Jonesing for a Trip Out West

Bluebird Day

Bluebird Day

New member
I am trying to get out West for a last minute trip in early January and would like you to know if any of you folks have ever skied Wolf Creek, CO. The claim to get the most snow in Colorado.
:-k
Current Snowfall
Summit Base Depth : 76 Inches
Last 24 Hours : 13 Inches
Last 48 Hours : 27 inches
Last 72 Hours : 28 Inches
Midway Base Depth : 83 Inches
Last 7 Days : 64 Inches
Latest Storm : 27 Inches
Year to Date : 168 inches
Mountain Conditions
Surface Conditions : Powder
Percentage Open : 100
Skiable Acres : 1600
Number of Lifts : 6
 
conditions are pretty good in your own back yard..ie: upstate NY,VT etc..

Wolfcreek is a small area in the middle of no where ..
 
Jason is correct. Best done in conjunction with other places on a big road trip. Or in some early seasons when it's the only game in town.

January there are usually many options. Some of the usually favored ones (like Jackson) are a bit slow getting started this year, but this is a good year to consider western Canada.
 
Tony Crocker":1691b1a3 said:
Jason is correct. Best done in conjunction with other places on a big road trip. Or in some early seasons when it's the only game in town.

January there are usually many options. Some of the usually favored ones (like Jackson) are a bit slow getting started this year, but this is a good year to consider western Canada.
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As of now, I am booked to go to Jackson the first week of February, Summit Co. Colorado the third week of February and Silverton the first week of March. I was trying to go to Alta January 7-11 for a backcountry clinic, but my wife has a business trip that week and I have to watch the kids at night. I was just trying to get in a quick trip in to some place new, but it sounds like WC is no quick trip. Maybe I'll just fly out the SLC for a long weekend in early January.
 
SLC is definitely the call for a short trip. You would waste the better part of 2 days getting to and from Wolf Creek from anywhere. Are you spending a whole week at Silverton? Durango is also the closest airport to Wolf Creek at 2 hours. Unless you have a very unusual constitution you wan to ski at least a couple of lift-served days in Colorado before doing the hikes at 12,000+ at Silverton.
 
Tony Crocker":3u4q5atc said:
SLC is definitely the call for a short trip. You would waste the better part of 2 days getting to and from Wolf Creek from anywhere. Are you spending a whole week at Silverton? Durango is also the closest airport to Wolf Creek at 2 hours. Unless you have a very unusual constitution you wan to ski at least a couple of lift-served days in Colorado before doing the hikes at 12,000+ at Silverton.
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I agree completely. Going from 180' to 8,000' hurts the lungs a bit, not to mention skinning at 10-12K'.

I always feel OK the first day, good the second, and crash on the 3rd day on these trips.....
 
I've skied there. I liked it but it's a small area that is spread out along a ridge line. The in-bounds is nothing special. It's not particularly challenging. The tree skiing off the new lift is OK but not anything like a top-10 place for tree skiing. It appeared that the sidecountry to the west was where you wanted to be but I did not do that. Pagosa Springs is pretty iffy. I think it's the worst ski town in Colorado for lodging, food, and apres ski options. You are quite far from the ski area on the continental divide and you pretty much have to have 4wd or chains many days to deal with the climb. East of the continental divide is a lot of nothing for many miles so Pagosa Springs is your only option unless you want to stay in Durango and make the 2+ hour drive from there. Unless you have a local showing you the sidecountry and you have way better snow safety skills than I possess, I think it's only worth a day or two in conjunction with a much bigger trip.
 
South Fork is just about the same drive on the East side of Wolf Creek pass as Pagosa Springs. It's not nearly as big as Pagosa though, so there is even less to do there. On the flip side, if it dumps, that side of the pass almost always stays open to the Summit. For which the ski area is just beneath. The pass will closes quite frequently on the Pagosa side due to avalanche danger. There are at least two huge avy paths that cross the road on that side.
 
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