[MartinK]

I have fond memories of snow vacations where we had 3-4 ft of snow and you could roll in it, have snow ball fights. walks, ski, sled a local hill. You'd rent a room in a B&B somewhere in the alps and the snow would be right outside... Problem is, most places in the PNW don't seem to have enough snow consistently for family fun like this. Even Whistler was pretty dry at base last year. What's a good bet? Thanks Martin

[gb]

Colorado has a good early season snowpack. My nephew has been skiing for about 1-1/2 months.

[Schroder]

Whistler had plenty of snow last winter but it was late. Stevens Pass had 160" in February - the second greatest in 50 years. Be patient, we get most of our snow in February and March.

[Bedivere]

Yeah, if you're looking for a BnB or Condo rental where there'll be a lot of snow right out the door then that's kind of hard to find here in WA because most of those kinds of places aren't at elevation. My family used to do an annual ski vacation down at White Pass and stay in the condos there. Something like that is probably your best bet but I hear those places book solid pretty early in the year nowadays. Crysal Mt. has some condos for rent and you might find some vacation home rentals at Snoqualmie or near Stevens Pass as well. If you're willing to make the long drive, something like Sun Mt. Lodge would probably be good, too. But, as Schroder says, late season is definitely better. I wouldn't book a snow-play vacation any earlier than late January around here.

[Randito]

I enjoyed taking my kids on "family ski vacations" at Big White when they were "kids" Compared to Whistler, Big White is lower key, more family oriented and with a base elevation of 5000ft the snow quality is better. Once my boys were teenagers, they expressed some boredom with the limited "advanced" terrain -- there are only three double-black-diamond runs and the steep part of those is pretty short.

[treeswarper]

Big White in BC has condos that you can ski out of and ski back into. White Pass is partially open on Saturday. Only the lower face will be open and the snow is man made. Later on they will have their Nordic center open. It is behind the condos. You could also get a winterized RV. White Pass has an RV parking area as does Stevens, I think.

[cascadetraverser]

I do a yearly family ski trip and have gone to a whole range of places. Last year we went to Big Sky in Montana and had a fabulous time; we also went to Snowbird in Utah and it was grand. Whistler is amazing and of the 4 times I have been there the conditions were poor only once. (we go in mid February btw). I try to get a sense this time of year (it doesn`t always work....) where the storm tracks seem to be heading and keep a watch of that until I ink the travel plans. Presently, I think California, Colorado and Utah are getting plenty of storms this year and have good snowbases; and we will likely head that way this February....

[Frosty]

Baker Creek Chalets in Lake Louise!