Help with planning a big US trip

That's quite the trip you're planning! Too many variables to go into detail, but you may want to buy season epic ski passes and plan the trip around the resorts included in the pass. It would give you access to three resorts in the Tahoe area and the best of Summit county skiing.

http://www.snow.com/epic-pass/passes/epic-pass.aspx

Hi Richard,

 

I'll stick to the tahoe end of the trip.

 

Are the kids back at school around early Feb, ie is it a 2 or 3 week trip, or longer because you might want to lok into the

 

1.SKILAKETAHOE.COM 6 PAK $299 for up to 7 resorts; Keep in mind there's martin Luther W/end and Presidents Weekend that might be blacked out so bear that in mind when doing your maths.

 

2. If you get 1 season pass , Squaw/Alpine is my tip.

 

3. I'm sure a few on epicski will be happpy to show you their hill.

 

4. Where to stay? monitor a few places at Squaw for deals: I was lucky and got several weeks at $120/night for slopeside apartments.

 

5. Beware that Tahoe tends to be 'snowless' in January. Ask the weather gurus about, say, flying to JH in January and then PC and SLC then driving to Tahoe for Feb.

 

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and check out southwest airlines: bags fly free (within limits)

Unless you are planning 6 week trip, that's too much driving for me. You'll spend a day going from Tahoe to SLC, another driving SLC to Jackson, and another Jackson to Colorado.

You can easily spend 3 weeks on Colorado, a couple of weeks in Utah or a week in Jackson.  Tahoe has great skiing but it doesn't have consistent enough weather if you are planning more than a few weeks on advance. Unless you really like gambling, you could skip it.

 

BK 

Way too broad. What type of skiing are you looking for? What type of lodging (budget, ski in/ski out, etc.)?  Right now you're basically asking for a list of the best resorts and lodging throughout western US ski country. Need to give a few details to get them in return.

 

Sounds like an epic trip, though.

if your still in planning stages for a road trip also look into BC and Alberta. There will be a lot less wasted time driving between mountains. Lots of options, bigger vertical at most and a better chance for snow.  If your interested in details pm me. 
 

If you do go to Colorado...skip the big places Vail, Breck, Copper, Winter Park that are located within driving range of Denver because the crowds and traffic are horrible.  Instead go to Aspen Snowmass...yes it is more expensive for a ticket but the quality of the skiing experience is so much better.  You may also want to check out Montana.  We hit Big Sky, Bridger Bowl and Moonlight Basin and were amazed at how better it was than Colorado, primarily the terrain and complete lack of crowds.

Richard, at Aspen Aussies get 14 days for the price of 8 irrc through places like Felicity Moss' Mogul Travel.

 

re Utah, buller race club  families on ski.com.au did a month there: pick luvthebumps and skidown and born2ski's brains.

I don't know how long you're staying but doing justice to Just Tahoe and Utah on one trip could take weeks. There are several major resorts near Tahoe and five major resorts worth spending multiple days near Salt Lake City. A lot of folks could easily spend two weeks at either site. These 8 - 10 ski areas give you a lot of variety. Snow conditions will be different, elevations will vary and even the mountains and vegitation will be significantly different between Tahoe and Utah. I think it would be a poor use of your time spending more time traveling between more spots.

I agree with above sentiments.  Just do Utah and Wyoming and you'll maximize your chances for great snow (especially for your dates) and at the same time hit terrain that is arguably as good as it gets in the U.S.

In UT, the best resorts for your group would be: Snowasin, Alta, and Deer Valley.

 

Park City Mountain, Brighton, Solittude, and The Canyons are also worthy of visits.  

 

Avoid Snowbird, it will be too much for the girls, maybe the boys too. 

 

It's extremely rare that any resort is 100% booked and I would say it never happens in SLC.  I fly standby and never know if or when, I will actually arrive.  I've booked discounted rooms in SLC on Hotwire via my smartphone while walking off the jetway.  Hotwire or Priceline can offer significant savings, especially in cities with lots of chain hotels.

 

SFO is a really nice city.  But unless you want to spend some time there, I'd just fly into SLC, rent a car and follow the snow!

Some folks might start planning a trip like this by looking at season passes.  The Epic pass costs ~$659 and gets you unlimited skiing at three good ski areas around Lake Tahoe and five in Colorado. http://www.snow.com/epic-pass/passes/epic-pass.aspx  You would have a pretty nice three week trip if you skied all those areas a couple days each, plus did some skiing around Salt Lake City to split the drive between Tahoe and Colorado.

 

By the way, to give you an idea of the road mileage for your original itinerary;  Tahoe, to SLC, Jackson, Denver would be about 2000 miles including stops at multiple ski areas in each region.  Then another 1300 miles for a straight shot back to San Francisco.

I would do Tahoe last and go in the other direction in terms of weather / conditions.  It's always a crap-shoot, of course, but generally speaking the further you get into February the better...

Richard, how long are you planning on staying in the US?

Do you have it figured out which airport is best for you to fly in an out of? 

It's likely cheaper to fly in and out of the same one, but that will mean more driving, lots more driving. 

It would be nice to land in Colorado, go to Utah, drive up to Jackson, then to Tahoe and fly back from Reno or San Fransisco.

I've skied St. Anton/Lech, and of course our resorts are much smaller, you could ski every lift in a days skiing, but it would take much longer to get to know the resort/mountain.

Some like to ski a different resort each day, like me, others like staying put.  What are you thinking?

I think you'll find the US West quite up to par for challenging skiing, but of course our runs are shorter. 

The people on these forums can answer all your questions, although you'll get a bunch of varied opinions, but you have to be more specific on what you are hoping to do.

I think Liftopia made the Mountain Collective Pass just for you!