Mom and Pop Style Mountains

[Ripitz]

I have always enjoyed going to Bromley. Known as “The Sun Mountain”, due to its southern exposure, it is relaxed and low key.

Bromley Vermont Ski Vacation - Bromley Resort

Bromley is your family-friendly 4-season Vermont resort offering diverse ski terrain, lesson programs and slopeside lodging, plus exciting summer attractions.

www.bromley.com

 

[raisingarizona]

I’d love to spend some time up in Terrace.

 

[MarzNC]

From the other thread by @Andy_ROC :

I think my wife and I are going to go to Powder Mountain Utah this year. I went there 4 years ago and loved it. The place is so chill, not corporate, so sparse off people (they actually limit ticket sales to 1500 per day for >8k acres) and so much to explore. We like to explore. She's an advance beginner comfortable with groomed greens and blues (parallel skiing) and would probably go off piste a bit. We love to explore the mountain rather than just rip laps on the same handful of runs crowded amongst others. May also drive up to Grand Targhee. Interested in hearing about other possible options not limited to that region, east included.

I really like PowMow. Although I haven't been lucky with snow conditions yet, after three tries during different seasons. Not only are the day tickets limited, so are the season passes. I also like the fact that people who live in the same county get a really good deal.

Have you skied GT? My ski days there have been on the way to Big Sky from SLC. Completely lucked out the last trip. Not only deep powder but also blue sky for two days. It was over Pres. Day weekend. On Sat the locals created a line first thing in the morning on the main lift, but we headed to the other peak and there was no line. After the initial rush, never waited more than 5 min even at the base lift. Since that's a high-speed detachable, can really get in a lot of skiing in a day. Even better now that the Blackfoot lift is a fixed-grip quad. The old double was very slow.

 

[Andy_ROC]

From the other thread by @Andy_ROC :


I really like PowMow. Although I haven't been lucky with snow conditions yet, after three tries during different seasons. Not only are the day tickets limited, so are the season passes. I also like the fact that people who live in the same county get a really good deal.

Have you skied GT? My ski days there have been on the way to Big Sky from SLC. Completely lucked out the last trip. Not only deep powder but also blue sky for two days. It was over Pres. Day weekend. On Sat the locals created a line first thing in the morning on the main lift, but we headed to the other peak and there was no line. After the initial rush, never waited more than 5 min even at the base lift. Since that's a high-speed detachable, can really get in a lot of skiing in a day. Even better now that the Blackfoot lift is a fixed-grip quad. The old double was very slow.

Yes, I have skied GT 2x in March 2018 and really enjoyed it very much. It nuked massive amounts of snow day and night, free powder refills all day. It was exhausting but fun... even the locals were giddy. We talked to ski patrol at the end of the day and they said they were swimming in powder up to their necks when they clicked out of their skis to reset boundary fences. My only concern would be for my wife because there there seems to be much more limited Green runs at GT than PowMow.

 

[MarzNC]

Yes, I have skied GT 2x in March 2018 and really enjoyed it very much. It nuked massive amounts of snow day and night, free powder refills all day. It was exhausting but fun... even the locals were giddy. We talked to ski patrol at the end of the day and they said they were swimming in powder up to their necks when they clicked out of their skis to reset boundary fences. My only concern would be for my wife because there there seems to be much more limited Green runs at GT than PowMow.

Yeh, the little kids or adult beginners learn to ski blues pretty quickly at GT. Same as Plattekill.

I have a friend who didn't start skiing until she and her husband moved to Victor. She did the 3-lesson package and that was more than enough to get her started. Her DH learned to ski as a kid in Europe and likes to ski fast.

The beginner and teaching area at GT is actually a lot of fun. The lift is pretty slow so have time to recover if getting tired. On one trip, I'd had enough by lunch time. I didn't become a solid advanced skier until a few years later. My ski buddies were happy to take it easy too. We were all over 55 then. So we rode the beginner lift quite a few times to explore the terrain over there. The trees were great for someone just starting to explore off-piste. The liftie was a jolly man who looked like Santa Claus. He called us the "kiddoes" after he noticed we were taking laps.

Perhaps a lesson or three for your wife this season? My experience is that once someone is comfortable skiing with others on blues, skiing becomes a lot more fun in general. Regardless of whether skiing at a big or small mountain. I've always been able to ski any blue out west as an adult because I learned to ski as a teen. In recent year I've helped friends who learned as adults get over the hump. Not by teaching them. Just by skiing with them at a pace that is comfortable and re-enforcing whatever an instructor already worked on with them.

 

[tirolski]

I have always enjoyed going to Bromley. Known as “The Sun Mountain”, due to its southern exposure, it is relaxed and low key.

Grandparents were from the sunny side of the alps.

 

[MarzNC]

I think Wolf Creek and Monarch in southeast Colorado fit in this thread.

Had a very good time checking out Wolf Creek for a few days last Feb. Going back in Dec.

Last Dec I skied at JH, GT, and Alta. Made sense since I was sharing lodging with friends. Included a timeshare at Snowbird. It was worth the travel effort but only because I and my ski buddy had semi-private lessons with L3 instructors I've worked with before at JH and Alta. Only groomers worth skiing at JH. Alta had good snow but not quite enough coverage unless you know the place very well. My instructor who has been teaching at Alta for 15+ years wasn't ready to go off-piste during a lesson even after a snowstorm that dropped 8+ inches. Now that I know a good instructor at Wolf Creek, makes more sense to head there during early season even though we have to buy lift tickets. Helps that three of us are seniors 65+.

 

[MarzNC]

Here are a couple of TRs by @jamesdeluxe about Monarch.

Monarch, CO: 04/03/21

For my final ski weekend of the season, I headed back to Colorado to get a few more days on my Loveland season pass. After a couple hours on Route 285 through expansive unpopulated valleys, you turn right onto Route 50 and head up toward Monarch Pass, in the distance on the left: Even though...

nyskiblog.com

Monarch, CO: 12/15/19

As you may remember from my previous two visits in 2010 and 2017, Monarch definitely rates amongst my favorite locals areas in North America, so when I flew into Denver last Sunday and saw that Wolf Creek and Monarch had by far the deepest bases of snow in Colorado, the decision was easy for...

nyskiblog.com

My friends and I spent an afternoon at Monarch on the way between Dillon and South Fork. Lucked out . . . there was a powder storm that day. Bonus was getting parking spaces (2 cars) in the front row since locals were leaving by the time we arrived around lunch time.

 

[raisingarizona]

If you’re in the Teton area and we’re talking about mom and pops then you shouldn’t miss out on skiing Snowking. They’ve made some huge upgrades this year including a NY approved gondola but don’t let that fool you, it’s still the town hill. It’s super rad and one of the steepest ski areas in the country.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I've had some great days at Snow King. Wow, a gondola? I wonder what the thinking is behind that?