Skiing in arizona?

I hate to be the one to tell you this but Arizona is actually a desert. So while you may be able to water ski or sand ski, snow skiing wont be possible in Arizona. Your closest ski area is probably either something in southern Utah or north or north-west New Mexico. Taos (NM) is a pretty fun ski area but idk how their parks are I havent been there in 5 years.

Youve got AZ snowbowl there right? I remember from an old LTC episode

@DesertStix

LenntI hate to be the one to tell you this but Arizona is actually a desert. So while you may be able to water ski or sand ski, snow skiing wont be possible in Arizona. Your closest ski area is probably either something in southern Utah or north or north-west New Mexico. Taos (NM) is a pretty fun ski area but idk how their parks are I havent been there in 5 years.

https://www.snowbowl.ski/

Awkward.....

HomerPimpini’m going into my senior year of high school so i’m starting to think about where i wanna go for college; does anyone have any experience with the ski resorts in the state? how close or far they are from asu and/or university of arizona, terrain, pass prices, etc. if seattle didn’t make me wanna kill myself 2/3 of the year i’d definitely stay but it is what it is.

your only actual option in AZ that's not an ant hill is snowbowl. not sure how far it is from UofA/ASU but NAU is just down the road in flagstaff

if you're looking for a similar smalltown/sunny vibe that has better skiing, WCU in gunnison might be worth looking into

What’s up dude? Hope you and the wife are doing well. I think you said you dipped from Palo Alto but I could be wrong.

To OP, I moved to Phoenix to attend ASU. Never went to Arizona a day in my life before enrolling but it was one of the best decisions ever. I loved ASU, met my current wife and mother of my child. The school itself is a huge international university and you can shape your own experience for sure. If you want to get extremely into campus life and activities, live at the Tempe campus, and really enjoy the “college experience” you can 100% do that at the main Tempe campus. Your classes won’t be Ivy League level difficult but will still engage you and I love the diversity at ASU. You’ll end up in a small class with people from 6-8 different countries and a professor who lived 40 years in communist Russia or something. Just so much to learn from.

There is the possibility of just gliding through your coursework, getting average grades, and getting your undergrad as fast and painless as possible. I don’t recommend that attitude or route but ASU does afford you the luxury of a lot of online classes in your first year or two that are self paced and can be done relatively easily. You DONT have to make this your whole experience at ASU, however. Every semester I would have 1-2 bull shit classes that didn’t require a lot of brain power then 2-3 classes I thoroughly enjoyed and engaged with.

As far as Snowbowl, I am extremely biased as it’s my “home” mountain but I love it. I won’t lie to you though, from ASU Tempe campus it’s probably 2 and a half hours to the parking lot at snowbowl. Probably 2 hours to get to the town of Flagstaff then another 30 to get up through town and up to the resort. There are shuttles from the valley though so you don’t have to make the drive every time and can have some beers on the way home, nap, etc. I have made quite a few ski buddies just riding this shuttle.

The park scene is surprisingly sick. Snowbowl aims to have around 3 parks every season, or that’s been the case for the last 5+ years since being bought by the Purgatory guys. They will build a beginner park, intermediate, and then sunset is their main park with its own dedicated lift. Sunset doesn’t spin from day 1 of season to the end but they will build an XL jump line down the run if you’re into that. Makes for a fun day of lapping the chair, watching the booters, and seeing your homies. Features aren’t the very best in North America but they are creative, make sense, and most of the time placed well.

There are some other people from the Phoenix area on here who may have different opinions. I do acknowledge I’m in the extreme minority of people down in the valley who are up at Snowbowl 3-4 times a month. I’ve actually made a lot of friends in the park just being that dude from Phoenix who’s dedicated enough to make the round trip every weekend. Long answer short, if you love skiing it is totally doable and probably my favorite thing about living in Arizona. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas with everything I could imagine and I can be skiing in the aspens and pines at 11,500 feet in like two hours. I never think “damn I wish I had ____” or “man I wish there was a _____ closer to me” if that makes sense.

I know this has been an essay but I really feel like this decision you’re making is one of the biggest ones in your life so some decent advice could go a long way. With everything I just said, my wife and I will probably move away from Phoenix to raise our daughter. Although everything I said above is true, it’s an extremely expensive place to live and the severe heat in the summer can be a lot on the body. For the last 8 hours of my life, though, it has been the perfect place for me and I highly recommend ASU. Send me a message if you got any more questions.

