planning honeymoon for february 2012.
Will hopefully have enough money saved for a two week snowboarding trip (thankfully the other half loves snowboarding as well.
Our ideal trip would be 2 weeks of fresh powder with blue skies…sadly, we cant afford 2 weeks heliskiing in alaska. After this winter, we probably dont want to risk europe.
Doesnt need to be super plush, but dont want a bunk house either!

At the moment we are thinking of Aspen or Utah? combo of hopefully lots of dry snow and reasonable weather?

we have both been to whistler and think we fancy somewhere different.

advice please!

What’s your budget? That could have a big impact on suggestions! (Even if you’re both on trays….! 😉 )

For powder – Japan

Fernie. Not the best place for beginners and the town is a bit on the basic side but everything you need will be there. Granted I may well have lucked out with the snow but 20cm of powder almost everyday for 3 weeks was pretty cool. Rubbish visability though.

To be honest I wouldn’t go the Aspen again. I had a much better time in Vail and it is only half the distance from Denver.

Yes, Vail over Aspen.

Banff was cool too – as long as you don’t mind a longish journey to and from the piste.

My mate and his new missus just did 2 weeks in whistler for their honey moon, lots of powder and apparently the greatest 2 weeks ever. They went cat skiing etc.

As others have said, definitely Vail over Aspen.

I love whistler, go a couple of times a year, but wouldn’t do it for a honeymoon. Plently of quieter resorts in the same area that might have a little bit more “charm”. Go somewhere liking Kicking Horse if you want the mountain to yourself. Some fairly cheap and awesome heli drops there too.

A couple of my friends were filming out in Russia last year. They managed to get 10 days worth of heli drops for a stupidly low price compared to previous Alaska trips. Said the company were very well organised too. I can find out details if you like.

Clearly, it’s a completely different type of honeymoon, but just depends how adventurous you and your partner are.

They also did a similar thing in Pakistan about 3 years ago. Said they probably wouldn’t go again though, quite a lot of administrative problems.

Red Mountain, British Columbia.

If you like a laid back atmosphere and awesome off-piste.

It’s a small resort but quality trumps quantity. Go to the top and take your pick in any direction of off-piste options through trees and cliffs. There’s easy access back country too on Mt Roberts, Wolf ridge and Grey mountain.

Winter Park, Colorado. Shortest transfer only 2hrs from Denver it is phenomenal we were there in 2010 which was their worst season in 25 yrs and it was better than an average European season. Snow quality better, not many Brits go, great place. Dollar to pound a bit stronger now, just remember lift passes in USA are way more expensive I imagine you are looking at £250 per pass although everything else cheaper. We loved Winter Park Mountain Lodge as easy for slopes, has its own micro brewery and restaurant on site but only 10 mins on free bus into town. Got usual snow shoeing, ski-dooing as extras can’t recommend it enough feel free to email if you want more info. We went with Crystal and first year it cost us £800 all in for a week….cheaper than Europe. Price have gone up a bit since mind but not massively.

Japan is on my wishlist.

Arlberg or Paznaun.

I wouldn’t go to Utah. We stayed in Salt Lake city a few years ago and they still have resorts around the city for skiers only.

What about a road trip? Taking in, places like Fernie, Panarama, Kicking horse etc.

Also consider California Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe area – Heavenly (good place for a honeymoon, hey what?), Squaw valley, Northstar etc.

Winter Park is superb, lifts up to 13,000ft then every single grade of run back down. 4 restaurants actually on the slopes, few more at the base. Easy to get over to Mary Jane and Steamboat too. This season = 358 inches of snow 8)

We did a Canadian Rockies roadtrip last year.
2 days at Fernie
2 days at Panorama
2 days at Kicking Horse
2 days at Revelstoke
2 days at Lake Louise
1 day at Marmot Basin
2 days at Sunshine
NO RESTING

We flew to Calgary, hired a car and set off. We’d pre-booked all accommodation and most lift passes. Many were Ski’n’stay deals, sometimes for CDN75 for lift pass AND hotel. Is it possible to go wrong?

