This is my first post but I check the site often. Always full of great information. I am looking to schedule a spring break ski trip for next year at either Stowe or Tremblant the week of March 29-April 2. I have done trips out west in the past but with three little kids (all skiing) I don't think we will travel that far. Can anyone give me some thoughts on which of these resorts would typically be best at the end of March or if some other eastern resort would be better. I have been checking ski conditions recently and it looks like mid-march is great in the northeast but late march can get questionable. I would like a resort with some challenging skiing but the bottom line is I need some family friendly terrain where we can also do a few none skiing activities.

First, at that time of the late season you don't need to commit in advance. All Eastern ski areas will be mostly empty or closed. You would be smart to wait until about a week before and decide after checking snow conditions. Great time for last minute deals and mild, kid-friendly weather. You are smart to watch this years closures to gage who stays open late. The two resorts you mentioned are good candidates, but also relatively pricey. I'd say they are equally compatible with your preferences, maybe just choose the one with best snow, or go with Tremblant if an int'l experience has appeal.
Some others: Sugarloaf Maine, Bretton Woods NH, Killington VT, Mt Snow VT, Sugarbush VT, Sunday River ME, Wildcat NH. I'd guess my top recommendation would be Sugarloaf Maine for nice combo of late snow, family friendly layout and base village, nice advanced terrain for pops, and probably some good slopeside lodging bargains. Also, for something different I had a tremendous family ski trip experience to Quebec City in late March 2008: http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=1145&mode=headlines

I'd also toss in Jay Peak to JimK's list.

I like staying in Burlington and then skiing from there. Your roughly an hour or less from Smugglers, Stowe, Sugarbush and Bolton Valley and maybe an hour and a half to Jay Peak. Plenty of lodging plus tons of stuff to do and places to eat apres skiing. I was there last weekend for three days and skied three different mountains which is always fun.

If its a family trip, I'd go to Okemo. How old are your kids? Okemo has the best snowmaking in VT. They also have a ton of ski-in/out lodging. You can also day trip to Killigton, which is only 45mins away. When the family and I go to VT, this where we ski. Rates go down this Sunday, we usually stay in Winterplace.

Let me know if you decide to go there, a good friend of mine and his family will be there starting Sunday.

We just finish a 6 day ski trip to New York and Vermont on Monday, We skied Whiteface, Jay Peak, Stowe, Killington/Pico, and Stratton. We had no reservations, except Killington weekend lift tickets, and just decided on the go as to were we would start and finish the trip.

As it turned out we started on Wednesday at Whiteface, what a disappointment, I have never seen so little snow on a mountain and they still called it open. We only skied a 1/2 day and moved on to Jay Peak. Lodging just outside the resort was $79.00 per night, Lift ticket was $38.00 with a Coke product.

Second day was Jay Peak, my first time there, they had a good base, loads of steep groomers and very little crowd. Even given the week we skied was a Canadian Holiday week. This ended up being one of the best skiing days we had, lots of good trails. Lodging off the Mt. was $99.00, plus $47.00 per lift ticket.

Stowe was the third day, it started off sunny and cold, but quickly warmed to above freezing. There was allot of ice and allot of ground up ice on the slopes. This soon turned into piles of sugar snow that made your legs burn. The runs serviced by the gondola was crowded and skied off by noon, we decided to take the new cross over Gondola to the Smuggler's Notch side and found some great skiing there the rest of the afternoon. Stowe Lift tickets were the most expensive at $84.00, a hamburger was $10.00, hot dog $6.00. Considering Stowe is owned by AIG, us tax payers should have gotten a discount. We stayed at the Mountaineer Lodge for $89.00, highly recommend it, great hot tub and indoor pool and breakfast..

Next was Killington for the weekend, Killington is usually my favorite resort but they too had ground up allot of the base on the steeps it was more like ice cubes than snow even though they had a very good base. We knew being a weekend it might get crowded so we started a 8 am and skied hard till Noon, got lunch and headed to Pico for the afternoon, turned out to be a great choice, very little traffic there and still goomer marks on the trails at 3 pm. Sunday was similar, but we skied Bear mtn in the morning first and worked our way back to K1 Lodge area. It was snowy in the afternoon and the fog set in, so we finished at 1:30 pm and packed up and headed to Stratton. Lodging at the Comfort Inn was $159.00 per weekend night, Lift tickets were $50.00 per day, bought in advance.

Stratton, had the most snow and best conditions of any of the resorts, Given its an Interwest resort, it reminds you allot of Snowshoe, even the trails are similar but at 2200 vertical feet. We ski 51,400 of those vertical feet on our 6th day of skiing, conditions were just awesome. In my opinion its a great all around Mtn. With better runs than Okemo, Okemo has too many cross trails in their slopes that have a tendency to launch you if your not careful. A ski and stay rate was $98.00 per person at the Inn.

Brad

Timberline is far from having a powder day, after all: it is currently raining. The fact is that they are still open on weekends and still have snow that is quite fun.

Of course, I would take Vail any day... and would settle with Kilington... BUT ?!@$*! I can't exactly afford it. I barely keep up with the out of pocket expenses of visit canaan. LOL

How where the tree runs at Jay. Which trails did you ski on the Mansfield side? (across the road from Spruce). I remember when all of Killington had more spring coverage than Stratton and Okemeo combined.

This sounds like an excellent safari to end the season.

Most of the resorts were in need of fresh snow, March has not been good to Vermont this spring. Im not a tree skier, but do remember seeing some huge mougals with tree trunks poking out the top of them! lol.

Our first run of the day was on Liftline on the Mansfield side, we ran all the major runs off the FourRunner Quad, Lookout, Hayride, Nosedive, Most of the narrow bump trails were closed do to icy condidtions.

I think the Noreaster that came though 2-3 weeks ago, help the Souhern Vermont resorts the most. Stratton had a great base.