Colorado 2022-2023 Colorado Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[Rudi Riet]

I was at Vail on Friday. Their 1 inch of reported fresh was actually 6-8 inches of fresh at Mid Vail. The runs off of Chair 4 had great coverage (mostly natural as noted upthread) and a lot of light, blower powder on top. Didn't hit any rocks, even on a pair of narrow-waisted (65.5mm) skis, had a great time - as did my athletes, we opted to enjoy the powder opportunity rather than do drills all day. Also: longest line was maybe 3 minutes, tops.

Yesterday at Breck was decent. Coverage there isn't as good on the non-snowmaking trails but it's not terrible, either. Plenty of acreage open though snowmaking only on greens and blues. Longest lift queue was 4 minutes not counting the opening bell scrum to get people out of the base area.

 

[tball]

At A-Basin, per Al's blog, they have got the leader/sand lines up on the towers and will be pulling the cable onto Lewanee Express this week. They then will still have to do the splice, install the chairs/carriers, perform load test, and do any other punch-list/settings/bug-fix stuff. Realstically another 2-3 weeks out before they can get that lift open. At least they are preparing the upper mountain terrain and snowpack regardless.

Yikes, those lift construction crews are tough as nails.

Sound like we could see Pali open before Lewanee this year.

 

[ski otter 2]

Did the Christy/Loveland demo day Saturday. Not as crowded as I'd feared, better coverage also. Richards was open, and empty most of the time.

I'm an old guy, but still did 10 demo skis. Really fun. Man, I had some surprises.

 

[Prosper]

Going to be skiing Copper Mon 1/21 morning for half a day. Anyone interested in getting together for a few runs?

 

[dbostedo]

Going to be skiing Copper Mon 1/21 morning for half a day. Anyone interested in getting together for a few runs?

You mean tomorrow... 11/21?

 

[Prosper]

You mean tomorrow... 11/21?

Yes, tomorrow Monday 11/21.

 

[mikel]

Sorry I just saw this. Good call on today and morning. Weekend was busy and by 2:00 p.m. the big side got pretty scraped off and hard. Race kids loved it. Everyone else, not so much. You definitely needed a good tune. I guess it's too late to say you might want to be on your rock skis if you do any directed skiing.

More stuff will be opening over this week/next weekend.

 

[Ken_R]

Did the Christy/Loveland demo day Saturday. Not as crowded as I'd feared, better coverage also. Richards was open, and empty most of the time.

I'm an old guy, but still did 10 demo skis. Really fun. Man, I had some surprises.

Looking forward to your reviews. I couldnt make it this year. I love demo days!

 

[ski otter 2]

Looking forward to your reviews. I couldnt make it this year. I love demo days!

Hi! Thanks.
I was looking for you there, shucks. I even walked up to someone who looked something like you (under all the ski gear)
and asked him if he was you.

His answer was, "No, sorry. Your friend must be another very handsome guy."


Man, I've taken such a wacking for my reviews in the past, seems like. Dunno. More low profile for me, maybe.

(I already posted/stuffed/sneaked in the basics of my takes over on the never-ending Stockli thread,
since three of the ten were Stocklis I'd never tried, and my biggest takes/surprises were there, I guess.)

I think I may post about some others under this year's Blistergear thread - another lower profile way to do it, for me,
maybe - since I sort of purposely wanted to try some of Blistergear's new "best of" picks for skis. Not sure.

 

[ski otter 2]

The fact that Stockli was there with lots of skis was a first, as I recall - at least first time in a lot of years, I think
(with additional race-like skis "on the ready" in the back of the rep's station wagon).
He actually had just three race-like skis on display, as teasers: the WRT ST Pro 172, the WRT Pro 180, and the regular WRT ST 172.
But if anybody showed interest in those, his eyes would light up, and he'd start pulling similar, additional race-like skis
out of that wagon. Just a bonanza, for me. (I could have just skied lotsa those all day, except there are other skis.)

 

[Doug Briggs]

Avalanche closes I-70 near Loveland Ski Area Monday; Vail Pass skiers trigger slide Saturday​

Summit County slides​

At least seven of the avalanches so far this year occurred inside or near Summit County’s borders.

One between Herman Gulch and the Loveland Pass exit of Interstate 70 closed the westbound lanes for about an hour Monday while crews worked to clear the roadway, and another “medium” slide on Sunday, Nov. 20, surprised a skier trying to get fresh tracks on Idiot’s Cornice to the west of Loveland Pass. A second avalanche on Loveland Pass was reported Sunday near a cornice wall that faces north.

