2021-22 Season Plans & Delta Variant

jamesdeluxe":1kxjoa1g said:
Both you and I are fans of the half-board option at Alps resorts -- which is what Club Med offers, along with its other all-in services. I wonder why that format never got more traction in the U.S.?

Hotel food (often big chains) in the US often falls short of restaurant food. A lot of the owner operated places in the Alps (required in Austria) put considerable effort into their dining quality.

Including 5 days guiding is a big attraction of Club Med too.
 
jamesdeluxe":2rqnpb71 said:
Tony Crocker":2rqnpb71 said:
Any Euro plans for James yet?
I've instinctively been waiting for a FF-award sale; however, that may not happen as the airlines try to avoid further losses. The goal this season is to go to the Alps at least once/hopefully twice and/or an Indy Pass visit to central Idaho.

I have been seeing lots of low $300s airfares to Geneva, Zurich and Munich. No FF deals - but American seems to permanently have awards around 45k round trip to Europe in winter.
 
I didn't see any airfare bargains when I booked our Alps trip a few weeks ago. But maybe that's because the dates are March 20 - Apr. 29.

And Delta wants at least 70K miles for award travel to Europe, so that's what we did.
 
ChrisC":ieagkzo4 said:
No FF deals - but American seems to permanently have awards around 45k round trip to Europe in winter.
It's great that AA has significantly lower FF-award levels. Unfortunately, I've been trying for years to use about 120K AAdvantage miles and there's always some challenge involved. In a search a few minutes ago, it appears that AA no longer has nonstops to Zurich or Geneva between EWR or JFK, which is odd given that JFK has been a major AA international hub for as long as I can remember. The only options involve changing planes at LHR, which adds several hundreds of dollars in airport fees and the unpleasantness of changing terminals at Heathrow.

Oddly enough, AA has convenient nonstops with only $65 in airport fees to ZRH from Philadelphia; however, PHL is 90 minutes from where I live.
 
ChrisC":i3c6qwt8 said:
American seems to permanently have awards around 45k round trip to Europe in winter.
jamesdeluxe":i3c6qwt8 said:
The only options involve changing planes at LHR, which adds several hundreds of dollars in airport fees and the unpleasantness of changing terminals at Heathrow.
As mentioned in the other thread, I cashed in a 45K roundtrip to Toulouse on AA through LHR with only $110 in airport fees; however, it's going to require a bit of domestic schlepping: a train to the Philadelphia airport for the departing flight and returning to JFK (about 45 minutes away by car on the weekend). Oh well, better than paying the $1,100 fare.
 
I usually used
jamesdeluxe":14b8n2hy said:
a train to the Philadelphia airport
when going home from college. I don't think EWR was hooked up to the train system in the 1970's, so at least one bus connection was required.
 
I grew up in New Jersey about 20 minutes south of EWR. The attitude then outside of NYC was “what’s a train?”
 
Tony Crocker":36agh0nu said:
I don't think EWR was hooked up to the train system in the 1970's, so at least one bus connection was required.

Correct.

Marc_C":36agh0nu said:
I grew up in New Jersey about 20 minutes south of EWR. The attitude then outside of NYC was “what’s a train?”

Weird.

I grew up about 20 minutes west of EWR. Seemingly half the town commuted by train into the city every weekday morning via the Hoboken PATH. I took the train to get to school every day in junior high and high school. As a free-range child of the early 80s, the train was how I managed to get into lots of trouble in the city.
 
I made some advanced trip plans for this season and hoping covid won't ruin it this time. I didn't ski last season for a variety of reasons. I'm on Epic Pass next season.

Trips planned for next season
  • Christmas and New Year: Park City. I know there is snow risk but we have some non-skiers in our group and PC will keep them entertained.
  • MLK weekend: Park City
  • President's day week: Northstar. My daughter has the whole week off
  • Mar 11 to 14: booked flights to Spokane. Hoping to check out Schweitzer or Silver Mountain.
 
I'd think about doing that President's Week out of Spokane. It will surely be less crowded than Tahoe, plus as you get into March, most of those Spokane driveable areas go to spring conditions due to low altitude and varied exposures.

Kirkwood and the upper half of Heavenly have better odds of retaining winter snow mid-March than the interior Northwest.
 
