Guys trip

Lately my normal vacation MO is a trip with my family but with my son moving up to U14 racing and taking Friday's off the train we can't gave him miss anymore school.  

In the past I've put together a guys trip every few years and I'm looking at doing this again this year.  My last one we skied Lake Loiuse and we had 15 guys go.  I'm very good at travel planning probably because I have travelled so much for work.  I have a couple of WF instructors interested.  If any one is interested here let me know.  This is not a money making deal for me even cost split is the way I do it.  the more we can get going the lower the cost for everyone plus  it's more fun.

I promise no political discussions allowed from Coach.

I'm looking at Feb 2-8.  That time of year there is pretty cheap lodging and good freq flyer free filght availability.

I am looking at two destinations either
Denver lodging in Frisco which sets up for skiing Breckinridge, Copper, Vail with an option for cat skiing either at Vail pass or Cooper
Or SLC skiing little Cottonwoods and Powder

Post interest or questions or email me

Just searched airfares to SLC minutes ago after reaching out to a few friends and then saw your post. Airfares are up there compared to what I thought. Best fare I found was ~$421, non-stop to SLC from EWR, which I can stomach. First checked in Feb, then throttled back to Jan. to find better fares. Only considering NS flights to SLC to avoid any bs. Been to UT in Jan before, but prefer Feb (non-holiday), and March. Considering the state of affairs with the ec's weather, it make sense to head to UT in Jan, then return home to the 2016 season in NYS. Will be interested in Feb 2-8 if I can land a reasonable fare to SLC, if that's the destination you choose. Guess my arm could be twisted into going in Feb. Just checked and found this for anyone having to fly from NJ/NYC and don't have "miles" to consume:  Depart 2 Feb, Return is red-eye, departing 8 Feb. Cheap NS fare.

$263
Hacker Fare    http://www.kayak.com/flights/JFK-SLC/2016-02-02/2016-02-08
Select
 
JetBlue  / Delta
8:59p JFK 12:19a SLC 5h 20m nonstop
11:30p SLC 6:00a JFK 4h 30m nonstop
Economy
Show details
$263
Delta
Select
 
Delta
8:00p JFK 11:33p SLC 5h 33m nonstop
11:30p SLC 6:00a JFK 4h 30m nonstop
Economy

January would be good but we would need some time to plan and I have several conflicts to work around in Jan.  I have Feb 1 to 12 open and it always cheapest to fly on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For sure the Tuesday out Thursday back is the way to go for some of the lowest fares. The offer I posted was thru Kayak, so restrictions apply. For those like me flying out of JFK on the earlier into SLC flight, the straight up Delta flight is ~$320.00. On the link I posted, there was also an offer for a SkyMiles AMEX card to get another $50.00 off the fare to reduce the fare to $212.00. Again, restrictions apply, but then again, there's only $212.00 at stake if changes are necessary and one has to take a hit (not sure what would happen..didn't read into this completely), but then again, I was told the change fee on the $320.00 Delta flight is $200.00, so the $212.00 opportunity may be a good gamble to take.

My grand daughter is a U18 racer, I have cherished our western trips. It has been what I live for. She is not a BC skier in the east but I have hiked with her in lots of side country at Alta. Hiking Baldy or Wolverine. I remember when she was 12 taking her to the top of Highboy, she jumped in and finished up at the cat road. The next run I hiked her up gunsight and again she jumped in and finished at the runout. She rarely skis with me now, I am too slow and old and boring.

I am working on clearing out a few weeks after the first so I can go heckle Tbatt. He won't know me from any of the other SPORS.

Cool idea Coach.  

Peetex no frowning at tBatt. And, when can we expect your new happy pow shot avatar?

Soon. I plan to ski this weekend, where will be the surprise. I did get my order of base repair material in today's fedex delivery.

Coach Z wrote

Lately my normal vacation MO is a trip with my family but with my son moving up to U14 racing and taking Friday's off the train we can't gave him miss anymore school.  

In the past I've put together a guys trip every few years and I'm looking at doing this again this year.  My last one we skied Lake Loiuse and we had 15 guys go.  I'm very good at travel planning probably because I have travelled so much for work.  I have a couple of WF instructors interested.  If any one is interested here let me know.  This is not a money making deal for me even cost split is the way I do it.  the more we can get going the lower the cost for everyone plus  it's more fun.

