How many hrs drive to ski will you still consider it a day trip?

[Turoa Kiwi]

Talking about long drives, myself and a friend once flew into SLC . Rented a car and skied Sun Valley, Grand Targhee, Powder Mountain, Snow Basin, Jackson Hole, Alta, Snowbird,, Canyons, Snowmass, Breckenridge, A Basin, Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk, in that order in 21 days .We only had one day off (when Brighton was closed due to a huge storm) and we would ski until last chairs most of the time, jump in the car and head to the next place, making good use of both an Epic and MC pass. I think we did about 4000 kms all up ( As I said in an earlier post I was used to 3hr drives each way to my home mountain ) Then we flew home to NZ for a sleep....

 

[spoofer]

I have never driven more than an hour and a half one way and not startyed the night.

 

[SSSdave]

The greatest impediment for out and back ski day trip enthusiasts for those in a situation of a long drive say over 3 hours, is that in recent eras, ski resort regions have gone out of their way just like in other outdoor resort regions, making it impossible to do it like in the ski bum era when people over-nighted in resort parking or disperse camped parked at crosscountry backcountry lots, and other public places, vehicle self contained (esp vans) just as I still do in this day. We dirtbags weren't helping the local lodging communities enough? And then at 6am in the morning... first in line at Squaw, just like the laws of nature are supposed to be.

In this virus season resorts ought loosen up free resort overnight parking while providing at least dumpster's and Port-O-Potties. We cool, we cool, trust us.

 

[Goose]

Talking about long drives, myself and a friend once flew into SLC . Rented a car and skied Sun Valley, Grand Targhee, Powder Mountain, Jackson Hole, Alta, Snowbird,, Canyons, Snowmass, Breckenridge, A Basin, Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk, in that order in 21 days .We only had one day off (when Brighton was closed due to a huge storm) and we would ski until last chairs most of the time, jump in the car and head to the next place, making good use of both an Epic and MC pass. I think we did about 4000 kms all up ( As I said in an earlier post I was used to 3hr drives each way to my home mountain ) Then we flew home to NZ for a sleep....

Just ......wow!
Thats a heck of a run. Or whatever it is we can call it.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Talking about long drives, myself and a friend once flew into SLC . Rented a car and skied Sun Valley, Grand Targhee, Powder Mountain, Jackson Hole, Alta, Snowbird,, Canyons, Snowmass, Breckenridge, A Basin, Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk, in that order in 21 days .We only had one day off (when Brighton was closed due to a huge storm) and we would ski until last chairs most of the time, jump in the car and head to the next place, making good use of both an Epic and MC pass. I think we did about 4000 kms all up ( As I said in an earlier post I was used to 3hr drives each way to my home mountain ) Then we flew home to NZ for a sleep....

Impressive! And you can add some bonus difficulty points for the very long flights before and after.


--------------------------------------
Now you are taking high mileage "ski roadtrips". The Pugliese's might be the champs of this category, but I've done a few in my time.

Recap of my March 2018 road trip from Mar 1 - 26; that is, 7,070miles or 11,380 kms. I drove from Virginia to Utah to British Columbia and back to Virginia, stopping to ski at these resorts along the way:

Utah: Snowbasin, Alta, Snowbird,

Wyoming: Jackson Hole,

British Columbia: Revelstoke,

Alberta: Lake Louise, Sunshine Village (part of Sunshine's terrain is in BC), and Mt. Norquay.


I put 7,070 miles on my car during this trip. A nice stay for two nights at Sunshine Lodge was the accommodations highlight of the trip. It is accessible only by a long gondola (no car access) and that provided a really fun feeling of leaving the world behind for a total immersion in skiing. In the Banff area I went to little Mt. Norquay on my final ski day to catch some magnificent Canadian Rockies scenery before beginning the long road trip home.

I had good to very good snow conditions everywhere I went on this trip and got powder days in UT, Revy, and Sunshine. I was quite fortunate that I also had good driving conditions everywhere on the trip. Completing thousands of miles of driving in the Rockies in winter without a hitch is not trivial. The Trans-Canadian Highway was closed occasionally during my visit to BC, but on the day we drove from Revy to Banff it opened just after we finished skiing and started our planned evening drive Eastward. Earlier in the trip we had one of our most memorable drives in a remote part of western Montana.
We left I90 near Missoula around 8:30 PM to start heading north to Revelstoke. There was a motel at the exit, but I was not sleepy and decided to drive a little longer. We saw very little in the way of civilization from then on traveling two lane roads. At 10:30 PM we saw a gas station and the little Seeley Lake Motor Lodge. I was very glad to make stops at both! When we hit the road again in the morning it took another 90 miles before we came to the next motel/gas places near Kalispell, MT.


Trip highlights:

Best ski conditions: Mar 4 - 10 in Utah, Banff area later in the month was good too.

