We had to pack up and leave Richard’s in-laws’ timeshare condo at Vail Run. With a late start and being Saturday of MLK weekend it was an easy call to ski Beaver Creek. We parked at Bear, got off the bus at Beaver Creek Landing and started skiing out of Bachelor Gulch. We skied Gunder’s and Grubstake there and then moved to Arrowhead. Arrowhead has the lowest base at 7,400 feet so Cresta is a quite long cruiser to get there. Riding up the lift we noticed the snowmaking on Golden Bear. Karl Weatherly at Sun Valley had told me that mid-season snowmaking can be low water content “gunpowder,” so I figured that Beaver Creek might be doing the same. So we gave it a try.
I’m not sure I’ve taken pics of my tracks in fresh man-made before, which indeed skied like an inch of natural over the groomed subsurface.
We went back through Bachelor Gulch, then took Intertwine toward the main mountain. View of Centennial and Birds of Prey from Intertwine.
We skied Home Run to the Elkhorn lift and President Ford’s to Strawberry. We later learned from Paul than Jonesy’s family knew Jerry and Betty Ford when he was growing up in Eagle County. As many of you know Jerry Ford was our only President who was a serious skier.
We headed to the Grouse base next, but decided we needed a break about 1:20. We had no wait for food or table and were very impressed by the dunkel and aged cheddar soup and lamb stew at Talons.
After lunch we cruised Larkspur Bowl and then headed up Grouse. We skied Bald Eagle, which was a bump run of similar length to Prima at Vail the day before.
Snow was even softer than at Vail, especially when we diverted to Falcon Park, which even had a couple of untracked turns next to the trees.
We took one mellower run on Grouse, Screech Owl to the groomed lower Raven Ridge. Then we rode the Birds of Prey lift over the Peregrine and Golden Eagle runs, which are closed in preparation for the World Championships coming to Beaver Creek Feb. 2-15. There were a few workers on the course setting nets. I took a few pictures but most were blurred and this was the best of the lot.
We skied to the main base via the less trafficked Latigo groomer. Only at the very bottom of that run and on the après-ski packed deck with a live band would you realize that it was Saturday of a holiday weekend.
I’m not sure I’ve taken pics of my tracks in fresh man-made before, which indeed skied like an inch of natural over the groomed subsurface.
We went back through Bachelor Gulch, then took Intertwine toward the main mountain. View of Centennial and Birds of Prey from Intertwine.
We skied Home Run to the Elkhorn lift and President Ford’s to Strawberry. We later learned from Paul than Jonesy’s family knew Jerry and Betty Ford when he was growing up in Eagle County. As many of you know Jerry Ford was our only President who was a serious skier.
We headed to the Grouse base next, but decided we needed a break about 1:20. We had no wait for food or table and were very impressed by the dunkel and aged cheddar soup and lamb stew at Talons.
After lunch we cruised Larkspur Bowl and then headed up Grouse. We skied Bald Eagle, which was a bump run of similar length to Prima at Vail the day before.
Snow was even softer than at Vail, especially when we diverted to Falcon Park, which even had a couple of untracked turns next to the trees.
We took one mellower run on Grouse, Screech Owl to the groomed lower Raven Ridge. Then we rode the Birds of Prey lift over the Peregrine and Golden Eagle runs, which are closed in preparation for the World Championships coming to Beaver Creek Feb. 2-15. There were a few workers on the course setting nets. I took a few pictures but most were blurred and this was the best of the lot.
We skied to the main base via the less trafficked Latigo groomer. Only at the very bottom of that run and on the après-ski packed deck with a live band would you realize that it was Saturday of a holiday weekend.