Well, I cannot wait any longer. After effectively not having skied since January 2007, we (me, +1, and our 3 kids) are going to the US next season.

We will be flying in to LA around 15th-20th December, and at this stage are hoping to be away for about 5 weeks. Disneyland for a few days at the start or the end, and the rest of the time in snow country.

Resort selection is crucial. The key ingredients on our list:

- We need a logistically easy set up. This means that we have to be as close to the slopes as possible (in other words, a short, easy walk from the lifts). We have to be able to get on and off the slopes quickly with the kids. The kids will be almost 6, 4 and 2!

- Kids will be in ski school / childcare some of the time, so these need to be convenient to our accommodation. They also need to be affordable.

- Because we really want to stay put while we are there, the resort has to be a decent size. I am an advanced skier, but by no means an expert. +1 can ski pretty well, but really has hardly been on the snow in the last 10 years. Literally only a few days I think. She likes long, rolling groomers but is certainly up for a challenge if the conditions are right. She likes skiing in the sun!! So somewhere with lots of blue and black (but not necessarily double black) terrain.

- In case next season is as bad as this season has been (about to change for the better of course), the mountain should have good snowmaking!

- Has to be a fun place, other than just skiing. Eg, ice skating, sleigh rides, tubing, swimming etc. Nightlife not important!

- Has to be a pleasant place with a nice village. Good for a stroll on days off or in the evening. Would be good to have a “real” town nearby, but purpose but purpose built resorts are ok if they meet all the other criteria.

- Ideally we will not need a car on a day to day basis. So good public transport is a must. Need to be able to get to a supermarket easily for example. I’d also prefer not to be in an isolated resort (such as Telluride) for that long.

Having said all that, we are constrained by what we can spend. The cost of season passes, kids lessons, childcare, and of course accommodation all need to be manageable.

Note that we are determined to try a US resort, not Canadian this time. I have skied Whister/Blackcomb, Fernie, Big White, Silver Star, Red Mountain and Lake Louise and want to try something different. Having said that, other than the cost issue, Whistler ticks a lot of boxes.

Resorts I am researching in detail include Breckenridge, Keystone (people with kids seem to like it), Heavenly (Stagecoach, a la Born2ski), Steamboat, Snowmass, Park City, Vail, Schweitzer and lots more! Some of these already appear too expensive all round though.

All ideas welcome.

I wouldn't discount Squaw either. They have good facilities for the kids, there is a fair bit of accommodation around the resorts, though it can be on the more expensive side. Can got private with VRBO as well. Season's passes can be really cheap if you buy in advance, $375 for my season pass (though it will block out a few dates for Xmas and NY, though normally can get better options for a couple $100 more. If the snow is poor, there's a lot to do in and around the area. I'm not sure what is happening with the skating rink at Squaw though. You could also get a reasonably pried car out of Reno too, even though public transport around the area is quite reasonable. Also makes good for trying out other mountains (which give you discount passes if you have a season pass to another resort).

Food for thought, though you've got plenty of time up your sleeve to start making decisions. First thing to think of is season passes but you don't have to start thinking about them until at least May.

absent the only problem I have is your spoilt for choice. Good problem to have. I have kids & Id be happy to do either Park city , Breck or Aspen for the town atmosphere + activities & things to explore etc. Aspen this year for us , its got the treehouse for kids , and its a resort id like to do once at least because of the $. But because of the dollar atm, it's as good as time as any.

I'd stay further away and drive if doing Breck... The set up can work pretty well due to the way the base is laid out. Having said that you need to want to do that.

I have friends that had a good condo in town for about $200 a night and still drove each day for ease with kids... Accom in Silverthorne/Dillon is generally less expensive

If staying in town the free buses are pretty good.

Keystone has a large distance between the carpark and gondola and the base area is huge. Beware that some places in this base area just are not that easy to access the snow with small kids - they do have carts to drag stuff around though. There is another base you can use if you drive.

Keystone also suffers from having a heap of runs all funnelling together for the run back to the base. This means the green run(School marm) can be a nightmare with slow skiing kids.

Thanks all. Little Tiger, a friend of mine who went to Keystone with kids said the same thing about the runs to the base. He resorted to avoiding the very busy times at the end of the day and said he found ways to manage it (think he even downloaded on the Peru Express and gondola occasionally).

Olddog, I would love to go to Aspen but I'm struggling to find ways to make it affordable. I'll keep looking!

Snorkler, yes I have not ruled Squaw out.

