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James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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middlebury Snowbowl, Vermont
Love Middlebury. It is tiny though.
Their Mt shop is the only shop I've seen that put "Rust Removal" on the price list of ski services. ogsmile If you have people interested in nordic, their cross country track is tops I hear.
 

Bad Bob

I golf worse than I ski.
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Dec 2, 2015
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5,843
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West of CDA South of Canada
Inland PNW has a a couple of more that might work well for you.
First one is a little more upscale, but just suffer. Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID is perhaps the easiest access ski area that really gets snow. Kellogg is an old mining town that is still trying to reinvent itself as something else. Short lines especially on a weekday. Fairly cheap tickets. I had a season pass here for a couple of seasons. Good terrain.
49* North (Chewellah, WA) has their RV spaces is cheap and not very many people go there. Really easy access with an RV. The town even has a really funky little indian casino, so cheap food. Outstanding low angle tree skiing and a lot of acreage to explore. If you get in a line it means the lift was stopped. It plays well with Red Mountain and Whitewater they are all within two hours. There are some good skiers their but you will rarely see them cause they are out playing in the trees. Hit 49 on a Friday if you can, they are closed Wednesday and Thursday it it has been snowing you'll be laying down fresh tracks pretty much all day. This is my home mountain so on 2nd thought, you won't like it.

Go South. Soldier Mountain outside of Fairfield, ID. Only 2 old chairs about 1,500 vert. Easy drive with your RV. About $30 lift tickets, and $200 will buy you an all day seat of cat skiing, What looks like very easy to get at side country too included with your lift ticket. I have only skied there 1 day a Sunday, skied first tracks at 3 PM on a Sunday, so crowds are not an issue. This is the kind of place you might end up making turns with the owner (I did). This place is a hidden gem even from the dirtbags; it is way off the radar (they might not even have radar there). Fairfield looks like Steamboat probably did in the early 60's, I'm going back.
 
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TS
Analisa

Analisa

Making fresh tracks
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Dec 29, 2017
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First one is a little more upscale, but just suffer. Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID is perhaps the easiest access ski area that really gets snow. Kellogg is an old mining town that is still trying to reinvent itself as something else. Short lines especially on a weekday. Fairly cheap tickets. I had a season pass here for a couple of seasons. Good terrain.

Willing to compromise on Silver, but only if there's retro paraphernalia sporting the original, Jackass Ski Bowl name.
 

TonyPlush

Getting off the lift
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Jan 4, 2018
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492
Location
Minnesota
Seeking a few recommendations to add to my travel list.

Appreciates: laid-back, low-key spots. RV lots. Anything remotely similar to Baker or Whitewater. Beer served by the pitcher. Uncertainty whether the resort owns grooming equipment. A noticeable absence of GoPros on blue runs. Touchy cell phone service. Touchy plumbing. Slow fixed doubles. Very high population of old people and young children who ski very, very well. Great slackcountry terrain. Locals who ski said slack terrain with extremely heavy frame bindings and tele gear but are still wayyyy too fast to follow them out to the best goods. I've also got a particularly soft spot for Canada.

Tries to avoid: Nightlife. Shopping. Spas. Limitless blue groomers that all ski like groundhogs day. Bogner. Celebrity sightings. Social currency stemming from how expensive your kit is. Places reminiscent of Beaver Creek (with the exception of Cookie Time. 100% support for that).

Bridger's on the docket for March. Targhee and Alta pretty high on the list. We also loved little community hills like Loup Loup and Hoodoo. What other spots should be on our list?
Never personally been there, but from everything I've read, Mt. Bohemia in Michigan is as "dirtbag" as it gets.

Zero groomed runs. The "main village" is a series of yurts. And most of the mountain has no lifts, only school buses. It's high on my bucket list, but @Slim is the only one I know who's actually been there.
 

Posaune

sliding
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Mar 26, 2016
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1,912
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Bellingham, WA
Inland PNW has a a couple of more that might work well for you.
First one is a little more upscale, but just suffer. Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID is perhaps the easiest access ski area that really gets snow. Kellogg is an old mining town that is still trying to reinvent itself as something else. Short lines especially on a weekday. Fairly cheap tickets. I had a season pass here for a couple of seasons. Good terrain.
49* North (Chewellah, WA) has their RV spaces is cheap and not very many people go there. Really easy access with an RV. The town even has a really funky little indian casino, so cheap food. Outstanding low angle tree skiing and a lot of acreage to explore. If you get in a line it means the lift was stopped.

