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One ski town for the rest of your life?

post #1 of 180
7/21/09 at 3:32pm
Thread Starter 
I am on a journey which was started several years ago to find the perfect ski town to retire in 10 years.... Miami is just too hot in the summer and we really need a change.....

So far Park City is really the only place we feel at home.... Close to airport, lower altitude, good restaurants, great golf courses,, a few hours drive to Vegas ,,,,, and it has the feel of a real town.... 

We really don't want to be removed from the world... and I will still have business that will require some travel....

Am I missing something?

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post #2 of 180
7/21/09 at 4:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by triplenet View Post


Am I missing something?
 
Reno?

Bend, maybe?

Park City is kind of hard to beat for the combination of big-city amenities, great transportation links, and good (not necessarily GREAT ) skiing.

Good luck with the decision.  Personally, I think ten years from now you'll be thrilled with whatever ski town you settle on.


Edited by Bob Peters - 7/23/2009 at 03:33 pm GMT
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post #3 of 180
7/22/09 at 12:43pm

A lot of people here are very interested in this topic, but they may be out surfing, roller blading, rock climbing, bungee jumping  or are tired of rehashing it.
Park City is not a bad place to consider for starters. Lot of old threads on this topic that mention less obvious places and factors, here's a couple:

 

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/26120/are-you-planning-to-retire-to-the-mountains-and-where

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/51873/retirement-in-ski-country-who-has-done-it

Not sure if I want to retire in the mtns or retire where I'm at (mid-Atlantic) and just visit the mtns more often? I'd also have to consider my wife's preferences and she might be interested in a retirement location like Florida.
Edited by Jamesj - 7/22/2009 at 08:34 pm GMT
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post #4 of 180
7/22/09 at 3:43pm
The Inland Northwest has some great possibilities.  This region has 4 seasons, and lots of little sub-climates.  Spokane is the 'big city', about 300,000 in the area, and a good airport.  Very good medical, golf, bike trail system, whitewater, 2nd tier hokey and baseball PAC 10 near.  Pretty fair culture, honest (especially if you are into CW).  4 very good ski areas within an hours drive and lots more within 4.  Inexpensive real estate compared to lots of regions.  No state income tax.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  My home town for quite a while 30 flat interstate miles east of Spokane.  30 something thousand, with the lake.  Add lots of boating here.  The Couer d'Alene mountains are basically the western edge of the Rockies.

Sandpoint, ID.  40 miles north of Cd'A, on Pond Orelle  Lake, very laid back, with Schweitzer about 15 minutes away.  The actual point has got to be some of the best beach front real estate on a lake anywhere. 

The area offers a lot but it is not swanky.  Semi-formal means no holes in your jeans.  Worth looking at, if you like it a bit mellow.
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post #5 of 180
7/22/09 at 3:59pm
STandpoint?  He means Sandpoint.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stranger View Post

The Inland Northwest has some great possibilities.  This region has 4 seasons, and lots of little sub-climates.  Spokane is the 'big city', about 300,000 in the area, and a good airport.  Very good medical, golf, bike trail system, whitewater, 2nd tier hokey and baseball PAC 10 near.  Pretty fair culture, honest (especially if you are into CW).  4 very good ski areas within an hours drive and lots more within 4.  Inexpensive real estate compared to lots of regions.  No state income tax.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  My home town for quite a while 30 flat interstate miles east of Spokane.  30 something thousand, with the lake.  Add lots of boating here.  The Couer d'Alene mountains are basically the western edge of the Rockies.

Standpoint, ID.  40 miles north of Cd'A, on Pond Orelle  Lake, very laid back, with Schweitzer about 15 minutes away.  The actual point has got to be some of the best beach front real estate on a lake anywhere. 

