Breck, Vail, and Keystone - March 25-27

[johnnash]

The lesson I take from Breck on March 25 is that when you’re in the freeze at night, thaw in the day cycle, you shouldn’t get out too early, but you’ve also gotta be careful of being too late, especially on a warmish and very sunny day. We took our time getting started, and did our first run on Peak 7 about 10:30, expecting that we would have somewhat softened -- but still fairly firm -- snow on the groomers. What we found in fact was that by then, everything was rapidly deteriorating. By lunch,we had skied Peaks 7, 8 and 9, and everywhere on these it was like skiing in a Slushie (or Slurpie, or Icee, depending on what part of the country you’re in) big time. I’m sure the surface was better on the runs off the T-bar or Imperial, but frankly, looking at all the exposed rocks in those areas, and seeing the narrow lines you have to ski to avoid them, I wasn’t encouraged to try it. The skiing was slightly better on Peak 10, where I went after lunch, but it was not clear whether this was due to the fact that these runs are steeper and see less traffic, or to the slight cooling off that occurred when some high clouds rolled in. Altogether, not a great day – the worst of this trip for sure. And the way the surfaces on the groomers looked – lots of exposed ground and brown spots – it’s hard to imagine how they’re going to extend their season for 2 weekends, as they just announced. Final note on Breck -- Spencer's restaurant at the base of Peak 9 has very good food (including a buffet for $15) and a good discount on restaurant.com.

The following day we skied Vail. By the time we got to 2 Elk Lodge, all the lifts in the back bowls and Blue Sky were closed – a patroller told me some for surface conditions and some for wind. So, in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, we made this a day to work on carving technique. We had been told that the green groomers off Sourdough had some of the best snow on the mountain due to their altitude and exposure, and this turned out to be true. Never thought I could enjoy ripping it on a green so much – very good surface for fast carving. (Well,’’ fast’’ is a relative term. I’m pretty sure no one mistook us for Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn. :lol: But we had fun, and the surface here was better than anything else we found on the front side.) We had also been told that the north facing runs in the Game Creek Bowl would have good conditions in the afternoon, so we headed over there after lunch, but just as we arrived, they closed that lift for wind. :x It was indeed very windy at that point. Not much fun getting your face scoured by ice particles! Sarah gave up and went in for a coffee, and I went back to Sourdough, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. I’ll remember this as a day that was much more fun than expected, but I have to say that by the end of the day, it was mashed potatoes on the mid-to lower mountain, although the top was still holding up reasonably well. I took one shot of the back bowl area from 2 Elks. Coverage didn’t look too bad from that vantage point, but from the fact that they had closed some lifts, even before the windy conditions, I would infer that in some areas , coverage must not be very good and probably the surface conditions are pretty bad all over. One word of advice if anyone is still planning to hit Vail -- one patroller did tell me that the north facing runs in the Sundown bowl are still corn in the afternoon, so this would be the place to go.

We had a few hours on our last day before we had to leave for the airport, and since we were staying in Dillon, we decided to spend them at Keystone, which is right down the road. We had pretty low expectations, since Keystone has gotten less snow than the other Vail group resorts. But we were pleasantly surprised. The first run down the backside was like skiing on a bad day in Pennsylvania, but on the frontside, we found very nicely groomed surfaces. In fact, among the Vail group, I have to give the prize for best groomer preservation to Keystone. =D> Unlike at Breck and Vail, there were virtually no exposed spots or even brown snow – pretty amazing, all things considered.

We’ve had a very good run of good luck on our spring trips, going back to our first one -- to Mammoth 5 or 6 years ago, when Tony kindly showed me around his home mountain, and we had almost blizzard conditions at first (I was afraid I was going to get blown into Hangman’s! :shock: ) , then fresh snow every day for a good part of the week. Every year thereafter, we’ve had winter conditions for at least most of the week, in SLC, Summit/ Eagle, Winter Park, and Bachelor. This year our luck ran out, but I guess we can’t complain too much. We got in 1 day of winter at Wolf Creek, and after that all the variants of spring conditions. Not the best skiing, but certainly good practice. Hangin’ it up for the season and lookin’ forward to next year!

