Colorado 2020-2021 Colorado Weather and Stoke (and beer)

[jmeb]

WOW, I hadn't not seen any mention of this in the news. I am really glad they gave those stranded $5.00. LOLLOLOL

Once someone made a fuss about in on social media they caved and offered the complainers 2 lift tickets. Still...that should've been given out at the site immediately. Lift evacs happen, but places should comp the folks who just had a ski day ruined.

 

[doc]

Winter Park lift fiasco

This made the national news very early this morning.
I'd been skiing that lift all morning, but had moved over the MJ side fortunately before the breakdown. An instructor told me that everyone in the Pioneer line at the time of the breakdown had to hike back up to the Olympia or Prospector lifts which then became a cluster themselves.
Kudos to the patrollers getting folks off the lift safely. Imagine there were some folks who missed their Sunday afternoon departures from DIA.

 

[my07mcx2]

we rode it a few times on Saturday. glad it didn't break then.

 

[TexasStout]

Once someone made a fuss about in on social media they caved and offered the complainers 2 lift tickets. Still...that should've been given out at the site immediately. Lift evacs happen, but places should comp the folks who just had a ski day ruined.

Exactly. Dec 2019, my son and his GF were stuck on a lift at Breckenridge for somewhere between 30-45 minutes before they got the lift going again. They comped all of them that were stuck a day of lift tickets right away, without them having to ask for it.

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

We got stranded on a lift for about an hour with our niece and nephew at Ski Cooper on Sunday. Patrol did a great job keeping everyone on the lift informed on what was happening. Eventually they got generators going and were able to get us off. No comp tickets but for $40 a person there was no need. I keep saying it, but no other ski area or resort in CO does more with less. It is a very well ran little hill that our younger nieces and nephews love.

 

[Ron]

Just did 2 hours skiing in 6" medium density snow. Not heavy but not blower. No complaints here. . Skied with a fellow Pug who was able to get a few nice pow shots. Some really good untracked lines with wind load that was boot high. Winds are picking up but its still coming down. Tomorrow will be good if it keeps snowing. It covered up a lot of the grass and rocks but its lurking just below the surface, tempting but I think the trees and side country need more coverage.

 

[weatherman]

We got stranded on a lift for about an hour with our niece and nephew at Ski Cooper on Sunday. Patrol did a great job keeping everyone on the lift informed on what was happening. Eventually they got generators going and were able to get us off. No comp tickets but for $40 a person there was no need. I keep saying it, but no other ski area or resort in CO does more with less. It is a very well ran little hill that our younger nieces and nephews love.

I agree. I work in the industry, and am always impressed with Cooper's operation. They should be proud.

 

[mikel]

Just did 2 hours skiing in 6" medium density snow. Not heavy but not blower. No complaints here.

Nice. For whatever reason I think just about every place is getting about 2x the snow Copper is this season. Just standing and looking over at the back side of peak 8 I wonder how they get more. Only about 2" at Copper so far. Hopefully I will be able to get some ski time tomorrow.

 

[dbostedo]

Skied with a fellow Pug...

I think you mean Ski Talker? Or Ski Talk-ite? Ski Talkian? STalker? Ski Talk Skier (STS for short)?

 

[Ron]

^^^ I ran through the iterations and ended up back at Pugs. .

technically, Pugski is the holding, Parent CO of SkiTalk so Pugs is still acceptable.

 

[Jerez]

This made the national news very early this morning.
I'd been skiing that lift all morning, but had moved over the MJ side fortunately before the breakdown. An instructor told me that everyone in the Pioneer line at the time of the breakdown had to hike back up to the Olympia or Prospector lifts which then became a cluster themselves.
Kudos to the patrollers getting folks off the lift safely. Imagine there were some folks who missed their Sunday afternoon departures from DIA.

Glad you missed the fun.

That is a pretty flat, but very long, hike. The Vasquez Ridge area attracts a lot of family skiers so there were probably kids and older skiers in the mix and flatlanders too. It's amazing to me they didn't bring in snowmobiles to ferry folks out. (When my DH and I were stranded at Big Sky having skied down to some lift (Dakota maybe?) with no other way out, the lift was closed due to a wet slide which we thankfully missed. They sent snowmobiles to take us out.) Heck they could have used the snowmobile and tow line that used to ferry skiers along the cirque. I mean it's not like that was being used in these sparse conditions.

