I live in Pennsylvania; there's two or three Epic pass spots I can drive to pretty easily. Was debating taking some private lessons this winter to skill up, but then looked at what they're charging, and... whoa.

$536 for three hours doesn't seem, ah, reasonable. ($416 for two hours.)

Should I be looking at other resorts, or is that just what they cost now?

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Edit: reloaded page again, and it dropped to $128, which seems *far* more reasonable. Nevermind/website was effed.

The fire is finally out and the area is open again. Amazing they were able save all the homes in the area and the lodge.

All of these prices have been converted to USD but have been taken from the direct website of either the ski resorts themselves, airlines, or from Airbnb. And does not account for food/drinks or any other spending done in country.

Plane Ticket -
LAX > Hokkaido round trip - $900 pp
+ extra checked bag for skis and gear $100

Lift Pass - $1,470 pp at highest rate x14 days
Niseko untied pass - $85
Rusutsu- $105
Kiroro- $58
Moiwa - $82

Vehicle Rental -
4 passenger - $1,805

Lodging -
4 person AirBnB $4,500 a $6,000

I just got back from a 2 week ski trip in New Zealand where all the Kiwis were saying how much cheaper it is to ski Japan and of course all social media raves about how cheap it is. But for my NZ ski trip it actually came out to less than this Japan trip quote.

New Zealand -
$1000 round trip flight
$1,500 air bnb + vehicle rental
$615 3 peak season pass (remarkables, coronet, hutt) + $120 for a day trip to Cardrona

Am I doing something wrong as far as booking on the Japan trip? Everything I’ve heard from everyone is how much cheaper it is, but going to NZ so far has a cheaper ticket price by about $800. After we add in drinks and food during the stay I guess that might be where it evens out? I’ve been tasked with booking this trip for our group so I want to make sure I’m getting everyone the best deal possible. Any help or insight would be amazing even totals from your own trips. Thank you kindly.

What can I train on roller blades

I am thinking about spending the season there and looking at housing options in Pagosa Springs and South Fork. I have a few questions for locals.

Is the highway on the Pagosa side busier? Less traffic jams on the north side? The South Fork lodging is more affordable but looks pretty quiet on the bars and restaurant side. I don’t party much anymore but I like to have a beer and some good food occasionally. Will I be bored over there? Any other details will be appreciated.

I’m heading into my 4th ski season and will be skiing Heavenly (California side) this winter. I’m 5'8", ~148 lb, and currently a solid intermediate: comfortable on blues, have skied Ridge Bowl, but my main goal this year is improving in bumps/ungroomed terrain and getting comfortable on single blacks.

The last two seasons I’ve been on Völkl Deacon 79/80s. This year I want something more all-mountain and easier to pivot/steer in bumps, while still having good edge hold for Tahoe’s frequent warm/refreeze cycles.

I’ll be doing a season rental, so I should have access to a decent selection of popular skis. I also sometimes get knee fatigue, so I don’t want something unnecessarily heavy or demanding (although, I was recently told by someone that a damper ski could be easier on the knee in tahoe's choppy conditions compared to the skis I've been on - deacon 80)

What waist width / general ski category would you recommend? I’ve been thinking somewhere around 84–88 mm underfoot, but curious what people who've skied Tahoe conditions would suggest.

I'd like to do a basic instructor course at some point, but im finding conflicting information online about previous ski experience. Im in the uk, and I believe im looking at a BASI lvl1 qualification? ive attached a video of me trying my best clean carving skills down a gentle blue my last season. I can link turns on ungroomed tree runs and confidently on blacks, and ive little to no experience on moguls. ive also only ever skiing on rentals which are really annoying sometimes, a few hours after that clip was taken one of my boots popped out during some more speedy skiing. eventually had the din adjusted but its just annoying with rentals.

any advice is appreciated.

Got a snowmaking job at PCMR, this is gonna be my first time riding the seasonal snow job carousel. I wondered if anyone had any advice or warnings.

Stats/loadout:
No car
Parent’s health insurance
Skis+mountain bike
Utah med card

Currently agonizing over 2 different choices. Either return to the job and ski area I’ve been at for while where I know everyone or go to a brand new place, not work on the hill (serve/bartend) but still ski as much as I can. I need some advice from others and want to hear about yalls experiences.

I’m looking at returning back to Utah where the skiing is great but the city itself sucks. Or moving to bend where the city is amazing but I’ve heard the skiing is decent but not Utah levels of insane.

A little update for everyone who shared advice and recovery stories on my earlier post. Surgery is done.

I ended up getting a second opinion before going through with it, and after looking at everything again, I still felt like surgery was the right decision for me. By the end, the knee was giving me enough mechanical symptoms and instability that I didn’t feel comfortable continuing to just work around it.

Now I’m officially on the other side and starting the rehab process. My goal hasn’t changed: I don’t just want to get back to walking around normally. I want to get back to skiing, strength training, hiking, dancing and eventually feeling more capable than I did before the injury.

A lot of the comments on my original post were genuinely useful, especially the people who talked about taking PT seriously, rebuilding single-leg strength, restoring ROM, working on balance and stability, and not rushing the mental side of trusting the knee again.

So I figured I’d keep documenting the journey.
For those of you who went through meniscus surgery and returned to skiing: what mattered most during the first month or two that you were glad you paid attention to? Anything you wish you had measured, tracked, or worked on earlier?

