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Nine Weeks A Ski Bum (Part Three)

Jim Kenney

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Nine Weeks a Ski Bum (Part Three)

By Jim Kenney

November 27, 2015


Ski Area Impressions


My favorite ski area on the whole trip was Breckenridge, CO. Not coincidentally, it had the best snow conditions of any area I visited last winter. I had never been there before trip and I skied it seven days from early February to late March. I guess it was just one of those years where snowfall was subpar for much of the west while Breck got decent storm tracks and held the snow well due to its extremely high elevation. I caught three powder days there and nice sunshine on my other visits. I learned to really love the higher elevation terrain at Breck which includes wide open bowls, steep hike-to chutes, great transition zones at the treeline with black diamond glades and big time bump runs. Even though I skied Breck during the very busy March spring break period the crowds on the beginner-intermediate terrain on the lower mountain didn’t bother me. I never went down there except to start and finish my ski days.

View after hiking to summit of Peak 6 at Breckenridge.
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Keystone gets a bad rap for lame terrain and low snow, but everything is relative. I skied it nine days last March as it was the closest ski area to the condo it rented. It’s a really fun place in spring conditions. There are many fine intermediate-advance runs on all three mountains. The blue square runs on the front mountain (Dercum) are particularly long and have ~2300’ vertical. Schoolmarm is one of the best green circle runs in America. There is a huge terrain park area. The two gondolas make for comfortable riding on chilly/snowy days. When my daughters came to visit we skied Keystone three days and Arapahoe Basin one day because they had four-pack lift tickets bought in the preseason good at either mountain for $179. Because Keystone offers night skiing on part of the mountain we enjoyed extending our ski day past the 4PM closing time typical at most resorts. I always found it easy to get free parking. There is good black diamond terrain on North Peak and the backside of Dercum and pretty black diamond glades in The Outback area.

Timberwolf glade in The Outback at Keystone.
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Arapahoe Basin is a great place with tremendous character. It’s old school and really steep. They are very accepting about DIY tailgating, dining, and partying in the slopeside parking lot and on nice days it’s one of the greatest scenes in the country for hardcore skiers. Although A-Basin is moderate in size for a Colorado ski area an expert skier would never get bored there. The Pallavicini trail pod and the hike-to East Wall can challenge the best. It’s relatively cheap and a pure and simple contrast to the giant resorts nearby.

A friend scoping out Zuma Cornice at Arapahoe Basin.
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Vail is beyond gigantic. It’s an amazing place for upper intermediates with endless wide groomers and fabulous open bowls. The town is really beautiful and an impressive place to stroll with my wife. Since we only went there as day-visitors we partially :) skipped the high price tag that can accompany the upscale trappings of the place. I had never skied Vail’s Blue Sky Basin before this trip and I really liked it. Blue Sky has many glades and trails that follow natural fall lines and terrain features. It’s kind of like a civilized Mad River Glen. There is free
parking at Vail if you know where to look. There are free gas grills at several scenic locations on the mountain if you bring your own meat. If you like skiing, it's hard not to like Vail. There is more terrain there than just about anyone single place around.

I wasn't the only one who found very playful terrain in Vail's Blue Sky Basin, this is Lover's Leap.
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Beaver Creek is posh with great aesthetics, but it also has a huge and varied layout. The vertical difference between the highest and lowest lift served points is approximately 4400’. After Breck, Beaver Creek seemed to have the second best consistently good conditions of all the ski areas I visited and I attribute that not only to the weather gods, but also to impeccable trail grooming. They have a humongous fleet of groomer machines and a staff to guest ratio that has to be among the highest in the industry. We went Nordic skiing one day in late March at Beaver Creek’s McCoy Park. It has over 20 miles of extremely scenic trails set at approximately 9800’ elevation and offered good snow conditions at a time when lower Nordic operations in Colorado were toast.

Scenic and Snow-sure Nordic skiing at Beaver Creek.
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I didn’t see Park City and The Canyons at their best. It was a low snow period when I visited for three days in mid-February. Nonetheless, most runs were open and when temps rose above normal on my second and third days I had a blast skiing soft snow with two ski buddies all around The Canyons. I had been to Park City in the late 1980s and skied Park West, but had never seen the modern Canyons resort. It’s very impressive. Also, I had never skied Jupiter Peak or Ninety-Nine 90 and I got to ski both of those black diamond areas on this trip in fun, if not optimal conditions.

A buddy getting ready to Crush it on Ninety-Nine 90 at the Canyons.
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Calling on the gods for help with the snowpack at Park City/Canyons.
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Jackson Hole is beautiful and epic with so many big steep ski lines it will make your head spin. I got a good taste of the mountain over three active days and all I can say is, “bring your A-game”. Corbet’s Couloir may get the press, but Thunder and Sublette Quad Chairs serve the bread and butter of Jackson’s black diamonds. Jackson features the kind of complex, craggy terrain that an advanced snowrider could easily spend a full week or a full winter exploring. I wrapped up my three days with a couple of memorable laps down The Hobacks (~2500 no-turning-back vertical feet), one of America’s first and still best side-country ski experiences.

Watching an older guy successfully drop into Corbet’s Couloir at Jackson Hole.
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Dave, Peter and John scoping out North Woods
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Pat Attacking the Hobacks.
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Kirkwood and Heavenly were in sad shape for my visit. I only skied Heavenly one afternoon when the temps were about 55 degrees at 8,000 feet. It was spring in February, the kind of weather that occurred all too often last winter in the far west. A number of trails at Heavenly were closed, but the views of Lake Tahoe never disappoint.

Lake Tahoe is always beautiful.
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Late February upper mountain snow stick at Heavenly.
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I skied four consecutive days at Kirkwood. It turned cold the night I arrived and the slopes were flash-frozen like East Coast boilerplate, thin boilerplate at that. Eventually by my third day the snow started to soften and I employed freshly sharpened ski edges and lots of good California wine to ameliorate the situation. One afternoon my ski buddy and I abandoned the slopes and donned hiking boots to tour scenic Carson Pass (elevation 8,652’). This was my third visit to Kirkwood over the years. I normally love the place.

Pirates stole winter at Kirkwood.
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Carson Pass, CA.
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Tricia

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Jim, I really enjoy your trip reports.
 

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