 Poster: A snowHead
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Advice required !!. We are looking to ski in the states next year in early March.
Any recommendations to where we should go ?.
The plan is to hire a car and happy to travel to different resorts. Probably try to ski for 10 days.
Our ski level is ski anything on piste, but still still getting the hang of off-piste, happy to ski the likes of Tortin, Verbier and similar.
Thanks for your thoughts in advance
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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US Ski Country is vast.
To travel between different states to ski like Colorado-California-Idaho,Wyoming,Montana Washington etc can easily cost you one whole days driving or more.
My advice is not to book anything until you know snow is on the ground.
This season so far for eaxmple in Colorado, the snowpak is very low 70% below normal where as up North In Idaho & Wyoming they are doing very well.
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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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thunderer, I would tend to agree with stanton (and that doesn't happen very often!).
I would pick one of three regions to give access to a cluster of resorts within easy driving range:
- Lake Tahoe, California
- Wasatch Range (near Salt Lake City), Utah
- I-70 corridor in Colorado.
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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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Only done two trips so far in USA. One to Colorado and another in Vermont.
Colorado is highly recommended as you can pocket Loveland, Arapahoe, Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Vail, Beaver Creek and the 4 resorts of Aspen in one trip. Winter Park is a bit out of the way and is SteamBoat.
I have been thinking Tahoe but I believe the Colorado resorts are different in characters and among the upmarket range.
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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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Thanks so far.
Colarado seems favorite, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, perhaps staying in Breckenridge ??.
Snow should be okay by early March.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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thunderer, If you're going to do Colorado then for the Summit County ski resorts of Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone, if you have a hire car then a good central location to stay (with better value accommodation then you'll find in Breckenridge itself) is the town of Frisco.
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I'll second Frisco.
Can only base it on my one and only trip to the US with 4 mates in 2009 for 2 weeks:
Land in Denver and got hire car. Drove to Winter Park, skied for 3 days there, then headed up to Steamboat (stopped at the hot springs on the way).
After a dew days in we then headed down to Frisco for about a week. From Frisco we went to Beaver Creek, Copper Mtn, Breckenridge and Keystone.
We were lucky enough to get some discounted lift tickets called a 'Pow-Pow-Platter'. One of these ($99) allowed you a day each at Winter Park, Steamboat & Copper. So we got 3 pow-pow-platters each ($297) for 9 days skiing. (I found out about this on the US forum epicski - think it is a resort-owned forum now?)
Then we got a 'Keystone/Breckenridge 3-day Ticket' which also allowed a day at either Vail or Beaver Creek for $231 each.
The accommodation we stayed in was all self-catering, and found most of them through VRBO.
Good luck with it and have fun when you get there! 
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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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Thanks for the advice so far . Sounds as if fairly easy to self organise the trip rather than going thru a TO ??.
Is Denver the best airport for Colorado ?
When would you normally have to book accommodation and flights to get best deals going 2014, looks like ski passes need to be organised prior to December.
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thunderer, Yes, self organise is easy to do (in fact for the sort of holiday you're suggesting it gives you more flexibility than a TO)
Denver is definitely the best airport to use for Colorado.
You said you were looking to ski for about 10 days, so I'd suggest maybe aiming for a 2 week holiday in total - because of the way car hire packages are priced it can often be no more expensive to hire the car for 14 days than for say 10/11 days, and it's a good idea to check into a nearby hotel/motel once you arrive in Denver after a long transatlantic flight, rather than pick up the hire car and try to drive onto the resort in an unfamiliar vehicle straightaway in the dark. Once you've had some hours sleep you'll probably find out that you wake up early the next morning due to the time difference, but you can get breakfast early in the States  , and then you can get onto the road early to reach your ski resort mid-morning. On your return Denver is certainly worth a day's sight-seeing (State Capitol area etc.)
As regards flights, I see that your location is North Wales, so you might prefer to fly from Manchester rather than one of the London airports, I don't know if there are any direct flights, but you can certainly get to Denver via gateway airports such as Chicago, Minneapolis St Paul, Atlanta etc. I find this site a good resource for both flights and car hire, but I'm sure there are plenty of others.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Alastair Pink, Thanks, yes thinking along those lines. Looks by self booking saving around £ 450 per person.
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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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Is Denver the best airport for Colorado ?
denver is probably the most convenient for the popular resorts off the I-70, but it can be very busy and slow.
if you have a car, and don't mind a slightly longer, but very picturesque drive, colorado springs is very much more civilised.
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Are you dead set on the States? A road trip through British Columbia in Canada, starting at either Calgary or Kamloops would give a similar experience at a lot of smaller resorts that are much less busy than Colorado.
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You know it makes sense.
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Advice above regarding the I70 corridor in colorado is right on target. I am an avid Colorado skier - we own a condo in Vail. Fly to Denver, rent a car, stay in Frisco or Breck. You will have access to Keystone, Breck Vail and Beaver Creek. The Beav is farthest from Breck - perhaps 45 minutes on a snowy day. Early March is the best time to go, good snow mild temps and lots of fun.
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