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Water & snow ski addiction-where to live?

mopowpow

By mopowpow
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mopowpow Community Regular

mopowpow

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OK, we need to make a decision about where we are going to live.  We are both addicted to snow & water skiing, and would like to live somewhere that we could do both without taking 12 hours to reach the mountains. 

Currently we are living in the midwest, and own a lot on private waterski lake 30 minutes away.  We could build on the lake & continue driving to the mountains each winter for several months.  But want to check out other options before building a house that could be hard to sell.  We’ve had such a crappy summer, a longer season would also be nice.

We are interested in Colorado, Utah, or NorCal.  What are the options in these states for private waterski lakes?  Purchase property  or memberships?  How long is your season?  Water temps?  Etc…

Our other thought is to move south a ways to get a longer season - possibly Arkansas.  Anyone know what the ski scene is like in Arkansas?

Thanks in advance,
Terri

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sjholbert Apprentice

sjholbert

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I live in Denver and ski at Laku, which is north about 60miles and a beautiful site with great conditions.  Our season is from April-Oct.  It's about 1-2 hour drive into the mountains from Denver to various snow ski resorts unless you run into traffic, which you will on weekends, and then it can take hours and hours.  Its best to go weekdays if possible.  There are quite a few private lakes in Colorado and a lot of tournament water skiers.  There are several lakes in the mountains, but then your water ski season is very short.  There is one at Dotsero, Steamboat and Rifle and Montrose.  There is one in Grand Junction and a bunch on the front range around Denver. 
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Marco Mentor

Marco

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Stacy beat me to it, but here is my post anyway. 

Colorado has a lot of options.  There are many slalom lakes on the front range around Denver, and the ski areas are only an hour away.  There are several lakes in the mountains as well.  Kodiak is a half hour from Aspen, and it is currently a memebership lake, but I hear their future status is a little unclear.  There is also a lake a half hour from Vail, but I don't know if they are taking new members or have any ownership opportunities.  There is also a membership lake in Rifle about an hour and a half from Vail and Aspen.

I have a lake in Montrose an hour and 15 minutes from Telluride, but it is private due to county regs.  We are talking about creating one more additional lakefront lot for sale (35 acre), but have not made any concrete decisions yet.

Colorado season lasts from late April through October, and our water temps only get to about 78 in the middle of summer.

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Western Washington Rocks ! Snow ski @ Crystal, Mt. Baker, or drive to Whistler/Blackcomb. Waterski on lots of public water, or join a private site to ski the course. None of the humidity, or excess heat/cold that plagues the rest of the nation.
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Not_The_Pug Proficient

Not_The_Pug

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I moved from Western Washington to Sacramento. :)  Lots of lakes (private and public) with a very long season April - Oct (no dry suits) and Tahoe is 1 - 2 hrs depending on where you live in the Sac area.  If you would like more info, let me know.

 Kevin

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Than_Bogan Grand Master

Than_Bogan

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I suppose NH and VT deserve a mention, mostly because that's where Jamie Beauchesne and Chris Rossi developed their snow-ski-based water-skiing style.

But New England snow skiing involves a lot of ice -- and sometimes so does the water skiing!

Still, a nice place to live, and the job market/economy has supposedly been a little less horrible here than elsewhere.

My parents have a place in Utah and absolutely love it there.  Personally, it's not for me.  But I haven't been into snow skiing in at least 15 years, and have become decidedly more of a flat-lander in my "old age."

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rodltg2 Mentor

rodltg2

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Nor Cal:

you can buy a lot on here , waterski 8 months out of the year, and snow ski 4-5 months out of the year in Lake Tahoe

 www.redtaillake.com

or if you got some $$$. There is a set of twin lake for sale in Sacramento for 1.5mil. I ski there, and hope a skier buys it and continues to run a club. Otherwise we may all be SOL!!

 

 

 

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slow Proficient

slow

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Sandpoint Idaho

Pend Oreille Lake and River, Schweitzer Mountain, great hunting and fishing. World class Heli and Cat skiing over the boarder in Canada with Kokanee's, Caribou's and Bugaboo's plus further north Revelstoke Mt Resort with 5,600 ft vertical and 400 inches of snow. Also Red Mountain, Whitewater, Banff

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Roger Mentor

Roger

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Utah may not be in the Rockies, but the Rockies are certainly in Utah (among others):

 

Mountain Ranges of Utah: Rocky Mountains, Wasatch Range, Henry Mountains, Uinta Mountains, La Sal Mountains, Oquirrh Mountains

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TomD Contributor

TomD

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Sacramento has it all.



Too many private lakes to remember them all.  Let’s see: Liberty Lake, Pleasant Oaks, Redwood Shores, Liquid Zone, Bell Acqua (3 lakes and home to the 2011 Regionals), Stillwater, Winchester Lake (Sac Water Ski Club), Jovia’s Pond, Lang Lake, Shortline Lake, Sunset Ranch, Coyote Lake.  I’m sure I’ve missed some too.  All within about 30 minutes of downtown.  Many offer memberships of varying types.  Google most of them for more info.


 


You can water ski year-round, but it’s cold (in the 50’s) from mid/late Nov to the end of Feb usually.  We normally don’t ski Dec Jan & Feb just to take some time off.  Tournaments start the 1st week of June and you can ski in one (or two or three) almost every weekend until late Sep.  Nice sites with friendly people.


 


Lake Tahoe is about 2 hrs away and has world class snow ski resorts.  Squaw Valley (site of the 1960 Olympics), Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Valley, Northstar at Tahoe, Sierra at Tahoe and a bunch of smaller resorts. Weekend traffic can be heavy especially if it’s stormy.  South Lake Tahoe and Reno (a little farther east) have Harrahs, Harvey’s, MontBleu and more casinos/hotels if you want to gamble.


