Allee Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 There's a stupid deal on Air Canada at the moment, $579 for an Canada to US Air Pass that you can use any Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday between Jan 9 and March 6. If I buy one of these, apart from being able to spend weekends in places like LA (shopping!) and SFO (food!), I could make it to Denver, SLC or Reno for a long weekend's boarding. Only question being, how long does it take to get from the airport to the closest hill? Anyone with experience on flying in to these airports please post, I'm really keen on pursuing this. Anyone wanting to offer a couch, also welcome ... For the Canadians that might be interested, here's the link : https://www.aircanada.com/wallet/servlet/CTO5SearchServlet/familyPageDetail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 That's $579/month, $379 if you go for the two-day (Tues/Sat only) version. That doesn't include taxes and you are committed for two months - if you cancel the second month it's a $300 fee, so no point in cancelling. It's about 2 hours from Denver to the nearest lift, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Sorry, I forgot to put that in the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 allee the closest hill to DIA is probably Loveland Basin. Check their site. They'll have that info. Also Winter Park, Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper Mountain are all clustered in the same area just a little further into the mountains than Loveland Basin as for SLC...from the airport its what about 45 minutes to Snowbird, Brighton etc in the Cottonwood canyone areas, and maybe slightly longer to Park City and The Canyons Reno the closest is I belive Mt Rose...again, check their site...then you go up into Tahoe and theres probably more ski areas in one region than anywhere else in the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban Carving Gooding Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Reno is about 70 min by bus from Tahoe / Heavenly. I will be there in February at my sisters place (I would have to check with her) but it looks like I might have an extra room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipuppy Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Id hazard a guess that Mt Rose is half an hour from the Airport or less... if you go the other direction you can hit Northstar and Alpine within an hour. Heavenly was around an hour and a half or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Dold Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 I'd recommend Mt. Rose too, Skipuppy is correct, it's only a half hour from Reno and is an A1 first class carving mountain. High elevation, medium sized and slightly on the cheaper side. Good grooming too, at least in previous seasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyYT316 Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 For SLC, you could easily be at the base of the mountain in 30 minutes for Park City and The Canyons, and probably about 20-30 minutes for Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird:biggthump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy T. Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Yes Mt. Rose is the closest place from the Reno airport. Roughly 30 minutes and as others stated there are many more choices around the Tahoe area within 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I also do have a spare room so you can contact me if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor VonRippington Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 The best choice hands down it SLC... and look where I live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yard Sale Posted December 21, 2006 Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 As a former San Francisco resident now living near Reno, I'm qualified to tell you it is 3.5 hours from S.F. to Sugarbowl and 30 minutes from Reno to Mt. Rose. Just don't waste your time and money until we get more snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 I have to agree with Thor....you land in Denver and WP and Summit look close, but..... on the weekends you get to share the ride up the front range with about half-a-million Denverites.... I never had a problem getting to Park City from SLC-don't take a limo service, tho...rent a car.... the limo will book your return trip and maybe forget to pick you up... Reno.....I love the van service-$20 one-way to S. Tahoe.... Mt. Rose is super close to Reno, too, but I don't know of a van/limo going just to them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carvedog Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 The best choice hands down it SLC... and look where I live. Ditto what VonRipperington says. SLC midweek is a treat. But don't forget about the Basin. Snowbasin that is. Shhhhhh!!!!!!!! A little further than the main resorts but I nearly moved there after riding it the first time. This is one of the finest beginner to intermediate carve zones around. But that is my biased opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tilledog Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 PC and Canyons are around 35 minutes from the airport. They are both right off I-80, same Interstate as the Airport. Big cottonwood Canyon, Brighton and Solitude, are a bit further, probably around 45 and The Bird is probably the furthest at 50. Freeway speeds cut the commute for PC and Canyons whereas the Cottonwoods are bi-ways for the last 10-13 miles. Davo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipstar Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 there is a mount rose shuttle going up and down the mountain each day and arrives at the top about 8.30-am, departs from the top about 5pm. AFAIK it is $54 including the lift ticket (not a bad deal!)