Breckenridge Ski Resort has been loving the spring-like conditions this past week, but more winter-like weather makes a quick return in the forecast. (Breckenridge/Facebook).
It’s officially spring time on the calendar, so we can now expect the weather to be even more “fickle” than in the winter. This week’s SnoCast will proves that winter weather is fighting to hang on as long as possible despite what the calendar says.
Finish the season in style. (Arapahoe Basin/Facebook)
Arapahoe Basin and spring skiing in the Rockies are synonymous. Almost always the last Colorado resort to close, A-Basin’s 10,780-foot base elevation and a mountain that is half above treeline and straddles the Continental Divide typically holds off summer longer than others.
But it’s the soft snow, the bright sun and its wacky nature that truly sets Arapahoe Basin above the rest when the days get longer and warmer. Dress in layers … and flaunt your wild side.
Terrain/Lifts. Four cirques carve out 960-acres of skiable terrain below the 12,400-foot Continental Divide. In spring, befriend a local because moving around the mountain with the sun yields the best conditions. Lower front side is all groomers, and several wind down from alpine summit. But it’s the expert runs – wide-open bowls, steep gullies and chutes and tree glades all await. Iconic moguls on Pallavicini pitch with dedicated chair challenges all hot-shots. Traverse across the East Wall on upper front to find a precipitous line (it’s here that the world speed skiing record has been set). Or, cross over to the backside and check out the double-diamond delights in Montezuma Bowl. (Beware: It’s south-facing and will mush up quickly.) Next season, heretofore hiking-only Beavers will open its major gnarl with a chairlift.
Deals. Elevation 3 Pass costs $169 for three days. Colorado Gems Card runs $20 for 2-for-one or 30 percent off. Sports stores and supermarkets in Denver area often sell discounted tickets, and the ubiquitous Internet always yields savings.
Eat/Drink. In spring, tailgate parties start early and often. Breakfast till10:30 at base lodge, then hearty fare thereafter. At mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge, they start grilling onions early to get salivary glands primed for burgers, stews and BBQ. Mountaintop Snow Plume great spot for brown baggers, and apres-ski libations at 6th Alley Bar and Grill at the bottom. Head down Rt. 6 for resort-town variety below.
Stay. No lodging at base area. Nearest is at nearby Keystone but, for less pricey, all manner of motels, vacation rentals and condos in Dillon, Silverthorne and Frisco.
Play. It’s all skiing and riding at A-Basin. But, below, there’s bowling in Dillon, ice skating in Keystone, dog-sled rides, hot-air balloon ascents, snowmobiling, tubing – all and more in surrounding towns.
Travel. The drive takes about 1-1/2 hours from Denver. Be prepared for heavy traffic up and down I-70 on weekends; sometimes taking Loveland Pass is faster than going to Silverthorne and around. Or, shuttle up from Denver or ride free Summit County buses.
Cutlines
Finish the season in style (Arapahoe Basin/Facebook)
Family fun at A-Basin (Arapahoe Basin/Facebook)
Sunrise in the Rockies (Arapahoe Basin/Facebook)
Free uphilling at Buttermilk. (Aspen-Snowmass)
Scheduled to shut down its lifts on April 2, operators of Buttermilk Mountain have decided to open back up on April 8-9 for all manner of human-powered uphill traffic.
Bright future at Denver's fave. (Echo Mountain/Facebook)
The third incarnation of Echo Mountain -- the closest slopes to downtown Denver – has emerged.
Hesperus Ski Area – the town hill for Durango-area skiers and riders – has closed down to address long-overdue repairs to the only chairlift and other infrastructure.
Mountain officials say they expect to reopen the second week in March, but are unsure how long repairs will take. The mountain closed on March 7 last season.
That mean’s southwest Colorado skiers and snowboarders won’t be able to sneak out of work for few turns at noon or carve under the lights after work - or tube. Ski Hesperus operates half-days on Mondays through Fridays, and full days on Saturdays and Sundays, with popular night skiing until 9 p.m. except on Sundays.
A major portion of the maintenance is the main double chairlift, installed in the 1960s, including the condition of a number of the assemblies that connect the chair to the cable. A report following an unannounced inspection by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board on Feb. 20-21 revealed issues with signage, record-keeping, lift maintenance and employee training.