Best scenery: tie between Lake Louise, Sunshine, and Mt. Norquay

Best run: watching my son lap Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole, for me personally it was cool to do Delirium Dive at Sunshine

Best meal: my wife made some nice homemade dinners during a week at my son's house in SLC, but dining out was probably at The Grizzly House in Banff.

Best town: the Banff/Canmore area was really neat, and we did some fun things there besides skiing, such as soaking in Banff Hot Springs, doing high tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, snowshoeing on frozen Lake Louise, and hiking Johnston Canyon to see frozen waterfalls. The vibe walking around Banff was very down to earth and not pretentious at all. The English-speaking tourists looked very middle class, but there were also many foreigners, including many Asian visitors.

Best lodging: the aforementioned Sunshine Lodge. It's mid-mtn location is really neat. They let us check-in at 11 AM on our first day. On our last day they let us check out at 1 PM and it snowed about one foot around the lodge and slopes. The skiing was great and when we took the gondola at the end of the day to go to our car there was no snow down there and the roads were clear all the way to Calgary.

Best new friends: we met two friendly guys from Alberta while skiing with a group in UT. Two weeks later they guided us for two days at Louise and Sunshine and showed us all their favorite runs.

Best surprise: the beauty and history at Mt. Norquay. I skied it on Mar 23 on what will probably be my last ski day of the winter. I got some great images/memories in my head to last until next season.

Worst moment: getting hit on the head by the Summit platter after the last of multiple rides I took on that iconic surface lift Lake Louise. I was ok, but my helmet took a good little dent My favorite goggles are getting worn out, so this might motivate me to get a new goggle/helmet combo for next year

With a gang of SkiTalkers at Snowbasin, UT:

The Cirque at Snowbird, UT:

Stairway entrance to Delirium Dive at Sunshine:

Friendly Patroler at Mt. Norquay:

Sorry for the thread hijack off the day-trip topic.

 

[Goose]

It depends.
Lately the 45 minute drive has taken 2-3 hours,

That is something any season and for any reason at all that can simply suck the joy out of anything. When a supposed 45 minute trip turns into 2.5 hrs. Or a 2 hr trip takes 4.5. etc and it dont matter the reason
I mean that kind of thing is a mind blower. Whether its to take care of an obligation or a commute to work or to do something for pleasure. Either way it just outright sucks. No way to sugar coat it.

 

[Goose]

Impressive! And you can add some bonus difficulty points for the very long flights before and after.


--------------------------------------
Now you are taking high mileage "ski roadtrips". The Pugliese's might be the champs of this category, but I've done a few in my time.

Recap of my March 2018 road trip from Mar 1 - 26; that is, 7,070miles or 11,380 kms. I drove from Virginia to Utah to British Columbia and back to Virginia, stopping to ski at these resorts along the way:

Utah: Snowbasin, Alta, Snowbird,

Wyoming: Jackson Hole,

British Columbia: Revelstoke,

Alberta: Lake Louise, Sunshine Village (part of Sunshine's terrain is in BC), and Mt. Norquay.


I put 7,070 miles on my car during this trip. A nice stay for two nights at Sunshine Lodge was the accommodations highlight of the trip. It is accessible only by a long gondola (no car access) and that provided a really fun feeling of leaving the world behind for a total immersion in skiing. In the Banff area I went to little Mt. Norquay on my final ski day to catch some magnificent Canadian Rockies scenery before beginning the long road trip home.

I had good to very good snow conditions everywhere I went on this trip and got powder days in UT, Revy, and Sunshine. I was quite fortunate that I also had good driving conditions everywhere on the trip. Completing thousands of miles of driving in the Rockies in winter without a hitch is not trivial. The Trans-Canadian Highway was closed occasionally during my visit to BC, but on the day we drove from Revy to Banff it opened just after we finished skiing and started our planned evening drive Eastward. Earlier in the trip we had one of our most memorable drives in a remote part of western Montana.
We left I90 near Missoula around 8:30 PM to start heading north to Revelstoke. There was a motel at the exit, but I was not sleepy and decided to drive a little longer. We saw very little in the way of civilization from then on traveling two lane roads. At 10:30 PM we saw a gas station and the little Seeley Lake Motor Lodge. I was very glad to make stops at both! When we hit the road again in the morning it took another 90 miles before we came to the next motel/gas places near Kalispell, MT.


Trip highlights:

Best ski conditions: Mar 4 - 10 in Utah, Banff area later in the month was good too.

Best scenery: tie between Lake Louise, Sunshine, and Mt. Norquay

Best run: watching my son lap Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole, for me personally it was cool to do Delirium Dive at Sunshine

View attachment 119317

Best meal: my wife made some nice homemade dinners during a week at my son's house in SLC, but dining out was probably at The Grizzly House in Banff.

