New to the East

moresnowplease

moresnowplease

New member
Hello everyone. Im relocating to NYC from Mammoth Lakes CA. Although I will prolly make it back out to Mammoth a couple times due to the fact i still have my MVP season pass I plan to do most of my skiing in the East this season due to budget and such. Before I lived in mammoth (3 years) I used to drive up from LA for the 5 hour journey so I am sorta used to that. I dont know what the roads are like in VT or if you need chains ever. I drove a 4wd but recently sold it. Id like to take advantage of the Ski train this season as i wont have a car. So I was wondering if anyone had any tips on where to ski using the train. Budget lodging or share houses? Im prepared for a much different snow experience and I did grow up in Michigan skiing trash heaps and up north at places like Boyne. How often do we get powder days in the east? Ive been so spoiled living in Mammoth for 3 years!

Thanks in advance for any tips.
 
Don't worry about chains. Buy a good set of snow tires and you should be all set. Not sure what type of train service is offered in New England. Perhaps something out of NYC goes to Okemo or Killington areas? Your best bet is to have a car that gets good MPG and be ready to drive to Northern Vermont. Mountains north of I-89 and west of I-91 get the best and most snow. So Stowe, Smuggler's Notch, Jay Peak, Bolton Valley, etc. will be your best options. Sugarbush and Mad River Glen also get good servings of fresh powder though generally not as much as points further north. Other areas get plenty of powder but are not in the same league and are more prone to the dreaded eastern rain/freeze cycles.

If powder is your game, get used to skiing tight tree shots in the woods off the map. Powder on map trails lasts one or maybe two runs at best except mid-week or days when the highways are nearly impassible. Powder is not as frequent/deep in the east as the west, so half a foot brings out the hordes. I call half a foot of fresh a powder day and can average 50% powder days during a 40+ day season without even getting out every dump. Be ready to burn vacation days on short notice when a storm is coming in. We normally get at least three and often six to ten or more "big" days over a foot. Often times many of those "big" days happen before areas have opened or after they have closed, so being willing to hike helps.

Traffic on powder days is as much of an issue as how much we get. I will take half a foot with no competition all day over one foot with lines on every run from open to close. So think about going to smaller or lesser known areas when the big boys are packed to the gills. Again, mid-week vacation days are best and look for storms "off the radar" of metro area skiers for best results. Often times, Northern Vermont gets clipped with some surprise upslope and you can ski a powder day while most metro skiers don't even know it is snowing in the mountains. Or even better... it is raining in the city when it is dumping in the mountains, those are the best of days. Lesser traveled powder days are best hit before Christmas or late March into early April when even seasoned powder hounds are slacking.

Finally, weather is the ultimate factor in the east and you'll need to be ready to brave the elements for powder. Most powder dumps are accompanied by fearsome winds that shut lifts down (hint). The wind is usually even worse on the back side of events that bring cold Canada air down with the winds. Blue bird powder days are a rare thing.

My powder day reports may give you a good idea of what it takes to milk an east coast season for all the powder that it is worth. I miss a lot of days in December and January due to work and the last two seasons I have been somewhat injury prone so I don't get all the good days and some years are better than others. You'll notice a lot of sticks, trees, and tight slots in the pictures which is about what you'll need to get after if you want good powder with any frequency.

Welcome and good luck!
 
great accurate advice by steve. the best thing(s) thati can offer is simply to be flexible if you can. driving to mammoth for 5 hours seemed worth it to you. that's good. driving that 5 hours to one hill that offers a ton of terrain and snow is good too. if you drive that 5 hours and it isn't snowing, but is to the north which may take you 7 hours, well, that's not as good. from nyc, you can drive 5 hours to areas that steve mentioned that get 300+ inches of snow and 400+ is not unheard of. the terrain may not be of the size and grandeur of mammoth, but i bet more often than not, the snow will be of a lighter density and visability a bit better more often than not. another great thing about new england is that often times storms miss northern areas altogether and places south and east of 89 get a foot and you've saved yerself some driving and gotten the goods while a place like jay is hardpacked. that happened a few times or more this winter. the bonus to southern/smaller areas as steve said are less crowded on pow days leaving more fresh for you. sometimes maine gets it and other times vermont gets it. it's not too tough to ski fresh pow weekly and sometimes daily if you move around from week to week. every week i go where the snow is, and i avoid northern vermont areas at all costs due to overcrowding for it and the drive and i only ski mid week non holiday. 119 days this year and counting and i live on the coast of nh. definitely get a car if you can.

