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skiwagon

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Planning my first trip out west to either Colorado or Utah. It will be my son (age 11) and I only. Planning to fly out on February 28th and return on March 4th. These dates align with the school calendar on some days he is out. He is an expert level snowboarder and I'm an expert skier. I'm starting to see deals pop up online and and in magazines sync quite honestly I'm overwhelmed on what location to choose. We will ski 2.5 days (Thursday afternoon, all day Friday and Saturday, fly home to NC on Sunday). I need some advice on where to go that meets some items that are important to me, which are:

1. Accommodations in an area where it is lively with restaurants and shopping after we ski. Don't need a nightlife with an 11 year old, but a good energy and cool restaurants is something we enjoy. Walking access would be great so that I can enjoy some local beers.
2. Access to rental equipment. We will take our boots, rent skis/board once we get there.
3. Snowboard friendly for my son.
4. Accessible Drive from the airport.
5. Decent value. Not a cheapskate, but don't want to splurge on the Ritz.

If you have resort and/or hotel advice that would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you recommend a travel agency I'm open to that as well if it is necessary for a first timer.

Thank you in advance.
 

SkiSpeed

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When I read your post, my first thought was you have 2.5 days to ski and you'll want to maximize your ski time. In that case, UT works great with a large selection of ski areas, places to stay, and access to good rental equipment. Everything is close to SLC and its airport. You can also head up to Park City for more of a ski town experience. If you go to CO and fly to Denver, you'll have more travel time to get into the mountains. If you can fly to the Eagle County Airport, you are close to the Vail/Beaver Creek area and approx 90 min from Aspen! Have fun.
 

Core2

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Denver or SLC are your best choices. I know the Denver trip well so I can speak to that. Southwest has a hub in Denver so you can get some insanely cheap flights and they will let you fly your skis and gear for free as a checked bag. This is huge for me as I hate renting. The airport is a 2 hr drive from the main ski towns in good weather and I regularly fly in/out and ski on the same day. Silverthorne/Dillon or any of the towns around there are great places to stay and put you within striking distance of just about every ski area up there.
 

Philpug

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With your son being a snowboarder, take Deer Valley off the list.
 

Jim McDonald

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Park City seems like a no-brainer for your want list; maybe Breckinridge, tho that would be a longer drive from airport.
If you can live without the "ski town vibe," think about skiing Solitude/Brighton & Snowbird and staying down-canyon in Cottonwood Heights/Ft Union.
 

David Chaus

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You need a longer trip. 2 1/2 days isn't enough to scratch the surface of any of the areas "out West".
 

Sibhusky

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My first reaction was Park City because there's so much to do there in terms of shops and restaurants. Pretty sure my daughter was around that age when we went. We used a bus to get around to all the resorts.

But, 2.5 days? Really, stretch it out. You'll be just beat up from travel the first day, hardly able to enjoy things. So what if he misses a day or so of school? Mine's 30 now, finished college and grad school. Can tell you missing a few days of school is not a biggie. Yeah, the school will carry on, let them. I'm pretty sure we missed two to three days of school every year between the time she was seven and when she turned 16. (We moved here then, so she started missing for racing instead.)
 

peterm

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Like a few others, my first thought was that 2.5 days is too short. Even one more day will make quite a difference to your experience. +1 to Sibhusky's comments about skipping the odd school day.

Altitude is something to consider, particularly on a short trip. Park City is fine but even somewhere like Vail at ~8000 feet can require an adjustment period.
 

New2

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I agree with the consensus that it's worth lengthening the trip if you can. You say that you and your son are both experts... so I say go someplace where the marked, patrolled, avalanche-controlled terrain is challenging enough that neither of you is going to be tempted into extra-risky behaviors in an unfamiliar place. I'd be looking at Copper Mountain, Keystone/Arapahoe Basin, Telluride, Snowbird, or Snowbasin. You might have a blast at Park City or Breckenridge, but you might also find them too limited, so I'd recommend going elsewhere for a first trip.

<<1. Accommodations in an area where it is lively with restaurants and shopping after we ski. Don't need a nightlife with an 11 year old, but a good energy and cool restaurants is something we enjoy. Walking access would be great so that I can enjoy some local beers.>>

If you really do end up doing a quick turnaround trip like this, you don't really need a lot of restaurants, so you don't need somewhere as big as Breckenridge/Park City. The villages at Copper & Keystone are fun with enough options to entertain for a few days. Snowbird's a neat experience, basically everything's in the Cliff Lodge and the Snowbird Center, which are like enormous bunkers against the cold--but plenty or pretty good restaurants and a lot of stoke. Telluride's an awesome town with great dining. Snowbasin has good on-mountain food, but you'd need to lodge elsewhere (which would also make it the least expensive option, most likely)--I recommend historic 25th Street in Ogden as a hotel base if you go that route. Also various local beers at different spots at all these destinations (in Utah, draft beer is all 3.2%... but then, you're probably not looking to get drunk on this trip anyway).

<<2. Access to rental equipment. We will take our boots, rent skis/board once we get there.>>

Anywhere worth going for this trip will have rental options--multiple options in-town and at the mountain at everywhere discussed in the thread so far.

