Southern VT reseort for beginner & intermediates (w/some terrain for me as well!)

I'm planning a trip to Southern VT to ski with my sister & her family for February, probably the first weekend of President's week. Looking for resort/ski area suggestions based on the following:


Abilities:
•My sister grew up skiing but was never as fanatic about it as I was--she's an intermediate.
•Her kids and my brother-in-law went once last year, loved it, and want to go again. Beginners obviously, but enthusiastic and not timid.
•I'm expert. I'll spend most of my time skiing with them but might like to slip off and have a bit of fun. Especially if there were Bears to meet up with for a few runs.

Other criteria:
•Money is an issue, so a place with good group lessons would be great - I imagine we'd want to give the kids lessons one or both mornings and ski with them in the afternoon.
•The reason I'm saying southern VT is because they are in NY and I am in Ottawa - it seems like the best place to meet.
•Reasonable lodging would be a plus - under $50 pp/night would be great, and I think we are fine up to 1/2 an hour away from the skiing, cute would be fun -- maybe a B&B. Or if there is a resort with condo's under a couple of hundred a night that works. Is this unreasonable?--I think I could do it out west at mammoth or whistler, but I don't know the east as well.

My thoughts so far:
•Magic is the Southern VT resort I've most wanted to go to, but is it a good place for lessons and beginners?
•I'm leery of Killington on a holiday weekend, but maybe it's not as much of a zoo as I fear? is it the place for lessons and cheap condos?
•Beyond those two places, I don't know the area-Bromley looks like a good intermediate resort, but is there anything fun for me there? Not absolutely necessary, but it would be nice.

Thanks for any advice!

Mount Snow comes to mind for a nice beginner's area with some interesting terrain for more experienced skiers. Cheap lodging in West Dover/Dover, VT about 10-15 minutes from the resort.

Magic is great for you, but not anyone else.

K-Mart is a zoo, and the home of the long traverse. (I've been going there 40 years, so "the you don't know" birds are FOS) I also boycott it due to the new owners way of treating long-term customers.

Bromley would be fine for the others, but you'd rather have a root canal - honest.

Okemo and Flatton would make them feel like hero's - Double blacks all day on their third day on skis (you know why ). You'd want to go back for another root canal.

What about having them drive a little more (and you a little less) and go to Sugarbush? Nice big place with plenty of lower level terrain, as well as things to keep you busy. AND - down the street is MRG - You'd have a ball. Warren, VT has to have somewhat reasonable accomodation too.

+1 on Mount Snow, though it's not cheap by any stretch, especially on a holiday.

You'll probably find better lodging deals for Bromley, just because it's a little farther north from the NY crowd that usually goes to Mount Snow.

Mount Snow is also fine - You'd get bored after 1.257 days, but the others would have fun. Probably not cheap to stay at.

I'd stick with the SB/MRG suggestion and make the other guys drive a bit more.

I'm suggesting Gore Mountain in New York, in the Adirondaks. It has a seperate beginners area and plenty of novice - intermediate terrain for your family to learn on. It also has some decent steeps and glades. We skied there on MLK weekend and it wasn't too crowded. It's probably about the same distance as Southern VT for your Sister and might be a bit closer for you.


Here's my trip report from last weekend and some pics.

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=79221

Where in NY are they coming from?? That can make a huge difference in finding the inbetween spot.

My suggestions (none in S. VT):

Sugarbush
Gore
Smuggs

Thanks, an interesting suggestion that I never would have thought of. Your TR makes it look like a lot of fun.

(dumpy, they are coming from NYC, Manhattan specifically).

Have them drive an extra hour north and meet you at Montpelier. There Capital Plaza Hotel (not nearly as nice as it's name btw, at least not since the 30s) is not skier focused and hence pretty cheap on the weekends.

From there you can ski Sugarbush which is only 30minutes away and which has a FAR better ski school then Killington or Okemo or Snow. They also have way better snow, and Castlerock for you.

Also Montepelier is home to the greatest pancakes in the world. Like omfg you had no idea a pancake could be that good.

Check out Middlebury College Snowbowl, (www.middleburysnowbowl.com) between Killington and Sugarbush in the Green Mts. Will not be crowded , can get a 1hr private lesson for $50, lift tickets on weekend/holiday will be $42, stay at a b&b in Middelbury 15 minutes to the slope. Not the biggest mtn, but there are some challenges. pm me if you want more info, I'll glady show you around the mtn. David

+1 on Mount Snow...great family fare, cheap (enough) lodging, cheap and decent quality food...best deal on the mountains is the group lessons, which state "group", but most of the time no one shows up and you get a private for the price of a group (I think $35 for 2 hrs) or 1 other person shows (sure it will be more crowded Pres Day, but thought the same for xmas and my kids got pvt lessons).

