Downhill skiing within driving distance....what's good?
 

My wife and I want to try taking a driving vacation for skiing this winter, something maybe 10-12 hours away? Has anybody done this? Where did you go and how did you like it? Thanks :)

Joe

The last place we went to was Boone, NC. It was fun but nothing compared to western US ski areas.

Did you get this info from that magic thing Google Search?😜

Last Friday my kids left us in Poinciana and drove to Steamboat Springs CO....only took them about 30 hours. Of course, they aren't planning on coming back anytime soon...

I hear the snow is great though.

There might be snow Christmas Day on the championship courses

I drove to Breckenridge this summer so I'm somewhat familiar with the drive. Getting there is a long slog, getting home is even worse! 30 hours is damn good time.

Joe

I've been eyeing the embankment on Southern Oaks that obscures the Okahumpka rest area. Even a dusting and I'd be there, 100%. Probably would use my rock skis though unless it was deep.

Joe

30 hours driving time. they stopped in Nashville and Denver.

Maybe I need to add a little more information....Most of my skiing life has been on a 400ft vertical hill in Wisconsin but I've raced in plenty of beer leagues on a 250 foot hill. Have skied quite a number of big and small resorts in the west and a few in the east. I'm pretty happy on virtually any terrain from easy greens to super gnarly double blacks. Bluebird or blizzard. 50 degrees or 20 below. All is fine for me.

The thing is I'm looking for a place that works for my wife, she's a bit more particular. She needs fall-line greens and easy blues served by a detachable quad. (none of these "oh so common" "crowded, twisty, narrow catwalk all the way down" type "green" runs...hey, it's a trigger issue for me!) She *can* manage a fixed grip lift but fall-line greens are a must. Runs *****cannot***** be populated by large numbers of lunatics! Skiing with her at some places is super difficult (for example, Sun Valley, Snowbird, Jackson Hole, etc. Not because of the lunatics, more because of terrain and run layout) We really enjoyed Deer Mountain because she could "ski the whole mountain" and not just one little section....although it probably isn't an issue in North Carolina (a few runs and you've done them all it seems) ((and that's OK, I'm not complaining))

Sugar Mountain has a pretty darn respectable vertical but it looks like most of the runs funnel into a valley. Those places don't work for us as she's not a super fast skier and gets quickly overtaken by "young boys on snowboards" (or similar) which...on occasion...hasn't worked out very well. Of the resorts in the link above, Cataloochee looks the best on paper, it seems like there is quite a bit of room at the bottom with people bee lining it to the lift going skiers right leaving the left side safe. Has anybody skied there?

Joe

Dam Joe, wish I knew ya when my knees were still good. Would have loved to rip some double diamonds with ya at Jackson Hole, Snowbird/Alta, or Telluride. I still wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about the times Helicopter skiing in Utah and jumping into Corbett’s Coulier at Jackson Hole or Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington.

With this cold weather that familiar feeling is really hitting hard this year. We've been here almost 3 years now but for some reason it's more intense this year.

I've haven't made it to Tuckerman Ravine yet but I did make a feeble jump into corbett's in the era of 205cm slalom skis and survived. Went heli skiing once in BC. That was kinda funny, right when the first shorter wide powder skis came out. The guides were like "you really want to use the Chubbs vs. your GS skis" and I was like "they're only 180cm long, how can they possibly work at all??" but they really, really did and, like your heli days I'm sure, it turned out to be a day I'll never forget.

Joe

Still, it's a hell of a drive and even splitting it into 3 (?) days, it's still a hell of a drive.

Maybe the way to do it would be to make a big arc...start towards NC, then north to West Virginia then on to Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas (is there skiing there??), and into Wyoming or Montana. You could try to ski every day or so along the way. It'd probably take weeks but it'd be super fun.

I know what you're gonna say "...Or just fly" LOL. Can't argue, just wanna drive this time :)

Joe

:rolleyes: Oh! You've heard of it? Not too many have.

Forgot to add: You're very welcome Fastskiguy ...... glad I took the time to answer you. Lol

LOL, most of my adventures were using Atomic or Rossignol 205cm slalom boards, which were a major upgrade from my first set of equipment, wooden Hart skies with screw in edges, safety straps, and lace up ski boots. During my younger years, got a new set of boards on sale at the end of each ski season for next years powder days and proceeded to totally destroy last years skies as my rock boards in the early/late season. Only got to use the new modern technology for the last few years of the ski career before the knees went totally bad. Unfortunately, had to cross off Heli skiing in the B.C. Bugaboos from the bucket list and replace it with some scuba diving adventures.