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Ikon Base Pass + Greek Peak Pass=
  • Pre-booking Thanksgiving at Greek Peak, NY which should be the best ever.... Or at least the water park and Mtn Coaster should be OK. At least it's a good year to not ski Colo for Turkey day anyway...
  • A few ski races around Colo mostly Jan & Feb
  • Early March at PowMow and Snowbasin for my annual guys trip (probably iffy that late on those exposures, but it is what it is. I'm only ~1/14th of the decision)
  • Late March Spring Break is probably "Freedom Pass" skiing at Sunlight, Eagle Point and maybe add in paid skiing at Powderhorn, Snowmass or elsewhere. Or maybe even visiting some Utah National parks between...
I'm just hoping to get some time back to do Skiing and other things at all. Been super-crazy for many months for me recently.
 
I'd think about doing that President's Week out of Spokane. It will surely be less crowded than Tahoe, plus as you get into March, most of those Spokane driveable areas go to spring conditions due to low altitude and varied exposures.

Kirkwood and the upper half of Heavenly have better odds of retaining winter snow mid-March than the interior Northwest.

Spokane flights are on Southwest so if the conditions are not good, we will drop the trip. I plan to book lodging last minute as I don't think those are peak dates. We might end up doing Kirkwood or Heavenly instead last minute.

I agree with Spokane for a President's day week trip, and I might do that next year when I get the Ikon pass as Schweitzer is now on Ikon. This year we have booked ski-in ski-out lodging at Northstar so it's a done deal at this point. I read that Tahoe tends to be not as crowded on pass-restricted days. During the week, we will see how the crowds are. It might even be an hour of skiing in the morning and an hour in the afternoon type of ski trip during the weekdays for me. My past experience is not many people don't show up early in the morning and most of them don't ski in the last hour. I tend to ski the whole day as I don't ski that many days in total.

I just hope there is no snowfall during that week in Tahoe as I think there will be more crowds if that happens.
 
I just hope there is no snowfall during that week in Tahoe as I think there will be more crowds if that happens.
Snowfall during President's week usually seems to hit on the worst day(s) for travel. Surprised to see "pass-restricted days" are "Feb. 18-27 this season". My wife and I have (Vail) Tahoe Value Pass which have blackout days plus unrestricted Ikon Passes.

Did you get a refund from last year's Epic passes? Vail quickly refunded my wife's Tahoe Value Pass last year based on our county's stay-at-home order. But it took a long time and a lot of follow-up to get Rollover Credit from 2019-20 pass which she only used three days. Then they screwed up and credited too much.

I hope to get back to 50 days this season after being in the low 30s the last two seasons and being over 50 the four seasons before that. We hope to re-schedule non-skiing trip to Spain that was canceled in May 2020 for May 2022 which would limit my Spring skiing. I have two long road trips planned for this season. Both are 15 or more days They are:

1. Jan 19 to Feb 3 to join SkiTalk mini-Gathering 1/23-1/28. This one would be in 4x4 truck camper as I didn't like refund policies on Taos lodgings and I think my camper could handle AZ and NM winters as previous owner spent a lot of winter weekends at Kirkwood plus Taos allows RVs and we could take out dog. Plans include Big Bear (or Arizona Snow Bowl depending on conditions) on way there, ski week with six days of AM instruction for both of us in Taos, then Santa Fe (not skiing), Petrified Forest, Meteor and/or Sunset Craters, Grand Canyon and Joshua Tree on way home. But I'm not committing to ski week or Taos until they get enough snow for Kachina to be open. Ski days = 7/8

2. Feb 20 to Mar 6 or March 7 or ? to join SkiTalk Aspen Gathering 2/27-3/4. This trip would be in 19 year-old SUV that now has 275K miles. Plan is to ski Tahoe Sun mostly PM/Mon mostly AM (but would have to be Squalpine based on Vail blackouts), Deer Valley Tue, Steamboat Wed (when my wife would arrive in late afternoon on Southwest flight)/Thu, Copper Fri, maybe Sunlight Sat, before Gathering. I have cancelable/modifiable reservations in Carbondale for 6 nights as I may be able to stay with friends in Basalt a couple of nights. Prices to stay IN Aspen have gone up a lot since I last stayed there and place I last stayed at now requires 7 night minimum. Ski days on trip could be as many as 14.

I had planned to return home via Zion and Las Vegas which google maps says is shortest way home, but may join group at Snowbird depending on weather and how long our son can watch our house and take care of our dog.
 
