I’ve gotten great advice from this board in the past, and thought I’d give it another shot.

Looking for a good mountain to try for my girlfriend and myself. I don’t mind a difficult-to-reach mountain; more interested in good snow chance/less crowd, which probably means hard to reach.

Plan is to put her in daily morning lessons, as she is a novice. Will ski together in afternoon.

I’m looking for advice on places including those I haven’t been to. Places I’ve been: Taos, Vail, Breck, Keystone, Jackson Hole, Steamboat, Park City, Aspen.

Would like either ski in/ski out or 5 minute walk.

Places that have caught my eye that I don’t know much about: Crested Butte, Big Sky, Whistler.

I’m interested in anybody’s knowledge of mountains and lodging that would fill the bill.

Thanks in advance.

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Posted by CuseTiger

Member since Jul 2013

8947 posts

Posted on 11/25/25 at 6:31 pm to Eye dentist

quote:
Looking for a good mountain to try for my girlfriend and myself. I don’t mind a difficult-to-reach mountain; more interested in good snow chance/less crowd, which probably means hard to reach

The snow pattern looks to be changing over the next week or two. When you say new years, do you mean right before or right after? 1/1 is on a Thursday this year so it's going to be crowded at most resorts that week. If you're going the week after, likely empty at most.

quote:
Places that have caught my eye that I don’t know much about: Crested Butte, Big Sky, Whistler

Whistler would be a good one. PNW looks to be getting hit with a lot of snow over next few weeks.

Schweitzer ID is a tough to get to mountain, but once you're there would be a good beginner mountain to learn on for the gf. Fun stuff for you to ski in the back. They have hotels and stuff at the mountain itself. I've also never found Schweitzer to be obnoxiously crowded whenever I've gone even on a Saturday/Sunday. Fly into spokane WA and drive two hours.

Other one I can think of immediately is Big Sky. Tons of ski in/ski out places and a huge mountain for both of you to explore. About an hr from Bozeman.

Maybe mammoth mountain in CA? It's a 5 hr drive from LA or 3 hours from Reno, but once you're there there's a ton of places to stay in town and take the gondola to the mountain. It's a huge mountain too so lots of terrain to explore. Plus lots of restaurants and bars.

Just my take

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Posted by fargobison

Member since Aug 2011

4423 posts

Posted on 11/26/25 at 12:18 am to Eye dentist

quote:
Crested Butte, Big Sky, Whistler.

Whistler by a mile if those are what you are looking at. Big Sky I love but they aren't getting a lot of snow and that is a mountain that needs a good base, same deal for Crested Butte. Both are awesome mountains to visit in March.

Banff and Revelstoke have solid snow right now, same for Mammoth which Cuse brought up. Those could be other options worth looking into.

This post was edited on 11/26/25 at 12:19 am

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