Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Great mounatin biking and sking locations?

8K views 83 replies 42 participants last post by  pow77 
#1 · (Edited)
Great mountain biking and skiing locations?

So I have read through the thread http://forums.mtbr.com/passion/best-place-live-mountain-bike-315092.html and was hoping to add skiing and snowboarding into the mix without hijacking the tread I thought I would start a new one.
So where are the great locations to live, mountain bike and ski/snowboard?
I am hoping to spend a year somewhere different where I can do some riding and snowboarding.
Any ideas?
 
#44 · (Edited)
East coast has some VERY nice places in the mountains, but the skiing kinda sucks.

SLC is not like San Francisco or Seattle. The quality of life in Seattle is quite high, lots of city development. Realize that SF or Seattle are big ports, bringing in stuff from all over the world, people from all over the world. It's a huge melting pot, and the culture benefits highly from this. From art museums, to local events (I saw one of the last performances of Dio and H&H at the Warfield an amazing up-close-and-personal popular local venue), to local attractions. Think about in Seattle: Mt Ranier, Puget Sound and seafood, the Olympic Mountains, the floatplane industry and aviation (boeing factor tour is amazing!), pike's place, the coast, WA has a pretty amazing wine country now, and so on. In CA, you got the CA wine country, the Golden Gate and park, Santa Cruz, some amazing breweries, Pt Reyes, the Pacific Coast Highway, and so on. These lists could go on for days.

I wouldn't willfully live in SLC, but it does have the mountains and everything else, and if you are out in the fringes, suburbs, or up towards the mountains, you aren't going to interact with the big city all the time most likely anyway. Many people become kind of isolated due to the mormon community and their lack of accepting outsiders. They say they accept and love everyone, but you soon realize it only goes as far as those words, and the actions are what really tell the story. It can be especially challenging for kids in school.

One overwhelming feeling I get when I visit SF is that the "hey day" was back in the 1970s and 1980s. Everything back then looked and was very new. Now you go back, and lots of places look 30 years old and more, and are kinda falling apart, whether it's houses or infrastructure. Seattle doesn't seem to have this nearly as much, and they seem to invest a LOT into their city. All those overpass things that have been turned into parks, lots of the communities just look nicer IMO, the roads seem to be invested in, although traffic can be bad. As you go through different areas of the "Bay Area" this does seem to vary quite a bit, but the more popular and central the location, the more this seems to be true. Again, I love the Bay Area too, I'm not sure if I love it enough to live there. It's far enough away from the mountains that I'd probably pass, but Sacramento is kind of a craphole. SF is a better place to live in IMO as far as city life (some parts of Sac are getting better), but Sac is a better place to be located logistically.

Don't worry though, someone will be along shortly to tell you why Texas is the place to live. It won't make sense, but that part won't be important.
 
#45 ·
East coast has some VERY nice places in the mountains, but the skiing kinda sucks.

SLC is not like San Francisco or Seattle.

I wouldn't willfully live in SLC, but it does have the mountains and everything else, and if you are out in the fringes, suburbs, or up towards the mountains, you aren't going to interact with the big city all the time most likely anyway. Many people become kind of isolated due to the mormon community and their lack of accepting outsiders.

One overwhelming feeling I get when I visit SF is that the "hey day" was back in the 1970s and 1980s. Everything back then looked and was very new. Now you go back, and lots of places look 30 years old and more, and are kinda falling apart,

Don't worry though, someone will be along shortly to tell you why Texas is the place to live. It won't make sense, but that part won't be important.
I haven't been there in a while, but the last time I was in Santa Cruz, I loved it. It seemed like the San Francisco of old. Great surfing (nice replacement for skiing) lots of cute girls (I'm too old and married to REALLY care, but what else is there...really!) I expect there must be good biking. Years ago I went to Nevada City to kayak the north and south forks of the Yuba (another good supplement to skiing) and really loved that town. Great kayaking, I expect there must be good biking and near skiing. I live in Park City Utah, which is the Sodom and Gomorrah of Utah... I haven't seen the Mormon issues you speak of and raised three kids here. The bigger problem for me (I'm not a Mormon) was the rich folks up here. But if you can find the good in any place, it's pretty nice!
 
