Mt. Charleston, NV. From Kyle Canyon

I came across this article, linked at the end, and got excited from the title. Anytime anyone wants to talk about Las Vegas, I am more than willing to listen an respond. If you throw skiing in the mix, then you might have me double hooked.

In my time living in Las Vegas, I never did take the opportunity to ski in any of the places mentioned in the article. But, I have visited one during the winter and knew about the others, having been invited to Brian Head on one occasion. Which leads me to the first point I'd like to make about the article.

When first reading it, I knew the drive times of what could be considered local resorts. These weren't mentioned anywhere in the beginning of the article, though the further I read into it, the facts were all there. The closest skiing to Las Vegas in in Lee Canyon. I have to agree that it's wicked nice up there. I have been up there in the winter and summer. It's a great place to visit if you just love the outdoors. It is also 45 minutes from the city and not a very hard drive. The resorts in Utah and Arizona are three and half and four hour drives. The article is right, once out of the city traffic is a non-issue. It is all desert driving though. Wide open, high speed, and beautiful desert scenery. You might even see some big horn sheep out there. So, if you don't mind the drives, Las Vegas can be used as a jump off point.

The other thing I noticed in the article was the mention of price. The city really isn't that expensive when compared to other tourist destinations. As for the skiing, the mentioned areas are definitely cheaper than other big mountain areas. The tie in is that you still have to rent and drive a car for up to four hours. That's a tank or two of gas both ways. That cost, however, will vary with the type of car. All in all, with lower ticket and lodging prices, the travel cost might not be an issue.

This all ties in with the third most important point of the article, as I see it. The ease of getting to Las Vegas. The city does have a good size, very modern international airport. Having been to it a few times myself I can say it's one of the nicest airports that I have ever been to. For an airport that size, that traffic is also handled very well. Getting in and out doesn't take much work at all. So it's said, traffic is that city is at it's worst where I-15 and US 95 come together. Beyond that, getting around the city isn't too bad.

Though too late to make a long story short, yes, I do agree. One could plan is a pretty sick ski trip using Las Vegas as a jump off point. Here is the biggest issue, as I see it. An issue that really wasn't touched on in the article. It's Las Vegas!!! The strip alone could distract anyone from whatever they are actually there to do. Even when I go visit friends from when I lived there, I stay on the strip.

You see, quite often tourists do go looking for outdoor adventures outside of the city. But, the end up in places like Red Rock Canyon or Valley of Fire. Both of these are beautiful places, with the Valley of Fire being on of my personal favorites. But, the furthest you need to go is about an hour. The point being, if you're going to ski out of Las Vegas, make sure you have some focus.

In any case, I say visit Las Vegas for any reason. It's a great town that's more than what you hear about or see in movies or on TV. Again, it could be a good ski destination, but you do have to have a ton of focus. Perhaps buy yours tickets for the mountains before you leave. That way you won't want to waste them. That could be enough to drag you fro the Bellagio's fountain show.

Skiing Las Vegas: America's Most Surprising Great Ski Trip

Ski season in Utah is off to a great start - and that is surprisingly good news for Vegas visitors.

Photo Credit: Stan Shebs [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]