Sounds good. Oh to live even remotely close to decent ski options.
2026/27 season plans
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
North Carolina is not that good. If I lived there I would have started skiing the Alps a lot sooner than from where I live. Anyone who has to get on an airplane to reach big mountains is at a disadvantage, and my hat is tipped to those who become good skiers despite that.
In fairness, sbooker might live in the worst First World city for distance to skiing. Perth? Singapore?
We’re a mere 3 hour flight to Queenstown. Then it gets difficult.
I dream of a season somewhere but ailing parents and all…..
From Raleigh, NC and VA ski resorts are perfectly good for kids learning to ski. Or adults for that matter. The drive is 2.5-4.0 hours. Add a couple more hours to get to WV. If the southeast resorts were truly no good, they wouldn't have survived as businesses for over 50 years. SkiSoutheast has been around as a website and ski forum for decades, starting as SkiNC.
From what I've learned about the Aussie ski resorts, the weather is similar to the southeast . . . and they are the only slopes in the entire continent.
It's a long way to ski the powder in Japan from anywhere in the USA.
tseeb
Well-known member
I'm assuming @Tony Crocker's lesson prices from Portillo are US$ since Chilean pesos are 1000 to $1. Are most prices in Chile in US$?
I listened to @Stormskier's podcast on Fixing America's Broken Ski School Model. He should try to get to Tahoe again before talking about mountains and ski areas there. He was confused at the beginning about location of Maggie's Peak, then in the middle mixed up Donner Ski Ranch (5 chairs, across old Donner Pass Rd from Sugar Bowl) with Tahoe Donner (ski area with two chairs, SW of Truckee, near top of one of America’s largest homeowner’s associations - nearly 6,500 properties and 25,000 members). Guy he was talking to offers lessons at Granlibakken a small ski area near Tahoe City I worked at (and got laid off twice) in Fall of 1975, and it's where a niece is getting married the first Sat. this Feb.
I have no big trips planned for the upcoming season only a reservation for Limelight at Mammoth for Sun-Wed nights of SkiTalk Gathering. Location is good for my wife as it's walking distance to the village if she wants to quit skiing early/start late and/or walk to/from gondola base. Price is OK, besides the $35/day valet parking, especially considering I'm not paying for a flight or rental car. It includes breakfast and local shuttles.
Florida friend has reservation beginning at So. Tahoe on Feb. 21 at timeshare across street from gondola base and usually has an extra parking pass for me so I plan to ski Sierra and Heavenly at least a couple of days before driving to Mammoth early on Sunday Feb 28. Note to @Sbooker that Tahoe is also an area to avoid during week after President's Day as most Bay Area schools are out.
I'm already doing more bike riding to be strong for the upcoming season when I will again try to get 60 if not 70 days. I'm thinking about spending a lot of March in So. Tahoe then hoping to stay with friend at Kirkwood in April when ski lease on his place ends. If conditions are good, I may try to get to Bachelor and also get to UT again. I could end up losing my Mustang snowcat seat for this following season as it was not that good in Feb. 2026 when I did not have great partners and not sure I can find someone else.
I listened to @Stormskier's podcast on Fixing America's Broken Ski School Model. He should try to get to Tahoe again before talking about mountains and ski areas there. He was confused at the beginning about location of Maggie's Peak, then in the middle mixed up Donner Ski Ranch (5 chairs, across old Donner Pass Rd from Sugar Bowl) with Tahoe Donner (ski area with two chairs, SW of Truckee, near top of one of America’s largest homeowner’s associations - nearly 6,500 properties and 25,000 members). Guy he was talking to offers lessons at Granlibakken a small ski area near Tahoe City I worked at (and got laid off twice) in Fall of 1975, and it's where a niece is getting married the first Sat. this Feb.
I have no big trips planned for the upcoming season only a reservation for Limelight at Mammoth for Sun-Wed nights of SkiTalk Gathering. Location is good for my wife as it's walking distance to the village if she wants to quit skiing early/start late and/or walk to/from gondola base. Price is OK, besides the $35/day valet parking, especially considering I'm not paying for a flight or rental car. It includes breakfast and local shuttles.
Florida friend has reservation beginning at So. Tahoe on Feb. 21 at timeshare across street from gondola base and usually has an extra parking pass for me so I plan to ski Sierra and Heavenly at least a couple of days before driving to Mammoth early on Sunday Feb 28. Note to @Sbooker that Tahoe is also an area to avoid during week after President's Day as most Bay Area schools are out.
I'm already doing more bike riding to be strong for the upcoming season when I will again try to get 60 if not 70 days. I'm thinking about spending a lot of March in So. Tahoe then hoping to stay with friend at Kirkwood in April when ski lease on his place ends. If conditions are good, I may try to get to Bachelor and also get to UT again. I could end up losing my Mustang snowcat seat for this following season as it was not that good in Feb. 2026 when I did not have great partners and not sure I can find someone else.
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Yes I think that is true weather wise. The Aussie resorts are bigger but they are also much more crowded I believe. Neither have any terrain close to the level of Mammoth or Taos, or even of Stowe or Mad River Glen. And of course resorts like that can thrive if they have no better competition within drive distance and are competently run.
Yes I'm spoiled. That's over half the drive distance to Mammoth for ski areas that are a cut below Big Bear and Mountain High.
Sbooker is on another level of inconvenience as he has to fly to either the Aussie resorts or NZ. The Aussie resorts are similar in scale/vertical to Big Bear/Mountain High but a bit more interesting as they extend above tree line.
NZ has some exciting terrain but also challenging snow reliability issues.
The Chilean prices are in their currency with the the dot meaning in thousands. So yes assume close enough in USD without the zeroes as the exchange rate is 965 to 1.
