Colorado in April?

On Saturday, February 8, 2014 11:09:43 AM UTC-6, lal_truckee wrote:
On 2/7/14 4:40 PM, Toller wrote:

long groomed blacks

Chuckle.

Well, one time I was at Taos, they DID groom Longhorn (a fairly infamous long black with no bail-out), and Taos used to regularly groom Al's Run (the famous "DON'T PANIC!" run visible from the base lift).

Both grooms were to change the dangerous ice-coated, Volkswagen-sized ice crag moguls into friendly fluffy groomed corduroy... for 15 minutes.

Ans although snowboreds are allowed at Taos nowadays, there's very little risk that either of these runs will get board-groomed.

Jim in Texas

lal_truckee wrote:
On 2/7/14 4:40 PM, Toller wrote:

long groomed blacks

Chuckle.

Did not seem to make sense to me. much like a jumbo shrimp

I would propose a rain followed by a fast freeze on a green slope would
qualify.

On 2/7/14 4:40 PM, Toller wrote:
Beaver Creek?!

Obviously I don't know much about this, but it's been 35 years since I was above 8500'. Seems to me that it might be prudent to go someplace that is not terribly high.
They claim they will be open until 4/20, so they ought to have decent snow. It is right on I70, so there won't be a lot of time spent getting there. Their hotels seem more reasonably price than other places; and they seem to do a lot of grooming.
Only drawback I can see is that there aren't any long groomed blacks, but I am starting to prefer the easier stuff anyhow.

Does all this make sense? Am I missing something? Thanks.

Yeah, SLC is two stops and Denver is just one; so that turns 6 hours into 11.

You'll enjoy where ever you go, as long as you don't over think it.
Have fun.

Treat it as exploration - don't go looking to repeat what was fun on
your last trip, look for what's different and new, and dive in.

But you know that - you've been west before. I figure during slow
moments at work you're musing about this trip and inventing stuff to
think about.

Just a word re SLC vs Col: SLC is an urban area with a suburb that laps
up against the Cottonwood canyons which both have enough excellent
skiing to keep you going for years. A visit can be done on the spur of
the moment, no planning. Fly in, rent a car, drive to Sandy and rent a
room, drive up either canyon daily and ski. Go home. I've even sat in my
car in front of desired Sandy lodging, called them and bargained for
half priced rooms on the spot. Food is mainstreet cheap.
Colorado specializes in much more straight-jacketed
strip-you-of-your-money operations with little flexibility. Colorado's
thing is Disneysnow. Of course, Utah also has the latter - eg Park City.

Don't know the latest about Utah, but Summit County CO is getting really good snow, so unless there is a huige thaw, skiing in April should be just fine. And, it's not a long drive to get into Breck, Keystone and A-basin if you want same variety away from Beaver Creek.

On Saturday, February 8, 2014 12:09:43 PM UTC-5, lal_truckee wrote:
On 2/7/14 4:40 PM, Toller wrote:



long groomed blacks



Chuckle.

The nicest day I have had skiing (perhaps doing anything) was about 6 years ago at Whiteface. The entire mountain was perfectly groomed, nobody was there, and the sun was out.

Did the two trails from the top over and over; about 3,500 feet long. Maybe you don't consider them to be blacks, but if I could do that again I wouldn't give any thought to Colorado. (sadly they are almost always ice...)
That is what I consider to be a long groomed trail.

On Saturday, February 8, 2014 2:28:56 PM UTC-8, lal_truckee wrote:
On 2/7/14 4:40 PM, Toller wrote:

Beaver Creek?!



Obviously I don't know much about this, but it's been 35 years since I was above 8500'. Seems to me that it might be prudent to go someplace that is not terribly high.

They claim they will be open until 4/20, so they ought to have decent snow. It is right on I70, so there won't be a lot of time spent getting there. Their hotels seem more reasonably price than other places; and they seem to do a lot of grooming.