The area offers a lot but it is not swanky.  Semi-formal means no holes in your jeans.  Worth looking at, if you like it a bit mellow.
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post #6 of 180
7/22/09 at 6:00pm
 I'll be shouted down, but I'll put it out there anyway, there are a lot of nice ski towns in the Northeast. No, we don't have Utah's snow (not often anyway, but when you live here you will ski all the good days), but life here is good. We chose to move to Stowe and we certainly don't regret it.
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post #7 of 180
7/22/09 at 6:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by epic View Post

 I'll be shouted down, but I'll put it out there anyway, there are a lot of nice ski towns in the Northeast. No, we don't have Utah's snow (not often anyway, but when you live here you will ski all the good days), but life here is good. We chose to move to Stowe and we certainly don't regret it.

Good call. I really like Vermont. I think I would be happier living there than in many western ski towns. Though if I lived in the east, I would probably want to make a trip, or two, out west in the winter.
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post #8 of 180
7/22/09 at 6:48pm
 I just find the cold in the winter in the East "colder" because it's damper.  And when I'm 80, I think it will bother me more which is why I picked the west to retire to.  
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post #9 of 180
7/22/09 at 8:08pm
Vermont has so much to offer. When it's not snowing . . . It's so lush & green. Which is why the French word is Ver-Mont. (Green Mountain). The west is also beautiful all year round . . . but Vermont has that rich *life* which the west lacks.

The bitter, damp cold you mention concerning Vermont is actually less bone-chilling than Pennsylvania. PA winters are "40 degrees and raining". Give me 20 degrees and snowing any day.  :-)
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post #10 of 180
7/22/09 at 8:42pm
Now that's a nebulous comment.  Could you explain?  Here we've got hunting, fishing, hiking, golfing, rafting, boating, swimming, a local theater, restaurants, numerous art festivals, quite a number of art galleries, lots of local bike and running events...what exactly are we missing?  Oh, an interstate and huge malls.  And if you head down to Colorado you'll find those things.  

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarcusFire View PostThe west is also beautiful all year round . . . but Vermont has that rich *life* which the west lacks.
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post #11 of 180
7/22/09 at 9:50pm
I thought CO was really mid-west...

I'd vote for Truckee, Ca....Tahoe resorts, Kirkwood, Mammoth, and Utah ~6 hrs away....or Reno, Nv.

San Francisco/Oakland 3 hrs away, Giants, As, Sharks, 49-ers, Raiders...world class everything!....Napa valley, Pacific ocean,, etc.
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post #12 of 180
7/22/09 at 10:05pm
Oh!  I know the answer to this question!

In the mean time, follow the advice above and choose Coeur d'Alene.
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post #13 of 180
7/22/09 at 10:10pm
Wait.. I missed the part where you said, "In 10 years".  I also glossed over the Miami part.  Keep in mind that all of the good mountain towns are mostly wrecked or well on their way.  Based on something ten years in the future, I don't think you can easily pick the town because of the changes they're going through.  However, based on the fact you're from Miami, I'd agree with your Park City choice.
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post #14 of 180
7/23/09 at 2:33am
My summertime fantasy has me weighing living in Telluride, Bozeman or Taos, for no particular reason. Not that there's much chance of any of them, but just for the hell of it, those of you who've been, what do you think? I've only been to T'ride of the three.
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post #15 of 180
7/23/09 at 5:55am
I know the answer too, Vinn. My lips are sealed.
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post #16 of 180
7/23/09 at 12:55pm
You should have been here before this town got overrun by people like you.
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post #17 of 180
7/23/09 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nfp158 View Post

I thought CO was really mid-west...

I'd vote for Truckee, Ca....Tahoe resorts, Kirkwood, Mammoth, and Utah ~6 hrs away....or Reno, Nv.

San Francisco/Oakland 3 hrs away, Giants, As, Sharks, 49-ers, Raiders...world class everything!....Napa valley, Pacific ocean,, etc.