But I'm not committing to ski week or Taos until they get enough snow for Kachina to be open.
You will not get much notice on that opening, maybe a couple of days. Opening dates for Kachina chair for its 7 years of existence:
Feb. 20, 2015
Jan. 20, 2016
early Feb, 2017
never in 2018
late Jan, 2019
Jan. 13, 2020
Feb. 13, 2021
So 2 of the past 7 years for Jan. 23. I think long term data would support about that incidence, in the 30% range. La Nina might lower those odds a little. If Taos is worth skiing, Santa Fe probably would be a worth a ski day too. I'd guess most skiers would say it's marginally better than Arizona Snowbowl.

Plans include Big Bear (or Arizona Snow Bowl depending on conditions) on way there.
La Nina is bad news for both of those. Maybe not as relevant for Big Bear since that's mostly manmade.
 
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If Taos is worth skiing, Santa Fe probably would be a worth a ski day too. I'd guess most skiers would say it's marginally better than Arizona Snowbowl.
Plans include Big Bear (or Arizona Snow Bowl depending on conditions) on way there.
La Nina is bad news for both of those. Maybe not as relevant for Big Bear since that's mostly manmade.
I have one day previously at both Arizona Snow Bowl (Jan 1987 - my wife's first day ever) and Santa Fe (Dec 1992 - don't remember coverage being as low as Taos and especially Angel Fire on same trip) and none is Southern CA. The possibility of low snow is why I don't want to commit to non-cancelable reservations in Taos and will do camper roadtrip if conditions look good although it could be too late to get into Ski Week.

The only reservation I have made is for campsite in Joshua Tree, but I made it one night too early so to make it there would mean doing more stops on way to Taos vs. way home. With Senior Parks Pass, campsite is $10 which is also the cost to change it (and great site I booked is not available the next night). Worst case, I could find dispersed camping or spend night in Casino parking lot outside the park,
 
I was mistaken on blackout days for Tahoe Value and Local passes over holidays. I took "LIFT TICKETS LIMITED DURING HOLIDAY PERIODS
Secure holiday access with a pass. Lift tickets will be limited Dec. 25 - Jan. 2, Jan. 14-17, and Feb. 18-27 this season
" to mean blackouts had been extended to cover those dates. But further checking shows limited pass blackout days remain at Nov 26-27, Dec 26-31, Jan 14 and Feb 18-19. Walkup tickets may not be available during longer periods I quoted from https://www.epicpass.com/passes/tahoe-value-pass.aspx above.
 
Snowfall during President's week usually seems to hit on the worst day(s) for travel. Surprised to see "pass-restricted days" are "Feb. 18-27 this season". My wife and I have (Vail) Tahoe Value Pass which have blackout days plus unrestricted Ikon Passes.

Did you get a refund from last year's Epic passes? Vail quickly refunded my wife's Tahoe Value Pass last year based on our county's stay-at-home order. But it took a long time and a lot of follow-up to get Rollover Credit from 2019-20 pass which she only used three days. Then they screwed up and credited too much.
I did not get a refund. I contacted them but they said that you have to apply within 30 days of the event. I had not applied and I knew it would be a lot of work to apply for the refund with no guarantee of getting it. I simply gave up as I was busy trying to balance work/family with my daughter's school being remote.

Interesting to see that the lift tickets sales are going to be restricted. I'm going to ski pretty much all the restricted dates on that list this year.
 
I wasn't planning to ski in France until the second week in March (almost four months away) but this would be a dealbreaker for me -- I'd reroute to Switzerland or Italy.

The French government issued a new national protocol requiring masks in lifts lines and on chairlifts at the country’s 250 ski areas this winter. The protocol does not require guests to provide immunization records for access, but the French Ski Areas Association has said that provision is subject to change if national infection rates climb.
 
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The French government issued a new national protocol requiring masks in lifts lines and on chairlifts at the country’s 250 ski areas this winter.
That's not a pleasant development, but we endured it last season. It was a relief at Mammoth for masks to be required only indoors and on the shuttle buses. We are committed to Val Thorens for a week, so can't do much about that.

I reluctantly see the logic due to the dependence upon enclosed trams and high capacity gondolas in the Alps. OTOH, in countries with widespread vaccine availability perhaps businesses and vaccinated people should be allowed to lead normal lives while the willfully ignorant continue to compete for Darwin Awards.
 
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I reluctantly see the logic due to the dependence upon enclosed trams and high capacity gondolas in the Alps.
I have no problem putting a mask on for the isolated gondola or tram ride out of the base; however, having to don them for every chair like last season (even though I've had my third shot)? I'm hoping that there'll be a positive change in the pandemic situation before my March visit, but if not, I'd probably postpone that target region for a future trip.
 
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