Loveland Basin, CO 11/11/2002

[Matt Duffy]

The skiing today at Loveland was better than any I've had since the sublime 2000-2001 season in Vermont. 3 or 4 lifts and about 20% of their terrain were open, but consider that 100% would be over 1,350 acres. They said 275 acres were open today. All covered in powder. Not many people there either, never waited more than 30 seconds for a chair. I arrived early and got several runs of fresh tracks on main trails before spending the rest of the day in the woods, where the powder was deeper and sweeter. They say 7" fell last night, on top of the 22" that began falling 2 days ago. Snow was falling hard when I left around 2pm, I wonder how much more is on the way.... <BR> <BR> I flew down line after line of light, untouched knee-to-thigh deep powder for portions of a few runs, but for most of the others. I lost count; I think I skied at least a dozen, maybe fifteen runs before I was whipped and headed <BR>home. <BR> <BR>Everyone is telling me I picked the right year to move out here.

 

[Tony Crocker]

You have indeed picked the right year to move. Vermont was much better in 2001 and both regions pretty much sucked last year. <BR> <BR>It will be especially informative to have a regular source of eyewitness ski reports from Colorado. It is a mystery to me why there are so few from the state with the highest ski visitor count vs. what we see from the Northeast and Northwest in particular. <BR> <BR>The contrast between the recent Keystone and Loveland reports is illuminating. Despite Loveland traditionally opening first, Keystone has way more snowmaking capacity and thus normally has more trails open at this time of year. But with the high amount of natural snow Loveland is the better bet as it averages 75% more snowfall. Fortunately for you, not many of the Denver locals figured this out. <BR> <BR>You will find that the light and dry Colorado snow usually builds a base very gradually and does not hold up well with heavy early season traffic. But if the current weather continues you'll be set for the season by December as in 95-96 and 96-97.