 

I'd definitely say North Lake, but not necessarily Truckee.  Tahoe City gets a little crazy during the holiday seasons, but the West Shore seems like an ideal locale if you don't have to make the Friday and Sunday night drives.  During peak ski times, hit Homewood or start at the back side of Alpine.  When it's less busy, Squaw.  During the off-season, Lake Tahoe is at your doorstep, it's beautiful everywhere, and temps are manageable.  An hour to the Reno airport when you need to travel on business.

If all goes according to plan/dream, I'll be making this happen a lot earlier than retirement.
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post #18 of 180
7/23/09 at 2:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iWill View Post

You should have been here before this town got overrun by people like you.

Not sure which town you're talking about (maybe all of them) but your comment reminded me of this little list someone sent me awhile back.  This would be good advice to anyone moving to the small-town West:

COWBOY RULES FOR:


Arizona, Texas , Colorado , Oklahoma , New Mexico , Wyoming , Montana , Utah , Idaho, Nevada   
and the rest of the Wild West are as follows:
1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.
2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.
3. Let's get this straight: it's called a "gravel road".  I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, 
 you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle. They smell like money to us. Get over it.
Don't like it? I-10,  I-40, I-70 and I-80 go east and west, I-17, I-15, I-25 and I-35 goes north and south. Pick one and go.
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.
6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept...
7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during the hunts, we WILL shoot it outa your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of

November.
10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.
11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2

pounds of ham and turkey.
12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup!
Oh, yeah . . We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat.   IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!
13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she 
 better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, 
 and a dang site more fun to watch.
15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.
16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore
than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!
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post #19 of 180
7/24/09 at 12:24pm
I guess that whether a place is a "ski town" or not depends on how far you're willing to  travel to ski.
I'm used to having to drive 3+ hours to be at anything remotely resembling a legitimate ski area, so any town half that distance from areas 10X better than I'm used to qualfies as a ski town.  By my admittedly liberal definition, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Seattle, Portland, Reno, Sacramento, SLC, Denver, Boulder,Santa Fe, etc are all "real" cities that also qualify as "ski towns". 

I'm on a similar timeline to you toward retirement, and I'm having a tough time deciding between some of these options. At the moment I'm kind of leaning toward Santa Fe, with Denver second on the list. Calgary would be on my list, too, but Mrs. goblue says it's too cold.     
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post #20 of 180
7/24/09 at 2:21pm
 If I was looking for a ski town in the Northeast, we would focus on New Hamster. In the couple of recent trips Lola and I took to NH, we found it ti be like Vermont without the "Holier than Thou" attitude that Vermont has (the state and not the people). 

As far as west, I did like Bozeman and Ogden but would be open to other areas if we were more serious. 
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post #21 of 180
7/25/09 at 7:55am
 I'm in Park City, but I did it to be close to Alta as much as anything. My wife works  two or three days in the valley and loves the commute- she has a better job in her field than could be had in Jackson, Sun Valley, Steamboat, or Gunnison, to name a few places we looked. I work online so I could be anywhere. So having a real city down the road is nice if you need it. She's on the other computer as we speak and just said "I wonder what it would be like to settle in Montana?"
  One of the disadvantages is that we are getting built up. In the 15 years I've been in Utah things have really developed. Still, there are vast forest service reserves, great resorts all very close, great backcountry and biking, and of course, our snow. Development has stopped dead with the recession and there are better housing deals than I've seen in years and getting better. Mortgages are cheap for now. In any case. If you can live in a ski town, it's a pretty great way to go. We've taken a pretty big hit with the downturn, but I never hear anything other than how lucky we are to live here from anyone in town. We cleared a little underbrush out back and put in a lawn. The critters like it...





The back yard. I have this XL pooper scooper...
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post #22 of 180
7/26/09 at 8:27am
Maybe its because I practically grew up there during my childhood winters, but I love southern VT, more specifically the the Mount Snow valley.