Dilldoes@DesertStix

DesertStixWhat’s up dude? Hope you and the wife are doing well. I think you said you dipped from Palo Alto but I could be wrong.

My wife is about to give birth so we are with her family in St. Louis.

We will head to Miami around October to be there till March to avoid the freaking boring ass cold bleh winter in St. Louis.

Hoping to get a trip out to Toas/Angelfire this year though.

Congratulations on the baby! My wife gave birth to our first 6 weeks ago and it’s been the craziest yet most rewarding experience of my life. St. Louis can be cool in the right areas but that Midwest winter with miserable wind chill is terrible. Moving with that newborn won’t be easy but you got it.


Let me know if you do make it out to Taos. I may be in the area around the same time.

DilldoesMy wife is about to give birth so we are with her family in St. Louis.

We will head to Miami around October to be there till March to avoid the freaking boring ass cold bleh winter in St. Louis.

Hoping to get a trip out to Toas/Angelfire this year though.

DesertStixCongratulations on the baby! My wife gave birth to our first 6 weeks ago and it’s been the craziest yet most rewarding experience of my life. St. Louis can be cool in the right areas but that Midwest winter with miserable wind chill is terrible. Moving with that newborn won’t be easy but you got it.


Let me know if you do make it out to Taos. I may be in the area around the same time.

I'll DM you on insta if I actually make it out.

Snowbowl is awesome when they have a season that they actually get snow. Sick terrain at that place...

I guess they finally hooked up some snowmaking though? I guess its now an LA style ski area.

aka: A whole lot of just manmade snow a lot of the time, but that also means decent park riding.

If you're based in AZ I'd go with the power pass, unlimited days at snowbowl, purgatory, and some other small resorts. Plus, three days at copper or some other bigger names if you make the trip, around 550 if you buy early.

DesertStixWhat’s up dude? Hope you and the wife are doing well. I think you said you dipped from Palo Alto but I could be wrong.

To OP, I moved to Phoenix to attend ASU. Never went to Arizona a day in my life before enrolling but it was one of the best decisions ever. I loved ASU, met my current wife and mother of my child. The school itself is a huge international university and you can shape your own experience for sure. If you want to get extremely into campus life and activities, live at the Tempe campus, and really enjoy the “college experience” you can 100% do that at the main Tempe campus. Your classes won’t be Ivy League level difficult but will still engage you and I love the diversity at ASU. You’ll end up in a small class with people from 6-8 different countries and a professor who lived 40 years in communist Russia or something. Just so much to learn from.

There is the possibility of just gliding through your coursework, getting average grades, and getting your undergrad as fast and painless as possible. I don’t recommend that attitude or route but ASU does afford you the luxury of a lot of online classes in your first year or two that are self paced and can be done relatively easily. You DONT have to make this your whole experience at ASU, however. Every semester I would have 1-2 bull shit classes that didn’t require a lot of brain power then 2-3 classes I thoroughly enjoyed and engaged with.

As far as Snowbowl, I am extremely biased as it’s my “home” mountain but I love it. I won’t lie to you though, from ASU Tempe campus it’s probably 2 and a half hours to the parking lot at snowbowl. Probably 2 hours to get to the town of Flagstaff then another 30 to get up through town and up to the resort. There are shuttles from the valley though so you don’t have to make the drive every time and can have some beers on the way home, nap, etc. I have made quite a few ski buddies just riding this shuttle.

The park scene is surprisingly sick. Snowbowl aims to have around 3 parks every season, or that’s been the case for the last 5+ years since being bought by the Purgatory guys. They will build a beginner park, intermediate, and then sunset is their main park with its own dedicated lift. Sunset doesn’t spin from day 1 of season to the end but they will build an XL jump line down the run if you’re into that. Makes for a fun day of lapping the chair, watching the booters, and seeing your homies. Features aren’t the very best in North America but they are creative, make sense, and most of the time placed well.

There are some other people from the Phoenix area on here who may have different opinions. I do acknowledge I’m in the extreme minority of people down in the valley who are up at Snowbowl 3-4 times a month. I’ve actually made a lot of friends in the park just being that dude from Phoenix who’s dedicated enough to make the round trip every weekend. Long answer short, if you love skiing it is totally doable and probably my favorite thing about living in Arizona. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas with everything I could imagine and I can be skiing in the aspens and pines at 11,500 feet in like two hours. I never think “damn I wish I had ____” or “man I wish there was a _____ closer to me” if that makes sense.

