Colorado 2021-2022 Colorado Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[ski otter 2]

There was a rope here and there buried on flimsy poles separating the run from that salvaged area. Snowboarders and folks on park skis were mostly the ones over there, maybe jumping off things, treating it like a freestyle park, or trying to. One had to watch for them suddenly using the steep lip up to the good slopes as a jump, to suddenly air in front of one trying to ski in a normal way up there.

Those "off limits" areas seemed to be much better looking early, for the first two hours or so.

An odd thing about being only 15 minutes drive away from A Basin is that going last minute becomes a fairly casual choice, subject to impulse, now and then.

Result (not of the short drive, only the second day of weekend skiing): A short adventure, more laid back, with more enjoyment - Fresh air. Warmer, sunny, lower expectations, not as early by an hour or so.

A ten minute lower lift line.

The upper lift was worse, and fairly tightly packed.

( I was surrounded by folks who were choosing this experience, for whatever reason. Hah!
Mostly, they have to go weekends because of jobs.)

Hopefully, things will get back to spring normal, as @nay suggested, come Tuesday/Wednesday through Thursday or Friday. Three or four good week days, maybe.

 

[nay]

Here’s from the scene itself. This time of year is so fun with an Ikonic horde throwing snowballs at people on the lift.

 

[ski otter 2]

Relief.
Today, Tuesday, was back to normal, with short lift lines, familiar faces, a powder day.
Very few runs are open and groomed underneath, and of those few, two down below are very narrow, mostly.

But 5" fresh and lightly snowing down below, very light weight snow; maybe 8" up above, but with very flat light, even though no wind.

Up above, many more runs/acreage open, but with the flat light, I couldn't see the bumps, only feel them. Fun. Powder.

(Yesterday also had flat light, even worse - though little new snow.)

Don't want it to end.

 

[MattSmith]

Intel requested... anyone have info on the natural snow line? I'm back from being away for over a week and would like to skin this weekend. I drove by Copper this morning and it looks like it's accessible from the base. Wondering if Ski Cooper at 10K+ has coverage to the base.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Intel requested... anyone have info on the natural snow line? I'm back from being away for over a week and would like to skin this weekend. I drove by Copper this morning and it looks like it's accessible from the base. Wondering if Ski Cooper at 10K+ has coverage to the base.

Saturday I toured Breck's Peak 10 on 16" of evenly distributed fresh snow. It was imperative to stick to the fallline when descending as it was deep and quite resistant. We started from the base of Falcon (drove up the road from Beaver Run parking lot) up Lehman and the access road to near the top of the lift. Spitfire was the run we took and it is north facing. I don't think we got down to any base, there may be some. The tour in and out on Lehman seemed to be on only new snow, no base. I didn't poke around with my poles much.

We got another 8 inches today that turned really wet at my home at 9,752' due to sun and temps.

 

[princo]

Intel requested... anyone have info on the natural snow line? I'm back from being away for over a week and would like to skin this weekend. I drove by Copper this morning and it looks like it's accessible from the base. Wondering if Ski Cooper at 10K+ has coverage to the base.

Their webcams are still active, so you can get a sense of how much they got in the last cycle. https://www.skicooper.com/weather-webcams/

 

[tball]

I drove by Copper this morning and it looks like it's accessible from the base.

I'm pretty sure ski racers are still training off the Excellerator on top of Copper, so they won't want you heading up there.

 

[SBrown]

Intel requested... anyone have info on the natural snow line? I'm back from being away for over a week and would like to skin this weekend. I drove by Copper this morning and it looks like it's accessible from the base. Wondering if Ski Cooper at 10K+ has coverage to the base.

Copper has snowmaking, Cooper doesn't, so I would doubt it. Across Chicago Ridge to the east, very close, the backcountry skiing starts at about 11K. Snow is pretty good, but if it fell on dirt, it's gone by now. If it fell on snow, give it a go.

 

[mikel]

I'm pretty sure ski racers are still training off the Excellerator on top of Copper, so they won't want you heading up there.

Between camps right now. I believe round 2 starts on 6/5 or maybe it's the 10th. I deleted the email. I think it's published that Uphill Access is closed.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Between camps right now. I believe round 2 starts on 6/5 or maybe it's the 10th. I deleted the email. I think it's published that Uphill Access is closed.