I promise no political discussions allowed from Coach.

I'm looking at Feb 2-8.  That time of year there is pretty cheap lodging and good freq flyer free filght availability.

I am looking at two destinations either
Denver lodging in Frisco which sets up for skiing Breckinridge, Copper, Vail with an option for cat skiing either at Vail pass or Cooper
Or SLC skiing little Cottonwoods and Powder

Post interest or questions or email me

Sounds awesome.  I d love to join in a few years when kids are older.  

Guys trips are the best, hope you have a great one.

Have you thought about a southern Colorado trip Coach? A Taos, Telluride, Silverton trip would be fun. I guess it would be a little bit more complicated but each of those places are really bad ass and it might be a good year for em.

All three rate higher for me personally on the cool and funkiness scale than Summit and LCC and they are also much more challenging and have more interesting terrain than the summit areas imo.

It's hard to beat Snowbird tho! Man I love that mountain. I always try to follow locals there, I have so much more fun doing that than trying to figure things out on my own. That mountain has a lot of little nooks and crannies hiding cool lines.

RA, what do you know about Wolf Creek, so far 183" of snow this year. I have never been there but it is looking very tempting.

raisingarizona wrote

Have you thought about a southern Colorado trip Coach? A Taos, Telluride, Silverton trip would be fun. I guess it would be a little bit more complicated but each of those places are really bad ass and it might be a good year for em.

All three rate higher for me personally on the cool and funkiness scale than Summit and LCC and they are also much more challenging and have more interesting terrain than the summit areas imo.

It' hard to beat Snowbird tho! Man I love that mountain. I always try to follow locals there, I have so much more fun doing that than trying to figure things out on my own. That mountain has a lot of little nooks and crannies hiding cool lines.

Silverton is almost impossible for week trippers. No way somebody from sea level or near sea level can jump out of a plane and hike at that altitude without big issues. Some would be inviting death. It wouldn't be fun. I may consider the place this year in my second month, but it's still difficult. I have an awful time with altitude, and it gets worse with age. Even riding chairs in Summit County is a problem for my first week or two.

But, hey, if you're in Summit, I could share some turns. Last year I skied mostly ABasin and Copper. Both have excellent stuff. Loveland rocks, too.

PeeTex wrote

RA, what do you know about Wolf Creek, so far 183" of snow this year. I have never been there but it is looking very tempting.

183!!! Dayum!

It could break up the trip I suggested but I wouldn't call it a destination resort or location. The mountain has a few steep pitches  with some very technical terrain too but they are short and a lot of the rest of the mountain is too flat. It just doesn't have a lot of that in between stuff, you know like the perfect powder skiing pitches of sustained 30 to 40 degree stuff. It's still worth a visit but to fly out west to solely ski WC would be silly imo. Silverton is such a cool and unique experience plus you can do heli drops during guiding season for around 130 bucks. It's a good poor mans heli experience. Telluride is one of the most beautiful places you can imagine and has some incredible expert terrain, the side country in Bear Creek is among some of the best in the lower 48 but so, so dangerous, especially with the typical San Juan snowpack. Taos, I haven't been but from what I hear it's one of the most technical steep mountains in the country. It's a classic and if I can escape this season it's where I want to go. It's legendary. WC would be a good spot to stop at between Silverton and Taos. Pagosa Springs isn't a Colorado resort town, it's still old school and authentic Colorado there. I really like that.

Silverton. Bap bap bap bap bap!!!!


Hiking above 13k.


Yes please. This ain't summit county kids.


The San Juans have some of the worlds most perfect and beautiful ski terrain. Regular stability they do not. This is part of the price of the Silverton experience. The snow safety program they have is seriously incredible.

I have a bunch of American FF miles.  This merger sucks I always had good luck getting free flights to SLC on US air.  I can get there ok but getting home is either way too many miles, a crappy routing, a red eye or a combo of these 3.

Denver I can get too fine though.  i found a Psia clinic to attend mid Jan at Copper.  Any Psia peeps interested in splitting expenses PM me for details.

Way I figure it at least thru mid Jan the skiing is going to very sub optimal so round here.  By Feb it's bound to get decent so the sooner the better. I'm not a very patient person at times.