We typically go to Vail and stay with friends the weekend after New Years, however this year is abit different 😉
any suggestions for a dad and 2 adult sons that are experienced skiers?
thinking of renting an Airbnb and would prefer to be near the base of the mountain.
home is Poughkeepsie NY, we don’t mind a drive of a few hours.

think snow !

Go to Vermont, Mount Snow, Stratton, Bromley, or Killington.
But check Vermont COVID 14 day quarantines for out of state visitors. It varies by the county where you live. Maybe it will be OK and quarantines removed by New Years.
Or there are smaller ski areas in NY State, Whiteface, Hunter, Windham.

or Go to Maine for Sugarloaf, Or New Hampshire for Cannon, or Vt for Stow or Jay. Pray for real snow not ice before you go. You probably know that the length of the trails on these is about the same as out west, but the width is very much narrower in general.

I'm partial to Gore Mtn, mainly due to proximity as it's an hour from my door to the gondola. It offers an ok mix of skill level trails,
It's high enough (as are Mt Snow, Stratton, Bromley, or Killington) so once they get a man made base a lot of the mountain is open and skiable by new years. But if temps are warm or there isn't much natural snow then some of the better long runs may not be open until later in the season.

The downside of Gore is there isn't much in the immediate vicinity. North Creek is a tiny town, and there are some condos not far from the base (5min drive) that show up on AirBnB, there's no town nightlife and slopes close at 4 or 4:30 since there is no night skiing.

A couple of ski areas suggested in previous posts are owned by Vail Resorts which is following entirely different ticketing policies for the coming season. No walk-up tickets, daily ski reservations required (preference to pass holders), etc., which would make waiting to check the weather before going unrealistic.

Letter from Vail Resorts CEO on 2020/21 Winter Operating Plan | Vail Resorts Corporate

https://www.travelweekly.com/North-A...-for-ski-areas

It's going to be a very different ski season wherever you go, but to avoid surprises on arrival I would research the policies of any place you're considering.

As you can see from the above posts, you have plenty of choices, but covid might impact things. From NY state, Vermont is obviously closer than NH, but they both have great skiing. For 'ski to lift' lodging, look at Okemo, a good sized mountain with lots of nice intermediate trails. Killington and Stowe are the biggest, but they can get pretty zooey, especially Killington. Killington's neighbor Pico another nice area. Further north, Jay Peak is considered my many to have the most reliable snow cover.

VT seems the only realistic option if the goal is to only drive "a few hours" to be acceptable, and then only southern VT. Stowe is 5 hrs from Poughkeepsie, for example. The problem is southern VT may not have as good snow as northern. I guess the requirement of only being a few hours makes sense if this is solely for a weekend and you don't have more than two days. So then you've got Stratton and Mt Snow basically.

I presume he would have thought of Hunter if he wanted to go there, and I would guess goes there for the day a lot, anyway as it's only a little over an hour's drive. I drive up to 2.5 hrs each way for the day when I ski near home, I would never plan some getaway special weekend at a ski resort that was only an hour away.

Personally, I'd go to Stowe as there are several ski mountains around there, but I go for more than two days when I do that, and I don't stay at the resort there or anywhere, as I don't really like to do that, I like being in a real town away from the resort. When I go to Stowe, I stay in Waterbury which is a good location, last year I drove to Okemo from there one day, Stowe and then Middlebury and also Bolton Valley as the weather wasn't so not so I wanted to go to a cheap place. I'm not super advanced, though, so I can be happy at lots of places. There are others around there, also, like Smugglers Notch. I'm not a fan of Killington but that's just my taste. I don't really like the immediate are of Mt Snow, either, for a stay, in terms of ambience. But if you just want a place to go and sleep, sure, that's fine, my desires are different I'm sure. I do like Waterbury, when I go to Mt Snow, I stay in Brattleboro but I have a relative there. For Stratton, you could stay in Manchester. But if you really want to stay right at the base of the mountain, I'm sure there are enough places to find that are pretty close at any of these resorts. I know Stowe has some. I don't think the OP was requiring ski in/out (but don't know) but just a place right at the resort.

As for the Epic resorts, that isn't really a bad limitation. Sure, you can't decide the same morning if you want to ski, probably, but you can buy a day pass far in advance (in fact, I think you have to buy them by some date in Nov-Dec) which can be used at Mt Snow, Stowe, Okemo and Hunter, for example, and if somehow the weather didn't work out for this Jan trip, you have the rest of the season to use it. If they live that close to Hunter, they could use it there if they just bought a 2-3 day pass.

What about Lake Placid? I've never been there but it is closer than northern Vt to Poughkeepsie. I guess someone recommended that (Whiteface), but seems like a natural choice, also. I think there was some good snow in Dec last year in VT, if I recall, but you never know about that.

There are some very nice places in town to eat at and music venues. The Copperfield has been taken over and they are open late, Barking Spider is open late. BarVino till 10 and Beck's Tavern is new. Airbnb's everywhere. The Covid has hurt this town so badly please give them some love and business. Sarah's cafe is great for breakfast and hope Izzy reopens. I can't wait to get back. I live in Fl and we can't go. Alpine Lodge is also very nice for a stay.

This is a link to the VT information on quarantine restrictions. Right now, you would have to quarantine if you came to the state.
https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/re...s-state-travel
This system has been in place for four months. It could change but it probably won't unless caseload figures in other parts of the northeast improve a lot.

We’ve skied all of the places mentioned above, any would work. With the COVID restrictions I would consider Gore crossing my fingers we get some good snow cover by then. Last year was rough. North Creek is very small, but unless you are looking for nightlife has enough restaurants to keep you busy for the weekend. Love Lake Placid, but you are a ways from the slopes and last time we skied Whiteface it was below zero and very icy. Lake Placid (actually Mirror Lake) does have nice options for ice skating and a toboggan run if you are looking for something in addition to skiing.

Dave, Do you live near Gore? I do hope things get more normal for them. Most places are still in take out mode but hoping.

I now live near Buffalo, but lived for about 15 years in Monroe, NY (south of Poughkeepsie) so New York and New England were our stomping grounds for skiing. We could get to Gore in less than three hours and with my father in law living in Warrensburg had a place to stay less than 30 minutes away. We used to ski every weekend no matter the conditions, but now that I'm 60 wife and me don't go unless there is fresh snow or go out west (wife's aunt has a condo at Copper).