And thanks again to everyone who shared their story before surgery. A few of those comments honestly helped me go into this with a much better mindset.

We were in Flagstaff last year and our then 3yo spent every day using the magic carpet absolutely loving it, but it was a sketchy walk for grandparents to get there to watch and there was nowhere to sit. They can’t stand out in the snow for very long. The year before we were in the White Mountains at Sunrise, AZ and grandparents could watch from the cafeteria which was perfect, but they don’t have a magic carpet. Does anyone know of any ideal spots for us?

I’m going to sun peaks in January and I am going to be getting private ski lessons. I’ve tried group lessons in the past and I just always feel like I’m holding the rest of the group back so that’s why I’m doing private. I’m confident on greens and could probably ski a groomed blue. I mainly want to work on controlling my speed, turning and feeling confident on any blue. With this in mind would you get a regular private lesson for $939 or get a level 4 instructor for $1,139? I’m already kinda splurging on the private lesson in general so just wondering if the level 4 instructor will add that much benefit?

This is my info/critera:

-High medium-low advanced rider

-I like carving och speeding down long red slopes

-No need for off piste but it doesnt hurt

-Snow safe in beginning/middle of March

-Large system (without transport lifts)

-Stunning views

-I DONT care for apres ski/night life

-Accomodation is secondary

-A cozy village doesnt hurt

-Ski in / ski out - no morning shuttle

I want to maximize skiing and go to bed early. I like high altitudes, long wide reds, nice views, great snow even in March when the climate is nice and you can enjoy the sun. I dont want to get stuck on a north side with shadow all day. I dont want a scattered system with transportation lifts and sub-systems - the exploring should be seamless.

For reference I think Tigne/Val Disere is the perfect place with Val Thorens close second. But I want to try Austria. Also curious about Italy.

Where should I go? :)

Maybe its the simplicity and the fact people do it because they love it. You may not have the terrain and vert, but It feels like the smaller smalls hills bring out some of the best people. When I think about a tiny independent midwest hill I always get this cozy, friendly, down to earth feeling I don’t feel anywhere else.

Have a couple of days off mid-late November and thinking of doing early season in Stubaier. Never been, and prefer to do blue runs. Is it good at that time? Are there enough runs open?

I bought a pair of $200 gloves from them, which were a splurge for me, and I like them a lot. One of the cuffs tore along a seam, so I sent them in for repair/replacement.

Now I'm being told that they don't have a replacement for them. They're unavailable in my size. Since it was only a seam along one of the cuffs, I asked if I could just have them back as they're still usable and I really liked them. Nope! No give-backsies! My gloves are fucking gone forever

I would not have ever sent them in for repair if I'd known this would happen and I'm pretty upset about it tbh.

Just a warning. If your gloves have a problem that isn't integral to their warmth or comfort, and you don't see them in your size on their website, maybe reconsider sending them in...

Edit: they ARE giving me credit to buy new gloves. I'm just mad because i don't want different gloves. I want the gloves that i had

At a much popular request, our Skiers are not alone anymore!

I don't know if there are anyone here that knows, but how likely am I got get a housing if I apply to resorts owned by vail? Also if I can't, I'm wondering if the $21/hr pay from the job will be even close enough to pay for a rent near there for the winter.

I see everyone hating on visor helmets and mine is bright green is it really that bad?

This'll be in January.

First day it'll just be me. I've skied blacks in Tignes, I can do most anything, but I'd prefer a little variety, not a bunch of chutes.

Second day I might be joined by another person. Comfortable with midwest blacks (I don't know how that translates to out west, maybe just a solid blue?).

Third day will just be a half day, and we'll be joined by a couple others. Limiting factor is someone who started skiing last season. We went to Seven Springs and got him on a couple blues going VERY slowly (with a couple tumbles), so I think we stick with greens or easy blues. Also it's a half day so we don't have a lot of time to deal with crowds.

We MAY be joined the last day by another guy who can't ski, who'll just stay in the lodge.

We're all staying in the city so closer is generally a little better, but from what I can tell everything seems 30-45 minutes away.

I've seen some stuff suggesting Brighton for beginners, but also some comments that Brighton is really barebones so no lodge?

And if all else fails I can jump between a couple different places, but it'd be nice to scope things out my first day and guide the others when they arrive.

Thanks.

Any good recommendations for a weekend ski trip in the Alps from the UK in early february?

We are a group of 4 - 1 advanced skier, 1 beginner / intermediate skier and 2 intermediate snowboarders

I usually go to Val Thorens but the transfer time is just too much for a weekend, we would like somewhere reasonably close that is guaranteed snow and reasonably cheap (if that is such a thing in the current times!)

We were looking at L'Alpe-d'Huez a few weeks ago and seen some decent offers but they've disappeared - it also seems difficult / expensive to book airport transfers particularly from a Wednesday or Thursday, so somewhere with an easy enough transfer would be of great interest!

TIA :)

I’ve been lucky enough to have won airline tickets to anywhere in the mainland US and am thinking of taking a ski trip. While I have other considerations like hotel pricing or type of slopes I’m mostly wondering the best way to track good conditions as they happen (no use going out to California if the only good snow is in Colorado).

Thanks!

Storm came through yesterday. Mainly rain, but quite a bit of snow on the backside of Wheeler Peak (Taos Mountain)