So far I have 14 days this season (of which 4 are less than half days). Managed to get in 131,455 vertical feet.
Skied 6 days at Vail, 5 days at Snowshoe, and three days at 7 Springs in the early Jan. rain.
It is interesting to note that I certainly tire more quickly as I age (turned 65 this year).
Anyway, a great year, just not enough days. Hope to go somewhere this weekend, but I am afraid my consulting work will keep me busy here at home. BUMMER. You know, with all the DCSkiers that were in Utah this year maybe we should try to organize a trip back to the land of honey and powder for next year...far enough in advance that maybe a bunch of us could go all at the same time!
The Colonel

I have had somewhere around 30 days..... 1 day at blue knob... 20 something at 7 Springs and 6 in Utah....

Maybe one last hurrah at the springs, but that is as of yet uncertain.

15 days. 10 local mostly at Whitetail, 3 days at 7 Springs, 2 days at Wisp, 5 days in Utah.

32 days. Spent a week in Vermont, At least 10 to snowshoe, likewise wintergreen. And numerous trips to various resorts through the region.

9 days. Pathetically low for this board, but not bad for grad school and all its attendant financial splendor.

The picture on the front of this site got me thinking of Whitetail vs. Winterplace (my new local abode). I miss Whitetail. I still think that is one of the better ski resorts in the Mid-Atlantic.

10-11 days:

(1 day) Park City UT
(5) Winterpark CO
(2) Solvista CO
(3) Timberline WV

Possible trip this weekend to SS for a days dig.

Well, I have a fair amount less than last season. Let's see, I've had 18:
10 days at Snowshoe and 8 out in Summit County, Colorado (A-Basin, Breck, Keystone, Copper, and Vail)

-Warren-

I've had 18 so far. Leaving tonight for WV and hope to get a few more. Most at SS, a few at T-Line and CV.

25 days. As much as I try, I can never seem to get many more days than that.

4 - Whitetail
1 - Wisp
2 - Timberline
2 - Vermont
16 - Utah

Unfortunately, this may be the season for me given some upcoming weekend work, hockey playoffs and early spring landscaping projects.

I actually sat down 2 days ago and worked out the trip cost for a group to Utah and no mater how you shake it out for 1 week in Utah the cost averages about $1100. The magic number I figure is six and let me break down why.

Your flight will average you about $300-$350. You may do better or worse depending on frequent flyer miles and whatever else but I didn't assume this.

Lodging will run about $350/person for the week. This is based off a few different assumptions. First of all I didn't figure staying at a resort, I'm figuring staying in SLC or in my preference up around Eden. We stayed in the Little America in SLC which is a really nice hotel and fits within this cost group.

I assume a car rental cost at about $80-90 perperson for the week including fuel. This is based on a regular car not an SUV. If you have more and need a minivan the cost always works out about the same.

I threw about $300-$350 at lift tickets based on buying them discounted and not hitting all the most expensive areas. Maybe a day or two at Canyons or PCR but the rest at places like PowMow or Solitude.

Total cost $1150 + entertainment and food.

6 is the magic number because once you hit more than that t influences things like vehicle rental and lodging especially if you rent a condo or cabin. I'm guessing if you had a group of 20 or more you could do a bit better but where you get hit is flexibility. You can get group rates but everyone has to do the same thing which doesn't always work. For example on a group trip with skiers where I'm sure loads of you would want to hit Alta or Derr Valley I would be out by default.

Before anyone disects this too much remember this is an average and I'm sure you can do better by changing some things like lodging or transportation but I feel this is a good estimate because it gives a safe goal to aim at for planning. I'm probably going to start stashing the money for next years trip now with this in mind.

JohnL 16 days in UTAH ???? I hate you .

Kennedy i think you're numbers are right on, probably got to add what, about $50/ per day for entertainment and food.

Does Little America feed you breakfst?

Comprex could tell us more about managing a beeg group on ski safari?

Mine has been a pathetic 27 so far this winter. I usually score between 45 to 50. Hope to do at least 30 though. Another goal on my top 10 things to do before I die is to ski 100+ days during a season. I better get moving on it soon cuz I'm not getting any younger!

I made 21 new ski friends this year , took me 37 days to do it, hope, no plan to finish with 40 days. Still haven't made it to Blue Knob, there's always next year for that.

Little America doesn't but we'd hit a few little local places, Grand America has the best pancakes I've ever had and that place is classy but it ain't cheap. Say $10-11 for breakfast at Denny's or something. Food on Mountain another $10, dinner say $15-$20 not allowing for drinks or appetizers or anything like that. Usually too tired to drink but not worried about that. I can get drunk in DC anytime I want I might only get pow pow like that 1 time a year. So yeah $50/day for food/entertainment.

