Where to live?

[Geoff]

I would also object to the statement that "Whistler is ruined." The skiing is as good as ever, and if you want to do some of it without the crowds, they just opened 1,100 patrolled but not lift served acres for this purpose. Skiers are free to take or leave the other aspects of the resort depending upon one's tastes.

The first time I skied Whistler, the "village" was a half-dozen buildings that had been constructed at the site of the old town dump. Everything on the upper mountain was fixed-grip lifts and surface lifts. After a dump, you could trivially find untracked snow 2 or 3 days after a storm. Moguls were a rarity. All the tourons were over at mid-mountain Blackcomb which was a separate ski area at the time. The terrain you now access via the Glacier chair at Blackcomb was all back-country that was always powder. The terrain is unchanged but 2 million skier visits certainly hasn't helped the skiing surface.

 

[Geoff]

To Geoff: You might want to check out the "other" Portland in Oregon. Seattle is better for both sports but it sounds like the metro area is too big for your tastes.

Yep. I've spent quite a bit of time in Seattle over the years. 1980 Seattle was great but 2005 Seattle does nothing for me. Other than the airport a couple of times connecting to Vancouver, I've never been to the "other" Portland. If I'm moving to the PacNW, I'm moving to Vancouver. My sister has lived there for 20 years and it's one of my favorite cities in North America.

 

[frontrange]

I came home to Ohio after a trip to Montana this year. The return left me wondering why in the world I've lived in Ohio for 25 years. Vermont leaves me feeling the same way. Unfortunately I'm now at that time in life where the kids are going to college and the only real likelihood of a move is if I lost my job- the timing would be bad for that. So I'll likely rely on those few days a year that I can beg, borrow, or hijack my way to a big area. In between I make do with a few days in Western NY, Penn, or WV.

LA definitely would not be a fit for me. SLC would but I'd prefer one of the smaller towns such as Bozeman. Seattle would work- spent a winter there. In the east Burlington would jump to the top of the heap- besides the skiing Montreal is an easy drive for culture.

My choice though, would be to be somewhere that you check the weather report at night and in the morning- and drive no further than 2 hours to surefire powder. I'd blow off weekends and icy days and only ski the best snow. Snobby, but thats where the reward is for me. Spring days work as well. And I definitely wouldn't go jump on manmade ribbons of snow surrounded by uncovered terrain.

 

[Tony Crocker]

SLC is the slam-dunk winner by the criterion of the last paragraph. The longer Marc Guido stays there, the more obvious this will be to FTO readers. One week ago today was a good example. And if you get tired of competing with Altabird hotshots for freshies you can always drive a little farther (still max 1.5 hours) to someplace like Powder Mt. and have the hill mostly to yourself.

I would agree that Vancouver is the optimal location of the PNW.