Paul ventured over to Vail yesterday and said that Christmas is going to be a disaster. Avanti and the two lifts out of mid-Vail are the only ones open for skiing. You must download Lionshead gondola at the end of the day because it hasn't been cold often enough to make enough snow at its base. Traffic has made snow surfaces bad too. It is of course possible that a Colorado local's definition of bad surfaces is different from many other people's. He called me while I was on the way home from Mt. High and it sounds like I had the better experience.
The prior evening he and I got into a discussion because a long time patroller claimed this will be the first time nothing is open in the Back Bowls at Christmas. I pulled up my spreadsheets and informed him that during Christmas Week Vail was 20% open in 2017-18 and 29% in 2011-12, those being the lean early seasons in recent memory. I did not mention the 34% in 1988-99. I did mention the even more notorious 1976-77 and 1980-81 seasons when Vail had little or no snowmaking.
Paul said that Pete Siebert wanted to be able to say that the Back Bowls were intermediate accessible to his Texas investors when the only chair back there was #5 (High Noon). That accessibility is via the cat trail Sleepytime Road, which would allegedly be the only way down there in a lean Christmas. I was skeptical because that's still a long road with no snowmaking and considerable sun exposure. While at Vail yesterday Paul ran into a different long time employee who said there have been other Christmases with no Back Bowls. Nov/Dec snowfalls for Vail were 40.5 inches in 2017-18, 58 inches in 2011-12 and 61 inches in 1998-99. So far this season stands at 45 inches and looks worse due to less snowmaking I would guess. There is no November data for Vail for 1976-77 or 1980-81 but Winter Park, Loveland and Berthoud Pass all have numbers similar to 2011-12. The Gothic Snow Lab (between Aspen and Crested Butte but with long term snowfall closer to Vail's) had 29.5 inches in 1976-77, 50.5 in 1980-81 and 53 in 2011-12.
The prior evening he and I got into a discussion because a long time patroller claimed this will be the first time nothing is open in the Back Bowls at Christmas. I pulled up my spreadsheets and informed him that during Christmas Week Vail was 20% open in 2017-18 and 29% in 2011-12, those being the lean early seasons in recent memory. I did not mention the 34% in 1988-99. I did mention the even more notorious 1976-77 and 1980-81 seasons when Vail had little or no snowmaking.
Paul said that Pete Siebert wanted to be able to say that the Back Bowls were intermediate accessible to his Texas investors when the only chair back there was #5 (High Noon). That accessibility is via the cat trail Sleepytime Road, which would allegedly be the only way down there in a lean Christmas. I was skeptical because that's still a long road with no snowmaking and considerable sun exposure. While at Vail yesterday Paul ran into a different long time employee who said there have been other Christmases with no Back Bowls. Nov/Dec snowfalls for Vail were 40.5 inches in 2017-18, 58 inches in 2011-12 and 61 inches in 1998-99. So far this season stands at 45 inches and looks worse due to less snowmaking I would guess. There is no November data for Vail for 1976-77 or 1980-81 but Winter Park, Loveland and Berthoud Pass all have numbers similar to 2011-12. The Gothic Snow Lab (between Aspen and Crested Butte but with long term snowfall closer to Vail's) had 29.5 inches in 1976-77, 50.5 in 1980-81 and 53 in 2011-12.
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