EMSC
Well-known member
Windy, Warm, Groomers
Eldora has been doing as good as any of the front range options this year with many storms being upslope in nature. They picked up a quick 3" yesterday before the winds came in overnight. I wasn't sure I'd even get to go up when the 5 am report had 15-35mph winds listed... That's right around the cut off for upper mtn operations. So I was pleasantly surprised by today's skiing which was all groomers, but surprisingly soft. Only a few completely wind blasted spots and even those were very grippy snow (granted I was on race stock GS skis, but still). The winds were out of an odd direction for Eldora with them coming from a slightly more westerly or even SW direction (vs typical NW), which left the upper mountain open and the soft surfaces mostly intact. Somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the snowmaking trails have been opened so far with early great snowmaking shifting to iffy snowmaking opportunities during the past week. temps today probably were around 30F.
I had a late start and ended up in the upper parking lot just before 11am. Mostly I lapped Corona and Muleshoe (left hand side) which were both skiing quite well. Lift lines were in the 2-3 minute range most of the day, with a few laps of near ski on... Although they were not allowing singles up the lifts until very late when the winds dropped off to more like 5-10mph on the backside and near zero on the front. I finished off with a couple of laps each on La Belle and Jolly Jug which also had similar soft surface, good groomer conditions. My legs called it for me at about 3:30pm with no breaks. I had kept track of vert for the first while but lost count somewhere along the way with interesting lift partners. Certainly over 20K, and probably around 25K.
At least 4 trails had snowmaking equipment on them including Muleshoe which must not be quite complete yet for width, Klondike which is thin in a couple spots and Diamond back and Powderhorn which have yet to get any snowmaking. With the exception of a very short cool down to normal in Denver in the next day or two, next week looks way above average temperature wise. Not sure that much snowmaking will be accomplished very soon.
Some cell phone pics of the day:
Eldora has been doing as good as any of the front range options this year with many storms being upslope in nature. They picked up a quick 3" yesterday before the winds came in overnight. I wasn't sure I'd even get to go up when the 5 am report had 15-35mph winds listed... That's right around the cut off for upper mtn operations. So I was pleasantly surprised by today's skiing which was all groomers, but surprisingly soft. Only a few completely wind blasted spots and even those were very grippy snow (granted I was on race stock GS skis, but still). The winds were out of an odd direction for Eldora with them coming from a slightly more westerly or even SW direction (vs typical NW), which left the upper mountain open and the soft surfaces mostly intact. Somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the snowmaking trails have been opened so far with early great snowmaking shifting to iffy snowmaking opportunities during the past week. temps today probably were around 30F.
I had a late start and ended up in the upper parking lot just before 11am. Mostly I lapped Corona and Muleshoe (left hand side) which were both skiing quite well. Lift lines were in the 2-3 minute range most of the day, with a few laps of near ski on... Although they were not allowing singles up the lifts until very late when the winds dropped off to more like 5-10mph on the backside and near zero on the front. I finished off with a couple of laps each on La Belle and Jolly Jug which also had similar soft surface, good groomer conditions. My legs called it for me at about 3:30pm with no breaks. I had kept track of vert for the first while but lost count somewhere along the way with interesting lift partners. Certainly over 20K, and probably around 25K.
At least 4 trails had snowmaking equipment on them including Muleshoe which must not be quite complete yet for width, Klondike which is thin in a couple spots and Diamond back and Powderhorn which have yet to get any snowmaking. With the exception of a very short cool down to normal in Denver in the next day or two, next week looks way above average temperature wise. Not sure that much snowmaking will be accomplished very soon.
Some cell phone pics of the day: