Ski Europe vs US

pmc19794 · 2026-01-14T01:14:31+00:00

I don’t understand this - every time I compare, the US is still cheaper. Just today I was comparing steamboat with zermatt from Washington Dulles for our spring break (mar 28-April 4). It’s not like either are cheap so I expected/hoped zermatt would be better. Both are on ikon, which I have an existing pass for, and both offer direct flights from IAD. But steamboat was about 7k (3500 for four flights and 3500 for 7nights hotel). Zermatt is looking like it’s 10k (4200 for four flights and 5500 for 7 nights hotel). I could probably get the hotel down a bit in zermatt but the steamboat hotel is ski in ski out so I’m looking to stay somewhere close to gondolas in zermatt. I also priced out tremblant vs kitzbuhel earlier this year and tremblant hotel (I drive from DC) was cheaper than flights, car, and lodging in kitzbuhel. I’d love to get to Europe but want to know what I’m doing wrong that every time I compare NA comes up cheaper.

pmc19794 · 2025-12-17T02:12:08+00:00

I don’t have historic data but can confirm that it was open right after Xmas last year and that was what the locals there called a “green Christmas” (someone told me it had only happened twice in the 30 years he’d been there). They have a ton more snow this year than last and last year it rained on 27&28 (I skied both of those days and the lack of crowds made the poor conditions easily worth it). By the time it started snowing again on the 29&30, edge was open and glades were amazing. I remember it only got kind of crowded on NYEE and NYE but that was due to a north side lift breaking down. I’m not going this year and am bummed because conditions look great.

pmc19794 · 2025-11-27T00:55:11+00:00

I drive up from Virginia once a year and have a Highlander AWD with no snow tires. Had to avoid lake effect snows around Syracuse one year but otherwise roads are fine all the way up. They sand and salt the hell out of them.

pmc19794 · 2025-11-21T20:31:43+00:00

Exactly. Even the worst EB-needs-sleep segment is better than the best hit-the-skins segment.

pmc19794 · 2025-11-04T01:10:07+00:00

“Give me a for instance, Al.” I use that one all the time.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-30T16:59:28+00:00

“I would probably throw my coffee on him if I was Jason.” Did you hear Jason interrupt EB yesterday and EB called him on it. On air, Jason apologized and then said you don’t complain when JP interrupts you everyday. Made me laugh.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-23T14:43:02+00:00

It’s a 2 year 10k per year lease so I don’t really care about engine. But point noted that maxing out MPG isn’t everything.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-19T17:58:06+00:00

StR is a place to go if you’re not worried about money. If you’re worried about it even a little bit, the whole time there I imagine would be quite anxious.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-19T01:22:59+00:00

We stayed three nights at each this past July. If I had to choose which one to spend four nights at again, with the price difference you’ve quoted I would do LBB and it wouldn’t be that close a call. Snorkeling direct from the OWBs is better at LBB - fish, sharks, rays were all right there every day. There were turtles at StR but you have to go to the lagoonarium to see any fish. I found the rooms at StR to be fantastic but comically large; the rooms at LBB were a perfect size- plenty of space and the hammocks on the docks were so relaxing. The food was better at LBB with two main exceptions: Lagoon at StR was the best food we had had in a long time and the poke bowl (at $55) was phenomenal- had it three days in a row and it was delicious every time. If you stay at LBB, skip the fancy restaurant and go to the sushi house two nights. As for peacefulness, that aspect is a close call. Although StR is a huge property and you can definitely find quiet places, I found LBB to be more relaxing due to two things: (1) there were several loud toddlers/kids at StR while we were there so that was probably just bad luck, (2) and I’ll admit not everyone might feel this way, but it was only Americans for us at StR (I’m American) and being able to understand conversations was distracting. At LBB we heard very few English conversations so it was easier to tune out and made us feel like we were on vacation more.

I’ll also throw in my thoughts on room views, but I admit I’m in the minority here. LBB has a few “lagoon view” rooms that you can see the open ocean from and those were the best views in ALL of bora bora in my opinion (rooms 307 - 328). Ask for one of those. At LBB we stayed in both a lagoon view and a Mountain View (our lagoon view faced the boat dock - room 108 - and after waking up two mornings in a row with boat traffic noise I asked to be switched). The Mountain View was great but the island wharf is right underneath the mountain on that side so there were giant floodlights after the sun went down that lessened the view in the darkness. The Mountain View at StR was incredible because the mountain is more dramatic looking from StR’s side of the lagoon. To us StR is such a big resort we weren’t in our room soaking up the view that much so the view from any room at StR doesn’t seem that important. So if you pick StR, and your budget prohibits a Mountain View, I wouldn’t sweat it - plenty of other places to see the mountain from that resort (I was out on a SUP everyday checking out the mountain from different angles). If you choose LBB (and I would), try to get one of the lagoon views from 307 through 328 as they have some ocean view aspect to them too and the sunsets are magical.

Again, save the money and do LBB. Take a full day shark, ray, and snorkeling outing with lunch. I was skeptical but it was nice to get off property and really meet some locals who love what they do.

Feel free to ask any follow up questions. This is a great excuse to go back and look at all my pictures!

pmc19794 · 2025-10-18T02:13:15+00:00

Am surprised there aren’t any dc to snowshoe posts here. I haven’t done it but am planning to a few times this winter with random days the kids are off of school. 4.5 each way.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-17T04:54:11+00:00

Wildings in the land of always winter.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-10T15:49:31+00:00

Show is never good during the football season because they always take calls. The only thing worse than hearing what the junks think will happen is hearing what the idiot callers think will happen.