Best town: the Banff/Canmore area was really neat, and we did some fun things there besides skiing, such as soaking in Banff Hot Springs, doing high tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, snowshoeing on frozen Lake Louise, and hiking Johnston Canyon to see frozen waterfalls. The vibe walking around Banff was very down to earth and not pretentious at all. The English-speaking tourists looked very middle class, but there were also many foreigners, including many Asian visitors.

Best lodging: the aforementioned Sunshine Lodge. It's mid-mtn location is really neat. They let us check-in at 11 AM on our first day. On our last day they let us check out at 1 PM and it snowed about one foot around the lodge and slopes. The skiing was great and when we took the gondola at the end of the day to go to our car there was no snow down there and the roads were clear all the way to Calgary.

Best new friends: we met two friendly guys from Alberta while skiing with a group in UT. Two weeks later they guided us for two days at Louise and Sunshine and showed us all their favorite runs.

Best surprise: the beauty and history at Mt. Norquay. I skied it on Mar 23 on what will probably be my last ski day of the winter. I got some great images/memories in my head to last until next season.

Worst moment: getting hit on the head by the Summit platter after the last of multiple rides I took on that iconic surface lift Lake Louise. I was ok, but my helmet took a good little dent My favorite goggles are getting worn out, so this might motivate me to get a new goggle/helmet combo for next year

With a gang of SkiTalkers at Snowbasin, UT:

The Cirque at Snowbird, UT:

Stairway entrance to Delirium Dive at Sunshine:

Friendly Patroler at Mt. Norquay:

Sorry for the thread hijack off the day-trip topic.

yes certainly could be its own topic as for sharing trips. None the less...it all looks absolutely incredible and sounds awesomely great

 

[Turoa Kiwi]

Impressive! And you can add some bonus difficulty points for the very long flights before and after.


--------------------------------------
Now you are taking high mileage "ski roadtrips". The Pugliese's might be the champs of this category, but I've done a few in my time.

Recap of my March 2018 road trip from Mar 1 - 26; that is, 7,070miles or 11,380 kms. I drove from Virginia to Utah to British Columbia and back to Virginia, stopping to ski at these resorts along the way:

Utah: Snowbasin, Alta, Snowbird,

Wyoming: Jackson Hole,

British Columbia: Revelstoke,

Alberta: Lake Louise, Sunshine Village (part of Sunshine's terrain is in BC), and Mt. Norquay.


I put 7,070 miles on my car during this trip. A nice stay for two nights at Sunshine Lodge was the accommodations highlight of the trip. It is accessible only by a long gondola (no car access) and that provided a really fun feeling of leaving the world behind for a total immersion in skiing. In the Banff area I went to little Mt. Norquay on my final ski day to catch some magnificent Canadian Rockies scenery before beginning the long road trip home.

I had good to very good snow conditions everywhere I went on this trip and got powder days in UT, Revy, and Sunshine. I was quite fortunate that I also had good driving conditions everywhere on the trip. Completing thousands of miles of driving in the Rockies in winter without a hitch is not trivial. The Trans-Canadian Highway was closed occasionally during my visit to BC, but on the day we drove from Revy to Banff it opened just after we finished skiing and started our planned evening drive Eastward. Earlier in the trip we had one of our most memorable drives in a remote part of western Montana.
We left I90 near Missoula around 8:30 PM to start heading north to Revelstoke. There was a motel at the exit, but I was not sleepy and decided to drive a little longer. We saw very little in the way of civilization from then on traveling two lane roads. At 10:30 PM we saw a gas station and the little Seeley Lake Motor Lodge. I was very glad to make stops at both! When we hit the road again in the morning it took another 90 miles before we came to the next motel/gas places near Kalispell, MT.


Trip highlights:

Best ski conditions: Mar 4 - 10 in Utah, Banff area later in the month was good too.

Best scenery: tie between Lake Louise, Sunshine, and Mt. Norquay

Best run: watching my son lap Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole, for me personally it was cool to do Delirium Dive at Sunshine

View attachment 119317

Best meal: my wife made some nice homemade dinners during a week at my son's house in SLC, but dining out was probably at The Grizzly House in Banff.

Best town: the Banff/Canmore area was really neat, and we did some fun things there besides skiing, such as soaking in Banff Hot Springs, doing high tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, snowshoeing on frozen Lake Louise, and hiking Johnston Canyon to see frozen waterfalls. The vibe walking around Banff was very down to earth and not pretentious at all. The English-speaking tourists looked very middle class, but there were also many foreigners, including many Asian visitors.

Best lodging: the aforementioned Sunshine Lodge. It's mid-mtn location is really neat. They let us check-in at 11 AM on our first day. On our last day they let us check out at 1 PM and it snowed about one foot around the lodge and slopes. The skiing was great and when we took the gondola at the end of the day to go to our car there was no snow down there and the roads were clear all the way to Calgary.

