This was our last day in Vail. We arrived at Lionshead 9AM to discover that the holiday weekend was imminent as it took ~10 minutes to get Liz’ lift ticket. There was no wait for Richard, Liz and me to take the Born Free and Pride chairs up and then ski into Game Creek bowl. After one run there we moved to mid-Vail, where Liz had skied very little earlier in the week. I knew from prior experience that those groomers are great early but the crowds can hit by 10:30. Mountaintop Express is now a 6-pack with a moving ramp like I’ve seen is a few Euro resorts, not to mention Supreme at Alta. After Swingsville and Cappuccino we waited only a couple of minutes but we pressed our luck with Espresso and arrived back at mid-Vail to this at 10:35.
This was the only big liftline of the entire week, about 10 minutes, and I was ready to show Liz some Northwoods runs now anyway.
We first skied Gandy Dancer, maybe groomed a couple of days back, and then Liz was up for one of Vail’s famous mogul marathons. Here she is first skiing and then at the bottom of Upper Prima.
We’re not done, as Pronto is still ahead of us.
As most of you know moguls are not at the top of my priority list. But the snow conditions on Prima/Pronto were about as good as a bump run can be. It was uniform packed powder with no scraped-off backsides. The length of these runs (the Highline chair runs also) tends to deter snowboarders and casual skiers, so the bumps are well shaped and adequately spaced to maintain a good rhythm of turns.
Our final Northwoods run was North Rim.
Richard had stayed on groomers while during these past 3 runs, but we regrouped at noon to ski freshly groomed Riva Ridge. Riva Ridge can be a 3-ring circus at the end of the day, but at noon it’s a wide open 3,100 vertical cruiser with varied pitches, one of the best groomers anywhere IMHO.
We all rode up Chair 6, then Richard headed for lunch at Two Elk while Liz and I met Paul Kulas for the afternoon. After 4 days with no new snow the bowls take careful navigation to maximize snow conditions. We alternated shaded Yonder glades with Apres Moo, an open area tilted just far enough away from south to have chalky rather than refrozen snow.
We rode Skyline Express to the top of Blue Sky and the view of Mt Holy Cross.
We skied the Encore/Divide area, then up TeaCup and down Yonder trees to Chair 5.
Before we left Vail we had to ski Forever, the longest line in the original Back Bowl. Forever is a direct line into the sun similar to one of Jackson’s Lower Faces. We waited until 2:15 to let the sun work on it as long as possible. But there was also a breeze so the snow stayed crunchy. Here are Paul and Liz lower down on Forever.
After living in the East for 30 years Liz has a certain familiarity with this kind of snow and thus had no issues skiing Forever.
Back on the frontside after 3PM Paul led us to some trees near the Mountaintop liftline. Liz got separated and skied down to Lionshead with a more than adequate 29,000 vertical for the day. Paul and I had 2 more runs up top and I finished with 31,000.
This was the only big liftline of the entire week, about 10 minutes, and I was ready to show Liz some Northwoods runs now anyway.
We first skied Gandy Dancer, maybe groomed a couple of days back, and then Liz was up for one of Vail’s famous mogul marathons. Here she is first skiing and then at the bottom of Upper Prima.
We’re not done, as Pronto is still ahead of us.
As most of you know moguls are not at the top of my priority list. But the snow conditions on Prima/Pronto were about as good as a bump run can be. It was uniform packed powder with no scraped-off backsides. The length of these runs (the Highline chair runs also) tends to deter snowboarders and casual skiers, so the bumps are well shaped and adequately spaced to maintain a good rhythm of turns.
Our final Northwoods run was North Rim.
Richard had stayed on groomers while during these past 3 runs, but we regrouped at noon to ski freshly groomed Riva Ridge. Riva Ridge can be a 3-ring circus at the end of the day, but at noon it’s a wide open 3,100 vertical cruiser with varied pitches, one of the best groomers anywhere IMHO.
We all rode up Chair 6, then Richard headed for lunch at Two Elk while Liz and I met Paul Kulas for the afternoon. After 4 days with no new snow the bowls take careful navigation to maximize snow conditions. We alternated shaded Yonder glades with Apres Moo, an open area tilted just far enough away from south to have chalky rather than refrozen snow.
We rode Skyline Express to the top of Blue Sky and the view of Mt Holy Cross.
We skied the Encore/Divide area, then up TeaCup and down Yonder trees to Chair 5.
Before we left Vail we had to ski Forever, the longest line in the original Back Bowl. Forever is a direct line into the sun similar to one of Jackson’s Lower Faces. We waited until 2:15 to let the sun work on it as long as possible. But there was also a breeze so the snow stayed crunchy. Here are Paul and Liz lower down on Forever.
After living in the East for 30 years Liz has a certain familiarity with this kind of snow and thus had no issues skiing Forever.
Back on the frontside after 3PM Paul led us to some trees near the Mountaintop liftline. Liz got separated and skied down to Lionshead with a more than adequate 29,000 vertical for the day. Paul and I had 2 more runs up top and I finished with 31,000.