Only drawback I can see is that there aren't any long groomed blacks, but I am starting to prefer the easier stuff anyhow.



Does all this make sense? Am I missing something? Thanks.



Yeah, SLC is two stops and Denver is just one; so that turns 6 hours into 11.



You'll enjoy where ever you go, as long as you don't over think it.

Have fun.



Treat it as exploration - don't go looking to repeat what was fun on

your last trip, look for what's different and new, and dive in.



But you know that - you've been west before. I figure during slow

moments at work you're musing about this trip and inventing stuff to

think about.



Just a word re SLC vs Col: SLC is an urban area with a suburb that laps

up against the Cottonwood canyons which both have enough excellent

skiing to keep you going for years. A visit can be done on the spur of

the moment, no planning. Fly in, rent a car, drive to Sandy and rent a

room, drive up either canyon daily and ski. Go home. I've even sat in my

car in front of desired Sandy lodging, called them and bargained for

half priced rooms on the spot. Food is mainstreet cheap.

Colorado specializes in much more straight-jacketed

strip-you-of-your-money operations with little flexibility. Colorado's

thing is Disneysnow. Of course, Utah also has the latter - eg Park City.

We were having troubles with a vendor in SLC a few years back. I proposed a recovery plan to my boss - I would visit them on Monday, lay down the law, and then come back on Friday to verify their performance. In the meantime, the company would pay for my local hotel and meals.

Unfortunately, he saw through my plan.

On 2/9/14 1:30 AM, Richard Henry wrote: In the meantime, the company
would pay for my local hotel and meals.

Unfortunately, he saw through my plan.

When I was a regular SF to DC commuter I also couldn't get my SLC meals
and hotels paid during stopovers. But I did get you tax payers to pay
for the flights. Got a lot of cheap Utah skiing on you-all's dime.

(That's why I know you can just drop in unscheduled and put together a
SLC ski visit ad hoc, on the cheap.)

On 02/09/2014 01:30 AM, Richard Henry wrote:

We were having troubles with a vendor in SLC a few years back. I
proposed a recovery plan to my boss - I would visit them on Monday,
lay down the law, and then come back on Friday to verify their
performance. In the meantime, the company would pay for my local
hotel and meals.

Unfortunately, he saw through my plan.

Better luck next time.

Been to Big Bear this season?


--
Cheers, Bev
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$
Polish loan sharks: they loan you money and then skip town.

On 2/7/2014 7:40 PM, Toller wrote:
Beaver Creek?!

Obviously I don't know much about this, but it's been 35 years since I was above 8500'. Seems to me that it might be prudent to go someplace that is not terribly high.

The later it gets in the season, the more you need to go for height.
The base area at BC is just above 8k.

They claim they will be open until 4/20, so they ought to have decent snow. It is right on I70, so there won't be a lot of time spent getting there. Their hotels seem more reasonably price than other places; and they seem to do a lot of grooming.
Only drawback I can see is that there aren't any long groomed blacks, but I am starting to prefer the easier stuff anyhow.

Despite the opinions of some here that black runs must remain ungroomed,
the Beav has its fair share of long groomed black runs. It's a good choice.

They usually groom President Ford's run, Centenial (which is quite long,
but not a black run for it's entire length.), one run off of Grouse
Mountain (usually Screech Owl), Ripsaw (half the width, anyway),
Tomahawk, and a few others that I forget.

And if you want easier stuff, they've got plenty of that too.


--
//Walt

On Tuesday, February 11, 2014 8:21:29 AM UTC-7, Walt wrote:

Despite the opinions of some here that black runs must remain ungroomed,
the Beav has its fair share of long groomed black runs. It's a good choice.

I don't remember seeing anyone say that "blacks" must remain ungroomed. I think that the point is that once groomed they are no longer black. And technically a run with 1 degree slope could be "black" if the rest of their slopes were less than that. Black=most difficult as compared to the others. Of course there are excecptions but groomed=Blue.