Looking for suggestions for family friendly snowboard trip for 2024.

[ShakeNBake]

My 5 year-old seems to be interested in learning how to ride, so I am looking at a 7-10 day trip for Jan or Feb of 2024.

Steamboat is towards the top of the list as I want to get in 3-5 days of snowcat boarding on top of the resort days, but I have not been to many places outside Oregon, so I don't have much of a knowledge base.

My wife is not interested in hitting the slopes, but my in-laws will likely ski every other day or so, so there needs to be non mountain activities and good dining options.

Ski in ski out is nice but not a must and I don't want to leave North America as I hate long flights (just got back from Niseko and it wore me out).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike C

 

 

 

[Corey]

Aspen? 

I think any of the big destination ski resorts would work for you. 

[Odd Job]

Colorado? Family friendly runs + runs for you + wife shopping + restaurants and overall state of happy bliss wallet unloading?

Eagle County (Beaver Creek + Vail). Stay slope-side. Beaver Creek has some of the best beginner terrain, while also having some of the best carving terrain for you. I've been to two restaurants in that area (Almresi + Gashouse), both are good and there are a ton of other food options like Matsuhisa and such. Seafood at Gashouse is not on par with South Park Seafood in Portland, but it's very good (they fly them in very fresh, oysters are great).

You can bar/clothing/restaurant/spa hop in Vail village and happily unload your wallet. 100% would recommend this over Denver West, aka Summit County (Copper/Keystone/Abasin/Breckenridge). It's just much more crowded, especially on any family friendly date you are thinking of.

If you regret your choice. You are about 1:20 or so in good weather from Copper (just over Vail pass). About 2 from Aspen. About 2 from Palisade, CO for warmer weather stuff and wine hopping (not sure what winery hours are during winter, and it doesn't compare to Willamette Valley).

[Carvin' Marvin]

If you have the dough then beaver creek/vail or Aspen all day. Fly into ege or the Aspen airport. Odd one is right about the Beav terrain. Some of the best beginner runs anywhere and some of the steepest groom anywhere. Steamboat is nice but pretty remote 

[Rob Stevens]

You said “North America”, so look at Banff, flying into Calgary. 

Your wife can hang out in town which will have plenty of diversions and you can choose any of three resorts serviced by buses (Lake Louise, Sunshine Village or Banff Mt Norquay) or an easy drive in a rental to the fourth (Nakiska).  Midweek, no one is around to get in your way. The lone exception to that is SSV where the gondola at the bottom can make for some bottlenecks, even midweek. The views are off the charts at SSV, so you have to do at least one day up there… just don’t go on a weekend!
 

If you want to do a cat trip, you can leave the family in Banff and within a few hours drive, be in Golden or Revelstoke to the west, or go south to Fernie. There are more than a few cat ops in those zones. I like Gostlin Keefer Lake, Great Northern or Fernie Wilderness Adventures. If you find you only have time for a single day of cat, or don’t mind doing disconnected days, you should look at KPow at Fortress as it’s connected to Banff in the same way the lift serviced resorts are. 
 

Wherever you go, get after it!

[Keenan]

There is definitely more stuff off mountain to do in Banff.

My choice would be Sun Peaks.  If you have transportation, Kamloops is only 40 minutes away and there is quite a bit of stuff to do at the resort.  Plus ski in and out is pretty nice.

[Jack M]

Just got back from Steamboat for my daughter's mogul competition.  It's big and beautiful, has a good trail/lift/lodges layout, amazing glades all over the place, some cool terrain that you traverse/short-hike to, and a good apres scene.  I saw lots of ski instructors that seemed like they were doing a good job.  The town is very nice with lots of shopping/dining and there are hot spring spas.  A free bus system runs between the mountain and town, which is then walkable.  Definitely fly to HDN, not Denver.  I'd leave the carving gear at home though, unless you have a local guide.  Not sure if I had bad timing but the grooming was very hit or miss.  Several trails that were "groomed" were uncarveable due to bumps, huge ridges, cookies, etc.  Some other trails were great but finding them was a bit of a challenge. 

[Allee]

On 2/11/2023 at 12:07 PM, Rob Stevens said:

You said “North America”, so look at Banff, flying into Calgary. 

Going to second everyone's recommendations for Canada, because your exchange rate is giving you 25% right now and it's likely to stay that way. Calgary is a cheap flight and well serviced from Portland. There's tons of off piste stuff for everyone to do in Banff (bring your wallet), it's a iconic town with dining and nightlife.

The other place I'd suggest is Revelstoke. I adore Revy, it's the cutest little town, and I've heard amazing things about the resort even though I've never personally been. If you wanted to road trip a little and had a vehicle, it's a four-ish hour drive from Banff to Revy through some stunning scenery and a few days at each place would make for a pretty cool trip.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Allee