We made it to Eagle after skiing at Brian Head Saturday. Nonetheless Sunday’s logistics were complex. With a 3 week road trip the first priority is getting Liz’ boots fixed, so I dropped her off at Beaver Creek village to get started. After a wine dropoff at our Vail condo, I drove back to the Bear parking and got on the shuttle. After just a couple minutes on that bus, you can now get off at Beaver Creek Landing and take one express lift to Bachelor Gulch or two to the top of Strawberry Park. From there I skied to the main village, meeting Liz at 10:30 as she had just finished her first boot adjustment.
We took a warmup on Centennial, then met Richard and daughter Joy and son-in-law Tim. Back up Centennial we all skied Red Tail to Grouse, where Liz wanted to test the boots on a mogul run. Top of Redtail with Grouse in the background.
Richard took a Larkspur groomer while Joy and Tim went with Liz. I rode the Grouse lift but hit the Royal Elk Glades recommended by Paul, a local from Eagle who had been on tour with Adam and me at Snowbird last February. Much of Royal Elk has been strategically pruned so that you can ski fairly fluidly between the trees, without dense moguls building even when it has not snowed much recently.
Supposedly it has snowed little in the past 2 weeks, but there was an inch or two new snow and intermittent flurries during the day. There were occasional fog patches on the mountain, and Liz got separated from Joy and Tim in one of them on Ruffed Grouse.
The Grouse lift is 1,800 vertical, so while the terrain is not extreme, it’s still a serious workout in either trees or bumps and I had to take a couple breaks and had arch cramps by the time I got to the bottom. Richard was there and Liz arrived soon after. Naturally the bumps magnified Liz’ boot issues so she and I headed back to the village for more analysis while Richard waited for Joy and Tim.
Liz and I did not get back on the hill until 1:20, headed up Strawberry but were too late to meet the others for lunch. We took one run down to Bachelor Gulch, crossed back to the village and up Centennial. Liz skied back down to get the free Beaver Creek cookies as she had not eaten all day, while I continued up Cinch to the top.
I wanted to check out Stone Creek Chutes, which had been closed on my last visit in April 2007. I took the first available gate and probably ended up about as far skier’s right as possible.
Thus I had a nice chute run but a long bumpy runout skier’s left ending at the Rose Bowl lift. The map notes that Rose Bowl “closes ½ hour prior to mountain close.” I assumed that meant 3:30 vs. mountain close of 4:00. What it really means is that Strawberry and Centennial close at 4:00, most other lifts close at 3:30 and Rose Bowl closes at 3:00. I was one of 4 people to arrive at Rose Bowl at 3:15. The liftie let us on, but patrol was waiting at the top to give us a warning about being out there past 3PM. I skied 2 more runs on Centennial and Harrier to finish the day with 18,800 vertical.
Locals may think the snow is a bit tired, but overall I found it quite soft. On the busiest runs near the base areas there’s a bit of a snowmaking subsurface, but that’s about it. Certainly the 2-3 inches new helped, and a similar amount is expected in a couple of days. It was a good day for skiing if not for pictures.
We took a warmup on Centennial, then met Richard and daughter Joy and son-in-law Tim. Back up Centennial we all skied Red Tail to Grouse, where Liz wanted to test the boots on a mogul run. Top of Redtail with Grouse in the background.
Richard took a Larkspur groomer while Joy and Tim went with Liz. I rode the Grouse lift but hit the Royal Elk Glades recommended by Paul, a local from Eagle who had been on tour with Adam and me at Snowbird last February. Much of Royal Elk has been strategically pruned so that you can ski fairly fluidly between the trees, without dense moguls building even when it has not snowed much recently.
Supposedly it has snowed little in the past 2 weeks, but there was an inch or two new snow and intermittent flurries during the day. There were occasional fog patches on the mountain, and Liz got separated from Joy and Tim in one of them on Ruffed Grouse.
The Grouse lift is 1,800 vertical, so while the terrain is not extreme, it’s still a serious workout in either trees or bumps and I had to take a couple breaks and had arch cramps by the time I got to the bottom. Richard was there and Liz arrived soon after. Naturally the bumps magnified Liz’ boot issues so she and I headed back to the village for more analysis while Richard waited for Joy and Tim.
Liz and I did not get back on the hill until 1:20, headed up Strawberry but were too late to meet the others for lunch. We took one run down to Bachelor Gulch, crossed back to the village and up Centennial. Liz skied back down to get the free Beaver Creek cookies as she had not eaten all day, while I continued up Cinch to the top.
I wanted to check out Stone Creek Chutes, which had been closed on my last visit in April 2007. I took the first available gate and probably ended up about as far skier’s right as possible.
Thus I had a nice chute run but a long bumpy runout skier’s left ending at the Rose Bowl lift. The map notes that Rose Bowl “closes ½ hour prior to mountain close.” I assumed that meant 3:30 vs. mountain close of 4:00. What it really means is that Strawberry and Centennial close at 4:00, most other lifts close at 3:30 and Rose Bowl closes at 3:00. I was one of 4 people to arrive at Rose Bowl at 3:15. The liftie let us on, but patrol was waiting at the top to give us a warning about being out there past 3PM. I skied 2 more runs on Centennial and Harrier to finish the day with 18,800 vertical.
Locals may think the snow is a bit tired, but overall I found it quite soft. On the busiest runs near the base areas there’s a bit of a snowmaking subsurface, but that’s about it. Certainly the 2-3 inches new helped, and a similar amount is expected in a couple of days. It was a good day for skiing if not for pictures.