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Colorado Sunlight is freakin' sweet

Michael R.

skiNEwhere
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I left early Sunday morning (2.7)from Aspen to try out a tiny little ski area called Sunlight just outside of Glenwood Springs. I say tiny only in relation to its big brothers in the state, it actually has over 2,000 ft of vertical and 680 acres of terrain. Not too bad for a mtn about 3 hours from Denver considering that most front rangers have never even heard of it.

I've been waiting for the conditions to be right before coming here. Since their trail report read as 100% open, I decided to cut the Aspen trip a day short.

I arrived at 8:40 and snagged the second closest spot to the stairs, which were less than 100 yards from the lift.

Lift ticket was $60 for a normal day, but today it was $40 if you wore Broncos attire.

I've heard so much about "the heathens" trail on the east ridge portion of the mtn, so I decided to check it out. Yea, I guess the top of it is about 52 degrees (as they claim) but it's literally only sustained for about 10 feet. But that whole portion of the mtn has some pretty sweet terrain. Tight trees, narrow gullies, and optional rocks to jump off of if you were so inclined.

I did 5-6 or runs in this spot, trying to ski a different line each time. The traverse out of this area is a little flat, but has enough pitch to where to minimal poling is required. On a pow day though, you may want to consider letting a few other people break ground first so that they can flatten out the snow in the run out since a lot of poling is probably required.

I lapped the segundo chair a few times, and skied Casanova glade which is a nice low angle tree run with moderated spaced trees (mostly Aspens). I also went skiers left of the Segundo chair, which has some pretty tight trees with a little bit steeper pitch.


At lunch, I bought a couple drinks and some chicken tenders for $4. Not too shabby!

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Entrance to the bar. Will the real doorknob please stand up? (Guess the deadbolt should've been a dead giveaway?!)
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Where does one purchase said Pontiac???


After lunch, I stopped by ski patrol to ask about which glades were skiing well, and they were kind enough to reveal a couple unmarked stashed, and help me fix my GoPro mount with guerilla tape. Special thanks to Jack for pointing me in the right direction!

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Overall, this is a awesome little mountain that is worth checking out. As far as the negatives, I really can't come up with any. Yea the lifts were slow, but there are always trade offs. I'd much rather have this place keep its small, friendly vibe than turn into a mega resort were you need to throw elbows to compete for pow stashes. The greens at the top which you have to take to get to the east ridge are a little flat and require poling, but I don't think that's a really big takeaway. Next time you are skiing Aspen, or are in the area, you owe it to yourself to check this place out, you won't be disappointed.
 
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UGASkiDawg

AKA David
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2:34 video and I'm pretty sure there was not another human to be seen in it.....if I didn't know better I'd say you edited them out....oh and nice ripping

Now get thee to Powderhorn as well...thank me later;)
 

Blue Streak

I like snow.
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Edwards, Colorado
Both areas are high on my agenda. I love the throwback experience!
If only these "Gems" would offer a cooperative pass, I would buy one.
The "Gems" card is totally useless, if you ski solo frequently.
Come on guys (Sunlight, Powderhorn, Cooper, Purgatory, Wolf Creek, etc)!
Put something together!
:daffy:
 

SBrown

So much better than a pro
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Against my better judgment, I will point out that you can get $40 to $45 Sunlight tickets on travelzoo.
 

Jeff N

I'm an anachronism
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Against my better judgment, I will point out that you can get $40 to $45 Sunlight tickets on travelzoo.

Ski Swim and Stay is another excellent option. Almost all the hotels in town (and the two little condo developments at Sunlight's base) participate. You get a room, a lift ticket, and a hot springs pass for between $100 and $150, depending on the room accommodations. It basically makes a lift ticket free with the room.
 

Jeff N

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I do think it is fair to say that Sunlight's lift system is an impairment, especially on weekdays.

You need to take two lifts to get to the East Ridge terrain. The base triple runs very slow as it serves as the bunny hill lift. Primo is a 22 minute lift ride. Segundo spins faster, but it only operates weekends in peak season (they shut it down later in the year).

This means it is hard to get more than 1 lap an hour on the ridge.

As for terrain, when you go back, go get into Deception. Lots of fun. I took the worst fall of my life in there.
 

SBrown

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I do think it is fair to say that Sunlight's lift system is an impairment, especially on weekdays.

You need to take two lifts to get to the East Ridge terrain. The base triple runs very slow as it serves as the bunny hill lift. Primo is a 22 minute lift ride. Segundo spins faster, but it only operates weekends in peak season (they shut it down later in the year).

