Plan My No Car Ski Weekends!
October 9, 2018 7:52 AM Subscribe
I'm a single parent in NYC with a demanding job and an overscheduled seventeen-year-old (academics, FIRST robotics, Model UN. He's a nerd.) We are both enthusiastic but kind of lousy skiers, and we didn't manage to go at all last winter because of the overscheduling problem, which made me sad and him sadder.
This winter he's going to be just as overscheduled again -- there's no hope of taking a week to go someplace and settle in, so we were hoping to take maybe a couple of three day weekends over the course of the winter. (Literal) snowflakes below.
I have never had any fun skiing on any of the mountains day-trip distance from NYC -- Hunter, Windham, Camelback (although the boy did break his collarbone at Camelback a few years back, which was exciting). Generally, it's always been really unpleasantly crowded and slushy. Maybe I've had bad luck, but it's been consistent.
90% of both our skiing, lifetime, is at Killington, where we're both just about able to cope with the easiest black diamonds. I'm very fond of Killington, but the five hour drive (assuming everything works out well) to get there is kind of miserable for just a weekend. And I'm a New Yorker with no car, so it means renting a car and remembering how the dumb thing works, given that I don't drive for months at a time.
Ideally, there'd be someplace that we could get to by mass transit (train, plane from La Guardia) at the end of a workday (so, leaving after 4pm and getting in by midnight or so?), where we would be able to get transportation to lodgings that were a shuttle or some other easy transport from the slopes, with places to eat that didn't require driving. Reliably good snow conditions, and plenty of intermediate trails.
Second best, one of you good people would recommend a mountain closer than Killington that will annoy me less than the ones I mentioned. I have no interest in nightlife or anything fun other than skiing, so drawbacks other than unreliable conditions and noplace convenient to eat and sleep (both of which I have low standards for!) are harmless. Like, if I could cut the drive time down to three hours from Northern Manhattan, pretty much anything would satisfy me as long as I had a strong recommendation for the skiing conditions.
Anyone got any ideas?
I have never had any fun skiing on any of the mountains day-trip distance from NYC -- Hunter, Windham, Camelback (although the boy did break his collarbone at Camelback a few years back, which was exciting). Generally, it's always been really unpleasantly crowded and slushy. Maybe I've had bad luck, but it's been consistent.
90% of both our skiing, lifetime, is at Killington, where we're both just about able to cope with the easiest black diamonds. I'm very fond of Killington, but the five hour drive (assuming everything works out well) to get there is kind of miserable for just a weekend. And I'm a New Yorker with no car, so it means renting a car and remembering how the dumb thing works, given that I don't drive for months at a time.
Ideally, there'd be someplace that we could get to by mass transit (train, plane from La Guardia) at the end of a workday (so, leaving after 4pm and getting in by midnight or so?), where we would be able to get transportation to lodgings that were a shuttle or some other easy transport from the slopes, with places to eat that didn't require driving. Reliably good snow conditions, and plenty of intermediate trails.
Second best, one of you good people would recommend a mountain closer than Killington that will annoy me less than the ones I mentioned. I have no interest in nightlife or anything fun other than skiing, so drawbacks other than unreliable conditions and noplace convenient to eat and sleep (both of which I have low standards for!) are harmless. Like, if I could cut the drive time down to three hours from Northern Manhattan, pretty much anything would satisfy me as long as I had a strong recommendation for the skiing conditions.
Anyone got any ideas?
Fly to Salt Lake City and take a shuttle from the airport to one of the places there, where there are reliably excellent conditions. Leaving DC in the morning I have been skiing the same afternoon.
posted by exogenous at 8:50 AM on October 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by exogenous at 8:50 AM on October 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you are getting on a plane, you can go to Vail (other Colorado resorts). It has a decent village and you can shuttle from DIA or fly in closer.
posted by TORunner at 8:52 AM on October 9, 2018
posted by TORunner at 8:52 AM on October 9, 2018
Response by poster: Not to threadsit, but I don't think I've conveyed quite how bad at planning I am. What I was hoping for was more [completely specific resort X, which I can recommend and I know to have transport from the airport, and is a shortish flight from LGA] rather than generally that this sort of weekend is plausibly doable in a given ski region. (I made an attempt at Salt Lake City with the kid and his older sister two years ago. Couldn't find direct flights, so travel was really a full day on each end, and through completely culpable lack of checking ended up in a hotel without anyplace to eat in walking distance. We lived, but the week was a giant hassle. Would have been worth it but the snow was also flukily bad -- icy in a way that made the trails kind of too hard for the three of us.)
posted by LizardBreath at 9:10 AM on October 9, 2018
posted by LizardBreath at 9:10 AM on October 9, 2018
Best answer: Delta has a couple direct flights a day from LGA to Burlington (BTV). From there it is less than an hour to Stowe, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, etc.
posted by leaper at 9:12 AM on October 9, 2018
posted by leaper at 9:12 AM on October 9, 2018
Best answer: Ovrride does day trips to Killington, Mount Snow, Stratton and Okemo. And they'll do weekend trips to Jay Peak and Stowe etc. It's a bus pickup and drop off situation from Manhattan locations. I've never done their ski trips but I've taken their summer trips and they're nicely organized. You do have to sign some sort of waiver for underage kids because they serve alcohol for the adults. Check 'em out.
posted by rdnnyc at 10:28 AM on October 9, 2018
posted by rdnnyc at 10:28 AM on October 9, 2018
Best answer: Came in to suggest ovrride as well. I’ve done several trips with them including a weekend trip to Jay Peak and they are pretty good. Every once in a while you end up on the “party bus” which is kind of annoying but they usually try to keep it fairly calm. The weekend trip with them was completely no planning and we had 4 ppl in our group so got a condo to ourselves. They do all the planning & driving which is awesome!! The worst part is the early morning pick-up. Stratton is my favorite of all the places they go. You should definitely check it out. The other nice thing is you can watch the weather and book when you know/think snow is going to hit. They will fill up a few days ahead but I’ve had some fantastically good VT skiing that way!
posted by newsomz at 11:05 AM on October 9, 2018
posted by newsomz at 11:05 AM on October 9, 2018
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posted by enn at 8:12 AM on October 9, 2018