skiing in the east is way better than most would imagine. helps to be flexible. below is a link to sunday river's website video page. sunday river would be a bit farther for you. this hill is not widely known for it's abundant pow, which to me is a good thing as there's a bit less competition for it. look through some vids here. the feb 23rd one is a good one and i'm skiing in it later on and at the end of the vid. the mountain got 4 feet in less than a week. you have choices, that's fer sure.

http://sundayriver.com/TheMountain/Moun ... index.html

rog
 
From NYC you will have to rethink your strategy about skiing. It's a question of quality vs. quantity unfortunately.

You can hit the catskills and southern vt. fairly easily using the ski bus (sorry, no train.) I'm not a huge fan of the catskills, and much prefer to make it to the daks, or central/nothern vt. Powder in the north east is all about flexibility. You can hit often if you are free and have a car, but if you are like me, i.e. have a schedule, you pretty much plan your trips ahead of time. That being said, the are windows where the snow will be pretty good, and you can head up and just nail it right. There are also ski clubs, which own properties in locales such as sugarbush, killington, etc... With those you have to pay an annual fee, clean and cook, but often people carpool up. It's also a great way to meet people.

If I may make a suggestion; since you are now going to be in NYC, rather than go to Mammoth, which would be one helluva schlep, go to SLC. It is easier in many respects than getting to N'VT. You have what I would guess is about a 1/3 chance of nailing Utah when there's a fairly substantial storm. It is very easy to take a long weekend in Utah, and inexpensive, as you have the ability to stay in the valley. You can do it 2 or 3 times a winter, for a total of 12-15 days. It may not be a lot of days, but those days tend to be high quality. You can also supplement your "out west" days, with north eastern weekends. Reasonably, you should be able to get about 25 days in, of which you can expect (with Utah/out west included in the final tally) about 5-8 powder days.

Again, this is based from NYC. I'm sure your ratio of powder to ski days would be higher if you were moving to someplace further north and more centrally located as far as skiing is concerned. Again, flexibility is king.
 
Thanks for all the tips you guys!

I wont have a car for awhile is there a rideshare deal around here? Seems the train is only good for Killington?
 
Look up on google NYC ski clubs, there are a few. I'm a member of diamond dogs, which offers bus service. They offer functions where you can meet like minded people and pull together a ride share. Often if you're willing to pay gas you can swing a ride. The clubs also get discounts on tix. There are a few clubs that own cabins which you can use. I forgot which one but I think it's called the swiss ski club, but don't quote me on it.

As far as diamond dog is concerned, there are day bus' to okemo, hunter and wyndham. They leave the city from multiple locations every fri, sat, sun. They leave around 5 or 6 and leave the resorts at 4 or so... Good luck on your move, if you need any help whether it's ski related or not please don't hesitate to ask.
 
I'm not sure if it runs any more, but I thought there was train service from NYC to Rutland VT. If that's still the case, I think there is bus service that runs from Rutland to Killington & Pico. Of course, if you rent a car once in Rutland (no idea of the feasibility of doing that on a Friday night once you are at the bus station), you can then drive 25 minutes to Killington/Pico, 45 minutes to Okemo, or approx 1.5 hours to Sugarbush.

Hmmmm, I see the "Ethan Allen Train" (NYC to Rutland) is/was a subject of some debate :-s
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20 ... 9/0/NEWS01
 
I know someone who works on the upper east side and has a nearby studio apartment. She also has a house in Waterbury VT and regularly skis Stowe and the Mad River Valley. Her solution is to leave her car at the Burlington airport and take a Jetblue flight from JFK. Aren't you burning almost an entire day in travel time in each direction on the ski train?
 
