EMSC
Well-known member
Good fun day of mid-winter conditions. A long post for you, as not many have or will likely see this place otherwise...
Road trip. My wife & I had a couple of errands that needed to be done in Ft Collins and Loveland (the city, not the ski area) and decided to incorporate a trip to Snowy Range to get some turns in since we were going half way already. It didn't hurt having my interest peaked about Snowy Range in these forums a few weeks ago.
It turns out to be ~2.5hours driving each way which could get us to a whole lot of places in the central mtns of Colo (up to about Vail/BC). If you lived in Ft Collins it would be tied with Eldora for closest ski area time wise. Anyway, a mostly sunny day with 3" new reported on their website (a rather poor one compared to the competition IMO). But 5" in 48 hrs which turned out to be the more important figure. Turns out that local ranchers, Nebraskans, Iowans etc... pretty much avoid any new snow so a couple of patrollers and us were about the only ones skiing the new snow. It's been a long time since I've seen so many turbo turtles on the hill at once :lol:
Fortunately, the slopes were actually very uncrowded and despite a 10:30 arrival, we were no where near the back of their parking lot. The local patrollers were super friendly taking a pic of me and helping to arrange a guided tour of an unofficial glade. In fact no glades show on their map but that is where some of their best skiing is - certainly where their most interesting skiing is. Thanks Mark and Jeremiah!
Due to my skiing ability and all the patches on my ski team jacket, plus the pictures I was taking, they assumed I might be a potential buyer of the place. I suppose if I had that kind of money I'd at least look into it as the feel of the place was actually pretty cool in that area and in theory for the right buyer one could expand into new, better terrain behind the current area one ridge line back. According to the patrollers, the backside of the current area, while steep, is way too rocky and sunny to put runs on so you would have to have a two way lift to drop you down in to the next gully. Apparently there used to be a ski area back there somewhere once upon a time.
Personally, I don't know if it is just in a good snow year, but the snowy range mtns just south of the town of Centennial looked like good pitch and much more sustained vertical than anything else in the area (see pics). My guess is that the front of Snowy range is 600' the backside is 700' vert and the mtns a couple miles away and south of Centennial were 1200 ft+ of good vertical.
Due to the official 5" of new which skied anywhere from 2" to 8" depending on exposure it was a really fun day. I would think this is the kind of place q is looking for in his out of the way travels, and would recommend a day here for anyone 'in the area' just for some fun. Nothing is particularly steep but you'll have much of the place to yourself. I wish the sellers luck (they want $6.5M, it's no way worth that much IMHO). The base lodges - 3 of them - are all virtually brand new and actually probably too big for the skier numbers. They look good on the outside but then they goofed a bit in some areas such as putting stone and concrete floors everywhere which makes for some very slippery surfaces, etc...
Anyway. I have a number of Pic's to post which will take more than my allowed limit. Any FTO buyers out there? If you could talk the owners down to a reasonable price (doubtful from what I heard) and sink money into an expansion to the better terrain, it's got a neat vibe and is the local hill for Laramie and also could attract a decent crowd from Cheyenne and the plains... They actually do have snowmaking but not much. 4-5 trails frontside and maybe 1 on the backside from what I could tell. Not sure if equipment and pipe is the limit or water rights is the limit.
Road trip. My wife & I had a couple of errands that needed to be done in Ft Collins and Loveland (the city, not the ski area) and decided to incorporate a trip to Snowy Range to get some turns in since we were going half way already. It didn't hurt having my interest peaked about Snowy Range in these forums a few weeks ago.
It turns out to be ~2.5hours driving each way which could get us to a whole lot of places in the central mtns of Colo (up to about Vail/BC). If you lived in Ft Collins it would be tied with Eldora for closest ski area time wise. Anyway, a mostly sunny day with 3" new reported on their website (a rather poor one compared to the competition IMO). But 5" in 48 hrs which turned out to be the more important figure. Turns out that local ranchers, Nebraskans, Iowans etc... pretty much avoid any new snow so a couple of patrollers and us were about the only ones skiing the new snow. It's been a long time since I've seen so many turbo turtles on the hill at once :lol:
Fortunately, the slopes were actually very uncrowded and despite a 10:30 arrival, we were no where near the back of their parking lot. The local patrollers were super friendly taking a pic of me and helping to arrange a guided tour of an unofficial glade. In fact no glades show on their map but that is where some of their best skiing is - certainly where their most interesting skiing is. Thanks Mark and Jeremiah!
Due to my skiing ability and all the patches on my ski team jacket, plus the pictures I was taking, they assumed I might be a potential buyer of the place. I suppose if I had that kind of money I'd at least look into it as the feel of the place was actually pretty cool in that area and in theory for the right buyer one could expand into new, better terrain behind the current area one ridge line back. According to the patrollers, the backside of the current area, while steep, is way too rocky and sunny to put runs on so you would have to have a two way lift to drop you down in to the next gully. Apparently there used to be a ski area back there somewhere once upon a time.
Personally, I don't know if it is just in a good snow year, but the snowy range mtns just south of the town of Centennial looked like good pitch and much more sustained vertical than anything else in the area (see pics). My guess is that the front of Snowy range is 600' the backside is 700' vert and the mtns a couple miles away and south of Centennial were 1200 ft+ of good vertical.
Due to the official 5" of new which skied anywhere from 2" to 8" depending on exposure it was a really fun day. I would think this is the kind of place q is looking for in his out of the way travels, and would recommend a day here for anyone 'in the area' just for some fun. Nothing is particularly steep but you'll have much of the place to yourself. I wish the sellers luck (they want $6.5M, it's no way worth that much IMHO). The base lodges - 3 of them - are all virtually brand new and actually probably too big for the skier numbers. They look good on the outside but then they goofed a bit in some areas such as putting stone and concrete floors everywhere which makes for some very slippery surfaces, etc...
Anyway. I have a number of Pic's to post which will take more than my allowed limit. Any FTO buyers out there? If you could talk the owners down to a reasonable price (doubtful from what I heard) and sink money into an expansion to the better terrain, it's got a neat vibe and is the local hill for Laramie and also could attract a decent crowd from Cheyenne and the plains... They actually do have snowmaking but not much. 4-5 trails frontside and maybe 1 on the backside from what I could tell. Not sure if equipment and pipe is the limit or water rights is the limit.
Just kidding. 