Recommend a resort for me

Hi everyone. I live in vertically challenged Ontario and Blue Mountain is my home hill. I'm looking to spend a few days skiing in New York this winter and I'm looking for your advice on which places to ski with my daughter. I ski mainly cruisers with some bumps but not tree skiing.

Hard to say without a little more info... like how far are you willing to drive, how many days do you want to stay? Coming from Toronto... Holiday Valley or Greek Peak?

I am also in Ontario (Kitchener/Waterloo) and I would recommend Whiteface if you are willing to the take the drive (7 hours from KW, but could be 5 or less if you live in Oshawa).  Its not an easy mountain so I would recommend that everyone is at least a fairly good intermediate before going to Whiteface.  It has a wicked ski town (Lake Placid) and the mountain has freaking awesome terrain.  Tell us more about where you are from and what your looking for and we recommend some options :)  

Claude

Whiteface doesn't have much for intermediate cruisers, and it can be insanely cold.  Gore has a lot of vertical and low angle groomers, but it skis like 4 or 5 small areas separated by long traverses.  Holiday Valley has more horizontal than vertical, but it has more reliable snow than the Adirondacks, and a pretty cool town.  
Your best bet for a big area with long continuous cruisers is probably in southern Vermont.

MM

what time of year do you plan on going?  At this point the only thing I would rule out is SOUTHERN VERMONT.  

Gore.
Lots of fun cruisers including 1700 vertical off the gondola/main face of Gore. For your skiing, I would not go to Whiteface.

Definitely Gore.

I'd choose Gore.  Just be sure that you don't go until late January/Early February cause that's how long it takes to get all the lifts open. You'd be best served by the terrain off the Adirondack Express II or on Burnt Ridge.  You're lucky because those are the two fastest lifts on the mountain.  Just make absolutely certain that Burnt Ridge will be open when you go.

Fart Mountain!  

I would also agree with Gore.     While I like WF, I agree that while it has blues and greens they are not as friendly or entertaining as those at Gore.     You can spend a few days skiing around Gore and it will feel different.    

ONE problem:   Sadly to ski Gore right, you will have to ensure that all the lifts are running when you travel.  
Also, Killington is only 2 hrs away, max.   WF 90 minutes.    Split up the vacation if more than 3 days.    They are both solid out and back days.  

I personally would not recommend Holiday Valley as its no bigger then what you ski right now (Blue Mountain).  Last year was the first year in a long time that I spent a week outside of NYS.  I stayed in Killington for March Break with family and friends.  We stayed in the Highridge Condos which were awesome and had 5.5 days of skiing for around $1300US as I recall.  That was a hell of deal.  Let me know if you need more info on that.  However with the CDN Dollar sinking you might want to consider going to Quebec.  If that was the case then I would recommend I would recommend Mont Tremblant (expensive but great with an awesome Village just like Blue Mountain (same owner)) or Mount St Anne (long drive) or Le Masif (long drive).  

Personally this year I am finally going out west after a long hiatus.  I am going to Big White in BC for $1400CDN per person flight included from Toronto.  I am hoping to get out to Lake Placid once before my trip to BW.  Anyway give us more info so we help you out.

Claude

tjf1967 wrote

what time of year do you plan on going?  At this point the only thing I would rule out is SOUTHERN VERMONT.

If you're looking for long groomers without a lot of traversing around, Okemo, Mount Snow, Stratton are all at the top of the list. There's not much for experts there, but they're better for intermediates than Whiteface, Stowe or even Killington, and more snowboard friendly than Gore.

If you're looking for a bargain, maybe stay in Canada this year.  LeMassif has the best cafeteria food in North America, too.

MM

Some of your decision may be dependent on the time of the year, and day of the week you decide to go. I have homes at Killington and Greek Peak. While I enjoy the vertical and diversity of Killington, on busy weekends, I tend to head to Greek in order to avoid lift lines. To me, having virtually no lift lines and groomed trails trumps most anything.

While I agree that Gore would be a great choice, as they have many groomed cruisers, lines can be problematic depending upon when you decide to go, and what lifts are operational. I like Whiteface, but it can get quite cold/windy, and terrain is a bit more challenging. The town of Whiteface is also a great place.

As was previously mentioned, Holiday Valley is a nice area, but not much more than you are currently skiing at. Plus, it can get really, really crowded.  

Overall, my top pick in NYS would be Gore.

God you guys have me really excited to try Gore! It sounds like my cup of java.

skunkape wrote

God you guys have me really excited to try Gore! It sounds like my cup of java.

Not the most boarder friendly, but an awesome hill for sure.  Huge amount of diversity of terrain, liftlines are somewhat uncommon and the people are great.

I skied 30 days at Gore last season and doubt I ever waited 5 minutes for a lift. I no longer ski holiday periods but probably 70% of my days were weekends. If you limit yourself to the main face during peak times you will have to deal with some lines, but otherwise I wouldn't worry about the crowds.

tom

I skied Gore last New Year's Day and while the lodge was crowded, I don't remember any lift lines or crowded trails.

Lift lines are rarely bad at Gore. If you have even a little knowledge of the area, you can stay ahead of the lines by moving around to Burnt Ridge or High Peaks.  The worst thing about Gore is that it always requires a lot of skating and traversing to ski relatively short runs.

MM

Milo Maltbie wrote

Lift lines are rarely bad at Gore. If you have even a little knowledge of the area, you can stay ahead of the lines by moving around to Burnt Ridge or High Peaks.  The worst thing about Gore is that it always requires a lot of skating and traversing to ski relatively short runs.

MM

The two lifts mentioned above must both be running to avoid lift lines.  Unfortunately, both have many days they don't run.  Burnt Ridge often doesn't open till Mid January due to poor snowmaking capacity and the High Peaks Chair breaks a lot.

That aside, if both are running, it is quite simple to avoid the gondola if you want to.  Before the Adirondack Express II, I rode it a lot since I was pretty much guaranteed to make it to the top on the gondola.  However with the original Adirondack Express, that was not a guarantee.  With the new Adirondack Express, I tend to use it nearly exclusively.  It is faster, more comfortable, and always has a shorter line.

I skied Gore on MLK weekend last year and only rode the gondola once all day.  Had the High Peaks Chair not caused a rope evac the day before, I wouldn't have taken it all day.  Skied many runs off the AE2 and Burnt Ridge with minimal lines.  I also did some runs on the North Side and even ventured over to the Ski Bowl for a few runs.  The top was an icy windswept mess, so I didn't stay up there long.

snoloco wrote

I'd choose Gore.  

? I thought you hated Gore?