I’ve been to Copper, Winter Park, Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge and Whistler and my favourite as a base was Breckenridge. Nice enough main Street with a bars and restaurants, the ski area is massive and the back bowls are left as un-groomed loveliness. You can easily get to Vail or Copper if you fancy a change.

I think one of the main things that I liked about Breckenridge was that it felt like a real town that had become ski area rather than a manufactured resort.

Wasn’t too keen on Whistler, very moist snow and a whilst it may have just been bad luck we had a lot of days of very flat light.

if you do go to the Colorado areas it worth looking at the available ski passes early, we bought a residents season pass for less than the cost of a 10 day pass. You didn’t need to be a resident but it was only advertised locally or by signing up for email notifications. Booked it about 3 months in advance and picked it up on the first day.

I really liked Jackson Hole when I was there a few years back (when they still had the old tram).

Check out Hostel X for reasonable priced accomodation – called a hostel but it’s not like a real hostel, more like a basic hotel.

Mangy Mouse for breakfast, lunch and tea!

Troutwrestler – We did that very thing about 10 years ago now. It would have been brilliant but for the fact I picked up an injury on day 2 so couldn’t ski the rest of the trip 🙁

muppetWrangler – I have to disagree

I think one of the main things that I liked about Breckenridge was that it felt like a real town that had become ski area rather than a manufactured resort.

I thought it was very touristy and a bit twee. Also I love Whistler, maybe you were unlucky.

Bunnyhop – Member
I wouldn’t go to Utah. We stayed in Salt Lake city a few years ago and they still have resorts around the city for skiers only.

Starts looking at SLC as potential location for next ski trip! No muppets sitting in the middle of the piste! Superb!

If my memory serves me well ( at my age its a bit hit or miss) ‘Alta’ was a no snowboard resort.

Had some of the best powder there ever o.k.

Starts looking at SLC as potential location for next ski trip! No muppets sitting in the middle of the piste! Superb!

Makes mental note to avoid Utah as it looks like it will be full of newbie skiers who actually believe all that tribal crap.

Hey I’m no newbie 😳

I wasn’t talking about you BH 😉

gonefishin – I know, lol.

Bunnyhop:

Surprised that you thought Whistler’s purpose built resort felt less touristy than a 150 year old mining town.

I’ll concede that the town is a bit twee in places (the downside of its gentrification), but I still thought that overall the town retained just enough of it’s character to make it a little more interesting.

If you liked Whistler, Copper Mountain follows the same sort of setup with the large central hub with the majority of the runs radiating out from it. It’s smaller than Whistler but it’s also got less people on the runs so it evens out.

For me

Snow Basin – Utah

Whitefish – Montana

Blacktail Mountain – Montana

As someone who’s been to all the above

Just saying like 🙂

muppetWrangler

Surprised that you thought Whistler’s purpose built resort felt less touristy than a 150 year old mining town.

.

I know what you mean. However for me Whistler is just a ski town and I’m not expecting it to be anything else.
We stayed in a town called ‘Frisco’ with the locals in Colorado and it felt like we were living in a proper cowboy town, not some strip full of eateries and micro breweries.

Can’t remember if I skied Copper, but I quite like Keystone.

Mind you, all these places may have changed since I was there (early nineties), except SLC which was a couple of years ago 🙂

I know Frisco, there was a good diner there, down towards the far end of the main street that did a tip top breakfast.

We stayed once in Breckenridge itself, right on the edge of the four o’clock run. The other time we stayed in Dillon, nearer Keystone. Because Frisco had the bus interchange for the area we’d stop off there quite often to get stuff on the way back to the condo.

Only went to keystone a couple of times for the floodlight sessions.

