Snowolf

Not sure why you exclude Mt.Hood since we are usually in FULL operation by Thanksgiving at Mt Hood Meadows and Timberline.

__________________

killclimbz

Is that full operation or 100% of the inbounds terrain open? I am talking the latter. Also my bad if they are 100% open.

Snowolf

I was refering to the original poster who had excluded Hood. On most years, it is 100% inbound and 100% full operation as well. This season we had a very slow start, then the floodgates opened.

__________________

donm3ga

I want to know of other resorts. I've done tons of research about Mt. Hood because it gets mentioned in half the threads now.

I plan on going to Mt. Hood in the summer. I'd just like to hear of other possibilities.

Simply^Ride

I guess thats about as much advise as you can get, we have suggested a lot of different resorts in many states. To be honest a trip in November is kind of scary, specially with all the money that would to be dumped into it. What I would do is wait until a month before and search for weather activity, that way you don't waste your money.

Snowolf

In the summer, just one small ice field is ridable and while the summer riding is great, it pales in comparison to what we get come winter. There are three large resorts on the mountain and it also an amazing place to ride in the winter. Ski Bowl is the largest night skiing area in the country and their outback has some of the best cliffs and steeps of all 3 areas. Mt. Hood Meadows is on par with Alyeska in Alaska as far as free ride terrain and square miles of inbounds territory. Our inbounds "back country" of Heather and Clark Canyons as well as Private Reserve can be epic beyond belief. In November however, Heather won`t be open generally due to the ice bridges crossing the river not being complete at that time. It is definitely worth considering as a winter destination. Often we are open before anywhere in the country depending upon weather patterns.

In general, you will be limited to Colorado and sometimes Utah if the weather hits early. Also, Lake Tahoe can occassionally get a major early winter storm and be running nearly 100% by mid November. My best advice would along the lines of what Simply^Ride said and that is to plan trips no earlier than December to avoid a washout and loss of of money.

__________________

Simply^Ride

To be honest I would be hesitant to plan a trip before January first, if am dumping more than $1500 into it. But I am sure that there are going to be plenty of resorts open for that time, the thing is that finding the best snow conditions is going to be a bit complicated, unless you wait till 2 weeks before to buy the airline tickets.

Snowolf

Yeah, my Christmas trip to Alyeska was a pins and needles thing. Day after day after day, they got no snow and the lower mountain was looking pretty bad. A week before the trip it started snowing. I got into Anchorage and my buddy picked me up and we had an awesome Christams dinner at his folk`s house and then hit the hay. Next morning got up and Alyeska had gotten 26 inches of fresh and it snowed another couple of feet the whole 8 days I was there. I guess placating the snow gods I did before leaving paid off. It turned out epic, but man I was worried.

__________________