Early season beginner/easy intermediate skiing in the west
 

I am trying to find a ski resort in the west of usa which offers beginner/easy intermediate in the early season.I would most probably be visiting in late november/early December.It will be great if the ski lift tickets are a little cheaper. Thank you.

Summit County Colorado and Copper Mountain in particular. Snow will be either there or not. But that will be true everywhere else.

You will want to include lessons in your budget, but discount lift tickets are available.

Seems a little far from the west coast.

As of this morning there are 3 ski areas in Oregon operating with more than 100" of base. I have no idea if any of them will have snow in early December.
Two of the ski areas are on Mt. Hood less than two hours east of PDX and the other is Mt. Bachelor outside Bend.

That early in the season is always iffy.
I'd pick a large resort, so there will be skiing, even if the whole mountain isn't open.
Another consideration is the amount of ski making, to help Mother Nature along.
One option would be Vsil, but it isn't cheap.
Jtan, why the comment about the west coast? The OP just asked about the west.

The person who made the comment about the west coast IS the OP.

I would never count on skiing in California in late November/early December. In fact, I wouldn't even count on Christmas (been burned too many times). End of January/February is the only time you can count on it.

Crested Butte. Season opens around thanksgivings. They normally have travel deals.

Park city is mucho expensive.

You might also want to look at Steamboat Springs.

To the OP, you said "west of USA" which to us, as skiers, means Colorado on. Just an FYI.

You'll have to fly in from somewhere.

And the big resorts have SNOW making equipment (not ski making! LOL)

I think it's hard to predict, you kind of have to wait until it happens to count on it, for late Fall skiing. Last year, there was some considerable snowfall in the Sierras in late November and early Dec, but not in Park City or the Oregon resorts. Squaw Valley opened Nov 14, 2015, for example, rather than end of November, as usual. So did most of those big resorts around Lake Tahoe (Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood). I think Heavenly is good for beginners. Park City opened 11/21/15 last year.

So since it sounds like you are making a trip, anyway, and not just planning a ski vacation, I think you have to find snow reports at the time to see. But I would look at the places in the Sierras as most likely for what you want. Mammoth isn't that easy to get to, anyway, though, but the ones around Lake Tahoe are.

Here is a list of opening dates from 2015 to give you an idea, however, it is a bit what was expected. I know several of those California ones opened a week or two early, for example.
https://www.snowpak.com/blog/Ski-Res...ing-Dates.html

Here is one good website I use to check snow conditions http://www.onthesnow.com/


One thing I like about it is that if you go into a particular resort, many of them have historical snow falls day by day, so you can see what heppened in Nov and Dec. for a few past years.

Is squaw valley or alta a good choice? Or is there even better ones?

OP, Squaw Valley is in California
Did you read this post

I would never count on skiing in California in late November/early December. In fact, I wouldn't even count on Christmas (been burned too many times). End of January/February is the only time you can count on it

Gretchen, the funny thing is, the one time we went to Park City before Christmas, the skiing was pretty terrible!

Pretty much as everyone has said--you just never know! I was interested to read that the snow pack in the western mountains IS better this year which will help the terrible drought situation.

Sorry just realised squaw is in California. How about Alta in Utah?Does the beginner slopes open in late November?

what about Mt. Hood in Oregon? It would be pretty easy to fly into Portland (PDX) airport and then drive the one to 2 hours to Mt. Hood.

It's been years since I was there, but I really enjoyed Mammoth in northern California.

https://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/Ma...ountainCA.html

https://www.skihood.com/



I would recommend googling some of the suggestions for weather in the months you are interested in, how far the airport is from the ski resort, how expensive the area is for accommodations, what the ski packages are, how far the rented place is from the ski resorts, etc.

You need to give us a better idea of exactly what you want. How close does it need to be to the west coast since most of us consider Colorado as being in the west. Second, the beginning and intermediate slopes are always the first to open simply because they are flat and the snows builds up faster and deeper than on the steeper black slopes. At that time of year altitude is your friend. The higher the slope's base the better the chance for snow. With the snow making ability of the Colorado slopes plus their altitude, many slopes will open with decent beginning skiing in late Oct and early November. Everything in Colorado will be open prior to Thanksgiving.

Right now you can buy a Four-pack (actually 5 lift tickets) for the 16-17 season at Copper for $159. That is a deal because the walk up price mid season is $144 for a single ticket. See --- CopperColorado.com

I am thinking of visiting California and probably Utah.I dont think Colorado will be a good choice for me as I will need to take a plane there and its quite expensive.When the cost of plane tickets and ski lift tickets are added it is much more expensive to ski in Colorado then in Lake Tahoe.

Where are you coming from? You can get to Bend OR, Portland OR or Whitefish Montana by train or train-bus combo.
You can buy a MAX Pass and ski at any of 25 ski resorts.
https://www.themaxpass.com/?utm_sour...ampaign=Fall15
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah are considered the "Mountain West". Oregon and Washington are considered the "Pacific Northwest" and California from Lake Tahoe south to Big Bear are the Sierras.

Colorado is expensive, I was just at Breckenridge and COpper and the lift tickets were more expensive than I've ever paid, and I was just at Heavenly a month before. Copper was a little cheaper, but Breckenridge is really expensive. Even the walkup price at Heavenly for a one day ticket is only $125, and you can get it cheaper if you buy in advance online for 3 or more days.

Heavenly is really easy to get to as you don't even need a car, so one less expense. There is a shuttle bus right from Reno airport and it only takes about an hour (around $50 RT). And in Stateline NV you can get a free bus to Sierra which isn't that far, and it is very good for beginners, also. YOu can get a bus to Kirkwood, although it isn't free and is farther, but it isn't as good for beginners and no need with all the other runs, anyway. Now I didn't rent a car at Breckenridge and did take a shuttle, but it's a lot farther so it takes more time and costs more.

Also, the hotels in Stateline NV are very cheap compared to most ski resorts due to the casinos there, it isn't like they are priced solely for captive skiers like they are in some of these resorts. I only pay about $100 a night there in a nice place.