Thanks again for the input.

absent - yes you can download the gondola at Keystone...

I find Brecks layout(3 bases so spreads the load a bit) good for not cliff jumping level skiers - lots of looong blue runs to get comfy on - and lots of choices of those so you can pick the sort you like. The black and double black terrain is there if you want it - and all levels can ski from the same base.

The kids area is right there at peak 9 base and peak 8 base - so again easy access for the other skiers.

You can park and gondola to peak 7 and peak 8, Park and bus to peak 9, or park at 9. Lots of choices for how to do it and you are in a town with other towns close by so a lot of variety. Add to that an epic pass will allow you to ski all the vail resorts - so if you have a car you can easily go to the other resorts for a day or two.

Can we have a budget of $$ you are happy to spend on accommodation ? If you don't mind ?

In the meantime, I think the "short list" of resorts you have is pretty good!

Breckenridge would be top of my list for what you want! You need to stay (as Little Tiger) has said near Peak 8 or Peak 9 for ski-school!

The Village Hotel Breckenridge is perfect, it's as the base of Peak 9 and a very short walk to Breckenridge's main street which is beautiful! Appears to be about $200 per night for 2 Double Bed's

Breckenridge and Village Hotel ticks pretty much all your requirements

Short walk from lifts - YES
Ski school close by - YES
Lots of Blue/Black - YES, this mountain is perfect! Also quite a few nice black groomers to get some speed up!
Snowmaking - YES
Other activities - YES
Pleasant place - YES
Nice Village - Well it's actually a town with 200+ shops and restaurants!
No car needed - YES (well NO, you don't' need a car) Just get a shuttle to/from Denver airport.
Supermarket - YES
Season Pass - YES - $649 for adults and $329 for children (ages 5 to 12) This years pricing...


So Breckenridge

If he stays in Silverthorne his accom can be around $120pn or less (that is a hotel rate and he should do better through VRBO negotiating a month)

skidown - yep that is why my friends were just here... price with 3 kids worked out well and the place is as about as snow sure as you get without a glacier.... The elevation means snow holds well (spring for instance is much later than Utah when we have tried both in the same week).
The snowmaking is good and can work often due to elevation. (Low temps and dry)

Indeed

Heavenly! If you can't steal a place like Born2Ski, there's plenty of self-catering condos with buses at the door and a heated communal pool. I wish I could recall the names of the place adjacent to the California Day Lodge carpark, maybe 500m to the lift. There's free shuttles to Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe, cruises, a new motor yacht taxi to Homewood, historical cruises, casinos, shopping, cheap eats ($25 all you can eat sushi) and real Supermarkets like raleys and safeway. (At the cashier, sign up to the free Safeway Club rewards card for huge discounts on items advertised as 'club member price'. You'll be able to ski Northstar for free with the Heavenly/Northstar season pass. On Tuesday, ski Mt Rose on the '2 fer tuesday' deal: half price. There's one way car rental drop offs at Sth lake Tahoe (a town name) for Avis and Hertz and Enterprise. Snowmaking at Nstar and Heavenly (and Kirkwood) are is the best in the region: and odds are in December you'll be on man made.

A bunch of us from another forum grabbed a family private lesson all day for $80 pp with the season pass discount.

If prices/deals remain the same, there's a $199 Kirkwood midweek season pass if you want very dark blue or uber black terrain for you (and mellow greens and cruisy blues for the family).

Heavenly could tick your boxes ....and you'll have Northstar for free, and Kirkwood nearby for peanuts.

If it's a 5 week holiday, there's plenty of time for Disneyland and South Lake and Breck. I you're an uber black skier, you'd need to do some visits to Kirkwood for sure, uber black at Heavenly is somewhat limited to the Canyons out back, Though there used to be a fella on here long ago DonC who loved them.

Thanks all. Busy at work (!) so only a quick response now. The main advantage of staying in one place is the ability to negotiate a better rental rate (so I have heard). That said, if you can grab a cheap flight from Denver to Reno with Southwest, I guess both are possible.

Skidown, haven't nailed down the budget yet. I want to see what sort of rates apply at each area first. Kind of the wrong way around, I know!

If you buy the EPIC pass, you get both Breck and Heavenly and Northstar on the same pass as well, instead of having to purchase two different season passes.