The first weekend of President's week is typically the busiest and deals are going to be hard to find. You are probably going to be better at one of the smaller areas. In addition to the suggestions you've gotten so far, consider Pico. Reasonable lodging in Rutland and tickets are $52 vs $77/$82 at Killington. Has great skiing for novices and enough expert stuff to keep you interested for a day or two.

Yes, but it's very hard to take a run or two on the advanced runs and then meet the rest at the base. It's a mountain that is not meant to be skied with a few runs "here and there". IMO.

This is an incredibly moronic statement....

"I've been going there for 40 years" followed by "I haven't been there in the last two years".

Killington used to do a million skier visits. I doubt it does 650K skier visits now under the new ownership since they jacked up prices and killed off most ways of getting comp tickets and steeply discounted tickets. With the blackout season passes excluding a lot of the every-weekenders, holiday periods are not particularly crowded in the more challenging parts of the mountain. You can get a parking spot. You can get a seat in the base lodge. The chairlifts have no lines to speak of other than the new high speed quad at Bear. The novice areas and the two gondolas are the choke points but the rest of the place is now relatively empty. Killington removed the worst traverse completely and you can no longer ski from the top of Bear to Snowshed.

Killington is completely inappropriate for the original poster but not because it's crowded. It's inapproprite because it's very expensive... particularly if you want to use their ski school and kid programs.

If you're on a budget, you're not going to find much in Southern Vermont that won't be jammed with people that weekend. The suggestion of Pico using less expensive lodging down the hill is a good one. Just make sure you reserve any ski school slots well in advance. You're still going to fork out some major coin for ski school but the prices will be pretty much the same as anywhere in Southern Vermont. Anyone renting gear should do it on the Killington Access road or on Route 4 in Mendon the night before. Prices are lower. Gear is higher quality. Staff is better trained.

As long as the snow is good, I wouldn't discount Magic - there are several variations of a green route from the top, the crowds will probably be lighter than any other place in the area so the lesson situation won't be such a zoo either and the cost can't be beat.

I agree that you probably wouldn't want to spend a whole day by yourself at Bromley, but for skiing with the family most of the day and taking a few runs by yourself, I'd say its better than a root canal.

The crowd situation and likelyhood of more scraped off trails...plus paying top dollar at the larger resorts on one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year is a better comparison to a root canal for me.

Ok coming from that part of the state, S. VT does make more sense, but it still doesn't. Go at least as far north as K/Pico. I suggest Pico. Killington is great if you are there when it's not crowded, got $$ and know how to get around. For begginers it can be down right frustrating. Pico has a more relaxed pace, not sure about ticket prices though, might be the same K.

Have them drive an hour further north and hit Sugarbush, great variety, real laid back, yet still classy and both the experts and begginers can find enough to stay occupied off of the same lifts.
Second favorite mountain in the east, behind jay (still need to hit Iceface, Magic, Stowe and Smuggs before i pass full judgment). I will say that Sugarbush is the all around utility player of any mountain I've seen this side of Colorado. It really does have it all. If you want to nit pick, you could say it needs more night life, but honestly who cares about that on a ski trip.

Still drop a recommendation for Gore, but it may be a hike from downstate.

Well I'm glad everyone is suggesting Sugarbush, it's one of my favorite VT resorts, and I know a great B& B in Waterbury not too far away--a plug here for the Hunger Mountain Inn which is halfway between the Bush and Stowe. But it is a haul from NYC--Gore is actually 1.5 hours closer, and an intriguing looking ski area. The Middlebury suggestion is also intriguing. I'll have to talk to my sister today to see what they are up to.

If they are from NYC/NJ/LI chances are they will only want to go to Stratton, Mt. Snow, Killington or Okemo. Must be something in the water.

Gore is a great mid sized mountain, I've had a lot of fun there and the gondola cars have little interesting tidbits about local history and what not printed on the inside. Cool touch in this history nerd's mind.

Good location too, kind of in the middle of nowhere, but North Creek should have everything you will need while there.