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Adam and his three Iron Blosam friends are going next year but with family obligations would have problems going every year. They need to find people for at least the even numbered years. @EMSC and @ChrisC are the most obvious candidates. @snowbird surfer would appreciate Mustang also. The caveat is that you must commit and deposit 25% a year in advance, but demand is high enough you can't avoid that. The 2028 seats will be gone by early March 2027 and not replaceable if no one signs up to keep them.
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Liz and I are going for what may be my cat skiing swan song at K3 Jan. 15-17. I've bought in enough to the El Nino hype that we have no destination trips planned for between when we get home from Canada and when we leave for Iron Blosam Week Mar. 6-13. Any Alps trip will be after Iron Blosam like this past year.
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Then drive from the airport to the hill which is realistically at least a few hours. The beauty of Queenstown is the comparatively short drive to the nearby resorts.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Yes, I keep suggesting it to my brother. But with his recent ACL surgery, family, and incredible FOMO/best-offer behavior, he's not great at committing too far out - 12+ months - unless he controls everything.
He can't reliably get to Japan/the Alps. Alaska worked great for April heli trips because he was semi-done for the season, and it allowed me personally to stagger trips.
His go-to locations besides Telluride include (note he buys a pass to Silverton each year):
- Jackson Hole - family's semi-adopted/third son lives there and is married to the town attorney
- Alta & Snowbird - easiest drive (6 hr, mostly desert/low country) for big snow
- British Columbia (Revelstoke, Kicking Horse) & Banff, AB - most often flying into Calgary
- Aspen - not too far, events, bands, etc
I don't want to tell you what he spends per year on transferable season passes for business/employees ($100k++), but the Vail/Epic relationship is insultingly worth nothing.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Fighting words...
While some may dismiss skiing in the Southeast, North Carolina actually boasts the highest-elevation ski mountains on the entire East Coast. The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains are every bit as scenic and impressive as Vermont's Green Mountains or New Hampshire's White Mountains.
February 20, 2010 - Saturday
Sugar Mountain
Beech
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That hasn't stopped you from impressive solo itineraries in the Alps and it shouldn't deter Mustang either. My first 4 Mustang trips were solo, and as you know camaraderie in these remote ski lodges is great.
jimk
Well-known member
Nice photos from NC. 2010, particularly the month of February, featured the best natural snow conditions I've ever experienced in the US Mid-Atlantic region. And I've been skiing here for 60 years! Even my home in the inner suburbs of Wash DC received 40 inches of snow in an eight day period!
Ah . . . that February. Only time I drove the 4WD pickup truck to Massanutten. I made it to lodging on the mountain on Friday morning before most northern VA highways shut down. The fact that the resort is right off US33 made it possible for locals to make the drive that Saturday morning. The resort does a great job keeping the private roads clear, mostly with pickup trucks with blades that ran all night during the blizzard.
Unlike at Snowshoe, it's okay to ski in the trees at Massanutten when there is enough natural snow. There is a glade between two blues on the lower mountain.
Massanutten on Saturday, February 6, 2010
Looks similar topography as the Aussie mountains. They are around 6000/7000 feet like ours?
Beech Mountain tops out at 5506 ft. Sugar is lower but has more vertical, 1200 ft.
I live 2.5 hours drive east of Sugar and Beech . . . at about 300 ft. The closest town is Boone, which is at 3333 ft (1016m). The Appalachian mountains are ancient and run from Alabama all the way into Canada. What people don't expect is that the highest peak is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina, 6,684 feet (2,037m). The highest peak in New Hampshire is Mt. Washington, 6288 ft (1917m).
ChrisC
Well-known member
Try telling a New Englander that the base elevations of the major North Carolina mountains (Beech, Sugar, Cataloochee) are higher than the summits of Stowe, Mad River, Killington, Jay, etc.
Altitude also affects the ski season: the NC mountains can open quite early for their latitude and have excellent snowmaking systems (especially compared to other mid-Atlantic ski areas), but they melt out quickly in March.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Oh sure. With Europe, I never really expected anyone to want to come along.
However, with the BC Lodges, I assume my brother wants to do it - especially for a shorter 3-4 day stay.
However, he quickly goes down the rabbit hole of - maybe Geoff wants to come? Or Josh? or???
Reality: No, Greg - you cannot invite all your damn friends to a BC cat lodge for prime ski weeks/weekends. Openings
Then he messes around with other places like Retallack or White Grizzly...or now very expensive heli day-skiing around Revelstoke. I mean, if left unchecked: he is the one who scheduled 5 different heli-cat ski days in BC --> which essentially was 5 hours of avy "training" --> I paid for almost a day of assembling my probe and burying my beacon.
Another issue: He said --- well, Chatter Creek can be really expensive. Well, your buddies turn it into adult Burning Man for a week (4-days) and take over their own cat?! I am sure things are stupid when you decorate a lodge, cat, booze, etc., and .....you can get to 2x the daily price. And don't start on tipping?! Like Burning Man, prices can multiply if you are going to live in a luxury camper, have 10 outfits to wear, camp themeses, art cars, etc....
The stupidity gets too much.
However, I don't want to fight and lose my free Telluride ski pass and current-year demo skis, or get pushed off the side of a mountain. So I try to accommodate, but emphasize it's now or never.
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Yes. I first skied with him at Massanutten over ten years ago. Back then he was tired out after a hour or so skiing the only short black that was open at the top (of two that existed then). He and I were on the Moderation Team together the last few years EpicSki existed.
Have seen dbostedo briefly at Taos a few times in recent years, but we haven't skied together for assorted reasons. Fair to say my skiing has improved since you took me and Bill out the Cirque a while back.
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