I used to know a good site for this kind of info, but I lost it. Besides, I thought some of you might have good info.
What ski resorts have close GA fields that are good for winter ops?
I realize that lots of snow fall is bad for GA flying, and mountain resorts are by nature not usually located near large flat spots good for airports, but some are.
I hear Telluride is good since Durango is about 45 minutes away and gets lots less snowfall. Also, Steamboat has it’s own airport as well as Hayden, but I don’t know how GA friendly these places are, or how easy the aproaches.
Sun Valley ID KSUN, Jackson Hole WY JAC, Grand Targhee (backside of Jackson) - Driggs ID DIJ, Aspen CO ASE, Tahoe-Truckee TRK, Taos NM SKX, Silver Mt ID S83, Schweitzer Mt ID SZT, Mt Bachelor OR BDN, Telluride TEX
TRK you have Squaw Valley and Northstar towards Lake Tahoe, plus Donner and Boreal going back west towards Sacramento. Once you get past Squaw and Northstar, you can head to Diamond Peak, Mt. Rose, Slide Mtn. (these two you can go in through RNO), Sugar Bowl, and…crap, I know I am forgetting one.
There are a few ski resorts east of the Rockies fellows:
Stowe/Smugglers’ Notch (MVL) provides access to these resort areas located on opposite sides of the same mountain.
Mt. Tremblant in the Great White North (51st State) is a much favored east coast destination.
Rutland (RUT) is a gateway to the 200+ slopes at Killington, VT.
KMPO does double duty. In winter it’s the primary GA access to Big Boulder and Jack Frost ski areas. In spring, summer and fall it’s the access point for the Pocono Raceway.
Alpine Meadows is the main one missing, also Homewood on the West Shore. Going slightly west near Tahoe, there is also Sugarbowl and Soda Springs. There are even a few more smaller ones (like Granlibakken).
I thought everything east of the Rockies was vertical ice skating!
Also, don’t forget all of the towering peaks of the midwest . . . Mt. Trashmore (near Chicago) being one of my favorites - built on a dirt covered trash dump and conveniently near PWK airport.
Alpine was the one I was forgetting. I didn’t realize that “Granny” was still open. Stayed there once in 86 (?) when we got snowed in and got turned back to Tahoe City on the way to I-80 through Truckee. Wasn’t much fun. I begged to go back to the house in Incline, or at least stay at the Hyatt in Incline.
Livermore Airport (LVK): my type of airport for a ski resort - very, very, very little snow (like, you know, none!)
The only problem I can see with the usual ski resorts in winter is that they aren’t very clean. They have this white crap all over the place! Gee - don’t they ever clean their grounds in the winter?
(Disclaimer the humor challenged: I know that white crap is snow. I know they like that white crap. I don’t like white crap (well, except for marshmallows and vanilla ice cream). White crap should live far, far away, in another galaxy, from me. I shall visit it but for no more than 4.32 minutes and preferably from the inside of a building with a blazing fire in the fire place.)
My wife worked at Heber for one summer when we lived in Orem. Loved to watch Nadim and Greg fly their routines in the extra and the edge, and the guy with the Mig15 was awesome too. Lots of different airplanes at that one small airport. We flew out of there on our flight down to the Grand Canyon where I proposed. We flew a few times in the gliders there too. Awesome airport…wish I had a digital camera back then, I have a few thousand prints laying around here but nothing on the computer.
Crowds are the only thing I really hate about most places in Tahoe. That would be why I typically go to Mt. Rose (well, that and it is a 15 min drive from my family’s house in Incline). Sadly, Mt. Rose caved into the idiots on the snowboards a couple years ago and let them on the slopes. I rank them up there with skater punks.
