Hi,

I'm still in the "thinking about it" stage of planning a ski trip for the first week of April. My husband has never skied in the Western US, and I have only been to Breckenridge and Snowmass, so I don't have a favorite spot, yet. I really liked Breckenridge, but I was there a decade ago, so things may be different than I remember them.

We are looking for a reasonably priced area that is easily accessible (eg-cheap airfare, transportation) with a quaint, romantic feel.

We are beginner/intermediate skiiers, BUT the last place we happened to ski was Zermatt, Switzerland, so the standard has been set pretty high. I'm a little partial to Colorado, but very curious about Montana, Wyoming, and British Columbia.

Any suggestions?!? Any input is much appreciated, thanks!!

I like Lake Tahoe (California) a lot and even better is Utah. I am originally from Switzerland and I skied many mountains, but the best snow I experienced was in Utah.
Lake Tahoe has one negative side and that is the way to get there, it isn't that easily accessible (fly to San Francicso and than drive up to Lake Tahoe, about 2 hours).
I hope your will find a place !! Enjoy the winter !!

Vail. very quaint with a wide variety of terrain. The bowls are great

Park City. Great town, great snow. You have your choice of 3 ski areas (The Canyons, Park city Mountain Resort, and Deer Valley).

Lake Tahoe is great and they have had tons of snow this season. Better to fly into Reno than SFO.

I hadn't really been considering Lake Tahoe because when I look it up, the area seems to be dominated by casinos...not usually a scene we are attracted to. Are these two attractions closely related or can you ski without feeling like you are in sin city?

Thanks!

The base of Heavenly mountain (Lake Tahoe) is both in California and Nevada. There are no casinos on the California side, only on the Nevada side. So, yes, it is possible to stay in Tahoe and not feel like you are in sin city. Just stay on the California side.

We live 2 hours from Lake Tahoe, and ski there alot (with kids). You can ski Lake Tahoe, and not come within a 30 minute drive from a casino. There are ski resorts around different parts of the Lake, a ski resort (Kirkwood) that is "off the beaten path" from the Lake, and the Donner Lake/Truckee area that has 4 or 5 small/medium resorts. Within a 2 hour drive of "sin city" --- South Shore Lake Tahoe, there are more resorts than I can count, including: Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley, Homewood, Northstar, Sugar Bowl, Boreal, Tahoe Donner, Donner Ski Ranch, Ski Incline, Mt. Rose, Kirkwood, and Heavenly Valley (Nevada and California side). I would never fly into San Francisco and make the 4 hour drive (actually, with traffic it's closer to 5-6, with NO chain control). I would fly into Reno and rent a 4 X 4 SUV (there predicting tons of snow this year). We've gotten 8-9 feet of snow at the higher elevations in just the last 2 weeks. Let me know if you have any questions.

I think the Park City ambience - if you are looking for a quaint, romantic feel, as you say, would be a bit better than the Tahoe area, and between the 3 resorts in Park City, you would have a lot of excellent beginner/intermediate terrain to choose from. Salt Lake City is probably easier/cheaper to fly into than Reno. Rental cars will be cheaper in SLC since you won't need an SUV, or you could just take a shuttle service into Park City from SLC and not worry about a car.

So you know I'm not too biased, I do love the Tahoe area as well - but I like gambling and found that to be a fun part of my Tahoe trip - didn't notice any area that seemed quite as quaint as Park City, but, as others have said, many of the resorts are in Ca. and quite separate from the gambling scene; I just don't think they have the 'quaint mountain town' feel of Park City.

I also love Jackson Hole, but you may want to save that for when you are a better skier. Getting to JH can be a hassle, but the public transportation is great once you are actually there, and the town of JH is really pretty and full of nice shops and restaurants, plus you have access to the National Elk Refuge and snowmobile trips into Yellowstone (if you are into that.) If you do go to JH, don't miss going to Grand Targhee across the pass, which is actually a much better beginner/intermediate resort than JH and gets a ton of snow.

Could also try Banff in Canada...I've not been there yet, but am planning a trip there in March. As I understand it, the town of Banff is a nice tourist town inside a national park, and accessible to 3 ski resorts (plus a few others seem to be not an unreasonable distance away.) Fly into Calgary in this case.

Good luck - I suppose I haven't narrowed it down for you much, but I'm sure you'll have a great time wherever you choose!