Ultimate Guide to Camelback Ski Resort
Long weekends are a rare treat to come by, so when President’s Day Weekend rolled around, my boyfriend and I jumped on the chance and planned a short getaway to a nearby ski resort. One great thing about NYC is that there are so many great ski resort options to choose from. This time, we decided on Camelback in Pennsylvania, which is only about an hour and fifteen minutes drive from the City. We only stayed two nights at Camelback but it is more than enough, especially since I’m a noob at skiing and get tired super easily!
Logistics and Cost
Rental Car: $140 total
Tip: try renting from Newark Airport or somewhere in New Jersey because the prices are in general cheaper and you also avoid the tunnel costs!
I believe there are tour groups shuttles and also buses at the Port Authority Bus Terminal that goes to Camelback in terms of public transportation. However, rental car is really my recommended way to go because of the flexibility and convenience! The total drive only took about an hour and fifteen minutes from Newark Airport, where we rented our car from.
Lodging: $200 total
Tip: we stayed in Stroudsburg, which is about 15 min. driving from the Camelback Ski Resort. It’s a great option if you have a car because it’s much cheaper than staying in Tannersville, the city where Camelback is located.
Ski Lift: $55 on weekdays and $70 on weekends pp.
Ski Equipment Rental: $41 for skis, poles, and helmet pp.
Tubing Tickets: $30 for 2 hours pp.
Camelback Ski Resort
My boyfriend and I drove out on a Thursday night and skied all day Friday. Best decision ever! And that’s because it wasn’t overly crowded—which can be annoying in general but also super terrifying for a ski noob like me since I’m still not exactly precise when it comes to the timing of my turns.
Next to the Poconos, Camelback boasts itself as a family owned and family friendly ski resort. Its 16 lifts serves 37 different trails. For a newly indoctrinated skier like myself, Camelback was lovely because it has so many different green slopes! Two beginner slopes with the magic carpet is available to refresh the movements before moving on to the more advanced green slopes. There were a variety of shorter and longer green slopes. There were two shorter ones with their specific lifts and a very long one on the top of the mountain in which you have branches of shorter green ones that takes you all the way down to the bottom of the hill. All of them are manageable with the appropriate amount of challenge!
The resort also has quite a few blue slopes, black diamonds, and double black diamonds! I of course dared not to take those routes. But the options are readily available for the more advanced skiers.
The lifts at Camelback varies in style and size depending on the slopes. There were a few lifts, mostly those that catered to the green slopes, were smaller two seaters and did not have foot rests. That was a bit annoying considering how heavy and clunky skis are! The lifts that go to the top of the mountain for the longer green slope and all the advanced blue and black slopes are the regular four to five seater and luckily, with footrests!
On the Magic Carpet! Full Disclosure: I’m a Ski Noob :)
And because night skiing is available at Camelback, the lifts don’t close until 9pm, which is fantastic if you want to get your money’s worth or you are into skiing at night! I definitely couldn’t manage to ski for that long…
In addition to plenty of green slopes, Camelback also has snow tubing available. We tried to do that on Saturday morning but it was so crowded (vans and vans of parents with kids) that it was sold out until the 2pm session. I was pretty bummed about it but I guess there’s always a next time! So book early online if snow tubing is on your absolute-to-do-list!
Luckily, there are plenty of other options for things to do such as indoor waterparks and an outlet nearby. We opted for the shopping!
Pros
Close to NYC
Easy for a weekend getaway
Many slopes, especially green ones (yay for me!), and lifts available
Long operational hours
Plenty of other options for things-to-do nearby (indoor and outdoor waterparks, outlet for shopping, the Poconos, etc.)
Cons
Expensive
Can get very crowded with kids depending on the day of the week
Not many good food options (my taste buds are NYC spoiled. Yes!)
