Good "family" resort?

F

fnstoked

Member
I'm talking about like location, village i guess, atmosphere, nice lodging/hotel but also pretty affordable. My family and I are planning a trip during holiday break. My parent's aren't even gonna touch the snow and my sister is a reeaaally bad beginner, so the skiing is basically just for me. So I want a resort where they'll also be able to enjoy themselves too.

I personally wanted to go to jay peak, but I don't think that's a good idea. I know that that place has the best skiing in the east coast, but don't know much else. But from the sounds of it, they're probably less focused on touristy stuff. I want a good combination of good skiing and family stuff. I've only been to stratton in the NE area so I don't have much to compare to anyway.

 
hmmmm i have never been but have heard that okemo is great for families....

i would say loon cuz i love loon...but there is not alot to do outside of skiing other then tubing....
 
loon is actaully not a bad choice at all, it is cheaper becasue its new hampshire and lincoln is a fairly big town with a movie theatre, and some good restaurants and other stuff to do after skiing
 
stratton has nice lodging and has a village at the base at the mountain where there are a bunch of stores and restaurants. Skiing isn't as nice as areas like stowe, but it is definitely a good family place to stay.
 
cheaper option... jiminy peak in hancock mass.

entertaining enough trials - some really steep and open at night

has a park - not top rated but will get you through the day

good snow making

good lifts

off hill activities + slopeside lodging

closer to home maybe - easier and cheaper for the rents

pleanty of stuff for your bad sister

just consider it as an option.

Okemo or stratton will get pricey, and to be honest, ludlow is lame.

Jay... your parents will kill you just so they have something to do

Stowe.... you'll probably take your sister down a trail that may killer her by accident (i actually really like stowe a lot, pretty much lived there for 5 years)

Loon.... does your sister like park?

smuggs... your parents will be bored, but you and your sister will each find some skiing that will make the trip worthwile, and you may even save some money compared to okemo or stratton

the big K.... is what it is...

 
i ride at cranmore. its like the epitome of family mountain, not to mention its in north conway which is a sick town but attracts a lot of tourists to begin with. cranny has a sick park though, so your little sis can shred easy street and you can rip in the darkside. check out the website www.cranmore.com/winter
 
why is jay a terrible choice? my family has gone to jay every Feb. vacation since i was in like 5th grade, minus like two years, which is like 6 times and i would not choose any other place to go. skiing is great, there are easy trails, and after you go skiing, all you are going to want to do i go to bed and get up the next day to do the same thing. Stowe is pretty good but way over hyped, long lines, shitty park, at least last year when I went, and all the trails dump out in one area. Stowe does have good tree skiing and the reason the park wasnt good when i went was because it wasnt kept up. it used to be better when it was on tyro. bolten valley is a good choice, go ahead you haters, bash me but face it, its a good choice. No lines, not crowded at all, cheap lift ticket. decent skiing, ok park.
 
Sunday river or Killy, killy your family could go to alot of shops and stuff on the access road
 
If it's for Non-Skiers mostly, I'd say Whiteface, simply because you have Lake Placid right nearby.
 
We tried to book a slopeside room, wheere you can acess the lifts/runs... the ski in and out stuff, but they only let you do that if you get the package where everyone has to have lift tickets and stuff. Are alll places like taht?
 
im somewhat biased toward stowe but youre willng to pay like 20$ more for lift tickets its definately worth it...powder almost always, they get dumped pretty much every 3 or 4 days
they have a whole mountain(spruce peak) dedicated to beginners that takes 2 minutes to get to from the main peak
decent park... last year there was an OK park on the main peak but for some reason the main park was on spruce peak... this year supposedly the park will be back to where it was 2 years ago, where it was bigger better and easier to get to
lots of stuff to do for people who dont ski... ive been there 6 years straight and my parents who dont ski still find new stuff to do

but yea its fuckin expensive
 
id say that okemo is the most family friendly mountain. just from what ive seen. its a good town to waste money in too.
 
word. my family and like two other families went to jay last year. i was a bit nervous at first because half the people i went with sucked at skiing/snowboarding and i had heard that most of their terrain is a bit challenging but in the end everyone liked it alot. it's not your average east coast mountain either which is sick.

i went to stowe last year for a weekend. i liked it a lot. there was a bit of fresh snow and i could definitely see the potential. lots of trees and challenging trails. there were plenty of easy trails too. i'm pretty sure that the mountain to the right (idk what its called) is all easy trails too. the park was small and most features were small but i felt like it was well kept unlike you. plus the park this year is gonna be on tyro so look for a much better park. the lift lines were pretty long though which always sucks, but hey, thats what you get on the weekends.
 
Ok normally I would just say Stowe because it's my favorite mountain for everything, but because your looking for a family resort I probably recommend Okemo because they treat families like gods there. The only downside is like what some above me said is that ludlow can be pretty lame. But I hope this helps
 
stowe is obvious answer to your question, especially with the brand spanking new lodge/hotel that is opening this year, your parents could easily entertain themselves without ever leaving the resort, and if they wanted to Stowe is probably the most quintessential ski town in new england. plus you have burlington less than an hour away. the obvious downside is price. but definitely do not go to Jay if your parents don't ski because there's really nothing else to do all the way up there, although that will change in the coming years as they are expanding the mountain and building a new hotel/lodge. but until then i'd stick with stowe, okemo, or smuggs.
 
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