Jim:
Great deal on SolVista lodging and close enough to WP to spring board between both resorts. As a first season boarder the vista is a pearl. No crowds in sight. Lots of wide open green/blue terrain. Early morning the only tracks noted were from deer. A great place to get premium snow time I thought. If I hadn't mucked my arm I would have bypassed WP for my remaining 3 days and stayed put at SolVista. I loved it.

13 full days total. 7 in CA and 6 in PA.

39 days total.

7 trips to WhiteGrass.
6 days of insanity in Tahoe.
Remainder were local sessions at Roundtop or Whitetail.
(oh, yeah, teammate Tom & I also took home a pair of kickass trophies for winning the Troeg's Race League at Roundtop this season. )

What a fun year!

The only way you could get ahead with a group is if you worked out a deal with the resort beforehand but that's too limiting. If it were something like a Jackson Hole it would be worth it because you don't need to go elsewhere. With Utah there are too many options. I totally agree with Comprex. Pick a maximum of 6 like minded people and go with them. If you have too many then you also get into things like ability level. How many are advanced, intermediate, beginner. Are there enough of each to have riding buddies. Each has their own preference in terrain. All have their own agendas and not all will agree.

Next year when I go I will extend the invite to maybe 4 other people with the understanding:
1. flights & accomodation will be paid for immediately unless I am 110% certain you are good for it.
2. if you cannot go you forfeit any funds paid unless tickets can be refunded/changed and any fees associated with such are their problem.
3. we are going to ride. If you get in the way of that i.e. get smashed and can't get up next morning to ride, you will be left behind and I won't feel bad about it especially on a powder day

These sound harsh but to be honest if you lay out the rules up front you face less BS later on because no one can get bitter and say you didn't warn them.

Thems the rules.

I would really like to go anywhere out west. I tried getting just a little trip together last year and couldn't do it most of the people I know just ain't into skiing enough. I know I'm new to the site but if you all plan a trip I'd really like to be counted in.

Roger, I have you beat. I come in at an under-whelming 4 days total since November.

Where is this and what ski area is nearby?
The Colonel

I thought you bought a season pass for Wisp?
The Colonel

30 days so far, and one more still to go! Not bad for a junior in highschool taking 3 APs who pays for all of his skiing with his OWN money (parents aren't skiers...) with the closest resort being an hour away.

My total for the season? 7 days. Depressing, I know. Three days at Whitetail, four powder days at Vail (Firsthand Report still forthcoming). At least I made it out west this year -- it was great to spend some time in Colorado.

Tomorrow at Snowshoe will be #20 for me, and probably my last day of the season unless there's an epic powder dump or another easy opportunity pops up. I did 10 days at Snowshoe and 10 at Wintergreen (about 4300 miles of driving total). No other trips out of the region, though I came close to booking a Utah trip recently but couldn't make it cost-effective for just myself. Would like to go out West and/or Vermont next year.

Scawtttttttttttttt tsk tsk
The DC ski god only getting 7 days in? What were you doing on the weekends? Bowling?

38 for me
2 Stowe
7 Killington
29 Whitetail
(about 10 short of normal due to season ending injury)

I did buy one for Wisp, at $260 so as of now, it's no differnet than if I had bought 4 regular full day holiday season tickets. At least it wasn't a loss, as of yet anyway.

Good job Aaron. How do you get to the slopes? Must have a car or friends with cars?

Col, Solvista is a smaller place north of Winter Park near Grandby. It has two "peaks" each with about a 1000' of vertical and a couple chairs. I think a rich Brazilian women owns the place. Like Freshair said, it's supposed to be great for families and newbies, has good scenery, and a kind of private club feel to it. I was thinking about going there a couple years ago. I think it went by other names in past like Silver Creek?

18 so far including visits to Chamonix (fra), Meribel (fra), La Plagne (fra), Alpe D'huez (fra), Courmayeur (ita), La Thuile (ita), Champrocher(ita) and Foppolo(ita).

Hoping to get up to 21 after spending next mon, tue and wed at Snowshoe! Bring on the snow this weekend.....

I'm at 17 days, all at 7Springs (season pass). 7 of those days were in December, when the conditions were awesome. I had hoped to bag 30 days or so, but I strained a calf muscle in Jan, and my daughters' indoor soccer schedules had the audacity to interfere. I'm toying with the idea of going up April 01 to close down the season.

JimK i'll try and get something together and online for you after i have visited Snowshoe. In the meantime more than happy to try and answer any specific questions....

I had to cut my season short. The Wife is due on April 3, 2006 (Not very good planning on my part) So I can't head to the mountains anytime soon. For some reason she thinks I should be there for the birth of our 5th child. Go figure. (I was there for the other four, doesn't that count?)

I got 18 days in.

