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Relo in the near future. Office is in Edison, but will need to get to any ski hill with Alpine Race program several times a week. Looking for recommendations on how to split the difference in distance between the two in terms of choosing a community in which to live and go to (public) school, and also if anyone possibily knows anything about the alpine race programs in either No. NJ or NY. THANKS!
Most ski areas are to the North.
Used to be one in Rockaway Township near Green Pond called Craigmere. I think the biggest ski areas in NJ are near the NW corner of the state in Vernon, NJ.
IDK about alpine, but check out blue mountain in pa - it's about the same distance as nj but according to my skiing fanatics it's the best in the area.
My family does a lot of skiing, but not alpine racing. Around here, there is Mountain Creek or Hidden Valley. Not much challenge at either place, and most years you can count on mostly man made snow. Honestly, my 3 year old has fun on these "mountains", but my 6 and 9 year olds get bored.
Drive a little further (not much) and you have The Poconos. These mountains are a little better. Camelback, Shawnee, and as Tahiti mentioned, Blue Mountain. But even these are not great and I only reserve these for when I dont have time to go anywhere else.
About 2 hours away, in the Catskills is Hunter Mountain and Windham. These are definitely a step up, and good for day trips when you dont mind spending a little extra time in the car.
I find it best to just drive up to Vermont. We go many weekends during the winter, but I wouldn't want to do it for day trips. Keep in mind, I drive fast, but I make it to Mt Snow in 3.5-4 hours, Stratton in about 4 hours. Okemo and Killington are 4-4.5. And Stowe and Smuggler's Notch is 5.5-6 hours. As a general rule, the further you drive the better the mountains get.
Stowe is my favorite on the East Coast. Mount Snow is nice, but a little on the flat side for VT. Honestly, if you are going to drive that far, just go a little further to Okemo, Stratton, or Killington.
P.S. Just noticed Edison. From there, tack on another 20-30 minutes to the times I posted above.
Last edited by AnesthesiaMD; 05-02-2013 at 09:32 PM..
There's Mountain Creek/Hidden Valley in NNJ (Vernon), and the Poconos are to the West.
For just pure racing, the closest option is probably fine, but if you're looking to actually ski beyond that, you'd probably want to go to the Poconos. Hidden Valley is quite small and doesn't have a lot of snowmaking power, and Mtn Creek tends to be a mess in general.
And if you're going for an entire day: Catskills. Hunter's got the most challenge you're going to find without going to Vermont, Windham is more intermediate. Both are pretty crazy on the weekends in the main season (Christmas-Beginning of March), and Mtn Creek and closer most Pocono areas will be as well. For avoiding the major crowds on the big weekends, if the snow is good, go to Plattekill. If not, Belleayre can be an option, although I can't get over the boring layout.
Multiple days: Vermont. Killington is the usual "best option" for NJ-based skiers for various reasons. It's about the point where it reliably gets good weather and snowfall (whereas S. VT gets a lot more mixed precip/less snow). It's also got the advantage of huge size, and a lot of higher level terrain, as well as a lot of tree skiing. It's also got the best highway access. 87>149>4 is a decently reliable and fairly painless route. VT-7 is not fun.
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