Pi Lam Ski Trip 2006

Pi Lam Ski Machine:

As October rolls in, it's time to start thinking about our annual extravaganza.

Currently, we are penciled in for the same week we took last year, which was a good combination of daylight, snow quality, pricing, and crowds. Here are the dates for consideration:

Departure Saturday, Jan 21, 2006
Return Saturday, Jan 28 or Sunday Jan 29, 2006 (TBD)

We might need the extra day, Sunday, if we go on another ski safari style trip like we did on the epic Idaho / Wyoming adventure.

Here are some prospective places we could visit. We can go through more exhaustive pros & cons analysis in a bit, but hopefully folks can start thinking about areas. These are (probably) all unvisited by the group previously - but are reputed to be worth the extra effort and expense. The beauty contestants are:

Aspen / Snowmass www.aspensnowmass.com
Big Sky / Big Mountain www.bigskyresort.com and www.big-mountain.com
Telluride / Purgatory www.tellurideskiresort.com/winter and www.ski-purg.com

In order to reduce the amount of email people have to save to follow what is going on, I will keep the most important info kept up to date on a web site.

Please set up a "favorite" on your browser to www.eggplantmusings.blogspot.com

Next steps

1. Clear the decks for Jan21-29 with employers & SO's

2. Take a few min to read about the various areas
3. Set up a web link to www.eggplantmusings.blogspot.com
4. Purchase gear/clothing at fall ski swaps or closeouts before winter pricing ratchets up
5. Start saving up frequent flyer miles

Hopefully by mid October we can narrow down which area to visit.

Looking forward to my favorite week of the year,

Eggplant

PS: We'll be having the usual Vermont New Years ski weekend again, Dec 31 - Jan 3 for those who want to get some turns and quaffing ahead of time.