Hesperus’ Greg Ralph said that new “clips’ have been ordered and should be installed in the next weeks. Repairs have been made to the emergency braking system, and updating of signs and training of workers is underway, Ralph said.
Durango businessman James Coleman bought Hesperus in 2016, adding it to his regional portfolio that includes Purgatory, Arizona Snowbowl, Sipapu and Pajarito. Hesperus opened in the 1960s and was run by Jim Pitcher as a “one-man show” for three decades – with hand-painted signs and a Quonset hut base lodge.
Long a local’s favorite, Hesperus sits 11 miles west of downtown Durango with 60 skiable acres, 700 vertical feet and 26 trails.
After a crazy week of powder in the Northeast, expect a warm up and springlike conditions. Good thing the snow is deep to start at Jay Peak Resort. (Christopher Kurdek )
It’s a mixed bag of weather for the U.S. and Canada this week. Some will get snow, others get very mild temperatures for this last full week of February.
Read this week's SnoCast to find out what to expect by region Feb. 22- 27.
Pats Peak cookies are an obligatory part of a trip to the mountain. (Pats Peak)
With all the powder and corduroy you’ll be hitting on your next ski trip, refueling with some fine confections are in order. SnoCountry.com has tirelessly researched across the country to find these not-to-miss mountain treats.
A family heads down Village Way (Winter Park Resort/Chris Wellhausen)
Sometimes, you just want to get onto a trail and just go … and go … and go. Fortunately, U.S. ski and snowboard resorts have just the ticket for those who need a leisurely slide down the hill.
Obviously, Europe has us beat hands down, but the U.S. has got length, too. So SnoCountry.com went looking for the longest ski runs in the country -- those under a single name -- and came up with this sampling.
Vail boasts the longest run in Colorado, its famous Riva Ridge trail. Nothing gets you from top to bottom at the Colorado resort more readily than Riva Ridge. It’s mostly blue and black, starting near the summit and winding 4-1/2 miles to the Vail Village base area.
At Snowmass, if you’re at the top of Elk Camp and want a long cruiser at the end of the day, skiers and riders can link several blue runs off Elk Camp summit into a 5.3-mile cruiser to the bottom of Two Creeks chairlift. The run covers East Branch run, which is one of the longest single-named trails on the Colorado mountain.
If you’re at the top of Winter Park and don’t have the legs for anymore blacks or blues, as someone how to get on long and languid Village Way run that starts at the top of Parsenn Bowl. Mostly blue at the top, Village Way winds down more than five miles down onto the main front side of the Colorado resort.
Vermont’s largest resort Killington also claims the East’s longest single run, a 10-mile cruise called Juggernaut. The trail starts at the top of Killington Peak and courses right along the ropes at ski area boundary. Rating begins as a blue but transitions to a green slide to the base of the Sunrise Village triple chair. A recent trip by SnoCountry resulted in a 45-minute trip from top to bottom.
Eyeing a powder line (Monarch/Facebook)
Monarch Mountain wears two faces. One is for families, kids and once-a-season visitors who seek a dedicated beginner area, plenty of greens and blues, and friendly down-home attitude. The other smiles on powder hounds with serious steep-and-deep terrain fed by persistent Continental Divide storms.
Whichever the desire – or a mixture of the two – this southern Colorado resort fills the bill. As does nearby Salida, a Victorian mining town fully yuppie-fied with Patagonia and Subarus.
Terrain/Lifts. Vertical is just over 1,110 feet. Novices get Tumbelina lift to themselves. Groomers roll off Breezeway and Panorama lifts, with a pair of terrain parks. The gentle runs along the ridgetop Divide off Panorama chair are cause to pause to soak in 100-mile vistas to east and west. When a dump arrives, Monarch’s original steeps and trees await cycling on the Garfield chair, as do the pitches off mid-mountain Panorama chair. A short hike gets you into the silence of Curecanti Bowl, and longer hump reaches the classic powder lines of Milkwood Bowl. Beyond, Monarch’s ‘cat skiing is affordable and surprisingly huge.
Deals. Bring a season pass from any Colorado resort and get a $45 day ticket. Online purchases cut deep, as does $25 Gems Card via Colorado Ski Country. Some Shell gas stations give out two-for-one vouchers, and area supermarkets often sell discounted tickets.
Eat/Drink. Base lodge just got an upgrade (fewer stairs, more seating) but retained hearty cafeteria fare and a long-standing welcome for brown-baggers. Sidewinder Saloon rocks lunchtime and apres-ski with local brews.
