Colorado Winter Park "improvements"

[headybrew]

So I could never figure out how to shrink my video to upload it on this site but here on Drive is a short video of the helicopter carrying cement up for footers on the new gondola.

 

[raisingarizona]

When people tell me that they prefer really tight tree skiing lines I can't help but think that they prefer to ski really slowly.

 

[cosmoliu]

When people tell me that they prefer really tight tree skiing lines I can't help but think that they prefer to ski really slowly.

Yeah. That's exactly what hard skier's left at Eagle Wind is about. The rug rats have a blast back there, but those of us of adult stature do a lot of starting and stopping. Some of those trees wouldn't be missed if they were removed.

 

[tball]

The photo on the website makes it look like they are going to make quasi runs in seven places. Cant tell what the red vs orange segments mean.

View attachment 53062

I don't think you need to worry. Thinning is generally good. It's also expensive, so it seems unlikely WP will spend more to over thin the trees in one area vs. thin a broader area for a greater good.

Take a look from above at how much thicker the trees are in the Eagle Wind area (my runs on the left of this map) vs. the trees on the front and back side of the Jane:



That whole day I was pretty much in the trees. I was late to the party, showed up at noon with a foot new.

If you zoom all the way in on the satellite map here, it's pretty clear the Eagle Wind trees are some of the thickest I saw during that tree skiing afternoon:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/473075629

If done well, I think the Eagle Wind thinning will be fantastic.

Same applies to a whole bunch of other areas in Colorado. The thinning at Highlands has been wonderful, for example. I wish there were more money for thinning pretty much everywhere I ski.

 

[mikel]

Not sure if this is the best place to post this but for all of those that don't get emails from WP. Next Sat. and Sun. is the ski swap there. This Wed. is the last day to purchase a WP/MJ 4 pack.

 

[Ken_R]

Thinning is good for the health of the forest. The reason it is that thick is due to fire control over many years. It is not naturally like that.

 

[Jerez]

Thinning is good for the health of the forest. The reason it is that thick is due to fire control over many years. It is not naturally like that.

Absolutely. All for that. But my impression was that they were thinning to "improve" skier experience. I was just concerned that it might get thinned out to the degree much of Parsenn Bowl trees were. Seems I am in the minority in liking it thicker, but then that's why I like it. Thick number of trees = thin number of skiers

 

[Magi]

The gondola will officially be called the "Gondola". Splicing of the Gondola cable is supposedly done, and cabins should be going on for the load test shortly! (fingers crossed this thing is opened on time...)

Eagle Wind thinning was done using helicopters to protect a sensitive stream at the bottom), and the thinning mostly opened up some of the stupidly tight sections on looker's middle through right (reportedly - haven't skied them yet myself).

Total capital improvements since the ownership change of over 35 million dollars. Spread between revamped rental shops, new snow making system, new gondola, lift maintenance changes [better reliability of lifts with the same excellent safety by proactively replacing a number of wear components on a schedule], new plaza, and bunches more.

 

[Slim]

When people tell me that they prefer really tight tree skiing lines I can't help but think that they prefer to ski really slowly.

I do often prefer to ski slowly. It appeals to my cautious side, as well as to my desire to milk the skiing for as long as possible.
The other reason to like tight tree skiing is that the wide open stuff is often tracked out much faster. If I had the choice between some super tight trees and something more open, with equal snow, I would also pick the more open stuff.

 

[Slim]

Anyone have a report on how Eaglewind is skiing now? headed out next weekend.

 

[Magi]

Anyone have a report on how Eaglewind is skiing now? headed out next weekend.

There's stuff that'll mess up your skis, but deadfall was covered or obvious where I was (medicine, thunderbird, and left hand) on the three runs I did on Friday.

Overall verdict - very skiable, but not full send. Avoid the lower liftline if you like your skis.

 

[Freaq]

Agree with @Magi though I'll relate that I did uncover some deadfall on or near Medicine Man Saturday and have a nice bruise to show for it.

