With all the online dating sites out there it is almost seems easier to find the perfect mate than to find the right resort for your ultimate ski vacation. There are so many questions to ask and factors to consider before you take the plunge, such as: What level of skiers are going on the trip? Are there any beginners? Kids? Is the group looking for fun nightlife?
In general the best time to start thinking about your next ski vacation is in late summer or early fall. To get you on the right track when it comes to planning I've talked to several ski friends and reminisced about my own ski adventures to come up with important factors for you to consider. These tips will help ensure your group has the ski vacation of a lifetime.
1. Make a list of priorities. First things first: Know who is in your ski group and make a list of priorities. If your group is small this list will be relatively easy to manage. However if you're going with friends, family or extended family, your list can get extremely complicated and even somewhat stressful. But as I've learned and heard from others, pre-planning is key; you want to minimize surprises down the road. If your aunt's dream 'ski' vacation is really about hitting the spa and scoping out the best après-ski scenes, it's good to know this ahead of time. Also don't forget about other on-mountain elements like ski lessons. For instance, do the adults in your group want to explore the mountain on their own, or do they want to use the time to really hone their techniques with lessons? If you want to take a morning lesson or even an entire week of lessons, you may want to consider ski weeks where you ski with the same group every morning for six or seven days.
2. The snow factor. Of course snow and ski conditions deserve significant consideration when planning your upcoming vacation. For example, if most of your group consists of beginner or intermediates skiers who like to ski greens and blues, fluffy powder is probably not the most important factor in selecting a mountain. Most ski resorts make enough snow to complement their natural snow pack. However, if this trip is your group's one big chance during the season to push their limits and ski more extreme terrain, natural snow amounts are critical.
Consider also ountain conditions and weather. While you can never guarantee you'll get the exact weather and conditions you want (what's the fun in that?) you can increase your odds by doing a little research. For instance, a group of ski friends who are a little more hardcore may not mind the high probability of skiing in cold, blistery Montana weather. For that group the high odds of having multiple powder days trump the likelihood of having rough on-mountain conditions. But a family with young kids or a group of beginners would probably be miserable in the cold and wind, no matter how much powder there was. This group of beginners is more likely to be happy going somewhere with milder weather. When dealing with snow, weather, and on-mountain conditions there are always trade-offs. For example while Colorado snow is generally very dry and powdery, skiers are also dealing with high altitudes, usually above 9,000 feet. Ask yourself: 'Is my group fit? Do I think altitude sickness will be an issue?'
Another key consideration is the sun. Is it important to have a good chance of skiing in the sun? Resorts in the southwestern U.S. tend to have a high probability of sunny days - Taos, for example, boasts more than 300 sunny days each year, with an average annual snowfall of around 300 inches. While resorts like Blackcomb and Whistler in British Columbia are in a maritime Pacific climate that brings intense storms and also greater snowfall, more snow and wet storms means you can have fog in the upper slopes and even rain down lower on the mountain. This means your chances of skiing under a bright blue sky are much less in the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest than in the Rockies. The most you can do is select a vacation spot in a region that has the highest probability of producing the conditions that match your wish list.
3. Consider All-Inclusive. If you are traveling with your family and kids, or several families, check out the all-inclusive route. This is also a good option for those who don't have the time or patience to spend hours researching deals online. You can sometimes find good all-inclusive package deals from local travel agents, located in the resort town you're visiting. In addition packages like Club Med's Crested Butte are starting to pop up in other resorts across the country. All-inclusive ski vacations remove the stress of planning and can even streamline your on-mountain experience, especially for parents. From the moment you ski in to the day you ski out, every meal, lift ticket, and ski lesson is included in the up-front price. This makes it easier to budget for your ski vacation too. Sometimes when you plan out each piece separately for several people it's easy to underestimate the total trip cost.
4. Keep accessibility in mind. Depending on your mode of transportation and the length of your trip, factor in each resorts' proximity to major airports. For example, if you are headed to a ski resort in Utah such as Snowbird or Deer Valley you can get off the plane and be on the mountain in your gear in less than an hour. But if you have your heart set on a ski vacation at Mammoth Mountain in California, you've got to consider rental car, or other transportation expenses, and the impact of driving several hours to get to the resort (Mammoth is about 165 miles from the Reno airport and about 265 miles from the San Francisco airport). Will driving several hours take too much out of you, not to mention too much time away from skiing? In this case traveling could eat up an entire day at least.
5. Identify your favorite three mountains; then cut. After you've taken into consideration your list of priorities and narrowed it down to just three or four options it's a good idea to visit ski web sites that will give you the inside scoop and offer reviews from real travelers about everything from lodging and Kids' Ski Schools to in-depth commentary on the best martinis. So depending on your priority list you can decide which hill works best for you. From there once you've narrowed it down to two mountains it's a good idea to spend some time on the resort's web site to check out lodging deals, reservation specifics, special packages, etc. I'd definitely recommend signing up for the snow report and send it to all your group members to get people thinking, dreaming, and packing to go skiing!
by Adriana Blake
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