Skied both of these a couple of weeks ago. Both are very worthy. I was at 49 on a Sunday and we stopped along a run to adjust some equipment. The run was groomed, it was big and wide, and nobody skied by or was visible the entire time we were stopped. It blew my mind.
 

SSSdave

life is short precious ...don't waste it
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Sep 12, 2017
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Silicon Valley
Ashland has a super chill vibe, but is way too far south and low to have reliable snow. They didn't even open season before last.

Yes I see Mt Ashland is at mixed precipitation elevations for Pacific storms where snow levels average around 6000 feet. We receive numbers of storms about Tahoe where snow levels start out in warm sectors over 7000 feet before falling. The Mt Ashland base 6,383 feet, summit 7,533 feet, 1150 feet vertical. In that region of Southern Oregon, they make the most of what modest topography is available.

The base is similar to the base at Squaw Valley and the top is similar to the top of the Red Dog Lift. As at Squaw those elevations may not get much snow some seasons depending on where the jet stream is moving storms in from. At my prime resort Kirkwood, the base is 7.8k and top 9.8k.
 

ella_g

Getting off the lift
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Dec 4, 2016
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206
Brundage / Little Ski hill !! Great mini town to explore too. Second pebble creek. We were at Targhee last weekend, and they had $3.50 bison noodle soup. There seems to always be someone roasting a pig off in a quiet corner. We were in the general store and some guy stopped by with these big vats of beer he'd made and told the woman working to give out free cups and he'd come back at the end of the day to hear feedback on whether people liked it. Second Bogus basin too. We were there this weekend and it was mayhem but in a fun kind of way. Lots of skiers wearing fur dressed as vikings, lots of older people playing cribbage in the lodge, great nordic trails too and night nordic skiing. Skip if you get carsick the slightest bit, the access road is not fun. Awesome cheap 40s appliances / decor condos at the top of the mountain with lots of teeny tiny bunk beds if you ditch the RV for a night. They issue you a wheelbarrow to carry your stuff to your condo. White pine in pinedale wyoming is fun if you're in the area, but it's tiny. @tch is Berkshire east dirtbag? I havent been there since I was 11 but it seemed very state of the art :roflmao:
 

tch

What do I know; I'm just some guy on the internet.
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@tch is Berkshire east dirtbag? I havent been there since I was 11 but it seemed very state of the art :roflmao:
Well...It may well have been. But how long has it been since you were 11? That may answer your question right there.
 

wyowindrunner

Getting off the lift
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Aug 26, 2016
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430
Kelly Canyon outside of Ririe, Idaho (near Idaho Falls) family owned- and full of kids and families-4 old doubles- no ones worried about the bar being down here-closed on Sundays . If it is cold and there is recent snow it's a fun place- night skiing- Heise hot springs close. Can't believe no one has mentioned The Beav ( Beaver Mt) between Bear Lake (not a town a lake) and Logan Utah. Haven't been there in a few years but it's cool- can be full of college kids from Utah State. Discovery outside of Anaconda, MT and Lost Trail north of Salmon Idaho are a couple other off the beaten path spots. Red Lodge MT is the End of the Road- Literally- Beartooth Pass won't open until Memorial Day. But it's still a cool town even if they did institute a local sales tax a few years back. There are still no traffic lights in Carbon County, MT. And if Red Lodge has some decent snow there is some good, and tough skiing off the Cole Creek lift.
 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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Nov 17, 2015
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823
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Wyoming
Willing to compromise on Silver, but only if there's retro paraphernalia sporting the original, Jackass Ski Bowl name.

Well, I missed the Jackass days, but I did get to hit it when it was Silverhorn, before the gondie from town was installed. Driving up to the summit was white knuckle, and the saving grace was the roads were sanded with mining calcine from Bunker Hill. Like obsidian, it sure grabbed the tires, but sucked when you got it between the binding pad and your boots. Saw some very goofy stuff happen on the Shoo-fly run.
 
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James

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Never personally been there, but from everything I've read, Mt. Bohemia in Michigan is as "dirtbag" as it gets.