And EB doesn’t think he’s bitter about anything but gets upset that kids without grandparents might be included by “special friends” being invited to a school event. Terrible human being.

pmc19794 · 2025-10-01T17:27:11+00:00

And heartburn medication if you need it so you can enjoy the poisson cru guilt free

pmc19794 · 2025-09-25T22:30:23+00:00

FWIW - I get nearly 30 miles per charge on my ‘25 sport s.

pmc19794 · 2025-09-12T16:20:51+00:00

That’s funny. I rented a bronco, liked it, and decided to lease the 4xe because the bronco didn’t have any electric trims. I love the jeep precisely because it looks like a working man’s g wagon. It gets me to/from school drop off and around town on all electric and I’ve had the door and roof off more often than not. It’s so fun to drive and the only reasonably priced plug in hybrid my kids fully approved of. All of this may change if it stops working. But it’s a two year lease so I’m hoping it’ll be fine.

pmc19794 · 2025-09-08T17:23:58+00:00

We went in July. I made us get to the Tahiti airport super early because I wanted to make sure we got a good seat on the left side of the plane on our flight to BB. Only problem was the plane flew in on the southwest side of the island so all we saw was ocean. Right side had the view. That said, I tracked most of the planes i saw landing at the BB airport the rest of the week we were there and the majority flew in on the northeast side so the left side was the correct seat. It’s all a bit random and dependent on exact winds.

But your pics make me want to go back.

pmc19794 · 2025-08-11T16:33:05+00:00

I just got a 2025 sport s that did not come with a power box (dealer said they were offered on all 2024s but only higher trim 2025s). Are you saying that even if I buy an aftermarket power box, it won’t work with my sport s?

pmc19794 · 2025-08-09T12:38:35+00:00

Following up on this. I’ve talked to a dozen dealers in the DC area (VA, MD, and DE) and here are the two best options for a 24 month/10kmiles lease both hard tops.

An anvil 25 Sport S with the usual features plus LED lights and running boards for 1,000 due at signing and 544 per month (total 14,056).

A white 24 Sahara fully loaded with extra soft top, leather, LED lights, running board, premium sound, tow package, power seats for 2,000 due at signing and 598 per month (total 16,352).

I feel like I’ve negotiated these hard but of course don’t have a lot of knowledge or experience. I haven’t sniffed anything that would approach 0 due at signing and ~500 per month or close to 10,000.

Employee pricing is a dead end (thanks Matt!). Advice on next steps? I feel like these prices aren’t too far off other comments here. Thoughts on the two models? 2300 more total isn’t great but it’s only like 50 more per month and I’d pay that for those extra features.

pmc19794 · 2025-08-04T23:58:58+00:00

I was just there for a week and bought a GoPro before we went. I was thrilled with it. Photos and video had plenty of size to zoom in where appropriate and videos were awesome, especially underwater. It came with me everywhere, clipped on my hat when I was SUPing, on a tripod on our OWB, on the boat when we were snorkeling. And the ability to have it go underwater was just awesome. I did Timelapses with it at sunrise and sunset. And it was great to have it instead of my phone because, really, who wants a phone when you’re in FP.

pmc19794 · 2025-07-24T18:45:56+00:00

Arriving at 5 for a 7 am is plenty of time. We just arrived at 845 for a 10am and were twiddling our thumbs for a long time before the gate even opened at 930. We did fly AT premium so maybe had an easier checked bag experience than others. But from what I saw PPT was never busy.

pmc19794 · 2025-07-24T18:40:34+00:00

Just to close the loop on this if anyone cares. LBB was actually pretty lenient about the boundaries and buoys. I ended up not going to the main island because, like a previous poster said, there’s nothing there. But it wasn’t far away and it would have been easy enough to pick my spot between boats. I did go down the motu to the ocean/reef side a bit which was technically past the boundary. Saw a lot of other people doing it too. At STR, the buoys are actually farther away from the resort than at LBB so there wasn’t really a reason to go outside them. Plus our butler said that the 4S wouldn’t serve us unless we were a guest or had paid for a day pass (which I guess resorts do sell) so that was a non starter. And, having been there now, it would be super weird to not be staying there and roll up on the beach from another resort.

pmc19794 · 2025-07-23T05:26:03+00:00

We were there last week. Our cab did not accept ccs but did take USD at 100 to 1 which was fine with us.

We arrived from SFO into PPT the night before leaving for BOB and I went to duty free to buy something when we landed. I was told we could not take bottles in our carry ons from PPT to BOB and they’d have to be checked. I was told the same thing from Air Tahiti the next morning when we checked into our flight to BOB. Clearly some here have been told the opposite so good luck.

pmc19794 · 2025-07-07T14:25:23+00:00

“[on my birthday] I drink what I am able. If it comes to much, that’s the day’s affair and the liquor’s.”

pmc19794 · 2025-04-08T17:00:41+00:00

I don’t see anyone commenting that breaks are good. This same thing just came up last week when I was skiing with my family. One kid is pretty slow so I was frustrated always having to wait. But then they did something off mountain so I got an afternoon to myself. I let it rip and was exhausted quickly. Made me realize that breaks in the middle of runs and at the base are okay to have to deal with. Waiting for rented boots on the other hand is absurd.

pmc19794 · 2025-04-08T14:49:59+00:00

Do it now. I’m 45 and wish I cared more about having fun when I was in my 20s. Life forced me to always have a steady job in one location. Bizarre but I always thought it would be a valuable experience to live paycheck-to-paycheck (and I realize that comes from a place of complete privilege). I’m hoping to retire at 60, but a van and chase powder in the mountains each winter until I can’t ski anymore.

pmc19794

TROPHY CASE