Best new friends: we met two friendly guys from Alberta while skiing with a group in UT. Two weeks later they guided us for two days at Louise and Sunshine and showed us all their favorite runs.

Best surprise: the beauty and history at Mt. Norquay. I skied it on Mar 23 on what will probably be my last ski day of the winter. I got some great images/memories in my head to last until next season.

Worst moment: getting hit on the head by the Summit platter after the last of multiple rides I took on that iconic surface lift Lake Louise. I was ok, but my helmet took a good little dent My favorite goggles are getting worn out, so this might motivate me to get a new goggle/helmet combo for next year

With a gang of SkiTalkers at Snowbasin, UT:

The Cirque at Snowbird, UT:

Stairway entrance to Delirium Dive at Sunshine:

Friendly Patroler at Mt. Norquay:

Sorry for the thread hijack off the day-trip topic.

Yep The return flights add 25,000 Kms to the total and take about 22 hrs each way
I did Mt Norquay early this year. What an absolute gem

 

[KingGrump]

What is a day trip?

 

[Ogg]

What is a day trip?

Most of us aren't a baller like you.

 

[Tony]

I did my only 1-day trips of my seasons to Kirkwood the last three Decembers starting with 2017 day trip with @SSSdave who did all the driving. In 2018, I was in friend's truck with another friend and I drove from Kirkwood to Stockton (100 miles/2hrs of two lane) on return. In 2019, I did all the driving and there was 8" new and I caught the opening of the Backside for the year. We stayed after skiing to attend Kirkwood Deep event that included a lot of free food, swag and a free beer. I had entered picture that I quickly learned was not one on the finalists.

From my house, Kirkwood is just under 180 miles, but it usually takes about 3.5 hours and to do it in much less requires not stopping for food or gas and a radar detector as CHP works CA-88 heavily. Unless you ski from 9 AM open to 4 PM close, your time in car vs. time skiing is at best about equal which does not work well for me. In 2020, I have yet to ski as my wife would prefer I stay home and safe, and almost 360 miles round trip for a daytrip that should be done solo this year is not that appealing to me.

I've done many solo multiple areas on the same day trips, or traveled between areas while skiing that some would question including all three Vail Tahoe areas on same day with close to 10K vertical at each, Heavenly and Mammoth on same day twice in Spring 2019 and skiing the best part of powder days at Snowbird one day and Heavenly or Kirkwood the next. Also skied Park City 25K vertical one day and Northstar the next.

 

[snwbrdr]

Day trip for me is driving from the SoCal beach to the Big Bear area... around 2 hours each way.

Back in the East coast, from the middle of Northern NJ, driving to the Pocono ski areas or Catskills

 

[Philpug]

I would sooner do the 2:45 to Mammoth than the 2:00 to Kirkwood, one because it's Mammoth and second now, because it's Vail.

 

[mdf]

What is a day trip?

That's when you stop at A-Basin for the day while driving from Taos to NYC.

 

[KingGrump]

That's when you stop at A-Basin for the day while driving from Taos to NYC.

Wasn't from Taos. We were heading home from Mammoth.

 

[mdf]

Wasn't from Taos. We were heading home from Mammoth.

You had to back up to get a running start...

 

[Pdub]

In my 20s living in NYC, I called in sick a couple of times and day-tripped to Killington on "powder" days, 4.5 hours each way. Left at 4 AM, returned at 8 PM. Then back to work at 6 AM. Pretty brutal.

I live closer to ski country now, and my max these days is 2 hours each way to Killington, which I do once or twice a year. I'll make the 1.5 hr drive to Stratton a little more often. It's 40 minutes to my local hill, where I ski 2-3 times a week.

This season I'm considering a couple of day trips to Sugarbush or Burke to watch my son's races, 2.5 hrs each way. But between Vermont restrictions and the cancellation of everything, expectations are low.

 

[Marker]

That is something any season and for any reason at all that can simply suck the joy out of anything. When a supposed 45 minute trip turns into 2.5 hrs. Or a 2 hr trip takes 4.5. etc and it dont matter the reason
I mean that kind of thing is a mind blower. Whether its to take care of an obligation or a commute to work or to do something for pleasure. Either way it just outright sucks. No way to sugar coat it.

That happened to us at Blue Mtn. A 2 hr drive up to ski during a nice fresh snow event (couple of inches in the Lehigh Valley) turned into a 6 hr drive home in a Philly ice storm.

 

[teejaywhy]

My choices for day trips from the Phoenix east valley are ~3 hours or ~4 hours (one way). I've done both as a young person. Now, after a long hiatus, I've returned to skiing and so I'm considering if the 3 hour option is feasible (Motivation - I have a season pass). No way would I do the 8 hour round trip for a day of skiing.

 

[Philpug]

I think we have driven to Snowbird and skied that day....but stayed in SLT that night.