Skiing, Snowboarding, and Snowshoeing

chachi I don't blame you though my experiences at Sunday River at least were good. ASC's biggest problem is trying to build up these resort villages where they won't get enough destination traffic, instead of keeping the skiing of high quality. Sugarloaf? Too damn out of the way to attract more than weekenders. Heaven Forbid if they tried to build one at Snoqualmie (ONE HOUR from SEATTLE, just keep throwing money away).

On a brighter note, I just found out I have Monday off! Sunday morning at Keystone, Monday TBD (maybe Loveland).

 

Monday's Keystone. Some of the US Ski Team will be at Loveland on Monday. Cool thing to do, but to have more runs open, I'll be at Keystone. A news article in Denver said Keystone will open 16 runs, making them with 20 open, tomorrow, due to the huge dump they got Friday night, today, and into tomorrow.

I'd go there for a few hours tomorrow morning but driving there and back is probably gonna be too dicey. The snow and high winds are supposed to be around tomorrow.

 

Holy ************ someone in the eternal land likes me!

This from Pali's Pitch, an A-Basin newsletter:

"7 1/2 feet of Snow Since October 1!!

You've probably heard that the mountains are getting hit hard with snow. Well, A-Basin is no exception. Since October 1, we have received over 7 1/2 feet of snow. That's 90" of that light, fluffy, white stuff.

Because of all that snow, we will be opening a week and 1/2 earlier than planned. Opening day will be this Saturday, November 16 at 8:30 a.m. That would make it the earliest opening date in 10 years. We plan to have 75% of the terrain open, 34 runs, served by three lifts on a 30" midway base. Are we excited or what? A-Basin has seen 18 days of snow out of the last 21 days! Well, so much for that new snowmaking system - looks like it's working pretty well.

Skiers and riders can look forward to an early season ride down Slalom Slope, Lenawee Parks, Norway, Cornice West Wall, Standard and 13 Cornices. And you'll be the first to know when additional terrain and lift openings occur in the future.

Early season lift tickets for adults at the ticket window will be $31 and $15 for kids (6-14). All skier services will be available so you can rent skis or boards, take a lesson, get something hot to eat and pick up some new goggles in the retail shop.

And one more time - don't forget to get your A-Basin Bonus Pass on-line before you get here at www.arapahoebasin.com. Only $199 will get you unlimited skiing or boarding at the Basin, plus 5 non-transferable lift tickets to Keystone/Breckenridge. One can even be used at Vail or Beaver Creek. Hurry, while supplies last.

See you on Saturday!"

My only decision is whether to go Saturday or Sunday. This weekend is Gem Card weekend at Loveland, I can ski all day for $15 at a resort I don't have a pass for. Lovleand was AWESOME yesterday, so I want to go back like you don't believe.

 

Fear believe me I know this is good fortune. An early season like this happens once a decade. Vail hasn't had this much snow prior to the opening since 1985 (they open Saturday). Vail and Beaver Creek are also lifting their restriction for Colorado Pass holders for Thanksgiving weekend. I'm at Vail that Friday if I don't have to work, to use one of my 10 days the pass allows for.

 

I've added Keystone to my list, which includes Killington, of "never believe a word they say" when it comes to open stuff. Keystone advertised 4 lifts and 20+ trails for Monday. Unless I didn't see the 3rd and 4th, there were 2 lifts running, making for 20 minute wait lines. I go back there when nearly the whole resort is open.

Anyway, there may be 20+ runs open at Killington. Okemo had 13 runs open as of last Thursday. I do tend to be cyncial about what resorts advertise, especuially when they don't list what's open on their website (Keystone doesn't).

It won't be long before lifts are cranked up all over the country.

 

Where abouts in the midwest? Actually Michigan's supposed to have a couple of decent sized resorts up by Traverse City.

 

I hear ya about the cash thing.

Speaking of that, the guy that's tuning my skis at Christy Sports mentioned that my skis may not make it through the end of the year due to usage. Looked sincere, so I'm exploring options.

Other than end of season blowout specials or Sniagrab next fall, anyone have recommendations on where to get skis for hopefully less than $300? I may go to Play it Again Sports if the ski's won't last the season. Especially if I get used ones, I'm going to try to keep the same bindings to save cash/keep what I'm familiar with. I'd love to go with Elans again.

 

No dinero, though a couple of unseen rock tops took out a small chunk of the base of my right ski, near the edge. I'll have to go to Beaver Creek tomorrow since I'll have to stick to groomed trails.

Right now I'm in Glenwood Springs, CO. Went to the local hill today, Sunlight Mountain. A free ticket via the Denver Ski Expo brought me there, surprisingly steep blues, good runs all around, and friendly staff will get me back sometime for sure. I'm in the terminal intermediate phase, but some of the blues I skied today felt like blacks.

Moral of this story: sometimes the lesser known, off the beaten path activities, provide the best experiences. http://www.skicolorado.com/gems, http://www.sunlightmtn.com.

 

Or for Christmas vacation.

I'm not as up on X-ctry depth requirements, but 10 may be enough to get some trails open.

BTW, Christy Sports called me, it doesn't look like my skis can be salvaged, at least not for the $60-65 tuneup range.

 

Hey Fear, remember when you asked me about new skis?

I bought a ski (Rossignol), binding, and poles (Scott) package Monday, on sale for $289 (reg. twice that), plus $25 for mounting the bindings.

Good thing, you know why?

My skis got shellacked for the last time at Sunlight on Saturday. Turns out that Christy Sports likely can't keep tuneup costs at thr $60-65 range. He'd have to drill through the metal edge to attach a screw to my base. Given that I already have emergency rock skis, that purchase I made Monday looks awfully smart.

There's such a small base to my skis that they're not worth salvaging. Even if it means incurring $320 more debt, I'd lose my sanity if I moved to Colorado but couldn't ski for non-injury reasons.

I may throw the journal online tonight as well.

 

Journal's Back Up. Just a fun little thing I'm doing. It keeps a little bit of HTML skills updated too.