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Have to say, mid-day grooming is darn impressive.
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Colorado Best grooming in the Rockies?
- Thread starter Paul Lutes
- Start date
Is Jackson Hole underrated in the groomer category? Although I didn't ski a lot of groomers when I was there for a few days this winter, the ones I did ski seemed long, wide & consistent.
Targhee had nice grooming (snow quality) as well.
Targhee had nice grooming (snow quality) as well.
If I was going to recommend somewhere to take a vacation that revolved around skiing groomers it would probably be park city. Between deer valley and pcmr/the canyons there's got to be hundreds of miles of groomers. Stay somewhere on the bus line and you are 5 min from the base of all 3.
As for best quality grooming of places I've skied
Beaver creek
Northstar
Aspen highlands
Deer valley
Big sky
Vail
As for best quality grooming of places I've skied
Beaver creek
Northstar
Aspen highlands
Deer valley
Big sky
Vail
For accessing the B.C. interior from southern California there are direct flights in winter from LAX to Kelowna B.C. But if you are considering driving to Whistler instead of flying then you need to know that driving from Seattle to Sun Peaks is only an hour longer than driving to Whistler. It is a better drive and when you get to Sun Peaks you find out that compared to Whistler, Sun Peaks is less expensive, less crowded, has better quality snow and a ton of ski in/out accommodation.
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if you do that 2k drive try to time the Hope to Merritt for daylight. It is often worse than the frequently mentioned Rodgers Pass.
Tends to be more difficult heading west
In February after a day of skiing by the time your get to the worst section its dark, your headlights are caked with muck, and time to head down the big hill to Hope, Lovely transition from snow, compact snow, ice, then rain on ice, topped with plenty of fog.
The traffic around you will still maintain 130-140 km hr. It can be an exciting ride.
no speeding tickets in Nevada ? not so sure about that, at least one state trooper i met didn't get the memo.
in general if your are thinking of Whistler in Feb
If its raining there then it will also be impacting all the other resorts in BC, as far as Kicking Horse - most of our hills have low bases and there often is not really a huge difference in temps until you cross the Selkirks (just east of Revestoke)
our weather patterns always flow west to east,
normally fronts if moving are aproximately 4-8hr later in the Okanogan 8-10 in Revelstoke 10-12 in Kicking Horse
about the same as driving there (very slowly)
generally coast always gets most of the snow, the Okanogan is in a rain shadow until Revelstoke adjacent the Selkirks then another rain shadow in the lee of the Selkirks extends into the Rockies,
all our major hills offer good skiing and reasonable grooming and are often can be less expensive than most stateside.,
if that's any help
Tends to be more difficult heading west
In February after a day of skiing by the time your get to the worst section its dark, your headlights are caked with muck, and time to head down the big hill to Hope, Lovely transition from snow, compact snow, ice, then rain on ice, topped with plenty of fog.
The traffic around you will still maintain 130-140 km hr. It can be an exciting ride.
no speeding tickets in Nevada ? not so sure about that, at least one state trooper i met didn't get the memo.
in general if your are thinking of Whistler in Feb
If its raining there then it will also be impacting all the other resorts in BC, as far as Kicking Horse - most of our hills have low bases and there often is not really a huge difference in temps until you cross the Selkirks (just east of Revestoke)
our weather patterns always flow west to east,
normally fronts if moving are aproximately 4-8hr later in the Okanogan 8-10 in Revelstoke 10-12 in Kicking Horse
about the same as driving there (very slowly)
generally coast always gets most of the snow, the Okanogan is in a rain shadow until Revelstoke adjacent the Selkirks then another rain shadow in the lee of the Selkirks extends into the Rockies,
all our major hills offer good skiing and reasonable grooming and are often can be less expensive than most stateside.,
if that's any help
If you like non-stop continous vertical, Sun Valley has 3100’ of it, and the grooming is superb. That said, I am totally happy with 1500’ runs, and I have really liked places like Brundage, and Schweitzer (2400’ vertical on the Outback) is another since you’re considering Idaho.
Snowbasin has nice long groomer runs from John Paul and Strawberry, whereas the Needles terrain is divided into two different drainage basins and so the runs are in smaller terrain pods. Busy days the groomers will get skied out in a hurry, but mid-week can be amazing, whether fresh snow or freshly groomed. Sun Peaks, as Dano pointed out, has excellent grooming, nice dry snow and limited traffic given the amount of terrain. And it is indeed only about an hour longer drive from Seattle than is Whistler.
Whistler has great groomers and grooming, but it can get skied out in a hurry. While I like Whistler a lot, both for the quantity and quality of groomers but also for the quantity and quality of off-piste skiing, FWIW at the Gathering there was one day where the fog was extra foggy. At 7th Heaven visibility was decent, then we were feeling our way by Braille down the mid elevations, it was hard to even see where the bottom of the Solar Coaster lift was when skiing right past it, about the worst fog I’ve ever been in. It cleared up at the lower 1/3 to the base.
Snowbasin has nice long groomer runs from John Paul and Strawberry, whereas the Needles terrain is divided into two different drainage basins and so the runs are in smaller terrain pods. Busy days the groomers will get skied out in a hurry, but mid-week can be amazing, whether fresh snow or freshly groomed. Sun Peaks, as Dano pointed out, has excellent grooming, nice dry snow and limited traffic given the amount of terrain. And it is indeed only about an hour longer drive from Seattle than is Whistler.
