Are ski/snowboard family vacations crazy expensive?

[Anonymous]

I looked into Whistler over XMas 2025 (just decided to go in another direction and go warm) and flights were $500/RT and lift tickets averaged like $75/day buying a multi-day ticket. Able to get a 2 BR condo slopeside for like $750 for 4 days.

Only bummer is nothing direct from DMV (you usually fly to Seattle and take a connection).

You may also want to look into Tremblant.

[Anonymous]

Putting Snowshoe, Vermont, and Sunday River in the same sentence is just…bananas.

[Anonymous]

And if you were open to smaller mountains there are a ton you could hop around to in Vermont and Maine.

Huh? OP is not a college kid.

There are few families in the DMV, especially a non-skiiing one, that wants to schlep UP to northern New England and then schlep across it.

OP, the mid-Atlantic is not a place you can live and have skiing part of your life without dropping a lot of time and/or money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Skiing in the U.S. is astronomical and as PPs have said, I’d be very surprised if you could do what you’re describing for $7500 all in.

I learned to ski as an adult and went to France for a week of private lessons because it was significantly cheaper than going out west. I don’t know if this would be possible for your family, especially if your kids are young, but the Geneva airport is within about an hour of a number of French alpine resorts. Some of the smaller ones are very family friendly, boutique hotels are probably cheaper than what you would pay for lodging in CO or UT, and most importantly, lift tickets and lessons are WAY cheaper. Rentals are easy to get.

If you can take a full week and go in February, the French do staggered public school holidays to accommodate skiing, so the resorts run very good and very reasonable weeklong ski schools for kids. Again, I did this as a single adult with friends, so very different than going as a family with kids, but if you are used to international travel it might be worth looking into.

Canadian Rockies - Fernie, Kicking Horse etc - are another far more affordable alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And if you were open to smaller mountains there are a ton you could hop around to in Vermont and Maine.

Huh? OP is not a college kid.

There are few families in the DMV, especially a non-skiiing one, that wants to schlep UP to northern New England and then schlep across it.

OP, the mid-Atlantic is not a place you can live and have skiing part of your life without dropping a lot of time and/or money.

Driving to Killington isn’t that bad. I’ve done both Vermont and flying to Colorado and Montana, multiple times. Skiing out West is much better, but Vermont is still has good skiing, it’s cheaper and much easier logistically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot take, if you have this much sticker shock pricing out a trip out west, then it is not worth the premium to you to ski out west.

Go to VT or Maine, spend 5k instead of 10 (I don't see how a family of 5 really gets all in for 7.5 out west as I am cheap AF and 4 days at Killington last year was close to 5k for us, but spectacular, highly recommend Killington OP!).

If you are like, a really regular skier who loves skiing etc then sure go out west, but if you don't even have the skill set to appreciate it (and that isn't an insult just reality) then to me it wouldn't be worth the markup. There is plenty of good skiing a day's drive away where you can bring your gear and spend a lot less.

I'd recommend, Killington or Snowshoe or Sunday River if you want a more resort feel. Stowe if you want that LUX feel. And if you were open to smaller mountains there are a ton you could hop around to in Vermont and Maine.

I don't want to be one of those people. Killington can be fantastic, weather dependent. Snowshoe isn't worth the drive ever. Sunday Reiver, meh.

That said, the East Coast taught me to hate skiing. And the Rockies taught me to love it again. I just don't think even northern New England is worth that kind of spend.

Sorry snowshoe was a typo I meant sugarloaf!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting Snowshoe, Vermont, and Sunday River in the same sentence is just…bananas.

I meant sugarloaf I was typing and reading other posts at the same time! Agree snowshoe is nothing like Vermont, but sugarloaf is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And if you were open to smaller mountains there are a ton you could hop around to in Vermont and Maine.

Huh? OP is not a college kid.

There are few families in the DMV, especially a non-skiiing one, that wants to schlep UP to northern New England and then schlep across it.