Stay. Accommodations at up-valley Monarch Lodge are basic and comfortable, and short-term cabins and homes nestled nearby. The town of Salida hosts all manner of lodging. Most include passes to the Salida Hot Springs pool, and some sell discounted lift tickets.
Play. Winter backcountry hikers get a 12,000-foot-high leg up from Monarch Pass. In spring, Monarch hosts pond-skimming in kayaks – a nod to the popularity of summer rafting on the Arkansas River. The town of Salida continues to up its game with coffee houses, upscale dining, shopping and raucous bars – with kayaks and tubes passing through downtown. More hot springs sit a short drive up the road at Mount Princeton and Cottonwood Canyon.
Travel. Nearest commercial airports are Colorado Springs (two hours) and Gunnison (one hour), and Denver is three hours away. Major routes (U.S. 285 and U.S. 50) intersect near Salida.
Insider Tip: Busloads from Kansas and Oklahoma hit Monarch for holidays, so either go elsewhere those weeks, or get on the hill early and stick to the high ground to avoid long lines.
Although their first choice team won't be in the big game this year, Crested Butte avy dogs show their colors. (Chris Segal/Crested Butte)
The penultimate games of the National Football League season took place this past weekend, leaving only two teams to battle it out for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. As you make plans for the big game, rather than leaving the slopes early, you might want to plan for a night of cheering on the Atlanta Falcons or New England Patriots at Crested Butte, and cheap skiing and riding the Monday after.
Butte 66 will be hosting their annual Big Game Party with deals on wings and customized specials related to each team throughout the game.
Guests should plan on sticking around on Monday as the price of Monday’s full day lift ticket will be based on the final combined scores of Sunday’s game. The price will be determined using the following formula: $1 per point scored. If the final score is Atlanta, 24, and New England, 21, the price of a lift ticket for Monday, February 6 will be $45. However, there is a cap in the event of a high-scoring game; guests will pay no more than $65 for a full day lift ticket.
The big question arises, how low could it go? If the score at the end of the game is 3 to 0, tickets at CBMR would be $3 on Monday. As a reference, the highest scoring Super Bowl in history was in 1995 when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers, 49–26, for a total of 75 points. The lowest combined Super Bowl score was in 1973 as the Miami Dolphins bested the Washington Redskins, 14–7, but CBMR is willing to bet on the odds and regardless give everyone a discounted day of skiing.
Young skiers at Ridge Cat pickup. (Loveland/Facebook)
At Loveland Ski Area – like all mountains -- a day ticket or season pass gets you onto all the lifts on the mountain. Unlike most others, your ticket at Loveland also puts you in line for a few snowcat rides into powder country.
The Vermont hills are alive with stunning views from a Trapp Family Lodge sleigh ride. (Trapp Family Lodge)
With all the snow piling up across the country, we may just have to use sleighs to get to the mountains. The classic winter experience is a must-do for a chance to enjoy another side of your favorite resort, many with perks like hot chocolate or dinner as part of the adventure.
"Stop" - a word hardly ever muttered by ski areas in the winter. But, with recent crippling snow in the West, we may have had a little too much of a good thing. A break to regroup is in the forecast. (Image: Crested Butte/Facebook)
In this week's SnoCast, a brief respite from an extremely active West, and variable conditions in the East leading into the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Here's what to expect for weather conditions by region.
Up to 500 skiers and riders can hop on the revitalized Winter Park Express. (Winter Park Resort)
After being sidetracked for seven years, the famed Winter Park Express is back on the main line to ferry skiers and snowboarders to and from Winter Park Resort.
The maiden voyage from Denver’s Union Station to the base area of the resort on Jan. 7 is already sold out, but tickets are available for round trips on Saturdays and Sundays through March 26 – with extra trips on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents’ Day.
The strong demand for tickets to ride a train rather than fight traffic on I-70 and over Berthoud Pass prompted railroad officials to add another car. Capacity is about 500 riders.
It takes two diesel-electric locomotives to make the 60-mile trip that gains 3,700 feet in altitude – a trip that has two dozen tunnels including the final 6.2 miles through the venerable Moffat Tunnel.
“When it comes to the service itself, the fact that Amtrak has added more capacity reinforces what we’ve known all along that Colorado loves this train,” Winter Park’s Steve Hurlburt told SnoCounty.com.