#46 ·
Man this thread is like a bucket list of places I want to live. As someone who's #1 and #2 hobbies are skiing and biking, I'd probably pick up and head to Vancouver if I didn't have my current job. I loved the Bay area when I was living up there, Santa Cruz seems like it would be an awesome place as well.

Can't really complain in my current location though.
 
#48 ·
Was going to ask would Park City or Ogden areas in Utah be a better lifestyle etc than being in SLC? Or are all the jobs in SLC?
If I could pick anywhere without worrying about a job or keeping the lady friend happy it would have to be somewhere where I could ride to the trails in summer, and drive a short distance to a ski resort.
Which places mentioned can you access trails from town? I have to drive to get to any trails and am about 12hrs drive from the nearest ski resort! But can walk down to my local beach in a few minutes :thumbsup:
Thanks for all the info guys.
 
#49 ·
Cost of living is much higher in Park City, it is really a resort town. If you want to have instant access to trails and skiing, then PC is your best bet if you can afford to live there. I live in Ogden, and personally prefer it over SLC. It still has a bit of a small town feel if that is important to you. SLC is more metropolitan (as much as it can be in UT). There are plenty of jobs in either Ogden or SLC, not so much in PC. Lots of outdoor industry companies are locating to Ogden. Also lots of manufacturing in the Ogden area. What type of work are you looking for? Both Ogden and SLC have in town access to trails, as well as riding up the canyons. Both require a drive of 30 min-1hr for access to ski resorts in the winter. Ogden has 2 resorts up the canyon, SLC has multiple. Any other ?'s just ask.
 
#52 ·
Ogden has really come a long way in the past few years. Easy access to skiing and biking from there and good business growth in the area. The whole Mormon/Non-Mormon thing in Utah is an issue for some and a complete non-issue for others. You can find bad apples on both sides. It may not seem as diverse in UT on the surface, but many practicing Mormons have been missionaries for two years in other parts of the world and they bring that influence and knowledge of the culture back with them.
 
#56 ·
Tahoe. I lived there for two years and it was a blast from a snow and bike perspective.

First, I loved the riding because it is so diverse. For the months when you can ride around Tahoe, it is great alpine riding, and it never rains (no mid-day storms). Just perfect weather all the time. Loads of stuff to ride. Of course, for some of the best/highest stuff, it may only be fully clear 4 months some years. My first summer there, Hole in the Ground (my favorite) was only clear for a little over 3 months, but that is unusual. Plenty of stuff usually good for 5-6 months though.

However, you continue to have good options even in the early spring and late fall. One hour east and you are in the Nevada desert with plenty of good option. To the west, the foothills in places like the South Yuba are amazing in a whole different way from Tahoe. And then in the dead of winter you can go an hour to Auburn and ride pretty much year round. Many were the day I rode powder in the morning, then drove an hour to Auburn and got a great MTB ride in.

A very different skiing experience from places like CO and UT. The snow is heavy and wet (Sierra Cement), but there is an insane amount of it. From a back-country perspective I liked it because it remains relatively stable compared to many places in CO and UT.

The proximity to Reno (under an hour) is a big plus IMO. I found it to be a useful city with (mostly) friendly, down to earth people (I seldom went to Casino part of town). The proximity to the Bay Area is a mixed blessing. Loved going down there, but was not crazy about many of the folks that came up FROM there. I imagine many ski towns experience the same thing, but this is the only one I lived in.

Overall, summer was my preferred time in Tahoe. If money and a job were no object, I think I would live there again. Unfortunately, my living situation (I lived at the top of Donner Pass) was tied to my job which I moved on from.
 
