Snowboarding in New England for first time..?

Question

I was wondering where is a great place to go snowboarding in either New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or Vermont.

I want to take a winter vacation this year and I'd be trying the sport for the very first time. I am not particularly atheletic but really, really want to try snowboarding.

Is there a great school or great instructors? What is a really WONDERFUL hotel/lodge/bed and breakfast or whatever with great instructors or snow (great snow) for novices?

Does anyone have any reccomendations?

Thank you!!

Answer 1

I've had work related dealings with all of the resorts in southern VT. I can say with no outside bias that the two best snowboarding schools are at Bromley and Okemo. Bromley is a small resort outside of Manchester, VT. While there is only one hotel at Bromley, Manchester (just 15 minutes away) has excellent hotels and B&Bs. (I used to live there, I've eaten in just about every place in town too.) Sherrie's has the best breakfast, Mulligan's, The Perfect Wife, or Zoey's Double Hex (the true locals joint) are good for dinner.

Okemo is a larger resort and has some nice on-mountain accomodations. It is in Ludlow, VT which has a bevy of good places to eat and good places to stay. It also has a slightly better nightlife than Manchester. Any place that has wood fired oven pizza is a good place to eat.

If you are going to drop the serious $$$ on private lessons, then just about any resort in VT will be good.

Killington is the most popular and has the most amount of condos and hotels as well as a good nightlife. when I'm not crashing at a friend's house, I stay at the Summit Hotel on the access road. They are affordable and have a hot tub, outside heated pool (very awesome in winter) and you get breakfast. You can walk to the Grist Mill which is a great place for dinner and if you go on Wednesday nights you can usually get the half-liquored up Rotary club members to buy you drinks. The North Star is also a great hotel as is the Inn of the Six Mountains. Another good place to stay and eat is the Inn at the Long Trail about 10 minutes closer to Rutland, but not far. On the access road is the Wobbly Barn and the Pickle Barrel...both good nightlife spots. National acts usually visit both bars during peak season. Weekends will be crowded. If you get a lesson there BEG your instructor to keep you away from Snowshed and Ram's Head main slopes...someone will crash into you.

Pico is right next to Big-K. It's underrated, but I'm biased because I used to teach there. Ski school will give you more attention here, so spend a day at Pico learning stuff and then cash in the rest of your days at Killington. Killington passes are good at Pico.

Stratton is pricey and it is it's own little compound. It too is close to Manchester, but a lot of people stay at Stratton and rent condos or hotels. I've never found a lot to do at Stratton once the sun went down...unless there is a rail jam going on during one of the ski competition weekends.

Mt.Snow is a good place to learn as well. Again, a lot of people stay right at the mountain, but food and clubs are a short drive on the way to Wilmington and West Dover. I like Pancho's Wreck for seafood in Wilmington and then usually hit Maple Leaf Brewing for some locally made beer and shooting the bull. Dot's is also a good place for breakfast. Mt. snow has a lot of wide, straight slopes and that makes for easy learning.

Can't offer much more about NH and MA areas. I never really had to venture too far out of So.Vt when I lived there.

Northern VT slopes are also good, but I'm not as familiar with them as I am the So. Ones. Just don't bother looking at Mad River Glen, they don't allow snowboards.

Answer 2

It relies upon alot on in case you like a motel high quality mountain journey or in case you're finding for a close-by mountain . resorts tend to be greater costly yet grant alot and are greater effective in scale. nearby mountains are small and occasional-value yet grant little so a approaches as lodging . In vt, my well known mountain is mount snow. they have a motel high quality mountain and characteristic low expenditures while in comparison with surrounding resorts. nearby mountains which includes jiminy height, blandford, butternut, and bosquet are large. they're greater much less costly yet merely as relaxing. There are literally thousands of mountains in new England so finding on your willingness to return and forth, the respond i'm going to offer must be imprecise. stable luck :)