The ski train, which first ran in 1944 and ceased in 2009, takes off from downtown Union Station at 7 a.m. and arrives at the slopes at 9 a.m. After a day of skiing and riding on the slopes, the train leaves the Winter Park platform at 4:30 p.m. for the two-hour ride back down to Denver.
Right now, the cheapest ticket is $39, with higher-priced billets for refundable or discounts programs. Upgrades to first class are also available.
Colorado tourism and Winter Park officials see the rebirth of the ski train as another way to set skiing and riding in the Centennial State apart from others.
“What makes it even more exciting is with the new RTD A Line from Denver International Airport to Denver Union Station, visitors from throughout the country and around the globe can now access Colorado skiing without ever worrying about renting a car, sitting in traffic, or navigating sometimes treacherous mountain roads,” Hurlburt told us. “This option of going from plane to ski slopes via rail is completely unique to Winter Park in the United States.”
Often teams have to go deep into the wilderness for backcountry rescues. (Mountain Rescue Aspen/Facebook)
Steamboat is believed to be the first resort to officially say it may impose a fine on skiers or snowboarders who venture beyond the ropes and subsequently need to be rescued by Steamboat ski patrollers.
The proposed fine, which is now delineated on trail maps and on-mountain signs, is aimed at keeping inexperienced skiers and riders out of the backcountry. The fine could be as high as $500, although Steamboat officials say it may not apply to every case – and none has been assessed so far.
“If you don’t know, don’t go” is the mantra issued by the Steamboat Ski Patrol that has already had to pull people out of dangerous situations in the backcountry this season.
“(The situations) vary from ski area by ski area because some have much greater backcountry access than others, but where this is an issue it’s becoming a bigger and bigger one by the year,” Colorado Ski Country USA’s Chris Linsmayer told SnoCountry.com. “It’s an ongoing discussion within the industry and the rescues do really put strain on a ski areas who have to divert important resources and ski patrol staff to conduct them.”
Across the West, the vast majority of ski resorts primarily sit on federal land. Public access can be limited to an access gate or as to mode of travel (i.e., ATVs). But it cannot be denied under normal conditions.
Backcountry numbers have exploded in the West. Steamboat officials say as many as 500 people might go through access gates in a day. Anyone who’s gone to resorts in the Wasatch Mountains outside of Salt Lake City knows this, too.
A few resorts have tried to bill rescues, but resort officials have found that the threat of having to pay sometimes makes people reticent to call in an emergency or even to refuse help when it arrives. Colorado state law forbids formal search-and-rescue teams from charging.
Mammoth Mountain boasts 24-46" in just 24 hours as of Wednesday. A steady plume of moisture means rounds of big time snow out west. (Mammoth Mountain/Facebook)
Happy Wednesday, all. It’s the best time of the week, SnoCast time! Let’s dig into this week’s forecast and find out where the best conditions will be for hitting the slopes.
More seats on chairs at Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail next season. (Breckenridge/Facebook)
Skiers and snowboarders will get their final rides up a trio of venerable chairlifts this season before upgrades commence at Keystone, Breckenridge and Vail.
Vail Resorts, which owns all three Colorado resorts, has plans to replace Keystone’s Montezuma Express, Breckenridge’s Falcon SuperChair on Peak 10 and Vail’s Northwoods Chair to increase capacity and streamline flow in key areas of the mountains.
Each project will be subject to U.S. Forest Service review, but resort officials are confident the new lifts will be up and running by the 2017-2018 season.
At Keystone, the Montezuma Express – installed in 1990 – serves the prime novice and intermediate terrain on the upper front side. The new lift will add two seats to become a six-pack to increase uphill capacity by 25 percent, the resort said.
Also at Keystone, Labonte’s Smokehouse BBQ at the base of North Peak will get a facelift over the summer, including more indoor seating to go with the fav “ski beach” outside.
Breckenridge’s Peak 10 has a large portion of the expert terrain on the mountain, and debuted in 1985-86 with the fixed-grip F Lift. A year later, a high-speed quad went in. The newest Falcon SuperChair will be a six-seat high-speed that will bolster uphill capacity and allow snowboarders and skiers more Peak 10 laps each day.