 


San Francisco is about 2 hrs west with all it’s attractions.  The Pacific ocean is an easy day-trip as well.


 


If you wanted to visit Horton in Bakersfield/Arvin it’s a 4 hr drive south down I-5.  Of course, why you’d want to do that is a bigger question!

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jipster43 Mentor

jipster43

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I've lived or spent time in all the western locations mentioned above and any of them would be awesome choices. Utah, Montana, and Seattle are a toss-up as far as I'm concerned. Utah has incredible mountains and the Utah Lake Ski Club is cool beyond words. I've heard of winter inversions that cripple the air quality, but I've been there several times in the winter and never experienced it. I think they say that to keep everyone from moving there. Montana has the fewest people, but winter lasts from October to June with many of those months being arctic temperatures. Also, if you want to buy land for a private lake, you'll be looking at spending at least a million on the land alone... then you'll have to do some sneaky stuff to build your lake. Seattle has phenomenal mountains and tons of water, but let's face it - it rains there. It rained over 100 days straight during the winter of 97/98. Not just a drizzle, mind you, but a constant downpour. Of course that rain equated to snow in the mountains. I skied untracked powder every run of every day that year. It was crazy.

 

I lived in Tahoe for a year and it is pretty amazing. Don't bother skiing there on the weekends though.

 

JP :)

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Chef23 Grand Master

Chef23

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Sacramento would be high on my list as would Utah. I live in New England where we can do both but the water ski season seems too short (4/30-10/15) and the snow skiing is decent but doesn't compare to Tahoe or Utah.
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jimbrake Mentor

jimbrake

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I moved to Sacramento in '87 specifically because of waterskiing and snow skiing. I grew up in the Bay Area and had a 4+ hr drive to snow skiing and water skiing options were available, but much more limited compared to Sac. As TomD stated, there are a lot of private lake options around Sac. 1 hr 35 minutes to Squaw Valley from my home is not bad. Snow skiing on the weekends isn't that crowded at Squaw because it's a huge mtn with lots of options. Our snow quality is not as consistently good as UT or CO, but it can be great and our mountains rival the best. Snow quantity is usually not an issue. Long snow ski season and a long water ski season. They overlap in the Spring, which is fun.
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mopowpow Community Regular

mopowpow

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Looks like we will spend our days off the snow this winter looking at waterski sites in CO, UT, & CA. 
I think Colorado would be our 1st choice, but most of the lakes are on the front range, that would mean hanging in that parking lot called I70 some winter mornings.  We think the mountain lakes would have too short of a season, or too much time in dry/neo...  Maybe permnant residence in mountains, drive to front range to waterski?  From what I've seen, most of the lakes are on a membership basis.  Is that right?  Is it hard to get a membership? 
Utah would be the most convenient + best snow.  Any options near Ogden?  Besides skiing with Dave Goode...  Snowbasin is one of our favorites, got tired of the crowds in Little Cottonwood.  
California has the most waterski options + longer season + great snow skiing at Tahoe.     

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jimbrake Mentor

jimbrake

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Wasatch - I've read it both ways. Wasatch part of Rockies. Wasatch part of the intermountain system. The latter seems correct as they are on the east side of the Basin and Range which underwent a different mountain building mechanism than the Rockies. Is this the first geologic derail of a waterski-related thread?

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mopowpow Community Regular

mopowpow

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Skibrain - MN really!  Too cold in summer, 350' of vertica just doesn't cut it.  I'm looking for 3000'+ 

But where did Lindsey go when she got serious??  Can't downhill in MN.

 

Mrs MS, should we be neighbors in Utah?  Lot for sale... Dream Lake Estates, Cambridge, IA!!  Kelly will have to come to Utah to ski with us!
Oh, I forgot the money pit... 2 br condo for sale...Clear Lake IA

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Old MS Accout Veteran

Old MS Accout

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She sowed her oats as a JR skier at Buck hill.

The NASTAR program in Minnesota is huge.

I have not skied in Mn for years. Its too cold and not enough vert.

Mopowpow,

IA is not far enough south. If Chipman will organize a lake digging project somewhere along the front, that would be a maybe but we want to go to year round skiing.    

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Old MS Accout Veteran

Old MS Accout

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Scot,

Jones may have an answer on the digging cost. That is spendy land out there. I thought farm land in Minn was expensive.

Skibrian,

My downhill ski area resume includes basicly every ski area west of Minnesota. Before getting hooked on the orange, I spent every weekend out west.

The fact is, our hills are small and only good for a quick gate run. Great stuff if you are into it but its cold and you spend more time on the chair then on the hill.

If you ski on April 11th in La, you dont need a dry suit and you can feel your hands. If you ski on Dec 1 (Minn), you loose all feeling in hands and feet. I would much rather live where its warm and fly to the snow.  

    

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wcalroberts Newbie

wcalroberts

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You could give the Phoenix, AZ area a shot.  There are some great man-made ski lakes with lots available in the Phoenix metropolitan area.  There are 2 decent resorts within reasonable driving distance.  Flagstaff has snowbowl, about 2 1/2 hours away.  The sunrise ski resort is in the white mountains of eastern az about 4 hours away.  Big Bear Lake resort in california is about 6 hours away. The snow ski season goes from  about december through march in az.  And of course water ski season is great from March through november ( and decent for the winter months with a wetsuit).  The snow isn't as good as Utah & Colorado but not too bad as the base elevation for the resorts is 9200 ft in az.

 

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