Colorado Pt.2, March 10-12 Vail and Loveland w/ SkiNCrs

[davidski]

Day 5



"Hi, my name is spydeeTJB, I will be your guide today, now let's see how much of Vail we can track in one day, hold on"











It was awesome -- Spydee contacted me when I was in Frasor and said he could get me a cheap ticket, to Vail? hell yeah. Window price is now $139, and yes people were lined up to pay it.







Skiied an overwhelming number of runs (and maybe a dozen+ lifts) with him and his brother, including the back bowls, and innumerable frontside groomers















the groomers are insanely wide long and varied





















The temps climbed to 50 for the second day so the trees were stuck in a multi-day freeze refreeze cycle, I never saw anyone really in them, it was also stupidly crowded for a monday but no still no problem getting laps.



And yeah vail is crazy expensive on everything but the moutain and terrain is truly off the scale -- it reminded me of snowmass but with a whole nother moutain on the back. I'm really glad I got the oppurtunity and on a powder day that window price would still be tempting.



It was great to ski it with a fellow SkiSEer, esp. one who knew the mountain so well. Too bad I missed Chip, tell him thanks





Day 6

Caderader was also in Co, based in Breck and we arranged to meet at

Loveland on Tues. morning -- I left my Frasor lodging, $30/night is

great but I was fine bidding farewell to my "roommates" and to be

staying in a room by myself that night.









Berthoud was getting buried









Loveland not as much and I was worried I'd made the wrong call but by

the time I met Caderader at chair 4 it was heavy again we made good

laps off of 8























Loveland is a great place to demo skis, $35 all day, great selection

and you can swap out all day .... may I suggest the Icelantic Shaman.

We headed to the Ridge and visibility went to ****, after a blind run

down I was happy to move around the lower lifts.

















Chair 1 has a fancy new hut









Last Run was C. choice, Over the Rainbow, it's almost never open when

I'm at LL, and even though it was tracked I found my deepest turns of

the day there. It's great to ski w/ good company and he skiis more

aggressively then me so it kept me alert --- let's do it again!



That afternoon 70 was littered w/ accidents didn't clear till after 6,

oh well stuck partying in the Rathskeller with all the Loveland folks?

ok by me



Day 7

I was listed on a 5pm flight but needed to return the rental by noon

-- still I wanted to get some bluebird powder runs and Caderader

hadn't skiied off the pass. So we made a couple of laps, some deep,

some trees but pretty mellow. One thing that was not mellow was our

second hitch up, an old guy in a beat up pick up let four of us pile

in the back -- it was as if he was angry to have stopped and he

proceeded to rage his way around all the tight hairpins like at 50mph,

we were all looking at each other like what the hell is happening. I

have never had anything like that occur before

The pass was still not open from night before when I got there at 7:45















I packed my gear at the top of the pass, got my rental in, and just

barely got out on the next to last seat on last flight , otherwise I

would have been seriously stuck ... meant to be I guess. Wish I could

have been part of those bluebird Cat laps off the ridge, oh well

[spydeeTJB]

Vail frontside was stupid crowded on Monday, more than the weekend. Maybe because the Friday storm shut I70, keeping usual masses away. Others said it was start of spring break. Others in my posse took majority of pic and Im waiting for them to share to post a TR. I got Davidski on all but 4 lifts.…not bad given the crowds. Blue Ox and Game Creek are the two areas I wish we could have hit. It was surprising how the snow in the trees went to crap overnight so we were stuck with groomers and bumps. Still, had a great time!



Sent from my Nexus 7

[Ski Bunny]

Excellent trip report! I am glad you got to experience Vail. A fiend used to live in Vail, so I skied there many times due to free lodging and free or cheap lifties. Love it there! Your pics are awesome, and I especially like the tree shots in part 1. Glad you had fun.

[davidski]

Thanks, Ski Bunny -- I always have a good time out there but skiing with spydee and caderader was a real bonus

[Droogie]

Vail is lots of fun, but crazy expensive. I have not been there in years because of that. Looks like you had a great time!





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[spydeeTJB]

^Several ways to lesson the price tag: use airbnb for lodging (one guy in my group got a 1br place in village for $100/nite), fly into Eagle and take county bus to Vail ($4). Tough to score discount tickets unless you know a kind pass holder.



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[KneeDeep]

You sir, are a dedicated skier. Way to get after it.





I bet you have more days skiing in Colorado than I do this year.

[davidski]

But a lot fewer powder days -- I've still never had a true deep day at Loveland, although a lot of good days

[BaZinGa]

This is great: "Hi, my name is spydeeTJB, I will be your guide today, now let's see how much of Vail we can track in one day, hold on"



Vail & Loveland are so much fun, wish that my guide & my abilities were better the last time we visited.... hopefully another trip in the near future, but alas there are soo many places I need to try... good times, glad you guys got after it!

[ROYMERCER]

once again, well done !!