<<4. Accessible Drive from the airport.>>

Look at total travel time, too... depends partly on where you're starting from in NC. From Charlotte, travel to/from Telluride through Montrose airport isn't bad... otherwise just focus on Denver and/or Salt Lake (assuming you have nonstop flights to SLC).

<<5. Decent value. Not a cheapskate, but don't want to splurge on the Ritz.>>

Staying slopeside or within walking distance of the lifts will definitely make the trip more enjoyable, but it comes at a cost. If prices for lodging on the mountain are too high, I think Snowbasin is a hands-down winner... somewhere cool to stay that has easy access to/from the slopes (Dillon or Silverthorne, CO or Midvale or Sandy, UT are much less interesting, and the traffic heading up each morning is worse). Ogden's Ski 3 deal (http://www.visitogden.com/ski-ogden/ski3/) can help with lift tickets, too, if you want to explore multiple spots (although a word of warning--in a very bad winter a couple years ago, Nordic Valley closed mid-February and never re-opened--unlikely, but possible).


Another thought... while I don't recommend pushing yourselves too hard, especially with the altitude gain, you might want to look at options where you can ski Thursday later than 4:00 or 4:30. Keystone has the best night skiing options of the resorts mentioned--multiple lifts and runs. Park City has good night skiing, but I'm not sure whether it's open Thursday nights. Snowbird lights its bunny hill, with free night skiing for people staying at the Cliff Lodge. With the Ogden Ski 3 deal, your Nordic Valley ticket is good until 8:00 pm and their lighted terrain can provide a nice warmup.
 

TonyC

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Yes, extend the trip. I was pretty strict about my avid skiing son missing school in high school, but at age 11 I'd recommend taking the opportunity to do it now.

If you really are experts, you want the lion's share of your ski time at Alta/Snowbird on a trip with these convenience parameters. Nothing within easy drive distance of Denver comes close in terms of scope of expert terrain. Plus the much higher snowfall if you get lucky.

In Salt Lake you will have:
1) reasonably priced lodging
2) lots of ski shops not only for demo skis but discount lift tickets.
3) good restaurant selection
 

jmeb

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Breckenridge has plenty of expert terrain to keep people busy for a few days. More than Abasin, Keystone and at least on par with Copper. The problem with Breck is that it can be busy especially on weekends, and the altitude is high for such a short trip
 
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BS Slarver

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My advice - take a few days off from school !
Notify his teachers well in advance so the homework can be assigned to either be done before he leaves or while your away, if they say no, tell them It's for religious reasons, unless he's doing poorly in school you won't regret it !
We would take all three of ours out for a week at a time - always off peak, non holiday. No way I'm sitting in lines during school break - life is too short.

Some of our teachers caught on after a while and some even wanted trip reports or journals of the trips.
Kids are only kids once, and now that ours are all grown, busy and successful it's hard to get everyone together.
Great memories of our ski trips and adventures with the kids and their exposure to new places like them nodding off in their pasta after leaving it all on the hill or climbing into the gondola aka the " the ski box " for the first time. When you have a chance to look back and reflect you'll probably be smiling at the good times you both had.
 
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skiwagon

skiwagon

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This is all great advice. Thanks so much. Will definitely look to extend the trip. Leaning towards SLC/Park City. I've been out there for business during non-ski season and I remember how easy the airport to ski areas were. We also have a direct flight from Charlotte. Keep the suggestions coming, they are sincerely appreciated!
 

jmeb

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If you're going on a ski trip, I'd lean towards staying in Park City over SLC if fiscally possible. While SLC has more restaurants etc, it adds the complexity of driving to/from the ski hill in the morning and likely to/from entertainment in the evening. Especially on a short trip, you don't really want to spend 35min-1hr each way (depending on where in SLC and assuming good weather/no traffic) to Alta / Snowbird IMHO.

Part of the magic of a ski trip in a Western ski town is being able to walk to skiing and to a bit of nightlife. Park City does that well.
 

ADKmel

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SLC is easy to get in and out of..with so many ski areas 30-40min from town and lots of hotels too, most with free breakfast. Yes to Park city having it all.

If you have to keep your trip short I'll also suggest fly directly into Aspen and ski Snowmass, Highlands and Aspen. Splurge and stay 'at the Mt.

We stayed at the "element" in Basalt. free breakfast and wine/beer at cocktail hour!! very nice hotel w/efficiency rooms if you wanted to cook? walking distance to several restaurants and shops. Carbondale is just up the road neat town w/shops and more restaurants. All just about 20min to Mt.s. Snowmass is one of my favorite Mts so I am partial..

I love skiing Co but I wouldn't fly to Denver.. if that tunnel is closed your vacation could be wrecked.. and I'm another vote for missing a couple of days at school, get the homework ahead of time. Have fun!!
 

Crank

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Salt Lake City is your easiest option and there is a ton of great skiing within an hour's drive from the airport along with plenty of reasonably priced lodging.

I took my son on his first western ski trip when he was 11. We flew into Denver and stayed up in Frisco. He had a rough first day with bad headache our first day skiing at altitude, Breckenridge. I would extend your trip by a couple of days though.
 

Nathanvg

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Planning my first trip out west... He is an expert level snowboarder and I'm an expert skier.

Skiers who have never been out west are rarely experts. Where do you ski and what types of runs there do you like? It's hard to know if you are getting good recommendations without that detail...
 

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