Is anyone actually skiing back there??

[jamesdeluxe]

Most people's resources (time and $) are finite. If you're using those resources to ski current eastern conditions instead of January-March, that's what I define as a waste of resources. Someone like harvey44, for whom the marginal cost is practically zero (own housing, season pass), that's a different situation.

Harv and I part ways on this issue. While his marginal cost to go to the ADKs is limited to time, tolls, and gas (which, at $3+/gallon, adds up), his ski fanaticism -- certainly on par with Patrick's, but limited to the northeast -- is such that he'll willingly drive almost three hours to the Catskills during December to make turns on a WROD or two. On that, I side with Tony and either go elsewhere (I fly to SLC tomorrow) or wait it out until conditions and open terrain improve.

[EMSC]

Interesting. I follow a more complex strategy I guess. I have become more on the 'avoid WROD' side of things over the years, yet it's still comes down to an overall question of what else would I be doing? Sometimes there are lots of better options for my time, other times even with just a WROD I'd rather just get outdoors and be active and get into ski shape... Though WROD on a crazy busy holiday is always a poor choice.

[Harvey44]

While the cost for me to ski in NY is really very low, the reason I haven't skied out west in the last 5-10 years isn't really about money. I probably could have swapped the last two blogger summits for a trip to SLC, but those were really my only options in the last five years. Without getting too personal, it's just something I can't do. Props to James for pulling it off.

As far as eastern skiing, I have other reasons for skiing in NY. If it was just about the snow, I'd ski VT.

I hope to ski Alta with Admin and Bobby Danger and Telejon. It sounds like my kind of place.

[kingslug]

My trip to Kmart has been the only day I have gotten in...and it was a pretty good one all things considered. Spent the day hitting the moguls once I warmed up as there wasn't anything steep, so moguls make it interesting. It got skied off later so by 3:30 I was done and back on the bus...its pretty much rained every weekend since then..so much so I can't even read the western reports. I did try to put together a trip out to Utah but airfare went through the roof for the holidays..$1200.00 nice...an old friend did the right thing and rolled the dice and booked a trip to Snowbird on the 12th months ago...of course he hit the jackpot...I think airfare was 300.00 then...Since early season here doesn't exist anymore I'm going to do the same next year, as anything Utah gets simply crushes our pathetic numbers..Hunter YTD..3 inches...I'll be hitting Whistler the end of Jan and then have to decide where to go..Utah (always the favorite), another Diamond dog trip to Jackson end of Feb..might be broke from Whistler though..hell I'll prolly come out to Utah in Feb..where they will try to kill me once more...

[Tony Crocker]

Diamond Dog trip

Liz is in that club. We first met in person when the Diamond Dogs had a trip to mammoth in March 2011. The former president of the Diamond Dogs retired a couple of years ago and now lives at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

[kingslug]

But...if all it takes is a car trip up to the local hill for a few turns..total cost $100.00, as compared to a grand to fly out west, then you do what you can...that being said I'm changing my tune and probably going to head west in December from now on rather than sit around and hope it snows here...

[jasoncapecod]

I

did try to put together a trip out to Utah but airfare went through the roof for the holidays..$1200.00 nice...an old friend did the right thing and rolled the dice and booked a trip to Snowbird on the 12th months ago...of course he hit the jackpot...I think airfare was 300.00 then..

i booked SLC on Nov 14 for 425 each from JFK

[EMSC]

When the Eastern thread drifts to airfare prices to the West you know it's not a good season back East.

Unfortunately East is where I will be next week... Anyone want to make some turns at Greek Peak? Just you and 1-2K other skiers will be trying to hit free day on the 24th with one real trail open . Ah, heck maybe I'll just hit the Malls in Syracuse

[Admin]

Glad to see the recent forum activity from the East. Now, let's take it to the next step and get back into the habit of posting separate TRs of their own topic.

[Tony Crocker]

But...if all it takes is a car trip up to the local hill for a few turns..total cost $100.00, as compared to a grand to fly out west, then you do what you can...that being said I'm changing my tune and probably going to head west in December from now on rather than sit around and hope it snows here...

Those are 10-1 odds, and as people surely remember from last year December is not a slam-dunk in the West either.

In the last 9 years the Cottonwood Canyons were not worth a fly-in trip all of last December, half of December 2007 or the first week of December 2009. I'm sure most of you realize those are far better odds than at most western resorts. It's hard to justify betting airfare $ anywhere before mid-December unless it's a late call to somewhere that got a lot of snow in November.

Vermont has had very good skiing in 3 of the past 14 Decembers and there were a few others that were decent if you picked the right week. If you are driving in the East and don't have to commit until you know it will be good and balance that against the probability of the western December trip being a bust, I suspect the math may actually favor easterners not far advance booking western trips until after New Year's. This has to be true for the vast majority of western destinations. Whistler, Bachelor, Targhee and LCC are the likely exceptions and even with those I'd be inclined to stick to the mid-December period right before the Christmas crunch to maximize your odds.

As I may have mentioned before, I see a lack of logic in advance booking destination trips in early season if you're NOT doing them in January - March.

I booked SLC on Nov 14 for 425 each from JFK

This was a different situation as LCC had just had a 50-inch storm. The weather would have had to shut down completely for a month for his trip not to have been worth it. Recall that the weather DID shut down for the first 2 weeks of that month.

[jamesdeluxe]

I booked SLC on Nov 14 for 425 each from JFK

That ^^^ quote was from Jason, not me (I'll let Marc C scold Tony for his inability to quote people). I booked the FF award for my recent SLC trip in early September.

Last year's UT visit was certainly way below optimum -- the worst in a decade of early-season trips -- but still better than what I would've gotten in the East in mid-December, especially considering that I live six hours from our best shot at decent early-season conditions: northern VT.

[Tony Crocker]

but still better than what I would've gotten in the East in mid-December

I don't recall whether you're going west in January-March, but if not I don't quite get why a booking in September would not be for one of those months instead of December for the same price but better snow odds.

[Marc_C]

but still better than what I would've gotten in the East in mid-December

I don't recall whether you're going west in January-March, but if not I don't quite get why a booking in September would not be for one of those months instead of December for the same price but better snow odds.

Because just maybe people have factors other than snow conditions contributing to the decision.

I have long time friends from NJ who regularly spend the week or so before xmas with us. They like the visit. They like getting away from the east coast. They often have vacation time that they have to use by the end of the year. One year we blew off a day of skiing and went down to the Swell for a little taste of canyon country. Even last year, arguably one of the worst Utah Decembers in a decade, had better conditions and more terrain open than where they usually ski. They were happy and ate/drank well. Not everyone in every instance has your particular priorities. There's more than just snowfall statistics.

[jamesdeluxe]

I don't quite get why a booking in September would not be for one of those months instead of December for the same price but better snow odds.

Yes to what Marc C just said (I need to kill off vacation time before the end of the year; chances are better for decent conditions than the NE; I need to collect on bets ; etc.). Moreover, I always cash in FF awards to fly out west, so if I go during Jan/Feb/Mar (off-peak for FF programs), I can wait until a far later date to pull the trigger.

My record for early-season powder days in UT, CO, and WY speaks for itself -- hell, I even got one during last December's drought -- so Tony should save his lecture for someone more deserving.

[Tony Crocker]

James also killed off his vacation time during a much better week than admin did. I think James was also the one who did the bargain cat skiing at Targhee in December once.