#61 ·
Wow thanks you all for such awesome info. Its great to hear all your opinions.
I don't want to make this thread too much about me, but just to clarify. My girlfriend and I are planning to do a year in the States and maybe a more permanent move later on (fingers crossed) so that's why i am keen to hear about all the great places. We have visited a number of times and it feels like we are being drawn there.
I am aiming to do an internship or traineeship once I finish my uni degree. I am studying environmental science (resource management). But will still aim to get a job to pay the bills (i have done mostly hospitality/kitchen work) as i am not expecting a payed internship position. I will be applying for a few internships so which one I get will determine where I end up. I am also keen to do some volunteering in my field to gain some more knowledge. Trail building is definitely something I have enjoyed and would love to learn more.
Thanks all
 
#62 · (Edited)
I've lived in many of the aforementioned places: Durango for 3 years, Vail for 8 years, Leadville for 1.5 years, Steamboat for 2 years, in and around Boulder for about 17 years, Summit County for 2 years, Grand Junction for 3 years, North Lake Tahoe for 1.5 years, South Lake Tahoe for 1 year, Monterey for 3 years, Sonoma County for 2 years, and now live in Marin. I've also spent plenty of time in many other ski/mountain towns. As a life-long skier that worked in the industry for 20+ years and has been mountain biking for 27 years, Durango tops the list for the best biking/skiing town. Why?

Skiing: DMR (Purgatory) 35 minutes away, Wolf Creek 1.5 hours away, Telluride 2 hours door to door, Silverton (arguably the BEST lift accessed, big mountain skiing in the US) an hour and 15 away, and the epicness of the BC skiing on Red Mt. Pass as well as spring skiing on the surrounding passes all within a 45 minute to 1.5 hour drive, plus the fact that you can drive to most of Colorado and New Mexico's ski areas in about 5 hours.

Biking: Miles and miles of sweet singletrack surrounding -and insanely accessible- from town, 70+ miles of the amazing, high-altitude (and bike legal) Colorado Trail from Molas Pass that ends in town, Phil's World 40 minutes away, Moab 2.5 hours away, riding year-round in several spots within 2 hours of town (I've skied in the morning at Purg and ridden in Farmington in the afternoon in January), and within an easy day's drive are mecca's like Sedona, White Mesa, and Gooseberry among many others.

Sure there are places that have more skiing right outside your door, and there are places that you can ride year round from your door, but the two together are nearly impossible (unless you have a fat bike for the snow or like riding in freezing mud and rain) but in my relatively extensive experience chasing the dual dream of singletrack and pow turns, Durango is the best. There are detractions: It's far from a major airport (but it does have one served by several airlines), it's only about 16K people (but it has 4 world-class breweries), it's expensive compared to the average American town (but cheap compared to most resort towns), and you have to drive an hour to find a Target (but there is no traffic)... It's also a college town with a good arts, music, sports (especially cycling events like the Iron Horse Classic, a serious bike polo circuit; there's a reason so many pros live there) and nightlife scene, some great restaurants and a lot of local/natural food choices, decent job options (unlike the seasonality of most ski towns), and a pretty diverse economy. I'd be living there still if life allowed it... Here's a few shots:

The Colorado Trail in July
Mountainous landforms Highland Mountain range Hill Ridge

Mountainous landforms Natural landscape Mountain range Highland Plant community


Singletrack above downtown
Vegetation Nature Mountainous landforms Natural landscape Highland


Looking north into the La Plata Range. There's a lot of singletrack in those hills...
Nature Mountainous landforms Neighbourhood Residential area Mountain range


Phil's World
Plant community Landscape Soil Wilderness Dirt road

Vegetation Nature Natural environment Plant community Landscape


A pow day at Purg (DMR)
Blue Natural environment Winter Branch Freezing


Silverton Mountain
Mountainous landforms Mountain range Slope Winter Glacial landform
 