..if starts looping through the casinos starting around Legacy then outwards the shiny glassy one then onto Atlantis then to Mt Rose. I stay with a friend of mine who works opposite atlantis, so he could drop me off there and I'd ride the day, then meet him after work. they also had a trip to Alpine, Squaw, Flatstar and somewhere else, but most of the other trips had the opposite loop, so I just hired a rental car instead for a few days and we did Alpine, Squaw, Diamond, Homewood then. It ended up adding about $5 or $10 onto the cost of the lift ticket, except you can sometimes save more, on the 2 for tuesday promotion at Rose, some sort of student thing, some sort of women ski free (but tha wasnt relevant to me, sadly). Good thing about the bus is meeting other people; over the week met a few groups from Hawaii including a carver, a group of snowboarders from the seeyouth (who had the accent that I always thought people just made up to kid me around, like on Deliverance) and sadly no Miss Nevada or other stripper/trailer trash types, but maybe that will happen next time. Would be hard to get cheaper decent carving than staying at Atlantis, busing it, then eating the all you can eat buffets and guzzling free booze while pretending to play slots. Probably could do all of that for less than $100USD a day. Excluding gambling (round up to $1000 as required). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Just don't waste your time and money until we get more snow. You guys have snow ?!?! Lucky you. :) 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Maybe you could fly into SFO for a day and then head up to Tahoe and fly back out of Reno? Just a thought for a longish trip. I'm about mid way between SFO and Tahoe and we have a bed available (well, futon anyway). It's 2 hours drive from here to most of the resorts in Tahoe. A little farther to Mt. Rose. I tend to Kirkwood as I have a pass there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 I think I'll be going for this deal as well. Unfortunately, I'll have to restrict it to the cross-Canada zone, since the government will doc my UI benefits quite a bit if I leave the country. I'm pretty bummed out about that, since there were several places in the U.S. I wanted to visit (as in, not do any snowboarding). :( But it is one heck of a crazy deal. Hey, I just realized that I could do a surf-n-snow trip on that deal. I go to, say, Colorado for a weekend for some snowboarding, then on to Florida for some SCUBA diving. Damn ! We (Canada) really should buy the Turks & Caicos. But somehow I get the feeling that it would be left out of the deal, just as Hawaii is. :( I guess I'll just stick with the slush-n-snow trips up here. :) 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Got my pass ! Now, figure out where to go when. Heck, I can go to Halifax for lunch and then onto Toronto for supper. :lol: This is the closest I've ever come to the jet-setter life, and I'm going to squeeeeeeze all I can out of it. Actually, I'll be going to Vancouver and Calgary, just to visit, as well as Banff and Fernie for some hopefully epic riding. Now I'm working on the rest of the resort list. 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I thought seriously about it ... and then I thought about the fact that I have to go back to school in March, and before then I have some major renos (2 bathrooms and a laminate floor) to do on the house. If I'm away every weekend they're just not going to get done. Plus I lose my roomies at the end of Jan, and with them goes my free dogsitting. Dogs in kennels for the weekend adds significantly to the cost of weekends away. :( Sigh. If you come out to Banff give me a yell and we'll go ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Allee - I live near Denver. I have been to Calgary and Banff in the summer (really beautiful). Why would you travel so far when you have so many ski areas close by? How is the snow around Banff lately? I was at Loveland Basin last Saturday and I'd rate the snow as "fair". They had 9" new last Friday (12/30) but none since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Allee, it too bad the timing isn't right for you. I'm indeed very lucky. I still can't believe it's happening. I guess that's to make up for all the bad luck I've had these past few years. Hopefully it's not to make up for a bunch of bad luck that will happen in the future. :) I'll give you a heads up before I head to Banff. 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Bartron, if you need a place to crash and a ride to the hill I could probably manage that too. Oldacura, the snow here is vintage - 19cm again at my fave hill last night. And you're right, we are totally spoiled for choice here, and it's not like I'm going to miss any riding. The timing will be better next year, I'm sure, and I'll get to see some of the places I want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Thanks for the offer Allee ! But it looks like I'll be fine for both the lodging and ride. 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartron Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 I'm off to Calgary for the weekend ! I booked my first flight using the flight pass. It's as easy as it gets, short of mind reading. WARNING: if you want to book a flight on aircanada.com using a flight pass, don't book a flight in the normal way or they'll charge your credit card. Go to 'My Flight Passes', select the flight pass, and then click 'Book Flight'. Anyways, I was able to get direct flights for both directions -- a flight that costs as much as the pass itself. :) Woo Hoo ! BTW, I won't be bringing my snowboarding gear on this trip. I'm just going to check out the town, as part of my "Get Me The F**K Out Of This Dump And Away From These A-Holes" Tour. Once the weather at the resorts stays well below the freezing point regularly for more than a week, then I'll go riding. 'later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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