If you could skate anywhere in North America- where's the place togo?

I'd like to plan a trip with some friend's - looking for the must-ski
place in Continental US or maybe Canada...

We are fit from biking etc, but not very good technical skiers. Looking
for groomed trails, skating and maybe some classic.

We've skied mostly on the east coast, but are looking to branch out.
We don't get enough snow where we are, so we usually have to travel to ski.

(some places I've XC skied, most several times: Craftsbury, VT; Lapland
Lake, NY; Whitegrass, WV, Lake Minnewaska, NY; Stevens Pass, WA)

any suggestions appreciated!

reliable snow definitely a plus.

I have a good friend in Salt Lake City, so curious about Soldier's
Hollow and other spots near SLC.

Marc

A guy I know who travels a bit wrote this:

http://away.com/tripideas/united-sta...ng-300983.html

JFT

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Stay in Wakefield, Quebec. Drink lots of beer and enjoy the music at
the Black Sheep/Le Mouton Noir and ski everyday in Gatineau Park. It's
not exotic, the scenery is not spectuaclar as out west, but the
grooming is great, as are the people on the trails. Oh, Canada's
capital is also right there.

I like some things about that list of "Top 10" in North America -- like
selecting Sleepy Hollow VT over some of the "big name" north + central
Vermont centers, whose "historic" trail layouts actually aren't much fun.

I don't know several of the places on that list, but one required correction
would be that Sovereign Lakes / Silver Star BC belongs on any Top 10 North
America list, and is clearly superior to some of those selected.

One thing I'm not sure what to make of is nothing from the Tahoe region on
the list. I'd say even if no single center thought to deserve a "Top 10",
the region is worthy of hanging out for a few days XC skiing.

When it has good snow, Mohonk Mountain House is in the Top 10 of North
America. The guy who posted the question has skied at Minnewaska, but Mohonk
is even better. I can understand its omission from the list based on
uncertainty about snow cover there.

The funny thing is how despite it being within two hours drive from
Manhattan, how many New York City skiers have never tried Mohonk. They
drive right past it, hours further to the north, even though Mohonk is
clearly superior to any place in the Adirondacks or Vermont. When it has
good snow.

Ken

"Ken Roberts" wrote in message
...

When it has good snow, Mohonk Mountain House is in the Top 10 of North
America. The guy who posted the question has skied at Minnewaska, but
Mohonk is even better. I can understand its omission from the list based
on uncertainty about snow cover there.

The funny thing is how despite it being within two hours drive from
Manhattan, how many New York City skiers have never tried Mohonk. They
drive right past it, hours further to the north, even though Mohonk is
clearly superior to any place in the Adirondacks or Vermont. When it has
good snow.


Here I thought I was biased. I've made similar claims yet thought maybe I
couldn't be objective as Mohonk is a few strides away from our house.
Good to know that others like Ken who have skied lots of places agree with
me and the chorus of local skiers.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:54:17 GMT, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:

They
drive right past it, hours further to the north, even though Mohonk is
clearly superior to any place in the Adirondacks or Vermont. When it has
good snow.

How's the grooming for skating? That's the key thing for Qinghua.

JFT

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"John Forrest Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:54:17 GMT, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:

They
drive right past it, hours further to the north, even though Mohonk is
clearly superior to any place in the Adirondacks or Vermont. When it has
good snow.

How's the grooming for skating? That's the key thing for Qinghua.

JFT

No heavy equipment and a lot of k's and minimal financial/time resource to
groom, so while the snow looks nice, and the grooming is generally wide
enough for skating, it can be soft after a big dump with unsettled snow.

Things have changed and improved dramatically with regard to grooming at
Mohonk over the past couple of winters.

The golf course/Bonticou side is better for skating generally, but when
things come together on the other side of the road for skating there's
nothing like Oakwood-Laurel Ledge for a long outing.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

Ken Roberts wrote:

The funny thing is how despite it being within two hours drive from
Manhattan, how many New York City skiers have never tried Mohonk. They
drive right past it, hours further to the north, even though Mohonk is
clearly superior to any place in the Adirondacks or Vermont. When it has
good snow.

And when there's no snow, it has great climbing. :-)

My first ever trip to the US started in New Paltz to climb in 'The
Gunks'. :-)

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

Now I'm getting reminded of the other reasons why Mohonk is not on a Top
10 XC ski centers in N.A. list -- even though it belongs on a list of Top 10
(more like Top 5?) places for prettiest groomed XC ski trails.

XC skiing is not the core business of Mohonk. They're running a resort
hotel. They have not tailored their operations to focus on single-day
customers who are not hotel guests. In recent decades not many XC skiers
would pay the hotel night rates which are commensurate with the character
and beauty of the place, so Mohonk didn't put a high priority on XC skiers.
But like Gary says, things changed in recent years, and now they've gotten
serious about their grooming -- including grooming for skating, and
including trying to discourage non-skier hotel guests from walking on the
groomed ski trails. And last winter I was seeing people carrying their skis
in through the hotel doors, so they're getting hotel overnight guests who
are XC skiers.

John Tomlinson wrote:
How's the grooming for skating? That's the key thing for Qinghua.

The grooming for skating is usually plenty good enough for me to have fun.
But they don't have a concentrated network of gentle trails like the
Flatlander trails Mt Van Hoevenberg. And the gentle trails have a much lower
proportion of that "Top 10" level of prettiness. I agree with Gary that the
best bet for well-groomed-for-skating gentle trails is north from the Gate
house entrance, across the golf course toward Bonticou (but that's nowhere
near the ski rental building).

But I do most of my skating in the other direction, toward the Mountain
House. Some of the old ski trail maps label some of these trails as
"classic", but in the last couple of years they've been routinely grooming
them for both skating and classic. So I normally skate up to Skytop with its
big views. I also love the long Oakwood - Laurel Ledges loop, including the
spectacular Humpty Dumpty road. (how is the trail name related to the
nursery rhyme?). The Humpty Dumpty road can also be skied out and back from
the hotel, with much less distance and hill.

Overall the non-gentle trails at Mohonk are not real steep -- nothing like
the tough climbs at Mt Van Hoevenberg. So they're good for athletic skaters
who are not hard-core racers. So pretty that for a non-athletic skater it
would be worth using classic skis for a day just to be on them -- and if the
snow conditions are too icy for grip with (non-klister, non-kicker-skin)
classic skis, try to rent some snowshoes.

Ken

Definitely stay away from the Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe. There
probably aren't enough groomed skating lanes to keep you occupied, the
weather usually isn't very good compared to Northern Minnesota and New
England, and there aren't very good views. I'd stick to New Jersey or
perhaps Northern Pennsylvania for good, reliable snow and great tracks
for skating.

Mark