Regarding the 'improvements', it's just way more wide open at the top. You can still find some tightish trees but you have to stick to a fairly narrow corridor to do so, lots of the rest is just bumps now. Used to be you could find great lines through the trees but you had to stick to a fairly narrow corridor. Still tightens near the bottom.

Rode the EW yesterday with a young lady who had been waiting for her party for too long and was going back to retrace lines, hoping she wouldn't find badly injured friends, she was a bit distraught. All turned out well but I couldn't help thinking that from the top it looks way more inviting to a larger range of skill levels. Then again, it was Saturday.....typical to see lots of folks over-terrained.

 

[Slim]

@Freaq and @Magi , thanks for the info.
That sounds less great than I’d hoped. I agree, its better to open it up more at the bottom. In mtb trail design, we call this a “qualifier”, a hard feature at the start, if can handle that, you can handle what comes below.
I was also hoping that it would open up some more, tight lines all the way down, rather than simply opening up the top more all over.
To bad.
How is the gondola?

 

[Magi]

@Freaq and @Magi , thanks for the info.
I was also hoping that it would open up some more, tight lines all the way down, rather than simply opening up the top more all over.
To bad.
How is the gondola?

Maybe I just needed to ski Eagle wind more - but the top of the runs didn't feel that different to me relative to last year (certainly not in a bad way, in my opinion). The top open areas just extended slightly lower into the area, and I ran into fewer spots where I thought "can't go that way". They didn't take out that many trees - frankly if I didn't know we'd logged in there, I'm not sure I'd have noticed a change. (There is a difference, but its subtle).

Gondola is quite nice. 6 minutes to the top is delightful, no wind, great views. It's a bit wobbly on the step in - consensus is step on with your left foot to mitigate that.

 

[Jerez]

That's a relief @Magi !
I was worried it would just be too open and get bumped like a steeper version of Parsenn trees.

Since we were with our granddaughter (thanks again by the way for your superb instruction) and I was (still am) dealing with a persistent cold, we didn't get over there this trip.

In Steamboat now waiting for the women's clinic. Meanwhile back home, more and more and more snow! Oh well, means great conditions and base for us when we get back.

 

[Freaq]

Rode the EW yesterday with a young lady who had been waiting for her party for too long and was going back to retrace lines, hoping she wouldn't find badly injured friends, she was a bit distraught. All turned out well but I couldn't help thinking that from the top it looks way more inviting to a larger range of skill levels. Then again, it was Saturday.....typical to see lots of folks over-terrained.

To be fair, it should be stated that by the time you're looking at those inviting runs you're pretty much committed to the area anyway.

This was a topic among friends getting to EW for the first time this year and our consensus was that the top skis much differently than last year, but no perfect memories in this group fosho. What I'm thinking is that on the second and third lap on a pow day you used to find spots that looked like difficult entries but led to long slots. Seems like fewer of those and more bump fields this year.

 

[Jerez]

Is Belle Fourche still in tact? That's one of my favorite places on the mountain.

 

[Freaq]

BF is a fave area and a fave place to check on the Cirque so I've been through a few times and do not recall any bump fields.

Bump fields = relative to the area. I just mean more than a line a couple of bumps wide.

 

[Magi]

Let me add that the Gondola has made an immense difference at the base of WP and over the mountain in general - 13K skier visits feels almost empty because people can move up and out and lap at the base without an issue getting places.

It's pretty cool.

 

[headybrew]

Let me add that the Gondola has made an immense difference at the base of WP and over the mountain in general - 13K skier visits feels almost empty because people can move up and out and lap at the base without an issue getting places.

It's pretty cool.

It does clear out the rush on busy mornings and after lunch but how does it make a difference to the rest of the mountain if there are 300 people standing in line at the base or not? I do not follow.

I wish I had statistics on riders of The Gondola vs. Zephyr. Would be interesting to see if the demographics of who is using that area changed.