5 - Snowshoe
4 - Tahoe (Squaw, Alpine, & Homewood)
3 - Wisp
3 - Whitetail
3 - Timberline

I may take the kids somewhere for Spring Break (April 7-16), but with Snowshoe shutting down early I may not be able to swing it.

I am with Scott this year. Well down from previous years due to a combination of circumstances, mostly beyond my control.

3 -- whitetail
1 -- solitude
2 -- brighton

I think its really unlikely I will be able to ski again until nov/dec time frame of this year. Although I would really like to do so...

MY all time favorite is the Portes du Soleil, Morzine France. You can fly into Geneva and be an hour away. From Morzine you ski up the French Alps down into Switzerland, around 40 miles and back up into Morzine passing through a number of French & Swiss villages...so NOT the US! And, no overpriced gray/raw hot dogs and hamburgers and nachos like here!!! Now, most Americans would do best just going to Epcot where they can visit 6 countries in one day and they all speak English. (LOL)...but if you have Euro-appreciation you can't beat it. What I hate about a lot of Euro destinations is a 9 hour flight followed by a 4-hour bus ride. Check out your transfers carefully - our 4-hour ride to Cortina (in the Summer) became EIGHT in the Winter! And, if doing the Munich/Frankfurt transfer...stay close to the Lufthansa desk to get a room when you miss the connection. I've spent many a night there (on Lufthansa - free room/board/bar bill only for about the first 50 or 100 people). Happen much? Well, Lufthansa has Its OWN HOTEL - true.

All I have to say 'bout the lift tix prices...Canyon Sports! They have decent discounted prices and they did a FANTASTIC tune/repair to my skis there!

-Warren-

Like I said it's an estimate. It all depends on what you want to do. For example by the time I figure in a shuttle or parking at BWI I'm going to add an extra $50-$100. I can fly direct out of Dulles on Delta and leave my car at home. I used $350 as a safe example for a flight but before we got our flight for $250. Seriously it depends on how you figure some things.

I'm not figuring an SUV I'm figuring a car/van but either way your SUV still works out in the $120/person range based on four people sharing, obviously thats a lot more if it's less people and you've now negated what you saved on flights. Before you say it I know what risks a FWD vehicle entails.

2 bedroom condo with a pull out, yep it will get that or a hotel or whatever you want to stay in.

So with that in mind, using the pricing I have your trip works out at $1000. You've saved $100.

You can cut the rental car out altogether if you want. The Grand America runs shuttles to Snowbasin for $12Rt and you can use public transport if you want. Hey you could fly SW, drive a Geo Metro and stay in a tent but it would suck.

I'm not trying to rag on you but honestly when you look at it you can shave a few $ here and there but you'll still be no better off at the end of the day. The trip costs what it costs and if you spend too much time trying to figure out how to scrape a few more $ off the budget you can drive yourself insane.

Oh I'm banking on discount lift ticket prices but you'll still average, again I say average, about $50/day over 6-7 days is $300-$350.

18 (days that is) (+1 today) - 1 CV, 17 Tline. Snowing here right now.

tgd,

You're a regular at Tline, do you know a guy named Fred. I did a few runs with him last weekend at Tline. Seemed like he may have been a property owner also. He had also skied 17 days at Tline. He skis on K2 Axis XT's.

Do you know him?

Fourteen this season (the most in 20+ years) at 13 different areas:

Wintergreen, VA (first, last)
Bousquet, MA
Sutton, Quebec
Orford, QC
Stowe, VT
Bromont, QC
Jay, VT
Massanutten, VA
Timberline, WV
Bryce, VA
Whitetail, PA
Montage, PA
Elk, PA

Woody

Hopefully the french,Swiss & every other alps you have experienced will leave you prepared for the 1 & only WEST VA ALPS....Wild & Wonderful!! Remember to ski INBOUNDS...Its very risky to venture out of bounds due to the...Have you ever seen the film "Deliverance"!! Let me hear you squeal like a lost skier BOY!..enjoy the experience

Sadly, it's Andy who's the one that makes the lost skiers squeal...

109 days. Thought it was more (sure seemed like it), just counted it out on a calendar from opening day Nov. 26th to cleaning my locker out yesterday.

When I priced up Utah recently, it was:

$315 for airfare from ORF to SLC, booked in advance (or $400-500 booked late)

$60 per night for a basic hotel in Sandy/Midvale

$50-55 per day for lift tickets with discounts (either off mountain or multi-day)

$69 per day for a Subaru Outback from Hertz

Add in misc costs of about $20-40 per day for food, taxes, gas, etc....

For one person, I could not make it cost effective for a 4-5 day trip (3-4 days skiing plus travel time). For two people, it would get more reasonable because the hotel and rental car can be split, but the lift tickets and airfare are fixed costs and no change there.