OP, the mid-Atlantic is not a place you can live and have skiing part of your life without dropping a lot of time and/or money.

Driving to Killington isn’t that bad. I’ve done both Vermont and flying to Colorado and Montana, multiple times. Skiing out West is much better, but Vermont is still has good skiing, it’s cheaper and much easier logistically.

If you read the first post I quoted it's about hopping around to small mountains in VT and Maine and doing a tour of sorts. That's exhausting, and not much payoff unless the conditions are epic and the whole group is good enough to take advantage.

Agree that driving to VT in and of itself is very doable.

[Anonymous]

OP here

Thanks for the tip about Europe. That was not on my radar.

What about Nordic (cross country) skiing as an alternative trip?

[Anonymous]

Go to Whitegrass in WV if you want to cross country. The best.

[Anonymous]

We’re just going to Michigan for skiing and it’s expensive. Booked a cabin for five days for $2500. In Michigan. We live in the Midwest so will drive.

We’ve skied a lot of great places and some not so great. For us, it’s worth it to take the flight off the table if we want to ski annually plus any other trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Thanks for the tip about Europe. That was not on my radar.

What about Nordic (cross country) skiing as an alternative trip?

OP have you ever skied before? I ski downhill and cross country skiing has always seemed objectively miserable.

Like I think everyone has jumped the shark in advising you. What do you want from this trip? What is your desired budget? What are the key elements for you (ie, niceness of resort? Available spa?). People are answering you as if snow conditions are the key here but you sound like you’ve never skied. And I mean I get that people are scaring you off but Killington Stowe and Sugarloaf will have perfectly acceptable snow in January and February. So what is it you’re actually looking for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Thanks for the tip about Europe. That was not on my radar.

What about Nordic (cross country) skiing as an alternative trip?

OP have you ever skied before? I ski downhill and cross country skiing has always seemed objectively miserable.

Like I think everyone has jumped the shark in advising you. What do you want from this trip? What is your desired budget? What are the key elements for you (ie, niceness of resort? Available spa?). People are answering you as if snow conditions are the key here but you sound like you’ve never skied. And I mean I get that people are scaring you off but Killington Stowe and Sugarloaf will have perfectly acceptable snow in January and February. So what is it you’re actually looking for?

I went back to read your post and will add that my kids have taken lessons at Killington and Sugarloaf and Sunday River and all had excellent instructors. Killington and Sunday River in particular had the best setups IMO. All my kids learned at 4-5yo too.

The idea of taking my five year old cross country skiing is enough to make me laugh at the version of myself that would choose that hell Haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to Whitegrass in WV if you want to cross country. The best.

It is when there is natural snow. But that's become much less reliable in recent years unfortunately.

I agree with the PPs is that some of this boils down to what you want out of this trip OP. If you're mainly looking to get your kids up on (downhill) skis, I would stick to a driving trip to start. My DH has taken DS out to Timberline a few times and they've had a good experience. Others on here have more experience with NE resorts but ancedotally we have friends/family up that way and they go to Killington, Sugarloaf, etc. It's on our to-do list now that our youngest is approaching preschool age.

This is a slightly offbeat option, and less snow-sure than it used to be, but I grew up in Western NY and all of my friends learned to ski at resorts in the Southern Tier (e.g., Swain and Bristol Mtn.). I was not from a ski family but would tag along occasionally and because the elevation isn't huge they are relatively easier slopes for beginners. When the lake effect snow machine is cooking, it's great. I've been tempted to just keep an eye on the weather and impulsively head up there for a long weekend sometime. They are more local slopes so not going to have a ski resort vibe if that's important to you.

[Anonymous]

And I mean I get that people are scaring you off but Killington Stowe and Sugarloaf will have perfectly acceptable snow in January and February.

Perfectly acceptable is subjective, especially for DCUM.

Sometimes the east has better conditions than a lot of the west in January and February. Sometimes the east has nothing but ice and dirt. Literally.