced or below in ability (ie you'll try black diamonds but won't go near double blacks) it isn't all that great. for the most part that terrain is below the treeline and pretty dull IMO.
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Arno, I don't think that's true. There's plenty of terrain around Harmony for early advanced without doing scary double blacks. e.g. Low Roll and some of the other horseshoes are certainly do-able by an early advanced if the snow is good. If you're with someone who can show you around then there are endless opportunities to try out some of these areas without having to do scary bits.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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geetee, maybe i haven't investigated enough, but the lines below the treeline just don't get my heart pumping. but my last post was attempting to speak for early advanced skiers so you probably have a point
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Arno, how about IN the trees? I loved Club 21 last season and Unsanctioned was open too and good fun. Seppos is pretty good too and when we had a big dump we did the Garbanzo lift line - not sure I'd be that fussed about doing that one if it was hardpacked though.
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You know it makes sense.
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oooh - where's that one??
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Don't worry - I'll find out next season 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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stuarth, maybe you're the man to convince the that tree skiing is all that 
doubt i'll be in Whistler this season, but probably will be next so maybe we'll hook up then. always keen to be shown new places away from the crowds
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Does that sit ski guy still nail things like chunky's faster than most people on 2 legs?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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stuarth, you forgot Big Timber on Whistler
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sounds like a Whistler party brewing
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JT, yep and only 78 sleeps to go.....
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Whistler for the 3rd time for me this January..can't wait
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As this seems to have turned into a bit of a whistler thread thought i'd just post to say if you're heading out there let me know and we can meet up for skiing/beers. Hels
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Well we fly out on Jan 12th for 3 weeks
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FAQ
