Best skiing near manhattan, nyc

what r the best ski mountains near manhattan, nyc?  is anything better than vernon valley which is only 1-2 hour drive?

Drive the extra 45-1 hr and go to the Catskills..Hunter, Bell or Platt, ok Windam too..

in my opinion Mountain Creek is never a option..

I second this. The extra hour in the car is worth it.

Creek has its moments but they get wayyy to many people on the weekends for their size.

I agree that the extra hour to the Catskills is the way to go....BUT....if you want the shortest driving time or want to stay under two hours, I would prefer skiing the Poconos than Mountain Creek. Two Pocono options are within an 1:30 drive (give or take 10 minutes) - Shawnee and Camelback.

Personally, I prefer both to Mountain Creek. Camelback is the best of the three hills, I think...but gets mobbed on weekends. Shawnee is family friendly, very affordable lift tickets. Smaller than the other two, but still decent. Nice drive.

One more to consider at a little over 2 hours north of NYC is Catamount in the Western Berkshires in Hillsdale, NY. It is 1000 vert with a lot of fun trails. It is up the Taconic Parkway.

Catamount

x10003q wrote

One more to consider at a little over 2 hours north of NYC is Catamount in the Western Berkshires in Hillsdale, NY. It is 1000 vert with a lot of fun trails. It is up the Taconic Parkway.

Catamount

Catamount is fine. Better than Poconos. But...from NYC, it's as far as Belleayre. Two hour and a half drive. Belleayre is way better than Catamount.

go to Whiteface

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Not the same travel time... But, with the time change, maybe the same real time.

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If you have to ski on the weekend, go to the cats..I wouldn't ski at MC if it was for free..

All I can say is try platty. It won't disappoint.

I actually did ski MC once for free! And I'm not going back. After my first trip to Plattekill last year, I would rather drive 3 hours to Platty than 80 min. to Mountain Creek. Low priced tickets, no lift lines, and the only place I can find Founder's Breakfast Stout on tap!

I live an hour from NYC. If you don't want to go north, my favorite in PA is Blue Mountain. It's good for PA, but its worth driving a little further to the Catskills. Plus, you won't have to deal with PA drivers...woof.

To each his own, I guess. FWIW, I think Camelback is better than Mountain Creek.  Both are mediocre and get crowded. But the terrain at Camelback is better, I think. And Catamount is undoubtedly better than Mountain Creek, although farther away. And Blue is south of Hunter and is also undoubtedly better than Mountain Creek. Although it also is farther away.

Thanks so much ya'll for the specific intel!  It really sounds like if we need to stay close driving, its Mountain Creek NJ, or a lil further for Camelback.  We just can't drive further this year.  Camelback did seem to have more tough trails that weren't real short.

A bit surprised that no one mentioned Thunder Ridge CT which seems to have near as many trails, and the tough ones are not too short.  Also, it looks around the same distance as Camelback PA and hopefully less crowded weekends!  Anyone know hows T Ridge?

Happy trails buds! - nico

trouble with air travel is getting to the airport, waiting , boarding , delaying , getting baggage , getting the car or transport, all adds up to a minimum of 4 hours, to the travel time, so a 5 hour flight turns into 9 hours of travel, you need at least 9 hours ,  to get out West. You need a day to get out and a day to come back [sometimes you can ski in the afternoon but travel always beats me up]. Skiing is great in Utah, but Whiteface at times can be awesome, and at times way too cold and windy. With contemporary snowmaking and grooming Whiteface isn't the old Iceface and is one of the great EAstern Ski areas , From my home in North Jersey 4 hours so doable for a weekend.

Hunter is better than it's rep. On Weekdays it's the best skiing in the Cats and now on weekends it's not too crazy.  Saturday or Sunday,Get out early ski till 11 , lunch back out 12-1 and then it starts to thin out again. Great trails , good snowmaking and grooming , not too much for true intermediates but if you are an upper Intermediate there is much to  enjoy , Belleayre is also good but has about 200 yards of steep and then sort of levels out. Windham is also pretty good. Never been to Plattekill, heard it is pretty hard core. The Creek is only enjoyable on weekdays and if you are playing hookey may as well go to the Cats cause if you get on the slopes alittle later you will still get a ton of skiing , or better still go up the night before, weekday rooms are cheap up there and have lift tix deals , you'll get all the skiing you want.

JP wrote

Never been to Plattekill

Continuing the tradition:

Come to Plattekill on my birthday in early January, show me your lift ticket and I'll buy you a beer.  Maybe two.

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Any reports on Blue, my friend went and said it was good but I don't trust him he also watched the Sound of Music on TV last week.