Most importantly, theres lots of great skiing. Its beautiful, life is much simpler and slower paced. Id still be close to Boston, NYC, and of course my home state of CT. As mentioned before, VT has much to offer even when theres no snow on the ground. And of course no gun laws.
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post #23 of 180
7/26/09 at 6:45pm
I to have a dream of living in a mountain town down the road. It will be a very hard sell to my wife as she grew up as a beach girl in So Cal. I imagine a town that is old, brick buildings, kind of an old west feel to it. I have been to Park City and that isn't it. Mammoth really isn't it. No Vail, so where? It would be great if the immediate area was wooded, with lakes all over the place, as I am not to into dry desertish areas. Guess I need to go up to BC and find it someday.
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post #24 of 180
7/26/09 at 9:29pm
It is very interesting that with this huge variety we have to choose from, we all pretty much plug our own neighborhoods. 

Our passion offers such a wide variety of climates and we are promoting our own.  Think about this, have you ever been to a ski town you really did not like (bad memories are another matter, they don't count). 

Life really is good.
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post #25 of 180
7/27/09 at 5:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stranger View Post

It is very interesting that with this huge variety we have to choose from, we all pretty much plug our own neighborhoods. 

Our passion offers such a wide variety of climates and we are promoting our own.  Think about this, have you ever been to a ski town you really did not like (bad memories are another matter, they don't count). 

Life really is good.

Yes, there is parochialism, but there are also humorous examples of the grass is always greener syndrome. The post I had to shake my head at was when Prickly (who skis near St Moritz) mentioned US ski towns. For me an awesome dream would be to spend each winter of my years between age 60 and 70 in a different village in the Alps. That would be a skiing and cultural adventure.

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post #26 of 180
7/27/09 at 12:37pm
Whitefish in the winter:

Whitefish in winter

Whitefish in Summer:
Summer

Flathead Lake in the evening in late September:
Flathead Lake

Whitefish Lake

And we've got millions of acres of national forest, federal wilderness, plus Glacier National Park nearby. 

Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2 ski View Post

I to have a dream of living in a mountain town down the road. It will be a very hard sell to my wife as she grew up as a beach girl in So Cal. I imagine a town that is old, brick buildings, kind of an old west feel to it. I have been to Park City and that isn't it. Mammoth really isn't it. No Vail, so where? It would be great if the immediate area was wooded, with lakes all over the place, as I am not to into dry desertish areas. Guess I need to go up to BC and find it someday.
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post #27 of 180
7/27/09 at 1:36pm
Sibhusky,
I went through that area in July of 1985 (or was it 86) on vacation, the pictures show the area hasn't been taken over by the permanent tourists. You don't know how lucky you are.
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post #28 of 180
7/27/09 at 1:38pm
Sure I do.

But, I do have to say that there has been a conscious effort to upgrade the look of the place lately as you approach the town.  Whether it's been the "permanent tourist" who is the instigator of this or others, I couldn't say, but there were parts of the town approach that were sort of messy and I noticed last night that things are looking a lot nicer with plantings and signage compared to how things looked at one time years ago.  A trailer park and some messy strip malls are gone, there is more landscaping and green grass, some people who were not maintaining their property have either moved or been forced to clean up the place.  It's been slow, but steady, over the last five years, but the eye sores are largely gone now.
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post #29 of 180
7/27/09 at 1:53pm
Even though i just been there once, I have to give Bozeman the nod.  Always had Taos/Santa Fe on the radar but Bozeman has this real working town atmosphere along with great hunting and fishing which i enjoy when I'm not skiing.  Good, out-going, hard working, pick-up drivin' people there also.  Country music prevails..um,  I can get use to it! 
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post #30 of 180
7/28/09 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sibhusky View Post

Whitefish in the winter:

Whitefish in winter

Whitefish in Summer:
Summer

Flathead Lake in the evening in late September:
Flathead Lake

Whitefish Lake

And we've got millions of acres of national forest, federal wilderness, plus Glacier National Park nearby. 


 
Thanks dood,

That post put a big smile on my face.
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