Recommended ski resorts in Northeasten U.S.

We're buried in webpages and need to make an executive decision. It's really become impossible to decide among the many places (especially, but not necessarily, in Vermont). We're looking for one or two really excellent mountains for December in the northeast US. Considering anything within a drive from Boston, ideally an early morning drive, a day of skiing, and local lodging. Fancy, sceney, bare bones, utilitarian, doesn't matter, as long as the skiing is fantastic (of course we'll make plenty of offerings between now and then to the fickle snow gods). One of us is totally expert, the other *koff* can handle black diamonds and the like but steep ice or mogols make me break out in a cold sweat and cry for mommy, so a wide range of "advanced" is ideal. Any personal recommendations??

Yes, but it's thousands of miles west of Boston.

Enjoy your skiing wherever you go.

Oh Silty. Don't taunt me. We just gave up our Whistler plans for the tragedy that is family logistics.

attitash and loon are both good bets. fantastic spring conditions at both this past march... but december is always a crap-shoot in new england. there are great ski-on/ski-off accommodations available at both these resorts and they're both about 2/2.5 hours drive from downtown beantown. i prefer attitash because north conway is a great little town to vacation in and offers plenty of distractions if the snow is bad. have fun!

Frib, Excellent and Close-to-Boston cancel one-another out. A compromise is in order...

Izabella is right about North Conway - you forgot to mention the no tax shopping! And there are a few other mountains in the NC area: Wildcat (cold) and Bretton Woods come to mind. Although it's where I learned to ski as a kid, give Cranmore a skip...

Another suggestion is Sunday River, also about 3.5hrs from Boston. But the best in the northeast is Sugarloaf which is 5 hours from Boston.

My god do you plan ahead!

There are none. And, yes, I have skied VT, NH, NY and ME.

then he wants to go out West

so you want to go out West as well.
Both of you would obviously be much happier in Utah or Wyoming. Add the outrageous lines at the lifts, rip-off prices for what are largely bunny-slopes and it gets very difficult to see why you would want to ski the Northeast.

I went to college in Vermont and have taken several snowboarding trips in the area- my personal recommendations for resorts would be Killington, Jay Peak or Sugarbush. Great number of trails in varying difficulties and all fairly close to Boston... about a 3 hour drive, so definitely possible for a day-trip!

Wow, a thread I'm actually qualified to comment on! (Not that it's stopped me before )

Smaller, but not to be discounted: Bromley. I really like the mountain, and it is southern facing which means you get sun the entire day, unlike other mountains where the sun sets at 2pm.

My other favorite, is a larger mountain with more snow, but a bit more of a trip: Stowe

For a real bare bones, rustic experience with challenging terrain, try the less well known Magic Mountain. If its right after a big snow storm, that mountain will be great as they don't do much for grooming.

Ahhh, fabulous tips. Thanks everyone. We seem to be leaning most towards Sugarbush at the moment, getting up at the crack of dawn and driving. It should be around 3 hours, 5 if we run into some really bad luck. Fortunately, we're willing to suffer for somewhat better snow.


Well, it's probably difficult to see because for some crazy reason, I hadn't divulged all my private inner thoughts, reasons, plans, mileage accounts, holiday plans, and other conditions surrounding this trip. But you're right, we had originally planned for Canada.

http://www.loonmtn.com/winter/ ((on the way there you will find multiple ski spots and on that road I think there are more than just one))
http://winter.skinh.com/ <-- might help
http://www.skimaine.com/
NH, VT, ME have good skiing areas but NH is easiest to get to from Boston. I would say from boston depending on how you drive 2+ hours