#63 ·
Skiing: DMR (Purgatory) 35 minutes away, Wolf Creek 1.5 hours away, Telluride 2 hours door to door, Silverton (the BEST lift accessed, big mountain skiing in the US) an hour and 15 away, and the epicness of the BC skiing on Red Mt. Pass as well as spring skiing on the surrounding passes all within a 45 minute to 1.5 hour drive, plus the fact that you can drive to most of Colorado and New Mexico's ski areas in about 5 hours.
Durango is great in most respects, and it's on the edge of the mountains, so there is quite a bit of dry land with no snow nearby and just out of town. Monument Valley is just around the corner, along with amazing rock formations. Moab is not too far. This gives good options to escape any winter weather. On the other hand, Durango Mountain Resort is kinda "meh", Wolf Creek isn't much better, despite getting the most snow. It's kind of useful in "lean snow" years or at times of the year when every other resort is struggling to open. That's where it's strength is, but otherwise it's pretty small, not much vertical at all, etc. Silverton is pretty crazy and not for most people, so there ends up not being a whole lot in the middle that is easily accessible. I love Durango, I use to fly there all the time, but I wouldn't call the location optimal for skiing. I guess the positive is at least you HAVE a choice and can pick from a few resorts, but ToHellURide is a little far and everything else is way far. I could live there easy, but for anyone wanting a city nearby, it's going to be kind of lacking, so I think it misses on a few points here. It's not that I want to go to Snowmass, Copper Basin, Vail and Breckenridge all the time, but it's nice to have those options and have them not be much more distant. Kind of like in Tahoe how you can go to Sierra, Heavenly, Homewood, Squaw, Alpine, and so on, all with very different crowds, capacities, terrain, size, and so on. I think the OP is shying away from "mountain towns", although Durango is one of the bigger ones, along with Bend, and a few others...

Speaking about Bend, uhh, what about Bend? Easy side of the Cascades, so much drier, usually drier snow too on Mt Bachelor, a few other resorts around, although it won't have the 20-30 resorts of CO. The coast/Portland is not out of the question as far as a day trip, or Seattle for that matter. Some of these towns, like Bend, have a great small-town feel, but have gotten big enough that you won't miss much from a bigger city. I'd still recommend Seattle if you want a lot of neat attractions and things to do nearby, whereas Bend will be more limited to just the natural attractions like mountains, wilderness, etc.
 
#64 ·
Loving those pics! Phil's World looks super fun.
At the moment i am open to ideas as nothing is set. Personally i am from a small town so not really shying away from mountain towns but my lady definitely would like to be at least near a cool city. She knows that to live in a mountain town sometime is my dream. Ride nice trails in summer and play in the snow for winter. Sounds like there are lots of places I would love to spend time in.
 
#66 ·
Nobody has mentioned Idaho (except for Sun Valley, by which I would infer that they mean the Wood River Valley, since "Sun Valley" is technically just the resort and a very small incorporated part of the valley that is home to mostly extremely wealthy out of staters and condo owners.) Boise is a great place to live with a local ski area that isn't great, but it's close. 130+ miles of singletrack that starts literally a mile or less from the downtown core. Three other ski/mountain biking areas within 2 - 2.5 hour drive - McCall and Ketchum/Hailey. Both are pricy, there are limited employment options other than service industry, and they have long shoulder seasons where you can't ride or ski. About 5 - 6 hour drive to the trails and ski areas around Driggs/Victor/Jackson from Boise. About the same distance to Bend and SLC.

Is the Boise riding epic? No. Is the skiing/boarding epic? No. But, the economy is good, lots of jobs (especially in high paying medical and tech fields), low crime, Division 1 football, state capitol, local university, opera/theater/music scene, all of the recreation is close, there's also tons of whitewater rafting and kayaking and fly fishing, and you won't see the crowds that you would in Durango/SLC/Tahoe/add another name here of some "epic" place to live here. Think of it as a smaller, less crowded, more relaxed, less expensive version of SLC or the Denver area.

Just food for thought.
 
