just saw that, too. I am very relieved.


tomorrow at this time, I'll be relaxing in advance of some night skiing.

2/14/2010 3:44:23 PM

just made it out to Breckenridge for a week of skiing...thinking of skiing 2 days, 1 off then 2 on.

I know we're Breckenridge and Vail, not sure which others...any ideas?

pretty sure i spotted bobbyd on my flight

2/15/2010 4:46:06 PM

copper is a local favorite in summit county

2/15/2010 5:19:09 PM

I like Copper and Breckenridge, but if I went out there for 2-3 days worth of skiing again, I wouldn't ski either of those places again...I'd just do Vail the whole time, or maybe all Vail minus one day at somewhere else like Keystone, Winterpark, A-Basin, or maybe take a trip to Aspen one day just to say I skied it.

I always viewed Vail as a sort of trendy resort; a place to see and be seen more so than a place with anything to offer skiing-wise over the other places, and more expensive due to the trendy, big-name reputation. What I found, though, is that it isn't really any more expensive than, say, Copper or Breck (I'm sure somewhere like Loveland would be much cheaper, though), but it has some flat-out killer skiing. You could spend a day or two in the back bowls and never even go to the main part of the resort, and it would be time well-spent. Out of the places I've skied (Park City, The Canyons, Mount Baker, Stevens Pass, Whistler, Copper Mountain, and Breckenridge, plus the east coast stuff), Vail's back bowls are in a class of their own for that type of skiing.

2/15/2010 5:36:05 PM

Going to Vail in 14 days!

2/15/2010 8:07:20 PM

Buttermilk is money

2/15/2010 8:09:21 PM

Beaver Creek is my favorite mountain out in that bundle of Summit County resorts, although it competes with Vail for $$$, the runs are fantastic and well worth the cost in my opinion.

[Edited on February 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2010 9:00:39 PM

Went skiing a couple weeks ago, and even though I haven't skied in at least two years, I was still able to land a 360 after only half a day of skiing. Amazing how it all comes back to you.

I'm now feening (sp?) to go back.

2/15/2010 10:14:02 PM

fiending

2/15/2010 10:29:11 PM

^6

Duke speaks truth...Vail is a complete playground, where you can find difficult if you are looking for it, but it's just plain fun to ski there. Blue Sky Basin is a view that leaves little to be desired and the sheer vastness of rideable terrain make it the best value by far. Oddly enough my first trip out west, we rode Breck, Keystone, Vail, and breck again the last day. We went back the next year and unanimously decided to do Vail, Vail, Beaver Creek, Vail. It's so money, and it doesn't even know it. There were rides off Cloud 9 that I will simply never forget. I remember hearing they had like 3 times more rideable terrain than any other place. If you think about the price of lift tickets out there, there is not much left to consider.

2/15/2010 11:53:06 PM

Unfortunately my only experience at Vail was a bad one. It had been sunny the day before I went and over the night there was a hard freeze. As a result anything that wasn't groomed over night (basically everything above a blue) was hard crusty shit. Some of the worst conditions I ever skiied on. The bowls were shit, you couldn't cut into anything. The only decent skiing were long sweeping blues and I quickly became bored with those.

2/16/2010 10:22:39 AM

Quote :

"pretty sure i spotted bobbyd on my flight"

haha, if you were on the 7:15 a.m. flight from RDU to DEN, we were definitely on it.

As far as summit county skiing goes (with the exception of beaver creek) I've skied all of them multiple times, and it's all world class skiing out here with the only variables being conditions on a particular trip and the size of a given ski area.


I've had an awesome time at keystone so far this week.



[Edited on February 17, 2010 at 11:43 PM. Reason : 0]

[Edited on February 17, 2010 at 11:55 PM. Reason : .]

2/17/2010 11:41:37 PM

going to wintergreen saturday. lots of bros will be in attendance. anyone else going to be up there?

2/18/2010 12:09:54 PM

BROS

2/18/2010 2:06:41 PM

8 Days till Park City, UT

2/18/2010 3:31:58 PM

^^^i'll be there....i think its gonna be packed and not that cold, so we'll see

2/18/2010 11:41:55 PM

welcome to CO BobbyDigital.

here's my opinion after living in Denver for 3 years and having both the vail pass & intrawest pass.

Vail, epic. It's got 5,200+ acres, the biggest resort in the continental U.S. Back bowls are renowned. Parking is $25, no free parking lots. Price is never discounted, same price as Breck/Keystone during peak season. Typically the most/best snow of the 5 mtns. on the Vail resort pass. Some of the best tree runs, best bowls, best powder. Farthest resort from Denver (next to BC)

Copper, professional. US ski team trains here. Much smaller of a mountain, easy to get to, right off I-70. Challenging moguls. Can be windy. Fun mountain. Free parking by shuttle.

Breckenridge, touristy. It was between touristy and windy. It's attracts the most tourism because of the great town, restaurants, night-life. Peaks have good terrain, good amount of difficulty, blues are wide. Free parking by shuttle. Lots of wind, average to good snowfall. Always cold. Long lines. TERRIBLE cat walks.

