Jill and I are now cruising around the CO ski areas. During the past week, we skied the following resorts in Summit County:
- Beaver Creek - nice cruising on the groomers but firm off piste
- Vail -6”of new and the Back Bowls were enjoyable, a bit scratchy in the trees
- Breckenridge – a sunny, windless day to ski off the Imperial Express chair that tops out about 12,980”, great terrain. The town is over developed. $17 for parking(we found the free lot).
- Keystone – a groomed cruiser with hiking potential and nice trees.
- Copper Mtn – an Intrawest resort but the whiteout conditions prevented us from skiing the back bowls.
The resorts have been wind hammered the past month and all those 13 and 14,000 foot peaks are bare and wind scoured. My RV friends say that you normally see white peaks versus the brown domes. The groomers were in great shape but I was reluctant to venture into the trees due to the light coverage(for me). The Vail Resorts charge $85 or $81 for a lift ticket – yikes. We skied free with our Heavenly pass and used the Shell 2 for 1 at Copper. It was fun cruising but after reading all the great reports from the PNW we are ready for some deep powder days. The forecast for Monarch Pass is encouraging and it’s a Shell coupon resort.
The backcountry skiing seems a bit firm with the strong winds and bare terrain high. Hopefully, the upcoming storm cycle will hit Monarch and Wolf Creek during this week. Then its down to Taos and Santa Fe.
Zap & Jill