#68 ·
Utah for the best skiing and mountain biking but if you are looking for a city, there is only one true world class city in the US. - New York. In comparison, every place else is a small town.

I'm not recommending you move to NYC for skiing or biking but if you travel all the way to the US, spend a couple of weeks in NYC or other east coast cities like Philadelphia and Boston. East coast cities are much different than the rest of the US. Montreal is worth a visit too.

There is plenty of skiing but it is more difficult and the mountain biking, while readily available, is going to involve a great deal of rocks and roots, not the long smooth trails I've experienced out west.

So, back to my original suggestion, Utah for the best combination of skiing and biking. Just don't expect much in the way of urban life. And, yes, San Francisco is worth a long look but it's not like you can jump in the car and be skiing in anything less than three hours or more.
 
#70 ·
Utah for the best skiing and mountain biking but if you are looking for a city, there is only one true world class city in the US. - New York. In comparison, every place else is a small town.

I'm not recommending you move to NYC for skiing or biking but if you travel all the way to the US, spend a couple of weeks in NYC or other east coast cities like Philadelphia and Boston. East coast cities are much different than the rest of the US. Montreal is worth a visit too.

There is plenty of skiing but it is more difficult and the mountain biking, while readily available, is going to involve a great deal of rocks and roots, not the long smooth trails I've experienced out west.

So, back to my original suggestion, Utah for the best combination of skiing and biking. Just don't expect much in the way of urban life. And, yes, San Francisco is worth a long look but it's not like you can jump in the car and be skiing in anything less than three hours or more.
I've never understood the attraction to the big cities on the east coast of the U.S. I'm not really saying they are bad places, I just don't know why anyone would want to be there, and I grew up about 50 miles north of NYC and stay there about once a month. I bring folks into these cities from overseas and am always a little embarrassed that this is their first taste of America.
 
#71 ·
Seriously, how many tourists have Des Moine or Denver or SLC or any number of other "cities" on their bucket list? I don't get embarrassed by NYC, I get excited by the pulse of life. No, I don't live there so don't confuse me with a hometown booster but I did have the pleasure of working in various locations over a 30 year period. How can you call a place that is closed after 5 PM and on weekends and sends you to the burbs for entertainment a city? I've had that experience in enough towns..
 
#72 ·
Yeah, I agree, to an extent. "How can you call a place that is closed after 5 PM and on weekends and sends you to the burbs for entertainment a city?" - You can't! I'm just thinking that anyone who's been to places, or coming from places, like (almost any) major city in Europe would be pretty disappointed by NYC. San Fran (where they really do roll the sidewalks up at 10 PM!) would be a different story. I especially love the cities in Europe, and Vancouver and Montreal are great as well. But, a lot of people really love New York!
 
#74 ·
Have spent some time in NYC and did enjoy it. I am from a small town and never liked any of the cities in Australia very much, but NYC is another world! My brother in law lives in Brooklyn so will definitely be vising again. I could consider living there for a year or two if I did regular trips out of the city. I also liked Vancouver and would love to spend some more time there.
 
#75 ·
EP is correct in that the City of Sun Valley is small (as in population, 1016) but amongst the 2nd/3rd or 4th mcmansions there exists plenty of less expensive rental options. I know, i've lived in one for almost 20 years! If you look at the entire Wood River Valley - including Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum, the unincorporated county land (of which there is quite a bit) and S.V - any argument about being too expensive goes out the window. Of course you'll probably have to live in Hailey but if you have a family Hailey is a hard place to beat. If you think ALL the jobs in this area are service oriented then you clearly have not lived here (high-tech, manufacturing & design, St. Lukes, Smith Optics, Scott -for only a little while longer, unfortunately relocating HQ to UT- just to name a few.) However, if you don't have a 'whatever it takes' attitude, it'll be hard to get good work but that can be said of most places.

That's great, you say, but gimme some facts. Okay...

