road trippin

M

mark

New member
i'd like to hear some suggestions of resorts really worth hitting if i was to do a two week road trip sometime in feb / march. i'll be leaving from whistler and right now am looking at travelling down through washington (baker, crystal?) and then either east through utah to colorado, or south through oregon and cali, depending on how the season is going.
any must-do's along the way? i'm a boarder and will be travelling with a skier. we are both advanced and looking for steep and deep...not much into the park scene. we're looking for the best snow and terrain. nightlife and apres are not so important.
has anyone ever been to silverton colorado? i've checked out their website and it looks awesome. sounds like you have to book months in advance though.

thanks a lot for any suggestions!!
 
If you are thinking of hitting Silverton, my recomendation is to pony up for a snowcat operation. The terrain is awesome, but the guiding is too restrictive. If they get to guide yourself, I would say it's worth it. Also, it seems Northern Colorado is getting pounded while Southern Colorado is getting scraps. After this storm get's through we are looking like mid January/early Feb around the frontrange areas. Other areas like Wolf Creek, who typically have an outrageous snowpack are reporting a summit depth of 17". Winterpark is reporting a summit depth of 44" and midway depth of 39". Ths current storm is supposed to bring up to 4 feet of snow in the northern-central mountains and it looks like we'll get snow through the middle of next week.
That doesn't say anything for the rest of the season, but it's a great start.
 
That doesn't say anything for the rest of the season...
Click to expand...

I hope not??? :?

I can attest to the good conditions in WP and surroundig areas. We rode WP at thanksgiving and the cover was great. If they get a good late season I'm sure it will be an epic year :) lucky bastards.

I'm thinking it would be nice to hit up some areas like steamboat and aspen that are new to me. I've heard great things about both areas. Then I'm thinkin on to Utah :) Ahh... decisions decisions

That sounds like a pretty long haul for you though... we drove from the 4 corners to your neck of the woods and it was almost 3-4 days driving each direction. Would be an epic haul though :) The I-70 and utah route would save you a day easy. Nothin but slow, windy 2 lane highways between SLC and the 4 corners.

Cheers, sounds fun

:P
 
If the season continues in its current pattern you will not want to be very far south of I-70.

I've just finished compiling November totals and the whole Northern and Central group from Beaver Creek to the Front Range has had at least 6 feet of snow in November. About 150% of normal.

By contrast, as an illustrative example Telluride has had 30 inches and is only 3% open, presumably on snowmaking.
 
^^^^^^
Yeah we are definitely way above normal in the I70 corridor and North. According to the news it's the most snowfall we have had in the region in 25years and the snowpack is 300% of normal. I think Tony's observation is a little more realistic.
 
thanks for the feedback, guys. that's good to know as a start, but it is still early. good to hear they're getting the snow further north...means less of a drive for me!
killclimbz, so you have skied silverton? my interest in this resort was that i thought it seemed relatively cheap for the type of terrain you can access, not to mention the guiding. is the price of a snowcat operation comparable? if i'm just going to do a catskiing, i probably wouldn't drive down there as there are tons of places closer to home.

i would love to find a map of north america that indicates the locations of all the ski resorts. anyone know of something like this on the web? it would be really helpful in trying to plan a route of travel.

thanks again.

ps. the snow up here in whistler has been pretty disappointing lately. we are in serious need of a big dump. why can't that jet stream shift just a little??
 
mark":3romg4gb said:
i would love to find a map of north america that indicates the locations of all the ski resorts. anyone know of something like this on the web? it would be really helpful in trying to plan a route of travel.
Click to expand...

If you (or anyone else) have Microsoft Streets & Trips, I've created just that with every North American ski area known to mankind. It's even clickable, with the URL of any known ski area website embedded to pop up the website in your default browser. It took literally weeks to create. Anyone who wants this .est file just email me.
 
Marc, you should do clickabe map with that data here, maybe in Flash. I do a little web dev so if you want a little help give a haller. I would like to see the file. I'll pm you my email. cheers.
 
wow. that is a sweet project. sounds like something you could sell to google earth. that would really be something cause you could just fly from resort to resort and check out the terrain first hand. i've been doing a bit of that already, but it's really hard to pinpoint the resort mountains because they are not stored in the software. you should definitely approach them about this.
 
My Silverton experience is based on three trips two different groups of friends took to the area. They were pissed. Especially the guy who went twice. He thought the first experience was due to the lack of snow, the second time they had plenty and it was pretty much the same thing. For another $50-$75 you can get on a cat and do twice as much terrain.
I trust the opinion of this group and it's 5 different friends altogether.
By the time you fly in from Canada (if your profile is correct), get a rental car, spend the $125 (or more) for your day at Silverton, plus avy package rental (if needed), you might as well have done a killer snowcat op. IMO.
Better yet, take and avy course, buy the gear, and earn 'em on your own. I've done plenty of stuff where other people pay hundreds of dallors for free.
 
A friend just told me that there is an article about Silverton in Backcountry magazine. Don't have the mag though so not sure what it says.

I've heard that complaint a lot killclimbz. It will be interesting to see how the unguided skiing goes.
 
thanks kc, good to know. that's why i love this board. if i'm driving through i may still check it out, but it sure doesn't sound worth an exclusive trip. i figured the main reason to visit would be the exposure to more and better terrain. if that's not the case, then i'll just do my own hiking.
 
wow. sound like you either love it or hate it. i'm thinking i'd love it. option ride, i'll be looking forward to your report when you get back...
 
Current snow report
12/3: It has snowed all week, and some bootpackers were chin deep in snow! :D I was getting worried.

p.s. I'm packing my snorkel. :lol:
 
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