The first slide recorded in Summit County was reported on Nov. 16 at Glacier Mountain near Montezuma. The write-up from the incident described a hard slab above a layer near the ground and wind loading as the main reasons for the avalanche.

Idiot's Cornice on LL Pass this weekend. (not my photo, unattribruted)

 

[Rudi Riet]

I saw patrol blasting in Horseshoe Bowl on Sunday and given the temperature swings over the past few days it's not shocking that things are giving way.

And with just enough snow to cover things the temptation to hit the backcountry/slackcountry is high - so these kinds of things are going to happen, sadly.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I saw patrol blasting in Horseshoe Bowl on Sunday and given the temperature swings over the past few days it's not shocking that things are giving way.

And with just enough snow to cover things the temptation to hit the backcountry/slackcountry is high - so these kinds of things are going to happen, sadly.

They slid some snow.

 

[Doug Briggs]

More terrain was opened since my last visit. Two runs on Peak 9 along with everything (but the parks) between (and including) Northstar and 4 o'clock were open. Lots of snow guns running on Peak 9; I stopped counting at about 40. There are going to be some serious openings coming soon.




The snow is really clean and quite nice. The only really hard snow was at the usual breakover at the top of Dukes. Otherwise, it was pleasant cruising. Well, I was on SLs so fast, high-G cruising.

 

[4aprice]

Past 2 days at Winter Park then Copper. Both grooming out more terrain for the weekend and making snow. Maybe an inch or 2 Thanksgiving Eve. Decent start to the season and much better then last year

 

[Prosper]

Sorry I just saw this. Good call on today and morning. Weekend was busy and by 2:00 p.m. the big side got pretty scraped off and hard. Race kids loved it. Everyone else, not so much. You definitely needed a good tune. I guess it's too late to say you might want to be on your rock skis if you do any directed skiing.

More stuff will be opening over this week/next weekend.

It was more crowded Monday than I expected. Lots of race training. All the schools are on T-giving break as well. Snow seems to be holding up pretty well. Definitely helps to have sharp edges and ski on the edges of the trails. Me and my 12yo were the 3rd and 4th ones down Hallelujah Ridge I think for the entire season. Hallelujah Bowl was open as well. While short, it had the softest snow on any of the open runs. Rock skis not necessary but as they open up more terrain, without more snow, rock skis might be a good idea.

Planning on hitting Copper again Wed 11/30. Hopefully, T-giving crowds will be gone and race training will be done. Maybe some new snow as well. Anyone want to take some turns together?

 

[jmeb]

Avalanche closes I-70 near Loveland Ski Area Monday; Vail Pass skiers trigger slide Saturday​

Idiot's Cornice on LL Pass this weekend. (not my photo, unattribruted)
View attachment 183800

As someone who was in the I70 closure -- CDOT was moving something around. But there was no avalanche anywhere near the road (no debris, no plows, no sign of snow on the road).

There have been 120+ reported avalanches in CAICs database this season -- not 27. https://forecasts.avalanche.state.co.us/explorer/

 

[mikel]

It was more crowded Monday than I expected. Lots of race training. All the schools are on T-giving break as well. Snow seems to be holding up pretty well. Definitely helps to have sharp edges and ski on the edges of the trails. Me and my 12yo were the 3rd and 4th ones down Hallelujah Ridge I think for the entire season. Hallelujah Bowl was open as well. While short, it had the softest snow on any of the open runs. Rock skis not necessary but as they open up more terrain, without more snow, rock skis might be a good idea.

Planning on hitting Copper again Wed 11/30. Hopefully, T-giving crowds will be gone and race training will be done. Maybe some new snow as well. Anyone want to take some turns together?

Yep, it's great more and more stuff is getting open. Some has been directed and not stayed open but most of it has. I'm really glad Timberline is spinning and Wind Song is open. That will really help spread people out.

Very cool you guys got to ski the ridge. I will let you know about Wed.

 

[Doug Briggs]

A Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends at Skitalk.com!

I started the day with some runs at Breck. More terrain was about to open (notably Columbia), more lifts were running (Mercury) and the skiing was pleasant, if a bit chilly with the moisture in the air.


Peak 10 viewed from Mercury chair. It was kind of foggy then near the end blue sky. Back to clouds again, now.


4 moose were having their Thanksgiving Day feast in Cucumber Gulch. Not the greatest photo, but it was from the gondola through old plexiglass.

 

[tball]

The splice is done, but the new Lenawee lift at A-basin isn't expected to open until mid-Dec, per a post by Al. They were hoping by Thanksgiving.