To Road Trip it or not?

So i'm planning a two week trip this year before and after new years and was looking into flights and trying to figure out where the snow will be best.....then i got to thinking, even though gas prices are through the roof, with 5 buddies to split gas costs why not road trip it?

I will be comming from NYC - so probably around 30 hours to CO and 33 to UT - i was thinking somewhere in CO for new years then move on over to LCC and kinda follow where the snow is best...then head on home...

What is the longest road trip you guys have taken and what was your drive distance to days skied ratio? Would a 30+ hour drive for 10-14 days of skiing be worth it? I think so but i'm trying to justify it to my friends. I think having the mobility of my car plus the randomness of a road trip would make it a sweet way to spend my last college winter break. Also, would lodging be tough to get on short notice - if we play it by ear and go where the snow is falling - would we find a hostel/ cheap room to stay in?

If you could build me a time machine so I could go back to college and enjoy those month long winter breaks(and the option to ditch class whenever the fuck you want) and take me with you, that would be great.

Haven't been on too many road trips due to a shit car and gas prices but good luck and enjoy.

EDIT - Think about Canada.

Jet Blue, son.

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Originally Posted by bklyntrayc

Jet Blue, son.

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For sure.
Or southwest, which starts service to Denver soon, I believe?

I road trip like crazy at times, but I also try to follow a strict DTS ratio protocol (drive to ski). If you can't break even on hours skied versus hours driven, it's usually inadvisable. But of course, if there's loads of pow, that can go out the window.

You are trading $$ for days skiing.

Only you know how much room there is in your wallet. Only you can tell if a road trip is worthwhile.

I'll second Yoss's DTS protocol. Having said that, a few years back TJ and I drove from Tremblant to the B.C. Summit for 5 days of skiing. Taking into account the driving done once there, I'm not sure we broke even on the DTS scale, but it was still a hell of a trip that I won't soon forget.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and no matter how hard I might try),
d.

3 weeks, 6500 miles, 13 shows...


phish heads are nuts bro....

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Originally Posted by Raps

What is the longest road trip you guys have taken and what was your drive distance to days skied ratio? Would a 30+ hour drive for 10-14 days of skiing be worth it?

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Yes! I have driven 18-22 hours from Oslo to Geneva/Chamonix/Engelberg/etc several times for just one week of skiing/biking each time. It's worth it. If you get two weeks: Go! I have also done similar trips by bus. 35 hours from Oslo and 25(?) from Göteborg. It is NOT worth it. :cussing:

I disagree witht the DTS protocol. I have had some very good days where I skied for 7 hours and drive for about 10. Depends on the conditions, of course.

10+ hours for two hours of shitty skiing in rain is my record. They had some good burgers there, but it still wasn't worth it.

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What is the longest road trip you guys have taken and what was the drive distance to days skied ratio?

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Longest road trip approx. 10,000 miles over 3 months and skiied as much as possible. Was it worth it? ..........it was the best trip of my life. In your situation though since the time is limited I would just grab a flight so you get to ski more.

Jet Blue just announced a sale - 2 or more passengers booking together $120pp round trip JFK to DEN.

one really fun loop:

Start Denver, ski WP/MJ, drive Steamboat
Ski Steamboat, drive Jackson
Ski Jackson, drive Targhee
Ski Targhee, drive SLC
Ski LCC/BCC, drive Eagle County, CO
Ski Vail, drive Denver.

Can be done with 6 consective days of ski early (8am-2:30p) drive late (3p-10p or so) combos. Was a spring break when I was in college, we skipped WP and Steamboat at the start and spent two or three days in Jackson, but other than that, totally doable.

Buster has some cool loops too, I seem to recall.

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Originally Posted by Raps

Would a 30+ hour drive for 10-14 days of skiing be worth it?

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For me? No. Follow the wisdom of the Cletus and calculate the ski days per drive time.

But I'm a great believer in road trips. Not that you'd want to end up like me. But anyway, pick some locale that had snow, find a cheap flight nearby, get some huge rental sled with ski racks and awd and do the tour: ski the day, drive afterward. There are so many:

Reno-Squaw-Sugar Bowl-Kirkwood-Mammoth
or
Spokane-Red-Whitewater-Fernie-Castle-Big Mountain-Turner
or
Albuquerque-Taos-Silverton-Telluride-Crusty Butt-Wolf Creek
or
Spokane-Schweitzer-Montana Snow Bowl-Lost Trail-Discovery Basin-Moonlight/BigSky-Targhee-Jackson.
or
Seattle-Alpental-Stevens-Baker-W/BC.