Zero groomed runs. The "main village" is a series of yurts. And most of the mountain has no lifts, only school buses. It's high on my bucket list, but @Slim is the only one I know who's actually been there.
That place looks great. This video is long, but freakishly entertaining. There's also women in it which, let's face it, for a dirtbag zone in the woods is unusual.

Well...It may well have been. But how long has it been since you were 11? That may answer your question right there.
lol, Aspen Highlands was once dirtbag also.
 

dbostedo

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Never personally been there, but from everything I've read, Mt. Bohemia in Michigan is as "dirtbag" as it gets.

Zero groomed runs. The "main village" is a series of yurts. And most of the mountain has no lifts, only school buses. It's high on my bucket list, but @Slim is the only one I know who's actually been there.
Lots of folks in the upper midwest seasonal thread (yes, there is one) probably know Bohemia.

@Dwight, @pete, @Gentry? Or maybe even @Tricia... anyone care to comment on mt. Bohemia?
 

James

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loveland and/or a-basin...........A-basin for sure. The only places on the I-70 road to riches......
There's history at Abay.
I think the year before last in May, (only skied there in May), I ran into someone I taught with in VT. He couldn't ski, he'd had a stroke, but came to eat at the bar. He told us about living in the top of the A frame in the 60's. Said it was miserably hot. Basically, it sucked but was cheap.

Then there was the women's group I ran into in the lodge one time. One of them was telling me about the lines off the East Ridge and the different names. She had a rope around her shoulder, but what really caught my eye was the name of her group embroidered on her jacket. "Psycho Bitches". Can't make that stuff up.

In some ways Loveland is more dirt bag. But it has a fancier snowcat to take you up the Ridge than Aspen Highlands, so....
When @mdf and I skied there we wanted to take the trail on the map that went under I 70. Just because. Everyone said it was a bad idea. Well we ended up asking a patroller. I can't remember exactly how he put it, but it was even worse than what the others had told us. So we abandoned the idea.
Here's patrol and people waiting for the last run of the year. That chair, #2 I think, would be replaced in the summer.
IMG_5156.JPG

Ridge Pass
IMG_5163.JPG
 

Daniel

Out on the slopes
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Jun 27, 2017
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Cottonwood Heights, Utah
Definitely Beaver Mountain up Logan Canyon near Logan, UT and Pebble Creek near Pocatello, ID. I've been to Mt. Bohemia a couple of times but not during ski season. I can't see leaving Utah to ski/ride in the U.P. Nice place to spend time during the summer and fall though. There are lots of black bears in the Keweenaw!
 

tball

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Nov 12, 2015
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Keep the CO tips coming. My Atlanta brother & sister in law are definitely the Aspen/Vail/Park City type, so we rotate trips out that way some years and love to tack on a "palate cleanser" day or two on the back end.
All of the Colorado resorts that stay open late essentially turn to dirtbags areas mid-April through closing. Unless it dumps, then you'll have a lot of new friends from Denver for a day but they will go back home quickly.

Mary Jane hasn't been mentioned and should be on the list for the late season. They are staying open into the first weekend of May and are slush bump heaven. They close down the WP side and it turns into the old MJ scene last few weeks.

Breck announced they will be staying open through May with some great terrain starting this year and going forward. The town remains livelier than most through mud-season, but if you are ever going to visit that would be the time.

Same with every big CO resort their last week or so of their season. The crowds are gone, the skiing is usually fantastic, prices are cheap, and the character of the resorts very much change starting in April.
 
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Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 13, 2015
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San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
Tahoe: Donner Ski Ranch or Soda Springs Mountain Resort, near from Sugar Bowl. Soda Springs is part of Powder Corporation but hasn't changed in 40 years. Nor has Donner Ski Ranch. Sugar bowl is definitely not dirtbag with nice terrain, good snow, lots of lifts and reasonable infrastructure - but it's independent.

Central CA: Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge and China Peak. And don't forget Badger pass in Yosemite.

LA: Mount Baldy. Fun hill a world away from LA. Unfortunately, the snow is too unreliable.

New Mexico: Cloudcroft. I didn't ski there as I went through late season and there wasn't a drop of snow but it looked interesting. Very small but with potential if it got a lot of snow. We drove past Angel Fire on a ski trip to Taos a couple decades ago and it looked promising but we didn't ski there. Taos was great and posh where we stayed.

Little resorts can be fun. But I wouldn't want to ski there exclusively.

Eric
 

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