me and a few friends were thinking about taking a weekend trip to a bigger mountain than what we have around here (jack,sno,elk). Any suggestions? I hear Gore is pretty good, and not at crowded as killington.

Snow, Stowe, Spring.

Stowe's definitely the best place to go for a first trip north, if you don't want to ride a lot of park. It takes them a while to get a good park going, or should I say a good long park, only because their good park is on the smallest peak. If you catch a powder day it'll be sickkk for tree lines, even the day after, it's not hard to find stashes. If you want park head to Mount Snow, Loon, or Sunday River I'd say.

If you want a place to go thats cheap and for non-park riding, gore is a great place. I went there for 5 days once for $300 lift and lodging. Its a great mountain for freeriding. They have little to no park setup. Theres usually a jump or two and a couple poorly setup rails. Gore is one of my favorite mountains along with Pico and Elk. I like the secluded, non-commercialized feel of them.

My list in no particular order

NY:
Gore
Whiteface

VT:
Mount Snow
Smugglers Notch
Sugarbush
Jay Peak
Killington
Stowe


Figure out your budget, and look at the deals. Any will do you right if you have never been north before.

Add up hotel price, lift ticket price, driving distance/mpg and find which ones are the cheapest for your weekend. Food will be constant across all of them basically.

If you want park, bump Mount Snow and Killington to the top of your list, and add Stratton and Okemo.

Sugarbush isn't as crowded as Killington and it has a good mix...a couple parks...some groomers..bumps..trees..and natural trails..There are two different ski areas..Mount Ellen and Lincoln Peak and on the weekends...The Slidebrook express runs between the two mountains...I like Stowe better but Sugarbush is a little closer..a little less expensive..and way better than Killington..