April 1, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

East? West? Which is best?

by Tony Chamberlain/

Sun and snow combine for a big spring punch at Vail. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

Sun and snow combine for a big spring punch at Vail. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)

Not that you need a ski writer to warn you to be a comparative shopper, but let me share some little dilemmas I am dealing with this morning.

No. 1: Stay in New England or head west?

I have been trying to get back to Saddleback and Sugarloaf lately, and I know what kind of snow they have — lots of it.

As I am making tentative plans  — Oh yuh, I gotta get those taxes finished. Or, extension, maybe? It’s been a staple of my life since term papers in Flunkem Wence’s Victorian Novel course — to pack the car and head north, two friends have called.

Friend 1 is in Boulder, Colo., and wants me to join him for some Summit County skiing. They have a good fresh dump, and the skiing from A-Basin to the Breck is primo right now.

And as I am figuring this through, Friend 2 calls from Park City, Utah, and totally gets my attention. “We got FIVE FEET new,” he is screaming in the phone. “You’re an idiot if you don’t drop everything and get out here right now! By the time you get here, the D9s will have just about cleared the roads.”

So, being a rather spontaneous skier these days, I know I’m going to do something, but what?

I start by checking Expedia (there are other services; this works for me) and see what the airlines are offering. This is a kind of 'tween season. We are past the big winter vacations and before the heavy spring travel around Easter, so I figure there’ll be some pretty decent fares. Here’s what I find:

A non-stop trip to Salt Lake City is offered at $1,168, way out of my range for a few days of skiing. But wait, the one-stop is advertised at $168, which is literally cheaper than you can drive a car from Boston to Stowe and back. (Figure IRS mileage allowances.)

I check out Denver flights and find the same type of what appears to be haphazard pricing. A ticket on United is selling for $778 while the comparable ticket on U.S. Air is selling for $178.

The point here, of course, is that you really do need to shop comparatively to find the difference between a deal-maker and deal-breaker. Although I will not need lodging on these trips, a quick check into hotel rooms finds extremely deep discounting going on this spring all over ski country, and even at the top destinations from Vail to Vancouver and all over New England.

Spring is a time to let a little craziness get in and break up routines (Did I mention my taxes?) and reduce choices to the essentials. In my case, speed is of the essence. If I leave Boston on the earliest flight to Salt Lake, I can be to Park City and skiing well before noon — a little magic called time zones coupled with the directness of the travel. Once in Salt Lake, the shuttle to Park City is less than an hour.

So, if I’m leaving Tuesday, that gives me, with driving time factored in, a good day and a half on those windy Saddleback trails.

I’m already half-packed … taxes can wait.

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