Colorado Colorado Kick-off!

[dbostedo]

I've started my season in the Mid-A a bunch of times, and in New England a couple of times. But I'd never started my season "out west"... until this season.

I was lucky enough to ski 2 days at Vail and one day at Beaver Creek last weekend. They're having a good start to the season, with Vail 10% above average snowpack, and Beaver Creek 50% above - and the resorts had a lot of terrain open. There was snow and sun and friends and cookouts and a lot of fun... it was a great way to start the season.

Day 1 - Vail

I started early lining up a bit before first chair to make the most of my first day. I was in new boots, and took a bit of time to adjust... things just felt weird. But they sorted themselves out throughout the weekend.

1st lift ride over Gore Creek



Heading out for Day 1



The view of mid-Vail from Lift 2



I was on these DPS Foundation Cassiars... not my favorite ski, but they do everything pretty well



View from somewhere at Vail



We had some snow roll in - it was brief, but nice to see



Greg and @nebraskawhit (Whitney) in the falling snow (I tend to ski with a lot of snowboarders )



We thought Northwoods may have a line, but skied down to this view... in general, I had very few lift lines in 3 weekend days



Somewhere off Northwoods



Whitney in Northwoods



Some fun bumps off Ramshorn... they were medium sized, but not trough-y



Clouds rolling over the front side of Vail


Day 2 - Beaver Creek

We decided to ski Beaver Creek on Saturday, in part for variety, and in part to avoid potential Saturday crowds. Plus they opened a bunch of runs off of Birds of Prey that folks wanted to hit. I didn't wind up skiing any of the hard stuff off Birds of Prey as the easier off-piste I did ski was already challenging - I really felt like I regressed since the end of last season, though it's coming back.


Kristen, Jess, and Me on the lift



Jess, Adam, and Kristen near Cinch lift



Me near Cinch lift



After a couple of mid-mountain runs, we headed to Birds of Prey



After a bunch of runs off BoP, we headed over to the other side of the mountain to Rose Bowl... this is the view from the deck...



... where we had a cookout. We brought a camp grill and a bunch of food and drinks up in backpacks. @MattSmith in the yellow jacket.



Day 3 - Vail

It was back to Vail for day 3... we cruised around, and there were rumors of back bowls opening. But that never materialized. They did run chair 3 which has some nice bumps, and I skied all of Ledges again, which had a variety of terrain and bumps. But mostly it was a groomer cruising day.


View from somewhere on the Vail frontside



A bit more lift lines at Vail, but never more that maybe 5 minutes at most



Somewhere in Northwoods area again



Setting up for the final cookout!



Finally, A bunch of grey jays also enjoyed our cookout. It was a great way to kick off my season, and get some extra days in early!

 

[Tricia]

YAY for first turns of the season!

 

[Dafixison]

Taking the kids for some skiing in CO over their Xmas break. We are planning on skiing 2 days on the Indy Pass and 3 days on the Epic Day Pass. We were thinking about skiing two days at Vail (because of its mere size) and another day at Breckenridge. But seeing your post, we are now throwing Beaver Creek into the mix.

From your recent experience, where would you ski (and for how many days) among Vail, Breckenridge, and Beaver Creek?

 

[dbostedo]

Taking the kids for some skiing in CO over their Xmas break. We are planning on skiing 2 days on the Indy Pass and 3 days on the Epic Day Pass. We were thinking about skiing two days at Vail (because of its mere size) and another day at Breckenridge. But seeing your post, we are now throwing Beaver Creek into the mix.

From your recent experience, where would you ski (and for how many days) among Vail, Breckenridge, and Beaver Creek?

You could also ask this in the main seasonal Colorado thread @Dafixison ... https://www.skitalk.com/threads/2022-2023-colorado-ski-resorts-conditions-meetups.28132/

But I would say maybe it depends on and where you're staying, and how important crowd avoidance is to you.

-- I agree on more time at Vail... it's my favorite of the three, especially since Game Creek and some back bowls and Blue Sky are all open already!
-- Breck is great, but likely to be more crowded than BC, which tends to be the least crowded Vail resort among Vail, Breck, Keystone, and BC.

For me, unless I was staying right near Breck, I'd do 2 Vail days and 1 BC, just like I did. (But I was staying right in Vail, so Breck was a haul anyway.)

 

[Seldomski]

Taking the kids for some skiing in CO over their Xmas break. We are planning on skiing 2 days on the Indy Pass and 3 days on the Epic Day Pass. We were thinking about skiing two days at Vail (because of its mere size) and another day at Breckenridge. But seeing your post, we are now throwing Beaver Creek into the mix.

From your recent experience, where would you ski (and for how many days) among Vail, Breckenridge, and Beaver Creek?

If you like to ski bowls and cruise blues - Vail. Sheer size helps spread people out to get lots of groomer laps in, if that's your thing.
If you like to ski moguls - BC. Also has best beginner terrain/area of the three.
If you like to ski wind buff steeps - Breck. Tends to have the most crowding/longest lines of the three. Breck has worst mogul runs of the three.