Thinking about a family trip to a ski area around Christmas - possibly Christmas 2024 or perhaps 2025. Oldest D and her fiance are in Bay Area, California. The rest of us (DW and I and another D and S) are in St. Louis area. All the kids are late teens through early 20s, DW and I are in our 50s.
I have not been (in memory anyways - possibly when I was quite young) to any of the fancy Rockies area skiing towns in winter. Oldest D and I drive through the area, with a ~2 hour stop off in Vail, in the summer a couple years ago. It was gorgeous, and Vail seemed like an awesome (but pricey, of course), town.
If we were there in ski weather, probably all 3 kids + fiance would ski - 3 of the 4 of them have skiied already. DW and I skiied when younger, decades ago. Pretty sure DW would pass on any skiing now (health) - I would likely dabble.
Anyways, the idea appeals because the key ski areas are conveniently between St. Louis and San Francisco, and Denver and SLC are pretty easy to reach by air. (D and fiance have done Tahoe, which is convenient driving for them, but perhaps harder to reach by air, from the midwest?) I guess if we did it, we'd converge on an airport, rent a minivan, drive to destination, rent 3-4 BR place there, ski a bit, but try to do other activities as well. I presume by late December there's snow on everything, so no straight-up (non-ski) hiking? Maybe some gentle-ish cross-country or snow-shoe hiking that wife (and I) might tolerate better than straight downhill? What else to do besides skiing, in winter?
Vail was beautiful, but pricey. One can, I presume, trade-off price somewhat against slightly more obscure locations, but I wouldn't want to be trapped in a ski-village with very little going on besides the skiing. Open to other thoughts & suggestions.
I presume all ski gear can and should (for novices/those traveling to the area) be rented on site?
Anyways, it would be a different kind of vacation for us. Any other thoughts/cautions/recommendations?
I have not been (in memory anyways - possibly when I was quite young) to any of the fancy Rockies area skiing towns in winter. Oldest D and I drive through the area, with a ~2 hour stop off in Vail, in the summer a couple years ago. It was gorgeous, and Vail seemed like an awesome (but pricey, of course), town.
If we were there in ski weather, probably all 3 kids + fiance would ski - 3 of the 4 of them have skiied already. DW and I skiied when younger, decades ago. Pretty sure DW would pass on any skiing now (health) - I would likely dabble.
Anyways, the idea appeals because the key ski areas are conveniently between St. Louis and San Francisco, and Denver and SLC are pretty easy to reach by air. (D and fiance have done Tahoe, which is convenient driving for them, but perhaps harder to reach by air, from the midwest?) I guess if we did it, we'd converge on an airport, rent a minivan, drive to destination, rent 3-4 BR place there, ski a bit, but try to do other activities as well. I presume by late December there's snow on everything, so no straight-up (non-ski) hiking? Maybe some gentle-ish cross-country or snow-shoe hiking that wife (and I) might tolerate better than straight downhill? What else to do besides skiing, in winter?
Vail was beautiful, but pricey. One can, I presume, trade-off price somewhat against slightly more obscure locations, but I wouldn't want to be trapped in a ski-village with very little going on besides the skiing. Open to other thoughts & suggestions.
I presume all ski gear can and should (for novices/those traveling to the area) be rented on site?
Anyways, it would be a different kind of vacation for us. Any other thoughts/cautions/recommendations?
Statistics: Posted by psteinx — Wed Jun 12, 2024 5:09 pm — Replies 7 — Views 499