Yesterday: rode my cruiser bike 1.5 miles to fish the Big Wood. Caught 5 beautiful, likely wild, bows in 1 hours. On one side of the river, perched above the cottonwoods, willow and pine was Ernest Hemingway's house.
Wednesday: rode my mtn bike, from my door, to a trail-head .5 miles away where it interconnects with literally hundreds of miles of, mostly, ST! I'm pretty sure you can ride to Boise if you really wanted to but once you got there, i'm sorry to say, you'll probably want to get outta there ASAP.

Now here's the crux of this argument against Boise and for the Wood River Valley: there is no comparison. Lots of people, cars, noise - you know, city stuff. Not only that but Boise is HOT in the summer (102 today, 106 next Tuesday!), crappy/gray in the winter and okay for 2-3 months of the year if there's not an inversion creating a smog problem. Yes, smog. Sure, you can ride to the mountains via the treeless foothills to escape but you'll probably just be heading to the Wood River or McCall (which is a cool little mountain town too.) You either LOVE Boise or hate it.

This weekend: Ride Sun Valley bike event with a weeks worth of events, rides, concerts and usa cycling marathon mountain bike national championships.
I will be, however, driving 1 hour to Redfish Lake which is, hands-down, one of the prettiest alpine lakes you'll ever see! AND, the Redfish Lake Loop is one of the most fun rides in the Stanley area.
What's the Stanley area? Oh boy, one place in Idaho needs to be kept a "secret" (unlike Rebecca's Private Idaho -- go ahead, Google it and then start training. Then make your plans to come visit this September.)
Two weeks ago: Drove 8 hours to Moab where the early June temps literally melted helmet but, as we know, the riding IS epic. I don't like melting though...
On the LONG way home, I fished a favorite, unamed river and caught, in 13 years of fishing was arguably the most beautiful wild cutthroat and I've caught my share in Yellowstone.
Darnit, Yellowstone - another unbelievable place a mere 4 hours away! And getting there you'll be an hour away from Grand Targhee or 1.5 from Jackson. 4 hours to Snowbasin (uh-oh, another area to look at) and 5+ to Brighton/Alta/Bird/Solitude.

As for the skiing in Sun valley, even though it's average would barely be enough to open Jhole or Alta, if we have 150" per year, you can still ski 3000' of uninterrupted sweet corduroy. Steeps/chutes/cliffs not so much but when Baldy get's over 200", it's unbeatable. I've skied it for near 20 years now and it's amazing.

Maybe you a rafter? 2 hours to the mother lode.

Snowmobiler? 2 hours north or northwest and you're in heaven.

Cross-country skier? You too, have found heaven

Backcountry's more your thang? Pioneers, Sawtooths, Boulders, Smokeys - all right out your door. For real.

Beer? Yep, finally one brewery in Ketchum.

I think that's all you need for now.
 
#77 ·
I gotta throw in my vote for summit county colorado.

-Beautiful place
-Close to a major city and international airport
-Competition between resorts means CHEAP passes(not lift tickets though). ie. 5 mountain pass
-Huge ski resorts compared to most other places. You won't get bored.
-Decent social life and local economy. Party?! Jobs?! A little of each.
-Did I mention, you'll see more beautiful sights in a month than most people will see in their entire lives.
 
#79 ·
I totally agree with Co_CA_ID_? Boise sucks, you don't want to live here.. stay away. I'd type more but I have to decide whether I want to ride my mountain bike, hit the river in my kayak, grab a tall cold one at one of the local brew pubs, get a round of golf in,.......oh, I have to stop by the bank and deposit my "no good paying jobs in healthcare or high tech" paycheck.

Best Towns 2010: Boise, Idaho | Idaho | OutsideOnline.com
 
#80 ·
I certainly have not been everywhere but my favorite would be Burke/kingdom Trails for the following reasons.

Classic New England old school back woods skiing experience. No crowds. Best ski bar at the bears den. An authentic skiing community. No resort like feeling. Folks are super friendly and we return every year to continue conversations with locals we have met over the years.

Kingdom Trails. Need I say more?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top