Skiing at Beaver Creek and Vail would be easier than making a trek to Tahoe

You also need a car in Tahoe

I like both these resorts... but they really are resorts not towns so I thought Breck met his requirements a bit better. A week in either one would be a great change though

Of course, Breckenridge has everything and is really the best option

I have suggested Vail and Beaver Creek for nearby easy option on the same season pass

In South Lake there really isn't a need, the buses down there are good and there's shuttles to Kirkwood and Northstar from there as well.

Perhaps, but from what I can see buses only every hour?? and trying to deal with 3 kids (6, 4 and 2) doesn't sound like fun to me

There is nothing at Heavenly/Northstar that can't be done at Breckenridge

Breckenridge does everything much better/easier

Including altitude sickness. Certainly looking closely at Breck.

Overnight in Denver the first night... then take it easy the first day and drink lots of water... and run the humidifier if there is one(otherwise buy one).... plus take some Fess with you for noses so they don't dry out too much.

Google Earth really is fantastic. They have been all through Summit County, including a lot of the ski runs. I'll be up all night at this rate.

I am planning the same type of trip and have a similar thread running. The advice I have gleaned is the lack of snow so early in the year is a big issue. Especially the closer you get to California. At the end of the day, flying into LA(to do Disney etc) and then moving almost anywhere in Western USA shouldn't be a big issue. I am leaning towards Deer Valley because of its proximity to an big airport like Salt Lake City. However, my original favourite was Squaw.

Good luck.

Deer Valley would I'm sure be very nice with kids for a short stay. Way too expensive for a long stay!!

Follow Little Tiger's advice. I am about to head across to Breck for the 2nd year running. We fly to LA, grab a cheap Southwest ticket to Denver. You can get bus transfers from the airport to Breck or you can hire a car. We rent a condo/apartment off VRBO (www.vrbo.com) and we get one in town. Last years was about 150m to the Gondola station so easy walk to and from. It was also right on Main St so dinner/shopping/everything else was very easy.

I didnt have the kids with me (just a couple of 40 something mates) but there is a large beginner's area with all the usual ski school stuff. Loads of long cruisy blue terrain but as Tiger said, there is plenty of Black and double black if you are interested. Last year we had an epic pass and made a day trip to Vail. Backbowls were unbelievable...awesome! Probably not for my kids, but plenty of fun for me and my mates. Bluebird day with fresh and possibly best ski day of my life! Fell in the trees and spent 20 mins trying to stand up in the pow, couldnt find anything solid underfoot, almost had to swim out!

Breck Main st is full of restaurants, ski hire and T Shirt shops. there is a visitor info place on main st with an ATM inside that worked with my Travelex visa card. There is a little mall complex nearby with a large supermarket/drug store and banks/ski shops etc. There is also a small supermarket and liquor store near Main St for the usual supplies etc.

have also been to Tahoe, flew to Reno and bus transfer from the airport up to Stateline. Great package deals if you stay in one of the casinos, we managed our lift tickets thrown in with the hotel bill. As with Breck there is a year round town there so all of the regular infrastructure, doctors/drug stores etc was there. Stateline where we stayed was mostly casinos and ski shops though. Breck was more of a town! I reckon either would be a good choice but I would probably edge towards Breck. That said Altitude sickness is a spin out....literally!!!



There are factory outlets at Silverthorne if the Mrs wants to fill up any remaining space in the luggage.

Agree totally!!!!

Tahoe, while nice, is limited with restaurants/shopping as it's spread out around the whole lake

Breck really does tick every requirement that you need!

4 weeks in a single resort is a lot of time to spend in one place, though as mentioned can do day trips to other nearby mountains as well.

The thing to remember about Tahoe is that it's not a winter place, it's there for the summer period. Winter is a 'low' season so to speak of. If in a similar position, I'd probably look at Breck for the Christmas period and then entertain myself with at least a week at Tahoe at the end when the snow is likely to be better.

Thanks again for all your input everyone. Breckenridge certainly is proving popular. I am not sure that its kids programs are as good as Keystone's (with kidtopia and the snow fort which my friend tells me the kids love), and its lessons are more expensive, but otherwise it does sound excellent. I will start to have a close look on vrbo around peaks 9 & 8 to get an idea of the types and prices of condos available.

If I do end up in summit county, I'd also like to have a ski at Abasin while I'm over there. I assume that the free shuttles between the resorts and Frisco, Silverthorne and Dillon work well?

. How the hell did you get that leave pass?

Steamboat has a very good ski school for kids but it is out by itself. Skiing is very good too with a good bus system for the outlying hotel areas and the main town not too far away either.