Honest snow reports for Keystone and Breck

I'm hoping to get to Breck and Keystone the end of next week for about
9 days of skiing, first use of this seasons 3-mountain pass. The
Keystone and Breck web sites are pitiful in their non-descriptions of
amount of terrain and lifts that are open. I sent them (Vail Resorts)
a nasty gram complaining about this, but that won't help me get
accurate info in the meantime. Does anyone have a Chester
Bullock-like report on Breck and/or Keystone conditions. Vail Resorts
should take lessons from the A-basin web site.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 at 16:31 GMT, H. R. Bob Hofmann penned:
I'm hoping to get to Breck and Keystone the end of next week for about
9 days of skiing, first use of this seasons 3-mountain pass. The
Keystone and Breck web sites are pitiful in their non-descriptions of
amount of terrain and lifts that are open. I sent them (Vail Resorts)
a nasty gram complaining about this, but that won't help me get
accurate info in the meantime. Does anyone have a Chester
Bullock-like report on Breck and/or Keystone conditions. Vail Resorts
should take lessons from the A-basin web site.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann


I made the same complaint by email and also in person yesterday at
Keystone. I was told that they're working on it, and that I wasn't the
first person to point them to the A-Basin website.

Anyway, Keystone yesterday. I'd never been to Keystone before, and my
previous two ski days this season have been at A-Basin, so those are the
grains of salt with which to take my report.

Keystone has some greens and blues open; I didn't ask about how many
greens were open, but I believe they said that Peru lift was open and
servicing greens.

Summit Express, the first lift from the huge parking lot (afaict),
serviced three blues and a green. The green was Schoolmarm and leads to
the Montezuma lift. Two blues, Flying Dutchman and Spring Dipper, were
packed powder, developing moguls along the right side throughout the
day. I believe they opened up Bachelor just yesterday, so it was
fluffy, with treetops, bark, and loose rocks with which to contend. To
be honest, I don't think I'd ever skied anything quite like that, since
this is the first year I've ever gone anywhere early-season.

A lot of blue runs looked like they were on the verge of being opened.

My fiance and I *both* got chunks torn out of our new skis. That would
probably qualify as "our own damn fault for taking new skis
early-season." It wasn't just Bachelor; there seemed to be a lot more
rocks lurking in wait at Keystone than at A-Basin. Okay, maybe they're
not chunks, but my brand-new skis' bases now look worse than those of my
five year old pair ...

My only real complaint was River Run, the run you have to take to get to
the base chairlift. It's icy, somewhat steep, and, as it's the only
game in town right now to *get* to that lift and the base area, it is
absolutely covered in people, many of whom are prone to falling. It's a
mess. Apparently, it's not unusual for that run to get icy, but the
sheer volume of people who have to use it right now is making it worse
than usual. Too many people always make me nervous; too many people
skidding out on ice make me worry about being able to stop in time. My
fiance, who's a much stronger skier than I am, didn't find it quite as
disconcerting, but he managed that by bouncing along the very edge of
the trail.

At A-Basin, I was wondering why they haven't installed high-speed quads;
at Keystone, I see why. Sure, at A-Basin, you stand in line at the
lift, but once you get to the top, you have room to maneuver. At
Keystone, there are no lines to speak of, but once you get to the top,
the crowds are a major pain.

--
monique

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote

Keystone has some greens and blues open; I didn't ask about how many
greens were open, but I believe they said that Peru lift was open and
servicing greens.

The green you get onto from Peru is Schoolmarm, sans the top 1/3rd which
goes from the Summit. If it's not crowded, you can have some real fun on
Schoolmarm. Bits of it are green, other bits would be blue anywhere else.
You just rail them and head down. If it's crowded, sadly, you can't do that
so it's not really that much fun. Schoolmaster, which branches off, doesn't
have snowmaking so I doubt that was open.

Summit Express, the first lift from the huge parking lot (afaict),

summit is the quad that runs next to the Gondola from River Run.
Goes to the top.

serviced three blues and a green. The green was Schoolmarm and leads to
the Montezuma lift.

Schoolmarm is 4 miles long, and goes from the top, you can also get to it
from Peru; 2/3rds down you can hang a right and catch Montezuma back up, or
keep on Schoolmarm down to Peru at Mountain House. Or, you can hang a right
near the bottom, onto Ina's Run, to get to River Run on a green.

Two blues, Flying Dutchman and Spring Dipper, were
packed powder, developing moguls along the right side throughout the
day.

Spring Dipper is the easiest Blue, and borders the far right of the resort.
You get some bumps in the only little steep bit, usually. Flying Dutchman,
from memory, is the main bumps down the front side.

My only real complaint was River Run, the run you have to take to get to
the base chairlift. It's icy, somewhat steep, and, as it's the only
game in town right now to *get* to that lift and the base area, it is
absolutely covered in people, many of whom are prone to falling. It's a
mess. Apparently, it's not unusual for that run to get icy, but the
sheer volume of people who have to use it right now is making it worse
than usual.

River Run is quite steep, and it's huge, and everyone is piling on it to get
back down to River Run base. If there's snow, a better way is Schoolmarm,
then hop onto Ina's to cut back across to River Run; that lets you out near
the bottom of RR. Sounds like they need snow badly. Icy means they must
have made a fair bit of their snow, and traffic + man-made = horrible ice.
Keystone suffers from all three.
And Texans.

