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Paul Lutes

Making fresh tracks
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Planning a mid-season road trip from CA to somewhere in the Rockies for next season, most likely Feb/March, and would like to hear from the collective which resort has the best grooming (don't laugh; sooner or later we all start asking this question if we wish to keep skiing right up to the end:D). I'm guessing the big boys (Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, etc.) are all in the mix but I'm sure there's other contenders as well. All input appreciated, especially notable quirks, artistic touches, groomer staff competency and skill, up to date grooming equipment, etc.

Thanks in advance!
 

fatbob

Not responding
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Assuming you mean Co rather than Can rockies I'd nominate the Beav particularly Arrowhead/ Batchelor Gulch. Can have quite a firm refreeze in the morning though.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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In the SKI magazine Readers Survey, we came in at #7, but apparently the second resource only evaluates some 42 resorts world wide (?), near as I can tell by using size as a primary screener? Anyway, we're not in the 42 to even get scores for grooming in that one.

Yes, we score well in grooming and there's a noticeable amount of "cruisers". However, if you're worried about the grooming and the cruising, there's this little problem called fog here, which you might want to consider. Because fog means you'll want to be in the trees. Which aren't groomed. :(

We are in the Rockies, strictly speaking.
 

Bill Miles

Old Man Groomer Zoomer
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Don't want to beat the dead horse of how the rate resorts/mountains, but that second website is just plain strange. Whatevercriteria is selected, it appears the same 42 resorts are listed.
 

albertanskigirl

aka Sabrina
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If it's grooming you're after, definitely NOT the Canadian Rockies. I don't really quite understand the skiresort rankings - they rank Fernie number 1, and they barely even groom their green runs. Same with BW or Kimberley. Those skiresort rankings are very strange. I think Colorado is a good bet.
 

Jim McDonald

愛スキー
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Second the Sun Valley nomination; Deer Valley also, and Keystone
 

DanoT

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I don't know about the USA but most eastern Canadians think that all of the mountains in western Canada are part of the Rockies. This is of course completely false. While just about all of the ski resorts in Alberta are in the Rockies, in B.C. only Fernie is located in the Canadian Rockies. My point is that when looking for great groomer skiing, it would be a mistake to limit oneself to only the Rockies.

Another mistake would be to overlook how crowded a given resort gets because the less the crowds, the longer the corduroy lasts. For low crowds and good grooming and great cruising Sun Valley, Snowmass, Big Sky would be on my list of major resorts that fit the bill.

If travel to Canada is on the radar, then Sun Peaks is the top choice. The noticeably very dry air creates world class snow quality and small frequent snowfalls are a snowcat operators dream. Approx. 100 runs get groomed regularly, (about 30-40/night) including some easy blacks that when groomed can be comfortably skied by a strong intermediate.

Concerned about fog? You won't be at Sun Peaks because the vast majority of foggy days envelopes only the upper third of the mountain (the Alpine), leaving 4 chairlifts below the fog.

Crowded slopes? Sun Peaks' 4270 acres means that on a lot of runs you will be skiing by yourself.
 

Ken_R

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Planning a mid-season road trip from CA to somewhere in the Rockies for next season, most likely Feb/March, and would like to hear from the collective which resort has the best grooming (don't laugh; sooner or later we all start asking this question if we wish to keep skiing right up to the end:D). I'm guessing the big boys (Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, etc.) are all in the mix but I'm sure there's other contenders as well. All input appreciated, especially notable quirks, artistic touches, groomer staff competency and skill, up to date grooming equipment, etc.

Thanks in advance!

I really enjoy groomed runs even though I spend a lot of time off piste so I appreciate good grooming as well!

Here in my neck of the woods Beaver Creek is usually excellent. Keystone grooms a LOT of their trails so its easy to find nice long and steepish groomed trails there consistently throughout the season. Vail has its moments as well.

Cooper near Leadville has a reputation for excellent grooming and they only use natural snow since they do not have snowmaking so the quality should be superb. Its a small quirky ski area but its really nice for mellow cruising and the area is gorgeous.
 

Jim Kenney

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Pretty much every major western resort has some fine groomed runs, especially when conditions are cooperative. But... and this is very anecdotal, from my sampling of many big name resorts in the last five years I might put Deer Valley at the top of the list. Caveat - I have not been to two strong contenders in this category: Sun Valley and Big Sky. Deer Valley may also be a plus because it's not too far a drive from CA. Nearby Park City is not too shabby for groomers either:)
Alta and Brighton are within an hour or so of DV/Park City and they have some excellent intermediate groomer terrain too.

Quick impressions of Deer Valley: http://www.dcski.com/articles/1501
 

Mike Rogers

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I don't know about the USA but most eastern Canadians think that all of the mountains in western Canada are part of the Rockies. This is of course completely false. While just about all of the ski resorts in Alberta are in the Rockies, in B.C. only Fernie is located in the Canadian Rockies.

Don't forget Powder King!

Have you ever skied there?
 

DanoT

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Don't forget Powder King!

Have you ever skied there?

I didn't forget Powder King, but it is not exactly a resort.

I have never skied there but decades ago when it was called Azu, I drove a friend up there who was going to work in their ski shop (10 hour drive from Tod Mountain). It was mid December and they weren't quite open as they were waiting for the 6' high willows to get covered. It started snowing when we arrived and would not stop. We stayed in the staff quarters and got woke up at 2 am when the grader operator had to get up and plow the parking lot because it was snowing so hard that if he had waited until dawn there would have been too much snow for the grader to push around.:yahoo:
 

Bill Miles

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Besides grooming itself, I consider the quality of the snow being groomed, whether steeps are groomed, and whether the mountain is good top to bottom both in terms of skiing down and riding back up. Based in that, here are my favorites:

Sun Valley
Aspen Mountain
Snowmass
Snowbird
 
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Paul Lutes

Making fresh tracks
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Lot's of good data coming in, but let's drill down a little deeper: are all the groomed runs hit every night, or only every second or even third night? Is there a lot of variation in individual staff groomer's skill/finished product or does management maintain a high overall standard? On nights with soft snow conditions is the result lots of ridges/steps between passes or do the groomers take the extra time to even those traps out? How many black diamond runs are groomed? Do these BD runs require winches for the cats to overcome the gradient?
 

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