Marc_C":r6gccxif said:
I know someone who works on the upper east side and has a nearby studio apartment. She also has a house in Waterbury VT and regularly skis Stowe and the Mad River Valley. Her solution is to leave her car at the Burlington airport and take a Jetblue flight from JFK. Aren't you burning almost an entire day in travel time in each direction on the ski train?
Click to expand...

Thats part of reason why I advocate going to SLC when you have fly from here: day of skiing. When you think of it, it's quite remarkable that SLC is about as convenient N'VT if not more.
 
Marc_C":33cised8 said:
I know someone who works on the upper east side and has a nearby studio apartment. She also has a house in Waterbury VT and regularly skis Stowe and the Mad River Valley. Her solution is to leave her car at the Burlington airport and take a Jetblue flight from JFK. Aren't you burning almost an entire day in travel time in each direction on the ski train?
Click to expand...
Thats an optimal plan. Unfortunatly I sold my 90 trooper up here in Mammoth. the Economy is drive people out in droves up here. So it will be a bit before Im back on my feet.
I sorta like the train idea even though it does eat up some time. I always like to stay more than a weekend and ski weekdays. Problem is Killington feels like a pretty crowded spot and Im really wanting to check out MRG and Jay. Im pleasently suprised as to how many resorts there are and the vert drop in the east. Its not like the west but you get more o2 rather thank skiing down from 11k or hiking that. Jay reminds me of a place out side Los Angeles called MT Baldy. Awesome terrain and family owned. These bus deals sound decent too. LA did that up to mammoth. Eventually we just ended up car pooling and splitting gas. Mammoth Mountain has a pretty good forum and it was a great way to post ride shares etc.

Either way it all sounds like a new adventure to me which Im always down for. Im really excited to explore the east as ive not been any further than NY City or Philly where my daughter lives.

I will miss skiing till June/ july, lift operated. Mammoth is good like that. Not to mention hiking it year around in the Sierra. But hey...gotta balance out life sometimes.

Again thanks for the tips.
 
rfarren":xj5eyftk said:
Marc_C":xj5eyftk said:
I know someone who works on the upper east side and has a nearby studio apartment. She also has a house in Waterbury VT and regularly skis Stowe and the Mad River Valley. Her solution is to leave her car at the Burlington airport and take a Jetblue flight from JFK. Aren't you burning almost an entire day in travel time in each direction on the ski train?
Click to expand...

Thats part of reason why I advocate going to SLC when you have fly from here: day of skiing. When you think of it, it's quite remarkable that SLC is about as convenient N'VT if not more.
Click to expand...

Ive been thinking the same thing. I skied a ton in Utah although we did drive the 12 hours from LA. But once your in town lodging in SLC or Sandy can be found cheap. Not to mention Snowbasin and Ogden. One of my favorite resorts. And Utah offers some pretty rad ticket deals. Im more apt to hit big or little cottonwood rather than park city. although the canyons has some rad BC gates.

Why am I rambling on so? ](*,)
 
rfarren":389f9ds3 said:
Also avoid "wicked"... you don't want to be mistaken for a new englander at all cost. :p
Click to expand...


Dont worry about wicked. Its always an awkward moment when i someone says that to me.

So give me some east coast adjectives.
 
To be honest I'm not sure I can comment on it. I don't know which words I habitually use as descriptive adjectives. I say amazing, awesome, sick, but I don't think those are NYC specific. You will hear "mad" or "ill" every now and then but I don't think I would use those. Rather than "dude" you often hear "boss." There are local words and weird things like waiting on line, not in line. Your stairs in front for building are called stoops. If you hang out on your stoop you are "stooping it." You hear a lot of yiddish as part of the vernacular, even by those who aren't jewish. For example, " I prefer to go to SLC to ski rather than Northern Vermont because it is less of a schlep."
 
rfarren":3qcdim62 said:
There are local words and weird things like waiting on line, not in line.
Click to expand...
That one makes me reach for my gun... it's said throughout the NYC region. I have no clue how it originated and why it's perpetuated. Even highly educated people use it. ](*,)

I've got plenty of NYC-area ski tips, but my troll radar is on high-alert after the OP's use of the long-outdated "rad." I'm not contributing until it's been proven that this guy isn't an alias.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top