 

[Tony Crocker]

The lesson I take from Breck on March 25 is that when you’re in the freeze at night, thaw in the day cycle, you shouldn’t get out too early, but you’ve also gotta be careful of being too late, especially on a warmish and very sunny day.

You have think about altitude/exposure of where you're skiing. Breck's predominant exposure is east, which means get out there early. My spring trip a year ago was much more favorable: record deep base and 13 inches new on the first day at Breck. 3 days later there it was sunny with majority spring conditions, but still winter high up. You should have gone up to Imperial just to check it out as I advised a week ago. Perhaps coverage was sketchy from the low snow year and Breck's chronic wind. The other places to get more altitude/better snow in spring are Loveland and A-Basin, either of which would have been a natural choice on the way out. Again, both were great last year, but still only 70% open this low snow year. Not sure what terrain is closed and how surfaces are holding up on what's open.

The following day we skied Vail. By the time we got to 2 Elk Lodge, all the lifts in the back bowls and Blue Sky were closed – a patroller told me some for surface conditions and some for wind.

Vail seems quick to pull the plug on Back Bowl lifts under wind conditions that are routine operations at Mammoth, as I observed April 2, 2007 viewtopic.php?t=3060 . On that day I found quite a bit of interesting skiing over much of the frontside based upon timing of softening snow. 2007 was not a big year for the region, but it was much better than this year, so again deterioration of the snowpack in spring is likely more than I observed then.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I will add that the season in the 2 popular but severely drought impacted regions is playing out along the most likely scenario I envisioned at the mid-January low point. Colorado resumed its historically typical pattern of moderate steady snowfalls and most areas reached full operation by President's week. March as usual was probably the best overall month to ski there. But the spring base is far below normal and from johnnash's report normally reliable April is not going to hold up that well without a good dose of new snow. Fortunately the decrease in average snowfall from March to April is less than in any other ski region so perhaps the situation will improve.

The Sierra had almost no natural base in mid-January, needs more snow for full coverage than most Colorado areas and did not attain that coverage until the big storm of March 15-18. But Mammoth now has a 6+ foot base, which should ensure a normal April though I think May will be sketchy and it will be a struggle to stay open to Memorial Day.

 

[johnnash]

The other places to get more altitude/better snow in spring are Loveland and A-Basin, either of which would have been a natural choice on the way out.

Yes, we considered A-basin based on its elevation, but we couldn't find anyone who had skied it in the last few days, and after a week of REALLY warm and sunny conditions on a thin pack, my guess was that even altitude could not have preserved the quality of snow well on ungroomed runs, and much less on groomed. If that's true, then it seemed to me that what you look for is good grooming, and I suspected that Keystone would have the edge there. Can't say for sure what the quality of A-basin's grooming would have been, but Keystone's was quite good.

 

[EMSC]

A few notes from my perspective:

Breck - Is often about exposure even in GOOD conditions (often dodging winds & scouring, etc... even on the good snow days). Probably just my opinion, but Breck is more about knowing the exposures than most places in Colo... AKA a local who knows it well probably could have found you OK snow most of the day (but not great snow given the heat wave).

Vail - Vail rarely gets really strong winds, so your lift closure experience due to wind is somewhat unusual. Bad luck.

Keystone vs Abasin - Keystone was probably the right call for you. Abasin simply doesn't have a lot of groomed terrain, no matter how good they may groom on an individual run. Plus with the extra altitude it takes longer for everything to soften up. So early am skiing on the way out, given the conditions, Keystone was a fine call IMHO...

Abasin's limited terrain would include little of Montezuma being open (now closed, possibly for the season); plus no East Wall which has never opened this season and seems unlikely to. Leaving close to everything on the front side open (minus just one or two slots).

 

[Tony Crocker]

I was hoping EMSC would weigh in with more local knowledge. I'm not surprised he approved the Keystone call given this year's snowpack. I should have remembered that Montezuma is what's last to open and first to close at A-Basin.

Vail rarely gets really strong winds, so your lift closure experience due to wind is somewhat unusual. Bad luck.

It's fairly obvious from both observing the snow and management's hair trigger reaction that Vail doesn't get much wind. Interesting both johnnash and I had that experience in spring there.