sking East vs. West USA/Canada

I have a business trip coming up to Montreal and may have time to get
some skiing in. I have only ski'd in the western USA. I have heard the
east in known for icy hard packed conditions. My wife and I ski on
mostly groomed runs so tons of powder aren't that important to us.
However, soft groomed snow is great but I hate the days in the west
where I've encountered hard packed crusty icy conditions. In the east
is the hard packed and icy conditions far more common than in the west?

Where within a few hours drive from Montreal can decent skiing be found?
Not just Canada but maybe northern Vermont or NY not too far?

miles wrote:
I have a business trip coming up to Montreal and may have time to get
some skiing in. I have only ski'd in the western USA. I have heard the
east in known for icy hard packed conditions. My wife and I ski on
mostly groomed runs so tons of powder aren't that important to us.
However, soft groomed snow is great but I hate the days in the west
where I've encountered hard packed crusty icy conditions. In the east
is the hard packed and icy conditions far more common than in the west?

Where within a few hours drive from Montreal can decent skiing be found?
Not just Canada but maybe northern Vermont or NY not too far?

You would probably like Mont Tremblant, north of Montreal It's an
Intrawest resort (think Whistler). I hear they have done a great job.
Whiteface in northern New York is locally known as "ice face". Stowe is
a great town. If the skiing isn't to your liking, just hang in the
village. There are of course others. The great "snow-getter" in the east
is Jay Peak, just south of the Canadian border in Vermont. Their best
skiing, however is in the woods, and eastern woods are not at all like
western woods. They put the trees much closer together.

I have skied very little in the west. The "hardpack" I've skied there
would be considered wonderful here.

General advice for eastern skiing. Especially in the early season, most
of the snow is machine-made. This snow has the quality of packing out
and becoming hard as the day wears on, and especially on weekends there
is a tendency for too many skiers to be on the hill. Groomers do a
wonderful job with what they have to work with but almost never are out
during the day. Then the solution is to ski early and through the lunch
hour and quit by 2:00PM or so. At most areas there is at least one lift
which open a half-hour or so before "official" time. If you can swing
it, for the early opening. If there is sunshine during the day, it's
usually early. The trails have just been groomed and are good. The
crowds are light until about 11:00AM. It's just better.

Oh, yeah, it is said that an eastern skier can ski anywhere.

VtSkier

"miles" wrote in message
news:Q_7td.178939$bk1.160581@fed1read05...
I have a business trip coming up to Montreal and may have time to get
some skiing in. I have only ski'd in the western USA. I have heard the
east in known for icy hard packed conditions. My wife and I ski on
mostly groomed runs so tons of powder aren't that important to us.
However, soft groomed snow is great but I hate the days in the west
where I've encountered hard packed crusty icy conditions. In the east
is the hard packed and icy conditions far more common than in the west?

Where within a few hours drive from Montreal can decent skiing be found?
Not just Canada but maybe northern Vermont or NY not too far?

Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Richard Henry wrote:
Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Really? That sounds strange but worth it.

"miles" wrote
Richard Henry wrote:
Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Really? That sounds strange but worth it.

I bet it's common. Mt Baker over in WA use to do it until the Canuckian
dollar tanked a few years back. I'm hoping they'll pick it up again sometime
soon.

"JvD" wrote in message
news:nSktd.327034$9b.200421@edtnps84...

"miles" wrote
Richard Henry wrote:
Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Really? That sounds strange but worth it.

I bet it's common. Mt Baker over in WA use to do it until the Canuckian
dollar tanked a few years back. I'm hoping they'll pick it up again
sometime
soon.


Lots of places, skiing and otherwise, do this in Washington. No different
from offering a discount to any other definable group you wish to attract to
your business.

I have a business trip coming up to Montreal and may have time to get
some skiing in. I have only ski'd in the western USA. I have heard the
east in known for icy hard packed conditions. My wife and I ski on
mostly groomed runs so tons of powder aren't that important to us.
However, soft groomed snow is great but I hate the days in the west
where I've encountered hard packed crusty icy conditions. In the east
is the hard packed and icy conditions far more common than in the west?

Where within a few hours drive from Montreal can decent skiing be found?
Not just Canada but maybe northern Vermont or NY not too far?

mont tremblant, hour and a half north of montreal
jay peak, vt, hour and a half south of montreal
mont st. anne, three hours east of montreal

forget jay peak, if you want steep terrain, powder and glades you go to
jay, otherwise its a pain to get to, and the lift system sucks, there's
only one high speed quad, and each lift only services about 15 runs.
other than the tram which packs people in like sardines, standing.
a lot of the runs suck, the bottom third of the main hill flattens out a
LOT, the weather can be very extreme and it gets just as icey and wind blown
as tremblant. i only go to jay peak when it snows and there a fresh dump
and its not too windy (otherwise they shut down all the good lifts), and
even then i only ski the jet triple chair and its five or six diamond and
glade runs. i could ski those runs all day but probably not what you want.

tremblant is a true resort, fantastic lift system, one gondola, four or five
high speed quads, everything goes to the top, so no matter what lift you step
off of you have access to about 90 runs. if you want groomers you go to
tremblant. the problem is tremblant doesn't get much snow so much of snow is
man made, its icey more often than not and it can get really icey, but then
again so can everywhere else. when you get into to town get your skis sharpened
and it will make a world of difference. with a small fresh coat of snow i'm
sure tremblants groomers rival those you're used to out west.

mont st. anne is like tremblant except its in quebec city and gets more snow.

forget about all the smaller hills, they have the same conditions, just
less terrain. although you could check out mont. saint sauveur if you're
ever in the mood for some night skiing. its about 40 minutes outside of
the montreal, small hill though.

"JvD" wrote

Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Really? That sounds strange but worth it.

I bet it's common. Mt Baker over in WA use to do it until the Canuckian
dollar tanked a few years back. I'm hoping they'll pick it up again sometime
soon.

I've seen it being accepted a couple weeks ago at Baker.

Richard Henry wrote:

Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.

Yeah, but don't you have to show proof of Canadian residence? I seem to
recall that. Otherwise, VT locals could scam the system.

Anyhow, with the swooning US dollar, the gap between US and Canadian
dollar isn't as big as you to be. The WSJ had a piece to today about
how that's negatively impacting Canadian resorts, because they're not as
much of a bargain for US travellers as they used to be.

Just wait until the world switches from dollars to Euros as its reserve
currency. Then we will really be f*cked.

Dave

Dave Stallard wrote:
Richard Henry wrote:

Jay Peak. Pick up some Canadian cash; they accept it at par.


Yeah, but don't you have to show proof of Canadian residence? I seem to
recall that. Otherwise, VT locals could scam the system.

Anyhow, with the swooning US dollar, the gap between US and Canadian
dollar isn't as big as you to be. The WSJ had a piece to today about
how that's negatively impacting Canadian resorts, because they're not as
much of a bargain for US travellers as they used to be.

Just wait until the world switches from dollars to Euros as its reserve
currency. Then we will really be f*cked.

Dave

I read someplace that Vermonters (with proof of residency) could buy
ticket at Jay at the Canadian price. Maybe someone who really cares
could go to Jay's website and glean this information.

At Killington, every Wednesday (except probably between Xmas & NewYear
and President's week) is Vermont day, meaning that people from Vermont,
New Hampshire and Quebec can get their ticket at half price.

VtSkier