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By admin, January 24, 2010 1:01 am

Where’s the closest/best place to go skiing near Chicago?

I know I’ll have to travel … but I’d like to start taking up skiing … any suggestions welcome!

Closest is Villa Olivia in Bartlett:

http://www.villaolivia.com/index.html

Wilmot is second closest, just over the state line in Wisconsin and is bigger than Villa Olivia.

http://www.wilmotmountain.com/

Both of these are artificial hills, though. We don’t have real mountains in this area, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.

There are a lot of ski hills in Wisconsin, you can investigate the ones there here:

http://skicentral.com/wisconsin.html

Devil’s Head has one of the the best mountains within a day trip of the city.

http://www.devilsheadresort.com/

The tallest ski areas in the midwest are near Lake Superior in Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The problem with the UP though is that the weather sucks there. It’s really cold there. They do get tons of snow from Lake Superior though (but again, that means that you may have to ski while it’s snowing too, which impedes visibility and isn’t as nice as skiing in the sun). The one advantage over the west is cost.

http://www.upmichigan.com/ski/

You can learn the basics of skiing around here, and if you really like it you can join a club and learn more. Eventually, if you like it and can afford it, you’ll want to go to the Rockies (CO,WY,UT) or Sierras (CA) for real skiing. There’s also skiing in the Eastern Mountains, but most prefer the west to the east.

http://www.skinet.com/skinet/photos/article/0,26964,1660478,00.html

You should consider going sooner rather than later, because if you go on a ski vacation you can take a lesson every day you’re there and you’ll improve much faster than if you go just once every couple of weeks. If you’re a beginner, you can often get special deals as the mountains want to hook you in. Skiing (and Lodging) at the big resorts is cheapest before Xmas and in January.

The travel isn’t the issue so much as the expense. Skiing isn’t a cheap hobby, but it’s loads of fun, and once you get out west you can see some amazing places while skiing. My favoirite for the views is Telluride, though for the skiing it’s Vail.

Pre-season Tips to get your skis ready for the season