Once again, Gore has a lot of flat spots! And, the advanced terrain (the back area) is far away from the front side (intermediate and beginner). You must either take the extremely flat Cloud run with a long hike out of the bottom and you'll be at the top of the Adirondack Express Lift or take another extremely flat run to the Topridge Triple to the top of Bear Mountain and then ski down.

speaking of root canals, obviously some of the posters here are not familiar with NYC traffic-it can easily take 6-7 hours to reach so vt on a holiday weekend let alone travel an extra hour or two to reach some of the "better" resorts. let me tell you what we did one year that worked out pretty well- we stayed in Brattleboro VT at a holiday inn express and hit Mt snow and Stratton over a long weekend- those two including Bromley and and Okemo are within a 45 minute drive from Brattleboro. there are also numerous inns close to Manchester which should fit your budget- there's a reason why these resorts are popular- they are within reasonable driving distance from NYC and they offer good skiing for families and skiiers of all levels- who knows maybe they'll have a couple of thaw/freeze cycles and you'll find skiing on ice- and i mean the black kind- challenging enough for you.

Living in south CT, with an office on State Street downtown, I'm quite familiar with the traffic. That still shouldn't condemn them to the southern VT areas. The OP says "I'm expert. I'll spend most of my time skiing with them but might like to slip off and have a bit of fun" - that says (sorta, maybe) K-Mart, or (really) S'bush, MRG.

For gosh sakes, this is their ski vacation - leave NYC before noon (or Thursday, or take the train - get off in Ffld and rent a car), then get up to Rutland / Warren in the early evening, have some dinner and in bed by 10 (if that's their thing).

And Manchester, although it's afflicted with Bromley and Stratton really isn't too cheap, and it's still an hour from K-Mart (no, K-Mart won't be a zoo on President's weekend - freaking genius), although Magic is close, but I don't see that for his relatives.

And Dumpy, nothing like a little profiling of the lowest common denominator eh? - "If they are from NYC/NJ/LI chances are they will only want to go to Stratton, Mt. Snow, Killington or Okemo. Must be something in the water".

Then again, maybe in 95% of the cases you're right.

when I was in high school, I worked at Mount Snow. one of my (least favorite) tasks was to drive or walk through the parking lots at lunch time and using a special clicker, count the license plates by state. NY was consistently 60-70% of the customer base. CT was second with about 20%, and the rest was a mix of NJ, VT, NH, MA, ME, etc. We also drove up to Stratton to count their cars and it was about the same mix, but with fewer people from MA, NH and VT.

Every winter weekend I did this, for 2 years. One of the main reasons Mt Snow and Stratton have been so successful over the years is their proximity to New York.

No UT or CO plates? How strange.

Could you be any more sarcastic about everything?

Oh wait...I'll answer for you...

NO!

Way to make the most of that all important 29th post on a 9 month old thread!

This a great thread.  Being from NYC and now having children who are skiing age, I have agonized over this particular question for some time. IMHO the bottom line here is that there is NO EASY answer.  Its a simple formula. The closer to NYC you are, the more crowded it will be (exceptions included of course, see magic mt). The further from NYC, the better the skiing.  So IMHO, there is NO MIDDLE ground.  IMHO there is NO SWEET spot.

For example, while many will feel otherwise, i do not think stowe, smuggs, JAY etc is a "reasonable drive" for new yorkers.  Too much travel, not enough fun time.   I also fall into the category of avoid killington at all costs. Period

So just bite the bullet, keep this formula in mind and commit to one side of the equation.  Id go for the extra travel time for better skiing. As said,  try and take an extra day off.  

If you  try and do the best within a "reasonable distance" from nyc, i would probably vote for Manchester VT.  IT will offer the choice of bromley, stratton or magic with reasonable lodging variations, food and a nice Vermont town.

With that said, growing up in the late 70's early 80s, when gas was cheaper, traffic was easier and the snow was better, our "go to" places in this situation were gore (far)  and pico (father).  Both offer a "real" skiing experience and enough terrain for both sets of levels. (As per above, allow time at gore for expert level access).  

Now that ive typed all that, my wife -- who grew up at magic and is a good skier --- will be lobbying hard for stratton based on gaperish easy to park, small "base village" for the kiddies and perceived ambiance.  Im just going to go with the flow with her on this on, and try and get my kids to a higher level so we can hit magic when the snow is right.

Why cant we just have a @#$%^#^ reasonable to high speed train like the rest of the world....that is the solution from a convenience, economic and environmental perspective. Alas i don't think it will happen in my life time.

I was gonna say that!  Everybody forgets the Snow Bowl and it's way underrated. 

Super cheap, crowd free and great for beginner lessons.  That and you could hit Magic on the way home after the trip to get the rippage you honestly know you won't get while playing family guy.  It's the best mix of fun and family on the cheap without turning your "ski trip" into a "standing in line trip".

Good one snowbowler! 

Mapquest is your friend. 

Let me edit this since sometimes, google and mapquest are not super accurate. "What is the real world" drive time to middlebury from points south?