Month long ski trip out west?

robtheslobonacob

robtheslobonacob

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NS- I've got the idea in my head last winter and I've been working crazy overtime hours all summer saving up for it. It's my last year of college (so last time I'll have a month off until I retire....) and I want to do it big, get a college season pass and ski everyday out west for that month off which is going to be mid December until mid January. I need some serious help from anybody thats done anything like this or lives out there and knows what the mountain shuttles are like in the area, I'm looking for:

-Steep terrain, good early season snow (not going out west to ski park I can do that on the east coast)

-A combo season pass with some of the other mountains in the nearby area

-Ideas on how to stay cheap (know of any hostels that would have public transportation stops closeby?)

Passes I'm considering now:

Colorado Super Pass (Winter Park, Copper, Steamboat)

Aspen/Snowmass pass (can't find much info on the price of this one)

I'm open to any other state, looking to pick up the season pass for less than $500 if possible so I can have a little fluff money for how much living is going to cost. Any ideas?

 
The only think I know that could maybe help you is an epic pass its like 650 and you get like 5 differnt places in summit county and around, and one other place. Also I heard the keystone inn is cheap, but in the end a lot of money. Try to meet someone out there who lives there, or lurk criaglist for a condo to rent or something. I dont know to much to help, sorry.
 
Im doing the three month binge in the car. This is pretty much living off poptarts and drinking fountain water. Gonna be very smelly. Doing it for three months will cost me 2000 dollars soo theres a thought
 
i know theres a combo pass in utah and all the big/good resorts ex. Snowbird,Alta,Solitude,Brighton, are close to saltlake city where im sure you can get very very cheap living
 
telluride. and you can take a few daytrips to silverton

look on craigs list for cheep housing in town somewhere (all within walking distance to the lifts)
 
Thanks for all the responses guys!

I really like the Telluride idea, I went years ago and loved it. Do you think that temporary of housing will be possible to find in town?

And for you Tahoe supporters what area(s) were you thinking? I've been to Heavenly (not a huge fan), Squaw and Kirkwood are both sick but there's not much living around those two unless you live right in the mountain village it looked like to me which I've gotta imagine would be pricey.
 
housing might be tricky but its not impossible. like i said you can usually find some cheap places to stay on craigs list. another place to look at would be big billies housing which is pretty modest employee housing for the resort (but i think non employees can rent them out). and a season pass is only like $350 for college students. if you do end up coming to telluride hit me up because ill be there for like a month too and id be more than willing to show you around/shread a bit.
 
I think the epic pass like someone above me said may be a good idea because you can get a local one for just Colorado
 
tahoe or telluride/silverton. don't venture too far northwest though, december - mid january is our wet months. lots of rain will ensue
 
fuck colorado.

If you have a month to ski everyday, go to SLC. get a pass to altabird and PC or canyons, then when you want take a weekend up to jackson (5 hrs away) you can ski some true gnar. Colorado is bitterly cold and has little snow that time of year. Hit up someone on here about house-sitting there place at the UofU over winter break for cheap ass living.
 
Ehh Different every year. This year we had a shitload of early season snow and it was great. I would definity say Telluride/Silverton or Tahoe
 
rent a place in summit county, buy an epic pass, slay key, a-bay, breck, vail, beaver creek. then make a week long trip out to tahoe to ski northstar and heavenly just stay in the car. thats what i would do.
 
Can you push the trip back? Not really an ideal time of the year to go powder hunting like it sounds like you wanna do.

As far as good places to bum for just a month, I'd also recommend the epic pass. Unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breck, Key, A Basin, and a few Tahoe resorts. Also, tons of short term housing available in Summit, not to mention fellow bums who would let you crash for buds and beers. Just a lot of variety and options for your buck, not to mention CO has a decent early season.
 
DAMNIT! You beat me to it. Although I do like heavenly's park, the flow and (not being in a straight line aka keystone) is pretty sweet.
 
Whitefish is expensive as hell, if you wanna ski Montana you could live in Kalispell for cheaper and ski Blacktail or go farther south and hit up Discovery, LT, Great divide, Snowbowl, Bridger etc, all within your price range, big sky also dropped their season pass prices, any of the college towns will have pretty reasonable housing
 
sick responses guys-

ill look into all of the places you've suggested. I guess the next question is should i drive or fly out? right now flying is wayyyy cheaper and gives me a couple extra days on the slopes (the reason ive got such a stupid time frame is that those dates are the dates in between semesters for me). the suv would give me freedom to camp wherever i ended up, but its going to cost alot more to drive
 
i mean heavenly and northstar are both pretty flat but motts canyon isnt too bad and northstars park has some fun flow. also for the price of the epic (like 600) there's no better skiing plus awesome variety.
 
If you want steep and cheap, Colorado is probably the worse place to go. SLC is cheap and steep. And theres awesome parks if you so choose.
 
Snowbird. Has exactly what youre looking for in terms of terrain/no park scene. You can live cheaply in Sandy or one of the SLC suburbs 15mins away. You can upgrade your pass on any given day for $30 and ski Alta too.
 
Colorado is a bad idea. December is really inconsistent and really cold and the mountains are really mellow. Don't do it unless you are spending it in Silverton... which would probably be quite boring to live at.
Tahoe would be really cool if you are looking for consistency and a lot of mountains. You can get the epic pass there and have Heavenly and Northstar... but if you are looking for amazing terrain, you'd want Squaw. Which would get pretty expensive in the season pass world.
Utah... I dont know much about... but I'm sure there is a rad place.
Jackson would probably be absolutely amazing, but I don't know much about the place because I have yet to go. But outside of my next option and squaw, is probably the only other US mountain I would willingly move out.
Mammoth is a small town with an airport and nonstop running free transportation. You absolutely would not need a vehicle. A student season pass is only $399 but it doesn't work on Saturdays at Mammoth. It does however work at June Mountain which is only 15minutes away and there is transit that goes there as well. Housing is incredibly easy to find. The mountain gets consistent snow and usually gets at least 1 ten foot storm by christmas. Cause you are looking december/january, the snow isn't heavy cause it's the coldest time of the season there... and by cold, its in the teens/20s which is pretty wonderful. There is a ton of very accessible side country and back country. It's pretty much magical... which is why I live there.
 
slc. altabird. done.

tahoe is expensive and more hit or miss (but if you go there during a "hit", its epic)
 
Alpine meadows/kirkwood pass some of the sickest terrain anywhere, huge amounts of snow, live in truckee, tahoe city, or tahoma, then make some day trips to southlake before a storm is supposed to come in stay in south lake for the night with a buddy for like $15 a piece mid week, party, then go ski waist deep at the wood and drive home in the afternoon
 
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