Meanwhile, it's dumping here in New England. We've been open a week here.

ant

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 at 01:03 GMT, ant penned:

River Run is quite steep, and it's huge, and everyone is piling on it
to get back down to River Run base. If there's snow, a better way is
Schoolmarm, then hop onto Ina's to cut back across to River Run; that
lets you out near the bottom of RR. Sounds like they need snow badly.
Icy means they must have made a fair bit of their snow, and traffic +
man-made = horrible ice. Keystone suffers from all three. And
Texans.

The texans we met on the lift were quite nice!

Ina's not open, so that wasn't an option.


Meanwhile, it's dumping here in New England. We've been open a week
here.

ant





--
monique

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote

The texans we met on the lift were quite nice!

Either they weren't proper Texans, or you're one too! I flew over colorad-y
to get away from them Texans, and had no regrets. Some Texans were ok, the
majority I enountered were unutterable.

Ina's not open, so that wasn't an option.

Yeah, had a feeling it wasn't. Ina's, btw, is named after Keystone's most
venerable instructor. She is brilliant. I loved team teaching with her and I
hope for Keystone's sake she keeps teaching for years. One of the best.

ant

"Monique Y. Herman" wrote in
:

snip
My only real complaint was River Run, the run you have to take to get to
the base chairlift. It's icy, somewhat steep, and, as it's the only
game in town right now to *get* to that lift and the base area, it is
absolutely covered in people, many of whom are prone to falling. It's a
mess. Apparently, it's not unusual for that run to get icy, but the
sheer volume of people who have to use it right now is making it worse
than usual. Too many people always make me nervous; too many people
skidding out on ice make me worry about being able to stop in time. My
fiance, who's a much stronger skier than I am, didn't find it quite as
disconcerting, but he managed that by bouncing along the very edge of
the trail.

This plagues Keystone the ENTIRE year. The final pitch down to the River
Run gondy is always a nightmare of ineptitude. You'll get to experience a
similar situation the first time you get to ski Mozart off the back side of
Keystone mountain.......

-T.O.M.-

H. R. Bob Hofmann wrote:
I'm hoping to get to Breck and Keystone the end of next week for about
9 days of skiing, first use of this seasons 3-mountain pass. The
Keystone and Breck web sites are pitiful in their non-descriptions of
amount of terrain and lifts that are open. I sent them (Vail Resorts)
a nasty gram complaining about this, but that won't help me get
accurate info in the meantime. Does anyone have a Chester
Bullock-like report on Breck and/or Keystone conditions. Vail Resorts
should take lessons from the A-basin web site.

As of last Thursday and Friday, Breck had the Peak 9 lifts open, only. I
heard that Peak 8 was to open something like the 13th. Where they have made
snow, the coverage is 100% but gets scraped to icy spots in just a couple
of hours. Pretty dang crowded, too. Hit it early and fast.

Mike...

--
Littleton, Colorado (reply to msaemisch at yahoo dot com)
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 at 15:25 GMT, SkaredShtles penned:

This plagues Keystone the ENTIRE year. The final pitch down to the
River Run gondy is always a nightmare of ineptitude. You'll get to
experience a similar situation the first time you get to ski Mozart
off the back side of Keystone mountain.......


Once the terrain is more fully opened, will there be skiing options that
allow me ski blues and maybe some blacks all day without dealing with
the "nightmares of ineptitude" till close?

Or maybe even a spot where I can avoid all that crap and snag a shuttle
to the parking lot?

--
monique

"Let Mikey Ski It!" wrote in message ...
H. R. Bob Hofmann wrote:
I'm hoping to get to Breck and Keystone the end of next week for about
9 days of skiing, first use of this seasons 3-mountain pass. The
Keystone and Breck web sites are pitiful in their non-descriptions of
amount of terrain and lifts that are open. I sent them (Vail Resorts)
a nasty gram complaining about this, but that won't help me get
accurate info in the meantime. Does anyone have a Chester
Bullock-like report on Breck and/or Keystone conditions. Vail Resorts
should take lessons from the A-basin web site.

As of last Thursday and Friday, Breck had the Peak 9 lifts open, only. I
heard that Peak 8 was to open something like the 13th. Where they have made
snow, the coverage is 100% but gets scraped to icy spots in just a couple
of hours. Pretty dang crowded, too. Hit it early and fast.

Mike...

I talked to a patroler on Thursday and asked about them opening trails
and he said they are not going to open anything else until the 15th.
Don't know how true that is but it certinaly looks like Peak 8 and 10
are ready to go. I've talked to a couple of people who have hiked up
and skied Peak 10 and had some thin spots on the main run but the
snowcats could take care of it. Spitfire and Cosair are both ok on
the west half of the trail but rocky on the other half. I think their
decisions on when to open Peak 8 and 10 are more monetary than
conditions.

snoig

(H. R. Bob Hofmann) wrote in message om...
I'm hoping to get to Breck and Keystone the end of next week for about
9 days of skiing, first use of this seasons 3-mountain pass. The
Keystone and Breck web sites are pitiful in their non-descriptions of
amount of terrain and lifts that are open. I sent them (Vail Resorts)
a nasty gram complaining about this, but that won't help me get
accurate info in the meantime. Does anyone have a Chester
Bullock-like report on Breck and/or Keystone conditions. Vail Resorts
should take lessons from the A-basin web site.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

Well, conditions are fairly mediocre. We're supposed to get some snow
in the next day or two so check back after that. I think Breck and
Keystone are delibrately keeping terrian closed to get Front Rangers
to go to Vail where there is more terrian open with more snow.

snoig