This means it is hard to get more than 1 lap an hour on the ridge.

As for terrain, when you go back, go get into Deception. Lots of fun. I took the worst fall of my life in there.

Segundo has been running every day I've been there, including weekdays, this season. It makes the East Ridge laps easier/funner, since you can do a Cassanova in between in order to get to Primo w/o having to do that triple.
 

James

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I guess we missed you.
We went there because of someone's intense desire for less humans. It worked.
However, Chicken Tenders are $4 so you got drinks for free?
They should put a surface lift at the bottom to get to the lift to the top quicker. Even a rope tow.
 

SBrown

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Ski Swim and Stay is another excellent option. Almost all the hotels in town (and the two little condo developments at Sunlight's base) participate. You get a room, a lift ticket, and a hot springs pass for between $100 and $150, depending on the room accommodations. It basically makes a lift ticket free with the room.

My husband learned to ski at Sunlight in about 1978, doing the same (or at least similar) deal. Stayed at the Hotel Colorado, lol.
 
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Michael R.

Michael R.

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I do think it is fair to say that Sunlight's lift system is an impairment, especially on weekdays.

You need to take two lifts to get to the East Ridge terrain. The base triple runs very slow as it serves as the bunny hill lift. Primo is a 22 minute lift ride. Segundo spins faster, but it only operates weekends in peak season (they shut it down later in the year).

This means it is hard to get more than 1 lap an hour on the ridge.

As for terrain, when you go back, go get into Deception. Lots of fun. I took the worst fall of my life in there.

Do they run the primo lift @ half speed on weekdays? I remember you mentioning primo lift being slow beforehand (specifically, I think you said you were able to watch an entire episode of the simpsons on the way up), so I timed it. 10 minutes, 15 seconds. If you're including the slow beginner triple, I could see it taking close to that time, I didn't officially time that triple but I'm guesstimating it took about 8 minutes.
 
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Michael R.

Michael R.

skiNEwhere
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I guess we missed you.
We went there because of someone's intense desire for less humans. It worked.
However, Chicken Tenders are $4 so you got drinks for free?
They should put a surface lift at the bottom to get to the lift to the top quicker. Even a rope tow.

I didn't even know anyone else was going, or I would've kept an eye out for you guys.

My bad, drinks were extra. $6 for Cap'n and Coke.
 

SBrown

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Do they run the primo lift @ half speed on weekdays? I remember you mentioning primo lift being slow beforehand (specifically, I think you said you were able to watch an entire episode of the simpsons on the way up), so I timed it. 10 minutes, 15 seconds. If you're including the slow beginner triple, I could see it taking close to that time, I didn't officially time that triple but I'm guesstimating it took about 8 minutes.

Yeah, that's what I had assumed, too; didn't seem at all like 22 until you added both, and a stop or two.
 

Jeff N

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Ten minutes on Primo? The lift to the top? Really?

It didn't seem like lift speed was slower than a typical triple, at least markedly slower, and I distinctly remember back in the day having a video MP3 player back when those were hot shit, and watching whole episodes of Simpsons/Futurama etc, which are 22 minutes with the commercials gone. I remember If I started the video by like the first tower, It would be only moments before the end credits when I got off. But I must just be on crack and remembering wrong.

I realized it is a pretty easy 90* triangle problem using google earth.

Per google earth, the lift distance on a flat earth is just under 5000 feet. I used 4947 feet. Lift vertical is just under 1500, I used 1491.

Pythagrean's theorem makes the actual lift length 5,166 feet. Full speed operation of a fixed grip lift is 500 FPM. That makes 10.3 minutes.

I'm on crack or visiting a Sunlight in a different dimension.

This is weirding me out. I must have been watching stuff on both lifts up, and then just forgot. I am actually really surprised that a 1500 vert fixed grip lift only took 10 minutes, especially with the lower section being so flat.
 

James

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I distinctly remember back in the day having a video MP3 player back when those were hot shit, and watching whole episodes of Simpsons/Futurama etc, which are 22 minutes with the commercials gone. I remember If I started the video by like the first tower, It would be only moments before the end credits when I got off. But I must just be on crack and remembering wrong.
You watch tv on the chairlift.
Maybe you were on crack?
 
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Michael R.

Michael R.

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Maybe you were watching the Simpsons Halloween special?:huh: Each sub episode is only 7-8 minutes
 

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