Sorry, I don't know Fred. There was a Fred on DCSKi who owned in CV but he hasn't posted this season.

Tom

19 days and counting! Beautiful day at Timberline yesterday. About 2" fresh snow, every trail was in great shape. No ice, hero snow, nice weather (snow, sun, no wind).

Snowed another 3" overnight, still snowing now. Weather service has said rain/snow all weekend here - LOL. Nothing but snow here since Friday - probably over 5" total. Praise to Ullr, I get to finish this year with a powder day!

Sunday made 20 days - that will be it for the season. Next weekend has been "pre-booked" for spring. 20 days - all fun. Ended the season with 3 straight days of skiing at Tline. Yesterday, the last day, was one of the best this year. 4"-5" of fresh snow, intermittent bright sunshine, great packed powder conditions. The highlight was seeing my not quite 5 year old daughter ski The Drop - twice - totally in control and unafraid of the slope.

Here's one for Andy - Driving south out of the the valley this morning around 7AM, saw the most awesome sight of Mount Porte Crayon. The sky was totally clear, except the peak of MPC which was busy making its own weather. The mighty giant was shrouded in puffy grey snow clouds and the top 1/4 of the mountain was freshly brushed in white. It was a pretty amazing sight.

Tom

Thanks for the vision TGD...Saw the same thing last time i was up there....not a cloud in sight..except on top of MPC! The clouds would look like they were trying to blow off but then another batch would form & thicken. The 1st thing I do in the mornings when I'm up there is grab a cup of coffee & watch the mountain cloud show...it keeps the view very interesting & beautiful.....TL,an improved CV...& "Almost Heaven" on Mount porte crayon with the Shoe an Hour & a half away will DOUBLE my ski days in the future!

What's the peak elevation on MPC? How does it compare to Snowshoe's 4848ft?

Also, does anyone have a lat/lon for MPC? I'd like to see what it looks like in Google Earth.

thanks,
CRaig

Tom, it depends of which Fred you speak. I know several and ski together with one Fred who owns in NWoods. I'd say something nice about him but he does check thsi site on occasion and wouldn't want him to think people thinks he's a nice guy or something.... . Got one more weekend at t-line. Local's Cup race on this Sunday. For all you hard core skiers, T-line did it's first "retro" race last Saturday, a GS for straight skis only. I put on my old 204 K2 UVOs and almost killed myself in the race course. I forgot how you actually had to direct those straight skis. The shaped skis have sure made it easier.

Here are some additional metrics for my 05-06 ski season:

9 - number of kids we introduced to snow sliding this season (7 new skiers, 2 boarders).
7 - parents/adults reintroduced to skiing after many many year lapses.
16 - (100%) - number of new/returning skiers/boarders who are looking forward to next season.
10 (out of 20) days skiing in fresh fallen snow.
1 - number of weekends we did not ski because of bad weather/poor conditions.
1 - number of runs on OTW before they plowed the whales
countless - number of runs on OTW after the whale flattening
~3294 miles driven to/from Canaan Valley this winter.
~206 gallons of hi-test gasoline burned on those trips
~$568 cost of that gas (avg $2.799/gallon @ 16 mpg)
0 - days skiing in rain
0 degrees - lowest temp I skied in this year.
0 - number of days I would have preferred doing something other than skiing
0 - number of Freds I know

256 days until opening day '06 at Timberline.

Tom, Kim sorry we didn't get to make some turns together last weekend, but beers in TP was next best thing eh Kim? Not sure if this dismal season is over for me, hoping the #1 boss sees the benefit of one more trip to the valley. Oh btw i was a beginner again on Sunday, spent the day in woods hole learning to get off the lift, down the hill and back on the lift again without falling down. Great fun, new friends, Quality Skiing in March, isn't that what it's all about?

Mount Porte Crayon is 78 feet lower in elevation than Snowshoe...but don't let that fool you..A Mtn is only as big as its verticle rise. You could put all of wisp Mtn on top of SS & you would have MPC! Makes you wanna go hunt some Salamanders,Flying Sqirrels,stubburn farmers....& a few Dcskiers...don't it?!! "ALMOST HEAVEN"..Get-R-Done!

I spent some time ogling MPC on Google Earth last night, and it looks like a pretty spectacular location for a ski area. From what I have been reading, they might not be able to use all the vertical, but there's plenty of room for at least 1500-2200 ft vert runs. That would really energize skiing in the mid A.

I was bored today in between class so I Googled "Mount Porte Crayon" and found that the 3rd and 4th sites to come up were articles written on DCSki by DCSki Columnist John Sherwood. Being that high up on Google definitely means that we are "on the map". Here is the link:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=mount+porte+crayon&btnG=Google+Search