EMSC
Well-known member
After 2nd night of snowfall in CO after the big warm week prior, Vail was reporting 4" new and 13" in 48hrs. I was very curious how the back bowls would be knowing how badly they would have been hammered by the sun during the warmth. The answer was complex. True S facing stuff was still very crunchy underfoot despite the new snow, though obviously much better than it could have been. Especially East facing and slightly lower angle stuff though skied quite well. On the upper parts of the bowls no crunch underfoot at all, but the lower you went the crunch would partially return even on E faces.
Blue Sky side of things was a bit less crunch especially in glades and the E facing cornice/bowl under the upper part of Skyline lift (lovers leap, Iron Mask area). Also found very nice snow in the N Rim area of Northwoods express on our way back down at the end of the day. Same group of 3 dads and 3 teens with me as guide since no one else had been there before.
We came up the center village to Mtn Top lift and immediately hit E facing Milts face with no crunch underfoot at all until ~3/4 down. We then tried the center of Sun Up Bowl but it was plenty crunchy underfoot being S facing (but looked good with lots of new powder on top). Then hitting more E faces like Genghis Khan/Sweet & Sour, Red Square, etc... before moving to Bly Sky. Only a couple runs on Blue Sky: champagne glades, lovers leap, iron mask. before moving back to the bowls for a couple of afternoon laps that were OK but less good than the morning had been. Eventually wandering down the frontside to finish up ~3:30p. Interestingly, Town of Vail parking garages top out at $40/day vs the Vail Inc owned ones in Beaver Creek that go for $50/day. And thus ended sending an unexpected and huge pile of $$ to the evil empire.
And yes I mostly missed the Super Bowl and can say the radio made it sound lopsided, but I guess the video showed it to be far worse than that, so nothing missed at all. 3hr drive home vs 2hrs with no traffic.
Despite 4" new reported, I think it was cloudy enough that very little of the bowls got skied the prior day, making for full 13" powder in a lot of areas.
Tea Cup lift below (Orient lift base way down in)
Iron Mask/Blue Sky
Dragons Teeth/China Bowl
Always nice views of the Gore Range
Blue Sky side of things was a bit less crunch especially in glades and the E facing cornice/bowl under the upper part of Skyline lift (lovers leap, Iron Mask area). Also found very nice snow in the N Rim area of Northwoods express on our way back down at the end of the day. Same group of 3 dads and 3 teens with me as guide since no one else had been there before.
We came up the center village to Mtn Top lift and immediately hit E facing Milts face with no crunch underfoot at all until ~3/4 down. We then tried the center of Sun Up Bowl but it was plenty crunchy underfoot being S facing (but looked good with lots of new powder on top). Then hitting more E faces like Genghis Khan/Sweet & Sour, Red Square, etc... before moving to Bly Sky. Only a couple runs on Blue Sky: champagne glades, lovers leap, iron mask. before moving back to the bowls for a couple of afternoon laps that were OK but less good than the morning had been. Eventually wandering down the frontside to finish up ~3:30p. Interestingly, Town of Vail parking garages top out at $40/day vs the Vail Inc owned ones in Beaver Creek that go for $50/day. And thus ended sending an unexpected and huge pile of $$ to the evil empire.
And yes I mostly missed the Super Bowl and can say the radio made it sound lopsided, but I guess the video showed it to be far worse than that, so nothing missed at all. 3hr drive home vs 2hrs with no traffic.
Despite 4" new reported, I think it was cloudy enough that very little of the bowls got skied the prior day, making for full 13" powder in a lot of areas.
Tea Cup lift below (Orient lift base way down in)
Iron Mask/Blue Sky
Dragons Teeth/China Bowl
Always nice views of the Gore Range
