Vail, CO 2/3/2016

tseeb

Well-known member
I chose Vail because, not only did I have free days (walk-up is down to $165) from my Vail Tahoe pass, but my last couple of days there 8 and 12 years ago were with family so I didn't really get to ski what I wanted all day. They reported 2" new, but it was on top of 12" of new snow from previous days. It was very cold, probably below zero early and single digits at the top most of the day. I found the free parking and after a short walk perfectly caught the shuttle. I got off at Cascades resort stop and followed only other person who got off there. We walked down about 40 steps and got on Cascades lift at 8:40. I used Pride lift to move up the mountain and skied a little powder on way to stopped Game Creek lift. It stopped at least four more times for a minute or two each time before we got to the top. I skied Widge's to Vail's original Back Bowl lift, upgraded to hi-speed since the last time I was there. It stopped for a grip fault a group ahead of me and there was a short delay before they allowed loading and it stopped another time or two before we got to the top.

My skiing was similarly balky, whether due to the cold numbing some of my toes and also making snow, especially on flats squeaky and sticky, limited visibility, only skiing 96-width skis with minor tip rocker as I did not bring my powder skis on the trip or the inconsistent tracked powder that was not quite filled in. I skied down Apres Vous into trees under High Noon and rode up it again, then moved across Back Bowls using Slot to Sun Up lift, which is scheduled to be upgraded to hi-speed for next year. I skied down to lift that got me to top of Blue Sky Basin where I went into very small and crowded Belle's Camp about 10:30. I had a hot coffee/chocolate combo and put on my boot gloves. Then I skied Champagne Glades, rode up Earl's Express and skied Steep and Deep on the other side of the ridge. I found some untracked on both, but it was often not deep enough to cover big steep bumps.

I moved back to the Back Bowls and skied there for a few hours with one break down Riva Ridge that I skied to ride the gondola up to warm up and drink the very slushy can of SF beer I'd been carrying. I found some of the best untracked on a early run to Inner Siberia where I paid the price with a long pole across flat and slow with cold snow Silk Road. Later I also had a decent run down Rasputin's Revenge, then the highlight of the day so far was Bolshoi Ballroom as it had mostly been filled in by the 2+" that had fallen during the day in this area and visibility was better. But both of the best runs required a long pole and skate to get to Mongolia lift where skis also nprotested the cold snow by squeaking most of the way up the slow poma. The best run I had on the Back Bowls was once visibility improved and I found a lot of untracked on Over Yonder. I skied past Sun Up chair to chair 5/High Noon which I used all day to return to Front Side. I skied Prima, but did not like the looks of the bumps where it steepened so I dropped into steeper Prima Cornice where I found a little untracked. Next run I skied North Rim which also had a little steep untracked.

I ended my day skiing flat at top, interesting in one place in middle and one more lower down Simba, then took the road to Cascades base where I caught a bus at 4 pm back to my car. EpicMix had me at 24 lift ride and almost 34K, my highest of the season. On a day with snow slow due to coldness,`Vail is too flat at the top and also at the bottom of the furthest out to middle Back Bowls. I poled so much that I wore through the protective layer on both gloves and on one of them I wore through everything and could see skin on my thumb through the glove. I also wore off most of a pole basket. They could use more drag lifts along their top ridge, but were not even running Wapiti, the one they do have.
 

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Interesting. On the days I skied at Vail last January (2 with Paul Kulas) we didn't push so far out Mongolia that there was much in the way of slogging. But obviously a couple of days after a storm, that's where the most powder will be. Sort of like Catherine's/Patsy Marley atAlta. The longest slog was with his friend Jonesy to get out to East Vail.

tseeb":3l1jnpcj said:
almost 34K
Midweek non-holiday Vail is a quite efficient place to rack up vertical. My average per day there 24,200, over 5K above my overall average.
 
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