Shame on WP. I hope the board (or whoever represents Aspen/KSL partnership) looks at management of the area with an eye to some changes, given how badly they have handled this year. And this is coming from someone who really loves that mountain.

 

[jmeb]

I've heard that they did in fact use sleds to get those most in need (families with small children, those unable to hike, etc) out.

 

[Jerez]

I've heard that they did in fact use sleds to get those most in need (families with small children, those unable to hike, etc) out.

Thank you for that. Thank goodness. I will officially dismount my high horse.

 

[Blue Streak]

Lift evacs happen, but places should comp the folks who just had a ski day ruined

Stuck on a lift for 3 hours? A comp lift ticket doesn’t cut it
At a minimum they should have ferried up edibles and had the Swedish bikini team ski laps under the lift.

 

[Ron]

Score! Another 6" since the close. This time it should be blower. Just meets the criteria for a powder day so I'll be taking out the Dynastar M-Free 108's for initial testing.

 

[Ken_R]

Score! Another 6" since the close. This time it should be blower. Just meets the criteria for a powder day so I'll be taking out the Dynastar M-Free 108's for initial testing.

View attachment 120136

So far thats as good as youve gotten this season over a skiable base go get it. Post pics if possible

A duster of a storm after that one maybe another so no significant storms for Northern Colorado as far as the GFS can see (17 days).

 

[Ron]

Yeah, normally, I would never take out a 108 ski for 6-10" but I need to get these tested and I have very high expectations for them. My friend who owns Steamboat Bike and Ski, says the M-Free 108's are his favorite ski of all time. Thats really high praise from a guy that lived in Jackson and Steamboat and of course, can ski anything he wants.

Yesterday's snow was a god-send. It was a solid 6-7" of medium density which will go a long way to cover up a lot of grass and low lying debris and this 6" that came down overnight should be blower. We are like everyone else though, behind by ~30% but this storm saved our bacon and gets us a reprieve since there's no significant storms on the horizon

 

[oswaldr2]

Once someone made a fuss about in on social media they caved and offered the complainers 2 lift tickets. Still...that should've been given out at the site immediately. Lift evacs happen, but places should comp the folks who just had a ski day ruined.

Same thing happened to me two years in a row around 2013/2014 on the same chair at Vail both times, the Highline Express. Ski patrol was waiting at the top handing out red business cards to all the riders, it was a transferrable lift ticket voucher each time it happened good through the following season. A $5.00 lunch credit is a joke, just another miss by Alterra/W.P.........Vail was the evil corporation who started the mega pass and ruined skiing, but at least they know how to take care of their customers. Alterra on the other hand....Sadly I'll keep buying their product as I like skiing Copper/Eldora locally and Jackson / SLC regionally. If only Powdr would get off the Ikon and sell a Copper/Eldora season pass together. But I suppose that's for another debate.

 

[TDCSPRINGS]

If only Powdr would get off the Ikon and sell Copper/Eldora together. But I suppose that's for another debate.

I would buy that pass.

 

[Ron]

So today was stellar. the 6" that fell since the close on top of the 7" that fell yesterday, blew around a bit and settled creating some seriously deep pockets of near blower. Terrain that was marginal, was skiing superbly and we skied untracked and broken lines all AM. For those who know the mountain, Storm Peak center (Center field) is a decent black pitch with a lot of small evergreens, This area skied unbelievably well. Not many people skied into this area leaving us with deep untracked turns and the small evergreens were covered in deep snow and could be skied over creating a fun-park, popping off them. Some of the side country was decent too, rocks were covered but skiing through unsettled snow over evergreens on steeper faces required some attention. Review to come but the Dynastar M-Free 108 is the king of powder, Powder bumps and trees. Pivots, Schmears on a dime but can be laid over on soft groomers. Very stable through piled snow on edge. The 181 is ample for those who typically ski a 184-186 powder ski. the amount of float belies its 108 width.