I know this has been an essay but I really feel like this decision you’re making is one of the biggest ones in your life so some decent advice could go a long way. With everything I just said, my wife and I will probably move away from Phoenix to raise our daughter. Although everything I said above is true, it’s an extremely expensive place to live and the severe heat in the summer can be a lot on the body. For the last 8 hours of my life, though, it has been the perfect place for me and I highly recommend ASU. Send me a message if you got any more questions.

that was really helpful, genuinely appreciate the time you put into writing that. was honestly pretty set on asu already but now i’m sold. i’m sure i’ll have questions pop up as time goes on, i’ll definitely remember to hit you up. thanks again, i appreciate it hella

BallZach420If you're based in AZ I'd go with the power pass, unlimited days at snowbowl, purgatory, and some other small resorts. Plus, three days at copper or some other bigger names if you make the trip, around 550 if you buy early.

sick, 550 doesn’t sound too bad. appreciate the info

When I think of LA style ski area I think Bear and SnowBowl doesn’t really have a lot in common with that place imo. Yeah, we do rely on snowmaking to extend our seasons but I don’t think the ski experiences are very similar.

The motto used to be snowbowl is sick during a good season but thanks to the snowmaking, the upper bowl, hike-to-terrain is really the only thing we miss out on if there isn’t a lot of snowfall.

DingoSeanSnowbowl is awesome when they have a season that they actually get snow. Sick terrain at that place...

I guess they finally hooked up some snowmaking though? I guess its now an LA style ski area.

aka: A whole lot of just manmade snow a lot of the time, but that also means decent park riding.

No problem dude. And I forgot to mention another pretty sick part about living here. If you love the beach and Cali, etc. San Diego is 5 hours in a car and LA is like 6-7 depending on traffic so very close. There’s a decent beach in Mexico that’s 3-4 hours away.


I would ask some more people who have experiences with Phoenix and ASU. I do acknowledge my opinions are positive and others may not fully agree with me. Good luck dude and feel free to PM me.

HomerPimpinthat was really helpful, genuinely appreciate the time you put into writing that. was honestly pretty set on asu already but now i’m sold. i’m sure i’ll have questions pop up as time goes on, i’ll definitely remember to hit you up. thanks again, i appreciate it hella

Ive never been more happy to be so dead wrong about something. Glad you will still get to ski. I never knew about Snow Bowl but it actually looks pretty cool. I really thought that whole state was a big ass sand dune glad I was wrong.

I’ve lived in phoenix most of my life and grew up skiing snowbowl and sunrise almost every weekend. Like Noah said, it’s a 2.5 hour drive for snowbowl so we used to day trip it all the time but I would recommend making some friends at NAU that you could crash with. It’s not going to be a world class resort but if you appreciate it for what it is, snowbowl is a super fun little mountain with good vibes. I’ve since moved to California but I still try to make it out to flag to visit old friends a few times a winter and I definitely miss the days of all the homies meeting at my house at 4am to drive up for the day.

I don’t really have much to say about sunrise since I haven’t skied there in years but I skied there a lot as a kid and I always had a good time. Definitely another option worth at least checking out once.

ASU, NAU, and UofA are all worth checking out and I can’t say one is better than the others, so it’s all personal preference as far as what values you’re looking for in a school and how serious you are about skiing.

If you’ve got any questions about snowbowl, az, etc. just shoot me a dm!

2.5 hours isn't very far to drive for skiing. If that is where you want to go send it.

There aren't many good/big schools with good hills under an hour from them.

Traveling circus went there in one of the last seasons of the show. It looks incredible! Arizona gets some high altitude ranges

If you aren't dead set on AZ Reno might be worth looking into. Get all that sunshine and still have good skiing close ish

theabortionatorIf you aren't dead set on AZ Reno might be worth looking into. Get all that sunshine and still have good skiing close ish

Close-ish? Mt Rose is like, what a half hour? Sugar bowl, Palisades and Northstar are under an hour. That's pretty friggin good if you ask me. I've gotta drive 3 hours to get to Kirkwood.

theabortionatorIf you aren't dead set on AZ Reno might be worth looking into. Get all that sunshine and still have good skiing close ish

unr ski team is always welcoming. Reno is da tits