At Vail, the original Northwoods chair went in 1985 to open up intermediate and advanced terrain on Blue Sky Basin on the upper front side. Resort officials noted congestion on the lift, especially for skiers and riders heading over to the back bowls.
“The replacement of Northwoods will impact a key area of the mountain, especially at the end of the day, as guests are leaving Blue Sky Basin and making their way west,” said Vail’s Doug Lovell.
Layers will be key as you hit the slopes this week! With the right precautions, nothing can stop skiers and riders from getting the fresh snow at Jay Peak Resort where a quick hit of arctic cold air is followed by some fresh snow for the weekend. (Photo: Christopher Kurdek)
We are going to see some temp swings both in the East and West in this week’s outlook. From warm ups to January-like cold snaps, and snow in between, here’s the breakdown of the forecast in this week's SnoCast.
We’re in mid December, the holidays are coming right up, and the ski conditions look great. Last winter was (not so fondly) "the winter that wasn't" for a lot of the East, no thanks to very warm temps. This year...much better! About 40 percent of the U.S. has snow on the ground, and nearly 100 percent of Canada. Compared to this time last year, many ski resorts are happy leading into the holidays.
This week's outlook (Dec. 14-19) is quite a different story. Unlike last year with warm temps, we are in for some really chilly snaps that will have you digging for the layers before hitting the slopes in some areas. Oh, and snow, too. Here's what to expect by region.
Northeast: It seems we keep getting hit after hit of snow in the Northeast. While each system is generally small and quick moving, it has helped generate good early season skiing and riding. It’s going to be brutally cold (like, lots of layers and frequent 'pop-ins to the lodge’ cold) to finish this week. Most ski areas will have temps below zero in the mornings in New York and New England, and daytime highs in the single digits Friday. That arctic chill breaks a bit for the weekend, though, as a system moves through the Great Lakes. Expect a few inches of fresh snow on the mountains Saturday. Get out early before milder temps build back in through the day (and maybe a little mixed precip). The numbers below show the GFS model output, but do not account for any melting after as temps climb Saturday-Sunday. Look for another quick cold snap behind that system for early next week.
MidWest:A forecast with “book-end” arctic air for our Midwest ski areas this week. Bone-chilling mornings and mid-winter like days finish this work week. Look for a small shot of natural snow later Friday night into Saturday as a quick moving system drops a few inches of snow. That system pulls in yet another taste of arctic air to follow for early next week. One word: layers.
West: Western ski areas may also have some temperature swings to deal with this week. A storm system moving through northern California has tons of moisture with it Wednesday-Thursday (Dec. 14-15), but snow levels will be very high as warmer air comes in from the Pacific. As that system pushes inward, there will be enough cold air to get snow over Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming mountains Thursday and lingering into the start of the weekend. Look for the highest amounts, a foot or more, over the Wasatch of Utah and the Wyoming Wind River and Teton Ranges. Get out Friday for best conditions, since bitter cold air pours in by the weekend for a lot of the interior west mountains. Another quick shot of snow comes into the Pacific Northwest (Washington/Oregon Cascades) Sunday with a few more inches.
Canada: Certainly enough cold air to go around now. Very cold, arctic air will dip through eastern Canada finishing this work week. Another pocket of cold, arctic air also swings through central Canada over the weekend. So, where’s the snow? The storm system mentioned in the Northeast section will deliver several inches of snow for ski areas in Ontario and Quebec Saturday. There will be plenty of time to make snow for ski areas with ample cold in place. Look for deeper moisture over British Columbia, the coastal range and Rockies by the end of the weekend and especially early next week. This will likely bring big accumulation over several days, really picking up intensity sometime mid next week. We’ll be talking about that in next week’s SnoCast.
That's all 'til next week's SnoCast.
Special thanks to Lyndon State College students Amanda Stone, Chris Kurdek, and Scott Myerson for weekly contributions and forecasts.
Uphiller nears summit of Sunlight (photo Sunlight Mountain Resort)
Be it to stay fit, save money or get some quiet time in the out-of-doors, ”uphill skiing” has become a staple at many U.S. resorts – requiring mountain managers to adopt rules for the activity.
Furry friends enjoy the snow and fresh air on a snowshoe trail at Stowe. (Stowe Mountain Lodge)
For many of us, our dogs are part of our family, and many resorts across the country welcome our four-legged friends with enthusiasm. Rather than leaving the pup behind, enjoy the company of wagging tails on the trails.