And be careful at Breck. They are running cats around the area and while the won't run you down, they aren't too pleased having to wait for uphillers to get out of their way.

 

[tball]

Between camps right now. I believe round 2 starts on 6/5 or maybe it's the 10th. I deleted the email. I think it's published that Uphill Access is closed.

Thanks. Yep, the uphill page says uphill access is closed for the season.

https://www.coppercolorado.com/things-to-do/activities-amenities/uphill-access

 

[nay]

A-Basin email today says June 5th looking good for closing day. Sounds like no extension weekends.

We are planning last day mid-week. Wonder if we’ll even see Reveal this year?

 

[James]

They’ve got to get going on the Lenawee lift. Plus the bbq house.

 

[mikel]

A-Basin email today says June 5th looking good for closing day. Sounds like no extension weekends.

We are planning last day mid-week. Wonder if we’ll even see Reveal this year?

Are you going on Wed? I'm hoping for 2 days next week. I wonder how crowded the beer fest this weekend will be? I think there is a chance of rain or snow on Sun.

 

[ski otter 2]

One of my friends got an email from A Basin that I didn't get. It said that A Basin plans to close the entire upper mountain and lift right after Memorial day, Monday. Only the lower two half runs will be open after that for the last week, hopefully through until June 4th or 5th.

This seemed unbelievable to me (and others), so this morning we asked. The person we talked to contacted "higher ups" just to confirm what he'd been told: yes, even though the snow is good up top and unusually poor down below, A Basin still intends to close the upper lift and mountain in order to get a jump start on installing the new lift up there; much of the equipment for the new lift is already on the ground, up there and at the base, and they want to get started right away.

 

[ski otter 2]

Skied A Basin today, Thursday, and will again tomorrow. Maybe Sunday and/or Memorial Day next, dunno.
Not sure yet how much I'll go after that. Maybe just closing day.

At any rate, again, the upper mountain is in unusually good condition, while the lower mountain is down to two half runs. West Wall was great for an hour or so, even better with Humbug and some other slopes, and so was the lower mountain for a while, for those who like the re-freeze to have softened, even mushed out, but not be rock/ground exposed.

 

[James]

A Basin still intends to close the upper lift and mountain in order to get a jump start on installing the new lift up there; much of the equipment for the new lift is already on the ground, up there and at the base, and they want to get started right away.

Well if Norway chair was still there they wouldn’t have to close it. But did that end where Beavers is now or left of that?

 

[ski otter 2]

A-Basin email today says June 5th looking good for closing day. Sounds like no extension weekends.

We are planning last day mid-week. Wonder if we’ll even see Reveal this year?

The answer seems to be "No," since the upper runs will be closed prematurely before Tuesday (along with the Lake Reveal area also, which is not yet revealed).

 

[tball]

One of my friends got an email from A Basin that I didn't get. It said that A Basin plans to close the entire upper mountain and lift right after Memorial day, Monday. Only the lower two half runs will be open after that for the last week, hopefully through until June 4th or 5th.

This seemed unbelievable to me (and others), so this morning we asked. The person we talked to contacted "higher ups" just to confirm what he'd been told: yes, even though the snow is good up top and unusually poor down below, A Basin still intends to close the upper lift and mountain in order to get a jump start on installing the new lift up there; much of the equipment for the new lift is already on the ground, up there and at the base, and they want to get started right away.

I heard the same from a patroller. Firm closing day on the 5th and no upper mountain past this weekend.

I'm done. My snow tires came off today.

 

[S.H.]

One of my friends got an email from A Basin that I didn't get. It said that A Basin plans to close the entire upper mountain and lift right after Memorial day, Monday. Only the lower two half runs will be open after that for the last week, hopefully through until June 4th or 5th.

FYI, this was in Al's blog on Wed.

27 Inch Storm - Fun Weekend Coming

That was a great storm dropping 27 inches of snow since Saturday. It was a great bonus for conditions between now and our June 5 closing day...

arapahoebasin.blogspot.com

Lastly, Monday is the last day to ride the Lenawee Triple. While Black Mountain Express will remain open thru Sunday, June 5, Tuesday we start the removal process on Lenawee. The old lift is heading to Sunlight Mountain Resort to be replaced by the Lenawee Express, a high speed detachable six-person Leitner Poma lift.