But the longer droner borefest on the monotone concrete ribbon with monodimensional gasAmerika fast crude for equivalent time skiing? Blech.

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Originally Posted by Yossarian

Buster has some cool loops too, I seem to recall.

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Oh honey, your timing! Synchronized posting, the next Olympic sport.

I try to weigh the cost versus sking days.

With a 30 hour drive, you can make it in 1.5 days, and only loose 1 day of skiing in transportation on each end of the trip.

If the cost of flying + splitting the rental car(s) is more than the gas, I woudl drive. You only concern would be if your car broke down on the trip(like mine did).

I did 31 hours from Raleigh, NC to SLC last year and was gone for 3.5 weeks. Despite my cars problems, I had a blast and hope to get to do the same thing this year.

My best road trip was 2 weeks of chasing powder in February of 2004. It was supposed to be mellow 2 weeks in the interior of BC but ended up a 7000 km adventure. I traded off the comforts of a bed several nights and slept in the car in order to maximize the skiing. In 15 days of travel I crammed in 11 days of skiing, one day was missed to spend time with friends instead of the gong show that was Squaw/Alpine on a Saturday post big storm Thurs/Friday.

My road trip was:
Work full 8 hrs then fly Toronto to Calgary – then drive to Golden arriving around 1am sleep in car.
Day 1Kicking Horse – stay at hostel
Day 2 Kicking horse again – drive to Fernie – stay at hostel
Day 3 Ski Fernie -hostel
Day 4 Ski Fernie – (major change to plans based off maggot stoke of pending storm in Tahoe) drove to Spokane stayed in cheap motel
Day 5 Drove from Spokane to Truckee – slept in car in grocery store parking lot
Day 6 Squaw Valley in huge storm day – stay in a ski share new found friend at Squaw
Day 7 early morning drive to Kirkwood (attempt to ski first time with maggots) – drive back to Alpine Meadows to stay with an old friend that I was able to look up.
Day 8 helped friends move some stuff out of Alpine to their new house in upper Truckee – drove to SLC, slept in car again just below control gates in LCC.
Day 9 Alta –storm day skied with funken and snorkledeep my first maggot meetings– hostel in SLC (that place sucked)
Day 10 Alta blue bird day – drove to Jackson stayed at hostel
Day 11 Jackson Hole – drove to Missula MT stayed in cheap motel
Day 12 drove Missula to Nelson BC –stayed in hostel
Day 13 Whitewater – drove back to Fernie – hostel again
Day 14 Cat skiing in Fernie – drove to Calgary stayed in motel
Day 15 fly Calgary back to Toronto

Some pictures here.

My vote is some sort of road trip. Fly to either Denver or Salt Lake and chase the snow. With five guys you can split the cost of a renal car and map out your hostels/cheap motel options. If your really short on cash bring a camp stove and pbj. You won’t forget or regret a good road trip. Just make sure you can tolerate those other four guys for a full two weeks. My trip was solo so I could do whatever I wanted

Also considering a road trip to San Diego (friend is driving out for a business trip) and skiing anywhere sorta along the way that has snow. Kinda leaning against it though as my days off are limited as a working lad. Road trips can be fun though.

Do i have to be 25 to rent a car though? I know at most of the major places you do but i guess some smaller outfits might rent to me.....i'm 22 and the others would be 21-23.......

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Originally Posted by Raps

Do i have to be 25 to rent a car though? I know at most of the major places you do but i guess some smaller outfits might rent to me.....i'm 22 and the others would be 21-23.......

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Dang it. You youngins'! I *was* going to state that the two are not mutually exclusive. I'd recommend searching from a rental place that'll rent to a 23 y/o. Maybe the local rent-a-wreck?

As comical as this is, I'd recommend AGAINST the road trip. Part of a great road trip is the drive itself and you're going to drive through some boring-ass country and trying to get there as fast as possible. That eliminates the randomness of the ride that makes a great road trip.

I personally think that your buddies and you would be fucking foolish to even consider flying somewhere for such an adventure.

With five guys you don't have to stop and can go straight through easy, the cost is probably even, a road trip ads a bit of possible adventure onto each end, you'll have your own rig but most importantly you'll be 100% schedule flexible and can change plans anytime to accomodate the best conditions. Finding last minute accomodations also shouldn't be incredibly difficult b/c it is not spring break and not during the holidays, if nothing else you know via the board somebody in every US ski town and can at least get them to recco a vacant cheap flop motel.

For me, going to UT for a day and a half is not out of the question. CA would be at least a 3 ski-day trip to justify and I've done 3.5hr each way day trips.