Whistler has great groomers and grooming, but it can get skied out in a hurry. While I like Whistler a lot, both for the quantity and quality of groomers but also for the quantity and quality of off-piste skiing, FWIW at the Gathering there was one day where the fog was extra foggy. At 7th Heaven visibility was decent, then we were feeling our way by Braille down the mid elevations, it was hard to even see where the bottom of the Solar Coaster lift was when skiing right past it, about the worst fog I’ve ever been in. It cleared up at the lower 1/3 to the base.
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If you are saying that if it is raining at Whistler then it will be raining or wet snow in the B.C. interior, I have to disagree as sometimes the coastal storms don't even make it to the interior. The southern B.C. resorts like Fernie and Red that also have fairly low elevation along with the very low elevation parts of Revelstoke are susceptible to rain at times but more northerly resorts like Sun Peaks and Silver Star are way, way less likely to experience rain.
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I thought that 2,000 mile 24 hour drive to Sun Peaks that Mapquest popped up with smelled funny - more like 1100 mies and 17 hours. Looks interesting!
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HeyheyheyheyHEY! I'm fine with the move to Gen. Resort discussion, but Colorado?? Sun Valley? Snowbasin? Whistler/Blackcoumb? Sun Peaks??????
Yes. I think Deer Valley hits all the marks for all I know. Great groomers of all types: long mellow ones on Flagstaff, steeper on Bald mountain. Great, fast lifts. Get out, ski down and up again. You get a lot of vert. I have never found any issues in their perfectly manicured runs.
Little dog and good weather. Closer to you. And other areas in PC as well to diversify.
The best grooming you will ever see is at Nubs Nob.
Groomed then regroomed at 4:30-6:00 PM for night skiing.
Neither Deer Valley nor Beaver Creek offers that.
Groomed then regroomed at 4:30-6:00 PM for night skiing.
Neither Deer Valley nor Beaver Creek offers that.
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Some very good questions . . . I'll weigh in on Big Sky, because I have decent familiarity with it:
Overall - Good quality grooming - smooth corduroy, no ridges/dropoffs, generally full trail width (except when intentionally leaving a portion ungroomed)
Greens - generally groomed every night all over mountain
Blues - Some are routinely groomed daily; others once every few days. My issue here is timing - understand leaving them ungroomed after a snowfall, but often left too long when all chunked up
Blacks - only a couple are groomed, and infrequently, which fundamentally seems fine to me.
LIke I imagine happens most places, sometimes the conditions simply don't allow for a particularly good groom or conditions mess up what would have been a good groom. Credit this year given the pretty generous snowfall for leaving powder/quasi-powder around a bit longer (at least on the days I happened to be there, which was about 8).
I would say that it is...probably for the same reason that Whistler is...
Gros Ventre and Sundance are fantastic runs with almost 3000 feet of vertical. The après Vous area also has a number of nicely groomed runs. There is plenty of groomed terrain at JH to make a worthwhile trip. However, there are better places. (I agree about GT, lots of great grooming there on what is usually GREAT snow. Only quibble is the runs are relatively short.)
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Apologies for popping off reflexively there - not that big a deal. I appreciate your quick and calm response!
Here's a blast from the past: Human powered grooming machines as used at Winter Park. Packing the track for the T-bar, grooming the slopes.
I'd like to add Telluride to the conversation. While it is a bit out of the way an off of the beaten path, I found that they sure did an impressive job grooming their runs when I skied there in April this season.
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Big Sky is a Boyne USA resort. Boyne invented machine grooming in Michigan. They know snow and even manufacture snowmaking equipment.
The majors all do a pretty good job with grooming anymore. Some will do better than others based off of staff, equipment, recent snow and all the other variables. Would recommend that you take a look at daily grooming reports for the pertinent details, of who did what to whom, on a given night.
Park City got left out it would seem. A lot of groomers, done regularly by a very big fleet of machines. Easy access as you know, and a pretty good ski town. It is not AltaBird or SB but it friggin' huge, and the non skiing hours offer more variety. Again, look at the daily grooming reports, for a groomer zoomer they are your friend.
Personal fav for a groomers based trip has to be Sun Valley. Like all ski areas look to your exposure to time when you ski something, always best when the sun has been on it for a while. They do amazing work with the snow they get and make, and they make a lot of it. Was told that they use a lot of local farmers for the grooming crew which makes good sense; look at modern farm equipment and you will see where a lot of grooming technology comes from. You can fly there without too much hassle, and you really don't need a car there. As good a variety of steep well groomed runs as you will find anywhere. Perhaps not one of the cool places to be right now, but still one of the best.
Park City got left out it would seem. A lot of groomers, done regularly by a very big fleet of machines. Easy access as you know, and a pretty good ski town. It is not AltaBird or SB but it friggin' huge, and the non skiing hours offer more variety. Again, look at the daily grooming reports, for a groomer zoomer they are your friend.
Personal fav for a groomers based trip has to be Sun Valley. Like all ski areas look to your exposure to time when you ski something, always best when the sun has been on it for a while. They do amazing work with the snow they get and make, and they make a lot of it. Was told that they use a lot of local farmers for the grooming crew which makes good sense; look at modern farm equipment and you will see where a lot of grooming technology comes from. You can fly there without too much hassle, and you really don't need a car there. As good a variety of steep well groomed runs as you will find anywhere. Perhaps not one of the cool places to be right now, but still one of the best.
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). 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!
Snowmass. No Crowds.
The end
