re: 2024-2025 Ski Thread

There were some people boarding down the levee somewhere around BR. That’s probably the biggest slope. About 40 foot vert

Copper Mountain. The entire right side (if you’re looking at a trail map) is basically beginner terrain. Easy to get to as it’s almost literally on I-70 about 1.5 hours due west of Denver.

Copper is a great suggestion. I would also throw out Solitude in Utah.

Or some east coast spots… Mt Snow, Killington, or Stowe. A lot less elevation, easier to get adjusted to for a beginner.

Just saw the webcam at Copper, looks like it is nuking there. Had a 3-4 inch burst up at Steamboat earlier today.

Cams look pretty good for copper and a basin. Going to a basin tomorrow then copper sunday

Steamboat was awesome today, busy but I expected that on a powder day Saturday. Was a decent line for both gondolas so I took the chair lifts to the top, actually got down into Morningside before everyone on the mountain got there. The snow was really nice up by the ridge....

Run of the day was the boot pack up to No Names, I love that whole area the steep drop comes at you out of nowhere after going through some mellow trees at the top. Soft snow made it a lot of fun.



Did a top to bottom run to end the day, starting down Storm Peak South and working my way down to the base, 3,670 feet of vert per my slopes app. Copper tomorrow!

going to Park City in a couple of weeks and it's been a terrible snow year so far. Hopefully, that just means it is going to dump the week I am there.

Side note: Thinking of going to Alyeska next year if I can convince my small crew to get off the Epic Pass tit. How is that with regards to snowboarding? Smaller mountain, less traffic, easy to get to, steeper runs, lots of snow??

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if I can convince my small crew to get off the Epic Pass tit.

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Alps! Damn near the same price and an easy sell to break the status quo.
Epic has 3 vallees, verbier, crans-montana and arlberg.
Honestly, Ikon is even better... it has Zermatt, St. Moritz, Kitzbuhel, and camonix mont-blanc.


If they can't leave the US.
I'm not sure why Epic is so great. Ikon has:
Jackson Hole
Big Sky

Aspen/Snowmass
Steamboat
Winterpark
Copper

Snowbird/Alta
Soli/Brighton

Squaw
Mammoth

Crystal, Alpental, Snoqualmie
Mt. Bachelor

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To play devil’s advocate, most of those Ikon resorts you listed need the full Ikon pass, which is more expensive, and require flying into smaller airports. For the vast majority of skiers and snowboarders, why spend the extra money and trouble when you have Vail, Park City(as long as the workers are happy)and Breckenridge at your disposal?

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Depends what kind of trip you are looking for, those places are great for a family or couples but if you want to bring the guys out to ski some more gnarly terrian Big Sky, Jackson, Snowbird, Taos, Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth, Revelstoke, etc are going to provide a very different experience. With the exception of Jackson, all of them are on the base pass. On Epic you would be looking at Whistler, Telluride, Kicking Horse and Crested Butte for something similar.

Also, I would much rather fly into a small airport then Denver but to each their own on that front. Sitting at the airport in Steamboat right now, took 10 minutes to return my car, check my ski bag and walk through security.

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Sitting at the airport in Steamboat right now, took 10 minutes to return my car, check my ski bag and walk through security.

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It has always worked out for me too, but I’ve had a couple close calls with delays at the smaller airports. Makes me nervous, wondering what I’m gonna do if I can’t get out of there for several days.

And I don’t doubt what you said about the Ikon Resorts you listed, but a group of friends looking to travel and are skilled enough to take advantage of the increase in difficulty vs. what Epic has to offer seems like a rare thing. Feel like you need to live there or close by to be capable of it, but I could be making excuses for myself too