Non Region Specific April skiing in the US from NZ - where should we go?

[James]

Is Aspen/Snowmass out?
The top of Ajax (Aspen) offers great views off the gondola. The view from the top of Aspen Highlands Bowl is singular, and the bowl unmatched in the US. Very special. It requires a good hike though, and an advanced ski down.
Telluride and the San Juans is pretty spectacular though. That would be my aesthetic pick for Colo.

A lot of Colorado mountains are sort of rounded mounds. More desert like. That kind of changes between Snowmass (rounded desert) and Ajax, into more of what one thinks of as mountains, e.g., The Remarkables.
If it wasn’t April, I’d just have you go to New Mexico. Hit Chaco Canyon for one park.

No offense to those who live there, but aesthetically it's a grim wasteland of American commercial excess.

True, but Alta is gorgeous.

Keystone, CO isn’t exactly an Austrian hamlet. Take the number of columns in the parking garage of that office park condo building we stayed at. You’d be able to cover a good fraction of Austria with those. Never mind the lady roaming and scowling about “You didn’t pull in far enough”

Hopefully, our intrepid traveller won’t wander into Golden, CO home of Coors brewing. For then it’ll be exposed that the large sprawling plant is not in the Rocky Mts, but on the dry plains at the foot of them. A mere 10miles from the former Rocky Flats Nuclear facility. A Superfund cleanup site.

I would imagine in NZ a droplet of moisture has many friends. This will not be the case in the West. Dryer than dry.

 

[Wade Ice]

Is Aspen/Snowmass out?
The top of Ajax (Aspen) offers great views off the gondola. The view from the top of Aspen Highlands Bowl is singular, and the bowl unmatched in the US. Very special. It requires a good hike though, and an advanced ski down.
Telluride and the San Juans is pretty spectacular though. That would be my aesthetic pick for Colo.

A lot of Colorado mountains are sort of rounded mounds. More desert like. That kind of changes between Snowmass (rounded desert) and Ajax, into more of what one thinks of as mountains, e.g., The Remarkables.
If it wasn’t April, I’d just have you go to New Mexico. Hit Chaco Canyon for one park.

True, but Alta is gorgeous.

Keystone, CO isn’t exactly an Austrian hamlet. Take the number of columns in the parking garage of that office park condo building we stayed at. You’d be able to cover a good fraction of Austria with those. Never mind the lady roaming and scowling about “You didn’t pull in far enough”

Hopefully, our intrepid traveller won’t wander into Golden, CO home of Coors brewing. For then it’ll be exposed that the large sprawling plant is not in the Rocky Mts, but on the dry plains at the foot of them. A mere 10miles from the former Rocky Flats Nuclear facility. A Superfund cleanup site.

I would imagine in NZ a droplet of moisture has many friends. This will not be the case in the West. Dryer than dry.

Aspens was always on the list but just too expensive Breckenridge I think is the best option for more of a ski experience than Utah. We don't have towns built at the bottom of ski fields like that.

I'll keep an eye out for that coors brewing and nuclear experience so you feel better about some form of ROI. We have no nuclear capability/capacity by choice in NZ and I'm there to experience all..

 

[Wade Ice]

Note that there's zero chance that you won't be able to ski at the places we're talking about. There will be lots of snow, they will be open. The only chance is of having a warming trend, and getting a bit of soft or even slushy conditions. But that's still great skiing mostly at the places we're talking about. You'll be able to ski as much as you want or can stand.

Now about picking a place... lift tickets as I mentioned earlier will be expensive. There's no way to navigate around it. Most major resorts don't have any other deals or discounts or ways to cut costs other than buying online ahead of time. So I'd suggest starting to look at that. Let's assume central Colorado...

-- Copper mountain is cheaper on Thursdays... probably under $100/person
-- Loveland and A-basin are cheaper in general - probably under $100/person every day
-- But they aren't major resorts, so aren't massive, and don't have as much infrastructure - but are still great high altitude places to ski (really high actually, which keeps the snow nice)
-- Winter Park is a little further afield than the rest, which could all be skied in the same week more easily (Breck, Keystone, A-Basin, Loveland, Copper)
-- Vail and Beaver Creek are a little further afield, though not as much as Winter Park, and could be skied to, though they're a little lower
-- Breckenridge will probably be most expensive, between $150 and $200 depending on number of days, Copper, Keystone, and Winter Park not far behind
-- Lift tickets to Breck and Keystone are the same, so if you buy, say, 3 days they can be used at either resort and you could do a day at Vail or Beaver Creek if you wanted to
-- Vail and BC are a bit lower, but will still have great snow (I'll actually be in Vail and likely skiing a few days at Vail and BC, but I'm likely to hit Copper and A-basin too)
-- Buying multiple days online in advance is probably your best bet to get a bit of a discount any place

Just to let all the magnificent support know we chose Breckenridge as the base. I hope the experience will be worth the extra effort and there will be some options of other fields.

Flying is a no-go due to the cost with so much luggage and so close to departure. We will drive with a night in Vegas (or any smaller town recommended?) but also stay the full 6 nights when we arrive in Colorado. This means one less night in LA at the end of the 4 weeks but we have allowed for about 4 days' driving.

We will spend the second week in Utah for the national parks and then pop into Arazona we're thinking to see the grand canyon etc. Maybe a couple of days at Disneyland for the kids and the car museum in LA before departure..

