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North American Resorts that are safe for early snow?


queequeg

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Some friends and I are planning to try and take an early season trip- never done this before, but I have time off to burn so might as well. What resorts would be a decent bet for a good time in the early season (novemberish) ... I was thinking of going up to canada? Tremblant? Mt.Sainte-Anne? Any idears?

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Western Canada would probably be a better bet than Eastern Canada at that time of the year. It's early for anywhere at that point though. Most of the BC resorts aren't even open until the first week of Dec. In Banff, Lake Louise is open but pretty sketchy and very limited terrain, while Sunshine is usually about 80% open by the end of Nov.

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In Colorado Loveland and A-basin usually "open" mid October. Early/Mid November and other front range hills begin to open. Late November and you start to get more area within the resorts opening, to deal with Thanksgiving crowds. Barring huge extraordinary early snow, anything before December 1 usually leaves me wishing for winter.

My $.02

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Some friends and I are planning to try and take an early season trip- never done this before, but I have time off to burn so might as well. What resorts would be a decent bet for a good time in the early season (novemberish) ... I was thinking of going up to canada? Tremblant? Mt.Sainte-Anne? Any idears?

sunday river, killington and okemo

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I'll 2nd the aforementioned comments about A-Basin and Loveland. I go every year for about a week in late Nov - early Dec and am never disappointed. I can buy an plane ticket several weeks out and not watch NOAA obsessively to see if I'm going to be shutout. Also, you can buy a 4-pack from Loveland online for $120.00 w/no blackout dates. Awesome deal. A.Basin is equally a good deal at about $50-$60 (I don't remember exactly). Everything about it is good - I've got family in West Denver and these two resorts are relatively close, in the grand scheme of things.

Fortunately my work provides an ample amount of personal time and these annual trips are how I burn some of the time I'd otherwise lose at year's end. Typically, it's a great way to start the season and it's not too redundant because the hills close to home are just barely getting under way, if at all. That often would include NY and VT, although last year was an exception. I'm not sure about via JFK or LaGuardia, however, from Balt/D.C., non-stops to Denver are frequent and not too pricey ($300-$350 if planned right). Love the non-stops because I think I'll most likely end up in the same city as my gear. All this is getting me stoked - think I'll check out Southwest flights right now. Thanks Queequeg!

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I'll 2nd the aforementioned comments about A-Basin and Loveland. I go every year for about a week in late Nov - early Dec and am never disappointed. I can buy an plane ticket several weeks out and not watch NOAA obsessively to see if I'm going to be shutout. Also, you can buy a 4-pack from Loveland online for $120.00 w/no blackout dates. Awesome deal. A.Basin is equally a good deal at about $50-$60 (I don't remember exactly). Everything about it is good - I've got family in West Denver and these two resorts are relatively close, in the grand scheme of things.

Fortunately my work provides an ample amount of personal time and these annual trips are how I burn some of the time I'd otherwise lose at year's end. Typically, it's a great way to start the season and it's not too redundant because the hills close to home are just barely getting under way, if at all. That often would include NY and VT, although last year was an exception. I'm not sure about via JFK or LaGuardia, however, from Balt/D.C., non-stops to Denver are frequent and not too pricey ($300-$350 if planned right). Love the non-stops because I think I'll most likely end up in the same city as my gear. All this is getting me stoked - think I'll check out Southwest flights right now. Thanks Queequeg!

So, Western Canada, A.Basin or Loveland sound like the most soild bets. Thanks for all the helpful info everyone!

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So far Sunshine is still dry, although I drove through there on the long weekend and there had been a dump already. Louise makes snow so they always have at least one run open by mid-November. Not sure if it's worth flying out from NY to make turns down man-made snow on a green run though... although even if there's no snow, Banff is a glorious place to be if you've never been.

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I would consider Mont Ste-Anne, rather than Tremblant. A lot of racing team from East Coast driving down to Quebec every fall. We have seen good Snowboarding in early November some year. They open their north side, with 1000' vertical drop with a high-speed quad, a carving threat. But, during first couple of weekends, it could get too crowded around noon for good carving so you need to be there early.

Seb

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Copper Mt.

There is a reason why race teams from around the world come to Copper as early as the 3rd week in Oct to train for the up coming world cup season. If you want a safe bet for early snow Copper is it. Depending on weather it's early or late Nov. you may have other resorts in the are to choose from as well (like Breck, A-Basin, Vail, etc.). Stay away from the east coast if you have the option, you will have better conditions and more terrain if you come to Colorado.

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Yes :)

loving that shot of, well what I call Chair 2, but has some new fancy pants soft as name these days no doubt.

Yeah, Mammoth has the man made going on early season along with some natural stuff, gets a big of a mega season and the mountain is well good for carving with no rocks poking through on chair 1 or 2 to speak of.

Man.....I miss that place ;-( been 3 years since I got to ride in USA :-(((((

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