 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, I'm after some advice regarding a ski trip to North America, either March this year or Jan 2008. I've been to the USA many times, but primarily Florida and the odd trip to LA, so I have had the full US, "have a nice day, sincerity experience". Never been to Canada though.
My recent ski experience has been in Courchevel 1850 for the last 3 years, and very happy with it I am. But I need to get out more!  Past places that I liked were: Obergurgl. Places that didn't cut the mustard: Soll, Sauze D'oulx.
So what's important to me? My shopping list is:-
Snow sure.
Ski-ing - Doesnt have to be vast area but would like enough so I cannot ski every slope in a day. Good intermediate standard (providing knee scan tells me I was being wuss!). Off piste not required. Groomed slopes. Ski guiding or similar. Lessons not required.
Hotel - Proximity from accomodation to slope base. Trying to avoid buses, car travel to the slopes. As close to a ski in\out as possible. Short walk at most. Good hotel food (is that possible in the USA?), I cannot stand the plastic breakfast establishments and raw steak served in Florida!
Night life - a few bars nothing to loud. I give the Tour operator resort bar crawl and shots experience a miss. (I think I'm becoming my father!)
When traveling: Having experienced ski resorts in half term week, and other families screaming or loutish brats i'd prefer a quieter time.
Cost: trying to keep the lid on it at approx £1,200 pp pw. This includes lift passes. Unrealistic?
To me the holidays isnt just about ski-ing it's a combined experience, not least of which is the accomodation.
I'm not asking a lot really am I ?
Any feedback, good or bad appreciated.
Many thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Doesnt have to be vast area but would like enough so I cannot ski every slope in a day
Unrealistic in North America IMHO for the vast majority of resorts, especially when combined with your requirement for ski-in / out. Most resrt over there tend to be much smaller then Eusro-resorts - however they make up for that in that you;re allowed to ski anywehere in bounds as opposed to just on the pistes. About the only resort that meets the size + ski-in / out to my knowledge is whistler
You're probably better looking at going to somewhere with several resorets in close proximity, e.g. Banff / Lake Louise, Lake Tahoe for Heavenly et al, or Salt Lake City has a few resorts in close proximity. There are others to look at too
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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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BTW I live in the Grove, if you want to meet for beers and a chat about Whistler and whatnot let me know 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| nbt wrote: |
| About the only resort that meets the size + ski-in / out to my knowledge is whistler |
Whilst the amount of ski-in/out in Whistler has been increased over recent years, the vast majority of the accomodation requires a walk or bus-ride to get to the slopes. Compare that for instance with Big White, when even the most inconvenient accomodation only requires you to cross the road to put your skis on. Whilst no where near as big as Whistler (fortunately!) BW has plenty of skiing for a week - certainly I doubt anyone could ski every slope in a day - and also has the advantage of very few queues are far less and the snow is better! If you are worried about size, then combine it with one of the other Okanagan resorts such as Sun Peaks or Silver Star.
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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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I'm happy to stand corrected I haven;t yet been to the Okanagan but it's on thelist of plcase to visit, especially when Kelowna airport can handle intercontinental flighta
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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BMF_Skier,
Breckenridge.
yes it's big with excellent grooming, lots of quiet runs, there is ski-in ski-out. The Village (condos) is right at the main lift.
There are lots of bars but they are generally quite grown up and because it's all pretty much set in blocks along along main street you don't feelt that it's busy. Loads of great restaurants, including some top notch ones - you will have to queue for a table but I've found thats the case all over North America.
You can probably do it within budget.
Don't stay at the Breckenridge Mountain Lodge unless you are happy with very basic - we stayed there on a really cheap deal so didn't mind, but I wouldn't want to pay full price for it. It is next door to the microbrewery though....
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