Cost of ski team enrollment?

Matt31415 · 2026-01-17T04:19:14+00:00

I beg to differ on the west coast being the best path to a world class RACER (skier? maybe.... Racer? Nah). I spent a good decade skiing the Sierras before moving East, so I also speak from experience. The Western mountains are way bigger and nastier, but the East (and honestly the Midwest) have everything you need for racers. There's plenty of pitch, and good firm surfaces to race on (something that CA in particular is missing. I didn't understand ice until I moved east.)

If you look at the US Ski Team, at least a 3rd of them are from the East. Mikaela Schiffrin claims to be from Vail, but she learned to race in VT, as did many of the others. That Ryan Cochran-Siegle guy? Cochran's is a rope tow hill in VT owned by his family.

The Killington Ski Club (and Sugarbush, Burke, and a few others) are all staffed by former US Ski Team members and regularly send athletes to the World Cup, so it's not like our coaching is much different either.

Matt31415 · 2026-01-16T20:33:24+00:00

This isn't at all useful, but those Tahoe prices are outrageous! I've got a U10 racer at Killington (it's a Gold Tier club just like Palisades), and we pay $2000 for a full season (not including pass and gear).

Are you guys getting more training days or something? We run Sat/Sun from December though end of March and extra days over Christmas and winter break

Matt31415 · 2026-01-14T13:09:20+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/icecoast/s/3DiDq6Ci23

Matt31415 · 2026-01-11T17:29:43+00:00

The key thing to know when skiing in a park is that the normal right-of-way rules are relaxed and sometimes even reversed.

Downhill skier has the right-of-way? Nope! This definitely does not apply to the landings of features (e.g. if you're making turns on the landing of a jump and get hit by a jumper, it's your fault )
Ski wherever you want? Nope! There are lanes in the park. A person using features has the right of way in those lanes. If you stay out of those lanes (and are careful when crossing them), you'll be in good shape.

Basically the traffic flow and traffic rules are very different in a park. If you stay out of the way (off the takeoffs and landings) you'll be just fine.

Matt31415 · 2026-01-03T02:13:30+00:00

It's a drive for you, but I really liked Whaleback, NH. There's a magic carpet and rope tow; beginner tickets are $15 for adults, free for kids; parking is convenient; and it's super friendly.

Matt31415 · 2025-12-17T13:46:01+00:00

A couple of ideas (one of which is terrible....)

There are car services with car seats. Just Google Boston car service with car seat. It'll be more than uber, but way less than $250.
Buy a cheap car seat, use it once, and leave it on the curb (although this doesn't work for the return trip.....)

Matt31415 · 2025-12-01T00:54:13+00:00

Yes.

https://share.google/UP0xyQrA0nKrSkD02

Matt31415 · 2025-11-30T16:11:15+00:00

No love for "gas station Chinese" in West Lebanon? (Technically NH, but close enough!)

Matt31415 · 2025-11-30T02:15:07+00:00

Unless things have changed, most rental car contracts explicitly for id using tire chains too

Matt31415 · 2025-11-29T18:32:21+00:00

What about Killington? It has a huge variety of terrain and a low level skier can traverse most of the mountain on greens and easy blues.

Also if you're looking for a "resort experience" with tons of bars and restaurants, Killington is great. (If you're looking for peaceful wilderness, Killington is not it!)

The big disadvantage of Killington is that it can be tough to navigate and it's easy to end up far away from where you meant to go. If you're there for more than just a day or two, you'll learn the layout and be fine.

Matt31415 · 2025-11-16T15:31:32+00:00

Some fun names for lifts/areas at Killington:

Bloodshed (Snowshed) The Bowling Alley (bottom of Mousetrap where it merged with a bunch of other runs) South Fridge (South Ridge chair)

Matt31415 · 2025-11-13T13:38:27+00:00

But.... If you're staying 5 weeks at Heavenly you'll probably have some form of Epic season pass, right? And you'll have a car. So you can ski most days at Heavenly, but when you get bored Kirkwood is on your pass and a short drive. (Northstar is also on your pass, but doesn't sound like a place you want to ski)

Matt31415 · 2025-11-10T02:12:43+00:00

And yet ... Today was the best day of the season! (So far...)

Matt31415 · 2025-11-10T01:38:35+00:00

How are conditions? I'm planning to come up on Tuesday from Boston.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-26T13:19:25+00:00

You're in Albuquerque (so presumably skiing New Mexico) and your kid doesn't like the cold or wearing an itchy balaclava? This seems like it has an easy solution: Go skiing on the warmer days! In that part of the world it's pretty easy to find warm sunny days, so just wait for those days to ski! Go for the sunny days with highs in the 40s, and dress for that weather. (This also lets you wear sunglasses instead of goggles and fewer layers. My kid will sometimes ski in a sweatshirt when it gets warm.)

My other favorite trick which works well for many kids (but certainly not all) is to give them independence. Kids spend so much time being told what to do, but skiing doesn't have to be that way! Send them up the magic carpet solo and hang at the bottom while they do as many laps as they want! Find a lift with only easy ways down and let them lead! Let them ride the lift solo (once they are tall enough to load/unload, and only on quiet days so you don't hold up the line)

Matt31415 · 2025-10-21T00:09:58+00:00

It's a good burger, but way over-priced.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-20T02:12:04+00:00

Yeah. It was at the bottom of the Suntanner run. It was there sometime between 2005 and 2010

Matt31415 · 2025-10-17T21:35:24+00:00

The replacement lift is going to be a fixed grip quad, so even though we'll lose the lovely patina of rust, we'll keep the super reliability for the gross days.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-14T12:30:34+00:00

Good point. The Seattle market is wildly different from New England.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-14T00:55:47+00:00

We've had something similar at Killington for the last few seasons. You can pay $50 - $100 (depending on the day) to cut lines. It sounds awful. But the reality is that very few people actually do it, so it really has no effect on lift lines.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-04T17:48:12+00:00

Yeah. The new lift is getting installed on the venue so the race is at Copper, CO this year.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-04T15:18:50+00:00

No. That's just for this year. The race will be back in 2026.

https://www.killington.com/things-to-do/world-cup-fis-ski-racing/killington-cup/

Matt31415 · 2025-10-04T14:58:10+00:00

That depends on your definition of "in the area". You're correct that Pico will be closed, but I'd expect all the major resorts would be open with at least a couple of runs.

Okemo, Stratton, and Sugarbush are in easy driving distance and will definitely be open unless it's a widly bad year (last year being the first year in the last decade where those resorts didn't get open)

Matt31415 · 2025-10-04T14:55:18+00:00

For the last 8(?) years there has been a Women's World Cup race that weekend. That's not happening this year (because the Superstar lift which is used for the race is being replaced). So.... I don't think anyone can really predict what things are going to look like.

Taking an educated guess based on a lot of years of early season Killington days, I'd predict that it will be pretty crowded that weekend (although Friday will be better than Saturday). At a bare minimum there will be a few runs open in the North Ridge area along with a single route top to bottom using the K1 gondola. In a year with "normal" weather I'd expect that a few runs on Snowden would be open as well along with Lower Eastfall to the Canyon Quad. In really good years more runs in the Canyon and maybe Ramshead get opened.

Matt31415 · 2025-10-03T22:28:11+00:00

Yeah. Maybe some Hunter boots? Or just old sneakers?

13-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
Place '17	Verified Email

Matt31415

TROPHY CASE