 

[TonyPlush]

If Breck caught your eye because of the ski town, I’d urge you to consider Telluride. I’ve never been but it’s widely regarded as the single best ski town in North America. Can’t get more “built at the base” than T-Ride… the lifts run right into town and the mountain village is halfway up the mountain… connected to town with a free gondola that runs until midnight.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Yes, we'll be doing Moab and the parks for 5-6 days regardless of where we ski. And I hear there's some MTB in Moab. I'm very much into MTB and the family doesn't know I'll sneak a day out for that if possible with my sons

Yes. Lots of great MTB trails and 4WD trails which can take you to explore amazing spots/arches/canyon crawls that are off the beaten track. If you don’t have a good 4WD vehicle, check Viator for day tours. It’s something your kids will never forget!

 

[Prosper]

And I hear there's some MTB in Moab. I'm very much into MTB and the family doesn't know I'll sneak a day out for that if possible with my sons

Moab is a MTB Mecca and has many lifetimes of trails.

 

[James]

Isn’t half of Utah in Moab “working from home”?

 

[fatbob]

I'm struggling with the premise of preferring ice over slushy snow. If you mean boot deep, leg breaking, isothermic glop than maybe I can see what you mean but there are many points on the spring snow spectrum and I think its naive to think in April with increased sunlight you can avoid them all. Indeed spring corn is the raison d'etre for many of us who ski in April. Sure if you get a cold dry storm it's great but the sunny days can be just as good in the right cycle without the aggro of pow day hordes.

 

[dbostedo]

If Breck caught your eye because of the ski town, I’d urge you to consider Telluride. I’ve never been but it’s widely regarded as the single best ski town in North America. Can’t get more “built at the base” than T-Ride… the lifts run right into town and the mountain village is halfway up the mountain… connected to town with a free gondola that runs until midnight.

Except Telluride usually closes in early April (though not usually for lack of snow) ... I don't know about this season, but that's why I didn't mention it.

It would be a great choice for the experience, but I don't know about the drive and closing date.

 

[LiquidFeet]

And I hear there's some MTB in Moab.

Indeed.

 

[mdf]

ski-and-stay promotions which includes lift tix for the whole family and can bundle airport transport.

Having a pass, I haven't looked at these for a few years, but in my prior experience those bundled promotions are often a great deal.

 

[mdf]

There is a Snowtel site (monitoring network for water resources) at Snowbird,
https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=766

I'm having trouble getting the site to spit out the usual-format graph instead of a text table.
That can show you when the snow depth stops rising.

 

[dbostedo]

There is a Snowtel site (monitoring network for water resources) at Snowbird,
https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=766

I'm having trouble getting the site to spit out the usual-format graph instead of a text table.
That can show you when the snow depth stops rising.

Maybe this is what you're doing, but in case or for others... Start with this site:

iMap Redirect

www.nrcs.usda.gov

Zoom in and find Snowbird and click, and it will pop up a little graph. Click the little graph and you'll get this:

 

[mdf]

@dbostedo that is what I was looking for. I don't think you can get there from where I started.

 

[Wade Ice]

Moab is a MTB Mecca and has many lifetimes of trails.

Yes I'm going to hit some for sure

 

[Wade Ice]

I'm struggling with the premise of preferring ice over slushy snow. If you mean boot deep, leg breaking, isothermic glop than maybe I can see what you mean but there are many points on the spring snow spectrum and I think its naive to think in April with increased sunlight you can avoid them all. Indeed spring corn is the raison d'etre for many of us who ski in April. Sure if you get a cold dry storm it's great but the sunny days can be just as good in the right cycle without the aggro of pow day hordes.

Fair enough, and your comment brings a smile to my face. In NZ it's extremely hard-packed (bit icey at times). In spring it turns to slush; not deep but grabs the skis and is generally just dangerous ankle-breaking material. That's all I have to work off and trying to avoid the latter..

 

[Wade Ice]

@dbostedo and co : would a large sedan 2wd rental with chains be sufficient (all things considered) for the route or should I look at a 4wd (obviously price is a factor for renting and fuel with the considerable miles)?

 

[Prosper]

@dbostedo and co : would a large sedan 2wd rental with chains be sufficient (all things considered) for the route or should I look at a 4wd (obviously price is a factor for renting and fuel with the considerable miles)?

For all that mountain driving for that length of time you should get a 4WD or AWD vehicle. Make sure it has tires with plenty of tread left and ideally the 3MP snowflake symbol.

 

[Wade Ice]

For all that mountain driving for that length of time you should get a 4WD or AWD vehicle. Make sure it has tires with plenty of tread left and ideally the 3MP snowflake symbol.

Many thanks I think they do a pretend 4wd like a Toyota 4 runner maybe that's a good compromise. I'll be sure to check the tires thanks for that advice.

 

[raytseng]

Ha

For all that mountain driving for that length of time you should get a 4WD or AWD vehicle. Make sure it has tires with plenty of tread left and ideally the 3MP snowflake symbol.

You're not going to get 3pmsf tire vehicle from LAX rental companies. If they have such a snow prepped car to rent to you, expect to pay a significant upcharge like +$1000/week.

The best you can hope for is a new SUV with new OEM tires and full tread...and that will be if you're booking with the more expensive business rental companies.