Jan 11-12 Mary Jane Colorado

A bit late...

My Denver pal and I certainly caught the great snow last Friday and Saturday in Colorado at Winter Park/Mary Jane. Lows of -8 and highs around 6 degrees. It snowed all Friday and it was hero snow all day. We skied until 4 pm close and didn’t want to stop. Waist-high soft bumps, knee deep power, and flat intermediate terrain was the diet.

Now on to Winter Park/Mary Jane Ski Resort, or should I say Winter Farce. When a lift ticket costs $86, I expect fast lifts, good grooming, and some big bowl skiing. What we got was a ski operation that touts big moguls (read, not spending money on grooming) and some big Saturday lift lines. In fact, the biggest lines I’ve seen in years. The vast majority of the mountain is flat, Crystal Mountain ($58 lift ticket) has much better steeps. I also don’t need a constant diet of moguls because the resort doesn’t groom and doesn’t get sufficient regular snow fall. Fortunately, we didn’t pay full price on the lift ticket by taking advantage of a local coupon deal. Again, Winter Park has great snow, but I wouldn’t recommend it due to the lame mountain operation and lack of much challenging terrain. Unless you really like skiing bumps all the time.

This trip made me reconsider Crystal's attributes.

I was reading an article about this area last night in Ski Magazine about Bob Barnes, the bump master and Mary Jane

www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20071227/NEWS/484251345

Hey Lex,

Sorry you had a bad experience at Winter Park. I grew up in Colorado and found Winter Park to be a pretty good ski area. That was several years ago and I am also a snowboarder, so my view of the resort might be a little different from yours (from your post I am guessing you do not snowboard). I always avoided Mary Jane specifically because of the moguls. But the rest of the area has some nice terrain. I agree that $86 is a pretty steep price, but it is inline with other Colorado ski areas.

If you want steeps in Colorado, check out Silverton Mountain.

Better luck next time.

When a lift ticket costs $86, I expect fast lifts, good grooming, and some big bowl skiing.  What we got was a ski operation that touts big moguls (read, not spending money on grooming) and some big Saturday lift lines.  In fact, the biggest lines I’ve seen in years.

Like the bumpersticker says: No Pain, No Jane