USA or Canada??

Hi everyone, could do with some advice about booking a skiing trip. I have to go school holidays (Easter) and am looking for wide blues/ maybe greens as we're both on our 2nd ski holiday, but quite timid!! A lot of people have suggested USA or Canada as fitting the bill - lots of snow, wide empty slopes, friendly service. We're thinking Winter Park in USA or Banff in Canada. Can anyone recommend a hotel or any advice generally. Have tried various companies, but were not particularly helpful, just read out the brochure over the phone to me! I want advice from someone who has been there!
Cheers

I have skied in Colorado, but not Winter Park. I believed the marketing hype about wide empty slopes, and it may be true at certain times during the season. My experience was crowded slopes and queues as long as 30 minutes 1st lift of the day. If you really want to ski Winter Park, find out when American Public Holidays are held, as they have different dates to the UK, that knowledge could be vital to the quality of your experience.

For Colorado, my first thoughts were Beaver Creek and Keystone and maybe Breckenridge. Have been to all three. I have to say that I was not looking for green runs!

If you go to WTSS.co.uk, click on resorts. Then on the RHS of the page, click "beginner" and "USA". My three suggestions are in the first twelve places, and so too is Winter Park. The score ratings is interesting, there is quite clear deliniation between 10.0, 8.0, 6.0, etc.

I wonder why you would want to go to the USA on your second holiday. The general concensus is to build up your experience in Europe, as a good use of time and cost~but of course, forget cost as the whole of Europe is on Easter holidays!

On the other hand, the quality of mountain management, particularly the grooming of slopes, does make for better ski progress. I always acknowledge that Colorado is a good place for intermediates to make their skiing breakthrough.

I live in Texas but have skied most of Colorado. That time of year you'll find the temps in Colorado warming up close to freezing in the afternoon - sometimes above freezing. I usually ski with a light jacket. Never skied in Banff, but did in Montana. It can be extremely cold on occasion. The first of April brings tons of snow to most of Colorado. Both will have a light dry power that is ideal to ski on.

In general, the slopes west of Denver off Interstate 70 (Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapaho) are very crowded on the weekends and holidays. I stay away if at all possible. Long lines and rude people. Most schools and colleges in the US also have a week long spring break in mid-March that also pack the slopes. Winter Park can be nice since it is more remote. Great slopes, and good snow. It can get colder than most Colorado slopes. Vale and Aspen are very expensive and not that much better than some others.

Crested Butte, Telluride, and Durango Mountain are all great too. We ski Durango Mountain most often. It has lots of lifts so the people scatter out nicely. Slopes are wide and usually empty. The back bowls (Legends) usually have no line at all. I've skied some runs from top to bottom and never saw another skier. Lots of great intermediate runs on the back of the mountain and nice beginner runs on the front. www.durangomountainresort.com often has hotel and ski packages that are affordable. Given the GDP to USD conversion, you should be golden.

In general, staying on the mountain is best since you don't have to drive or bus to the slope. Food is more expensive, but most rooms have kitchens so we purchase food in town and cook. Staying in town is cheaper all around, but you can get half a meter of snow in one night so travel is slow and sometime impossible. Tamarron is about half way up.

If you want the best price, Red River New Mexico is a great beginner slope and is inexpensive.

As long as you stay away from the Denver resorts, you'll have a blast with small lines. Give yourself a day to acclimate. These lifts can go well over 3,500 meters high.

Thanks for the comments. As for staying in Europe - I would love to, unfortunately I can't find anywhere that i can go feb half term or easter (3 April) that will have empty slopes, or at least not crowded (i'm not very good at skiing round people!!) Had a few lessons at the snow centre in hemel and both instructors recommended USA or Canada for wide empty slopes and not long queues with people pushing in! Love to hear from anyone who has been to Banff or a european resort that might fit the bill?

I Haven't been to Winter Park, but I have been to much of western Canada. Iv'e also been to Colorado, Tahoe and Washington State.

If you can stomach the expense, then Vail is a great resort with loads of easy blues to keep you happy. Beaver Creek is a little more challenging. Most hotels are decent and they have built a lot over the past few years. We stayed in the Marriot in Lionshead which was great. The Lion Square Lodge looked like a good place if you want a condo.

Banff is great. The slopes of Sunshine are usually uncrowded and there is plenty of nice blues to choose from. The quality of the snow is also good. There is plenty to do in Banff and the scenary is great. We have stayed in the Banff Park Lodge for several years and always found their own ski packages to be very good value for money. The hotel is well located within a 1 min walk of all of the central ammenities yet it is in a surprisingly quiet area next to the river. The Banff Springs is an amazing hotel it is definitely worth a visit for dinner or a coffee. However unless you realy push the boat out and get one of the more expensive rooms, it is not very good value for money to actualy stay there.

The thing to remember about Banff is that all of the resorts are a buss ride or a car journey away. This is no hardship though because the scenary is spectacular and I would highly reccommend driving the Icefields Parkway.

The teaching in Banff is very good. Club Ski offers some good lessons for all levels that put you in groups of 4-8 and spend a day at each of the the "Tri-Area" resorts within a short drive from Banff; Sunshine (20mins), Norquay (10mins), Lake Louise (45 mins).

It is also well worth a day visit to Kicking Horse in Golden, which is between 1:45 and 2h drive from Banff.


Also, you might want to consider Big White in Kelowna. It has loads of nice blues but is a self contained resort about an hours drive from town, so you stay and eat on the mountain and can forget about driving anywhere. It is an especially good place for families having one best family resort of the year for many years.

Given what you say you are looking for, I would go to Banff and hire a car for the whole stay. You will have a great time.

I first learnt in winter park and believe it would be great for you! You can ski right from top to bottom on blues and greens, plus the resort has an excellent beginners area called Snoasis i think. There has been lots of development at the resort meaning more hotels in the resort as supposed to the town of winter park which is about 10 mins bus away! I believe from the winter park website that april is one of the hightest snowfall months so you should be able to have lots of fun!

Serendipity wrote:I have to go school holidays (Easter)

Ok, I am going to raise this one again. Unless you are a teacher, you don't HAVE to go in school holidays. If you are, my apologies! However, you are restricting yourself to where you can go big time, and also the price hikes for Easter are nothing short of mickey taking. Avoid school holidays if you can, and then reconsider Europe.