Ski bumming trip - Final stats and best of...

[sculhane]

Hey all,

Here's the final tally after 8 weeks...

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To anyone who cares, here are the individual weekly trip reports:
Week 1 is gone, dunno why...
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6.5
Week 7
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Here we go:

Places skied (number of days):

Jackson Hole (3)
Grand Targhee (2)
Snow King (1)
Big Sky (2)
Snowbasin (5)
Alta (3)
Snowbird (5)
Solitude (1)
Powder Mountain (1)
Aspen Highlands (1)
Aspen Ajax (1)
Sunlight (1)
Crested Butte (1)
Telluride (1)
Bridger Bowl (1)
Montana Snowbowl (1)
Big Mountain (1)
Turner Mountain (1)
49 North (1)
Red Mountain (3)
Fernie (1)
Castle Mountain (1)
Kicking Horse (2)
Lake Louise (1)
Sunshine (1)
Panorama (1)

Total ski days: 43 (out of 50)
# of different resorts: 26

Total mileage added on car: 18,000km (including about 7,000km to drive cross country)
Speeding tickets: 1 - Now that's a miracle
Parking tickets: 3
Super 8 bonus points: 5812
Number of times Roadhouse Blues was played on the local "Classic Rock Station": 16 (including 3 times in one day on I-80!)
Pounds lost: About 8. Not bad considering I had about 400 beers


My personnal Best of... Only includes places skied in this trip.

Best trees:
1 - Red Mountain - Way better than any other for trees
2 - Telluride (Frontside)
3 - Jackson Hole
Honorable mention: Montana Snowbowl (if you get it before the sun does!)

Best Value:
1 - Kicking Horse - 4100' vertical for 55$ Cad
2 - Castle Mountain - 2800' vertical for 45$ Cad
3 - Montana Snowbowl - 2600' vertical for 32$ US
Honorable mention: Alta (lousy vertical, but great terrain), Turner Mountain (2100' vertical for 23$, need I say more!)

Worst Value/Biggest disappointment:
1 - Aspen - Lousy terrain (very short steeps) and 72$ tix
2 - Powder Mountain - Huge, but very flat and crappy lifts. Spend 10$ extra and go to Snowbasin.
3 - Fernie - Not the great little secret it once was. Overrated, but still a nice mountain.

Best place for a powder day: (Lack of crowds/locals, lack of competition for powder, large terrain, good lifts)
1 - Kicking horse - Huge, will take days to track. Great lifts and terrain
2 - Snowbasin - Had 3 powder days there with no one around. Great lifts.
3 - Grand Targhee - Great lifts, decent acreage. Could be too flat in some spots after large dumps.
Jackson Hole and Snowbird/Alta would obviously be in the list if I could have them to myself

Places where you need a local/partner the most:
1 - Bridger Bowl - Not much there without The Ridge, thanks BaseWeldr
2 - Red Mountain - For the trees, thanks Paedde
3 - Sunshine - You can wait a long time for a partner to do Delirium Dive, I did...

Best deals:
1 - The 88$ Super 8 in Gunnison for room + Crested Butte tix
2 - The 90$ 2 of 5 days Snowbird tix at Canyon Sports in SLC
3 - The 26.99$ Motel 6 in Jackson (Really!)

Best place to go for a one week vacation:
1 - Salt Lake (but bring your own beer!)
2 - Banff-Kicking horse combo
3 - Telluride-Crested Butte combo

Best terrain: (Steep, challenging, constant fall line pitch + Great vertical)
1 - Jackson Hole (unfortunately faces Southeast, get there before the sun!)
1 - Kicking Horse
3 - Snowbird
Honorable mentions: Crested Butte, Castle Mountain, Montana Snowbowl, Lake Louise

Best Overall: (Terrain, Snow and value)
1 - Snowbird
2 - Kicking Horse (very close 2nd, would be 1st if they had more snow)
3 - Snowbasin (very close 3rd for lack of crowds on powder days)

Ski on,

Steve

[schuss]

I wonder if they let you check kegs as luggage for SLC...

[midget]

Awesome TR, that's one hell of a trip!

Bump for a sweet road report!

[paedde]

Hi Steve

Great report!! What a nice way of spending a boring night at work.

This report and your private emails will change my planning at all. How nice it would be to ski with you all the resort again. You would be the perfect “local” guide.

To my surprise I found my name in your report, luckily I could register with the same name in here.

5 months to go…Start will be in SFO or Reno

BTW: Don’t buy a digital camera you are too busy skiing – I’ll take care of that part

You @ Red Mountain http://community.webshots.com/photo/...35222497bljHVp

More:

http://community.webshots.com/user/paedde31

[freshie247]

Sweet tour! why did you skip Big Sky when it's so close to Bridger?What about Whitewater?

[baseWeldr]

missed this the first time around I guess, excellent tally-up of a truly epic trip. glad I could help tourguide you around, ski with ya again sometime somewhere... maybe feb in jackson...

[Potsy]

Surprised I missed this too. Lots of great info, and very useful this time of year as I dream up vacation plans. Thanks!

[davey]

Didn't make it to tahoe at all huh? Sounds like a hell of a winter though..