In the early 90’s Copper was more of a locals than a tourist spot we only knew about it ‘cos I had a schoolfriend that had move out to Denver about 5 years previous and it was where he went boarding. I think Intrawest bought it in the late 90’s and pumped a fair bit of money into developing it.

No newbie here, either so watch yer lip! 😉

I had a great week in the 3 valleys once…but there was plenty of snow and blue skies. I’ve also been there when there wasn’t much snow!

Went to Banff a few years ago…most days it was so cold the snow was slow and on a couple of days is was so cold all the lifts were shut in all resorts.

It dumped one day and we had a few great days boarding through the trees…cos the mountains a smaller than in Europe there are more tree runs which is nice.

If its purely for the snow and lack of crowds then Kicking Horse gets my vote too.

bazzer – ‘Golden’ was one of the coldest places I’ve ever been to in my entire life. All the lorries have plug ins so the engine doesn’t freeze up.

Whistler is the bestest place in the world (although you can get unlucky with the wrong weather patterns) but in terms of others…

Utah has some great stuff (although Alta and Deer Valley only allow skiers) but is pretty much devoid of charm.

Jackson Hole is great if you like steep stuff – the town is nice but can be an odd mix of trying to be very upmarket and being served by ski bums 🙂

I can’t remember which of the hills it is, but Aspen has skiers only on one of its hills (I’ve not been BTW). Vail is good but pricey and very busy… I also tend to prefer somewhere that got bigger volumes of snow than Colarado(like Whistler/Utah/Jackson/Fernie…) but it is of course pot luck!

Fernie is ace (though can suffer from mild weather like Whistler, despite being in the interior) and has surprisingly good eating options for a small town/base. You could easily combine Fernie with a few days at one of the cat skiing lodges in BC (not cheap, but possibly the ultimate if your budget can stretch).

3 Valleys? Not the best for boarding… (IMHO!)

Japan? We had rave reviews from some Australian friends who went there a couple of years ago (great powder/great food – just depends if you mind putting up with too many Australians!)

We had a month in Whistler for our honeymoon including a day of cat skiing which is probably the best day I’ve ever had (not just on snow!) but I can understand that you might want something abit quieter/more quaint (we didn’t!)

Pah, Fernie!
went for 2 weeks, had 12 days of the iceiest runs i’ve ever been on then it snowed so much that the bloody lifts were shut for the las 2 days.

Golden/Kicking Horse were Ok for a short stay (as part of the road trip Bunnyhop mentioned above…) but I probably wouldn’t want to stay much longer than a few days (unless it is snowing heavily in which case you won’t really care where you are!) The restaurant at the top of the gondola was superb (albeit it’s bl00dy cold heading up that gondola in the evening – and very unpleasant when a member of your party decides to drop his guts on the way…) but I expect you’d exhaust eating options fairly quickly (and I don’t remember there being a decent bar for the end of the day).

Get yourself a splitboard

and out to one of the heli fly in lodges in Interior BC. Far better than any resorts mentioned above. sauna, amazing food and 50,000 to just you the guide and 12 punters….
for example http://www.selkirkexperience.com/

Or Lyngen Lodge in Artic Norway. Plush lodge and riding to the Ocean on each run. Catching cod and riding speed boats to each run 😛
http://www.lyngenlodge.com/

Lol @ Rod –

and very unpleasant when a member of your party decides to drop his guts on the way…)

That would be my husband then 😳

As Rod says when the snow comes and its light and deep, who cares where you are in the world, its all a big snow lottery.

concur with Canadian roadtrip but add in the must have heliskiing in Revelstoke (20-80 footsnow per year) eaglepass heliskiing was fantastic, party of 4 in one heli, guided air bagged and burton fish board, 7 – 10 uplifts per day. prob better than the weddingday night!!

Can I strongly suggest MONT TREMBLANT in Québec?

Good.

MONT TREMBLANT.

Less dramatic than the Rockies’ resorts, yet beautiful, exciting, and close to one of the world’s most magnificent cities: Montréal.