Keystone, convenient. Keystone has the same amount or more acreage than Breckenridge. Very easy to get around, top 10 parks, good terrain. Most double-blacks are sno-cat access. Parking is free and CLOSE (walkable). Carpool parking. Little to no lines. Mostly groomers, some powder. Can take loveland pass to bypass Eisenhower tunnel, good place to go if traffic is bad.

Arapahoe Basin, small A-basin is about 1/3 the acreage. Very steep terrain. It means it's challenging, but NEEDS snow and lots of it to be ski-able. The zuma bowl is renowned as well but lots of rocks means this resort is a good peak-season resort and no-go for early/spring conditions, or at least take your rock board. Cheap, tickets here are half what they are at the big resorts. Local feel since it's smaller, more locals go here since it's less touristy. Can take loveland pass to bypass Eisenhower tunnel, good place to go if traffic is bad. Parking is free and CLOSE (walkable).

Winter Park & Mary Jane, local Incredible mountains, Mary Jane I think is one of my top two favorite mountains. Best tree runs here, Best moguls here. Great local place, very close to Denver in terms of I-70. Winter Park is a great learning mountain, Mary Jane is just a great overall mountain. Beware of the moguls here though, it's slogan is "No Pain, No Jane". Parking is free and CLOSE (walkable).

With the intrawest resorts, you can ski 1 day Copper, 1 day WP/MJ, and 1 day Steamboat for $99:
http://www.powpowplatter.com
They've had this deal the last two years. Deal starts in early January.

Also with WP/MJ if you go to a Shell gas station and fill up with 10 gallons anywhere in the Front Range/ Summit County, you can get a BOGO pass.

As a local and having the Colorado pass, my favorite mountain is Keystone, aside from Vail/BC obviously.

Going to Breckenridge this Saturday

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 12:16 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 12:11:00 AM

Did anyone watch the halfpipe yesterday? Shaun White is amazing

2/19/2010 12:47:06 AM

SIIIIIIICK!

What stood out was just how far ahead of the 2nd place finisher. He just blew the competition away -- even on his victory lap where he didn't even need to score any higher.

The level of difficulty and the sheer height of his jumps are incredible.

Sadly I watched the women snowboard finals tonight and was disappointed when they kept crashing 900's. Their big tricks are landing 1080's (which no one landed) and getting 10' above the deck. In fact 3 out of 4 women couldn't get clean launches and landings. No offense, just huge differences.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 1:49 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 1:48:05 AM

Yeah there was ZERO competition between him and the other guys. My bartender buddy I was watching the game with was bitching about the Japanese boarders

2/19/2010 2:21:39 AM

^^That snowboarding was pretty nasty. Why didn't you do a summary for Beaver Creek?

2/19/2010 9:08:07 AM

It's pretty much the same as Vail, just half the size (similar in size to Breck). Truth be told it's as great as Vail, I just don't get out there much as it's the farthest out aside from Aspen (in Central CO)

My list in terms of enjoyment:
1) Vail / Beaver Creek
2) Mary Jane (Winter Park)
3) Keystone
4) Breckenridge / Copper
5) A-basin
99) Winterplace

I think most would disagree with me though and flip #2 with #4, but this is my list.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 5:22 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 5:16:26 PM

Just finished up a day at Vail. Stayed on the back bowls almost the whole day...pretty freaking awesome but I can't feel my legs. Awesome montain, but it was definitely on the crowded side...long lift lines and some crowded runs when I was making my way back to he village. If I come back next year I'll try to do it on mon-thurs.

In general though I was very impressed. I did two days at Breck which was far better than anything I've ever done...and Vail blew it out of the water.

2/19/2010 6:50:14 PM

^it's my favorite

going up to Breck tomorrow.

2/19/2010 7:38:54 PM

wintergreen was stupid busy

2/21/2010 2:04:08 AM

I don't do WG on weekends anymore. It's bad enough on some weekdays.

2/22/2010 12:54:55 AM

WG just can't handle crowds worth a damn....we easily waited 30 mins for a lift

2/22/2010 2:34:55 AM

nowhere around here can...

snowshoe can i guess, but that's 50% further away.

2/22/2010 12:02:40 PM

^Snowshoe is no better at handling crowds thats for sure.

2/22/2010 12:05:23 PM

I dont do WG on FRI,SAT,or SUN. way too busy.

A few thursdays ago was AWESOME though. No lines at all. It was almost too quick between runs (or maybe I am just outta shape)

2/22/2010 2:10:26 PM

^^Sure it can. All you have to do is avoid the main two lifts in the middle of the mountain and not go during a holiday weekend. And there is never, never a lift line over in Western Territory.

^^^That's why I only go to Snowshoe. I don't waste my time with anything else south of NY (on the east coast).

BTW, any of you guys ever use http://www.liftopia.com ? It's a great Expedia like website for finding discount lift tickets

[Edited on February 22, 2010 at 2:34 PM. Reason : k]

2/22/2010 2:22:45 PM

Quote :

"^^Sure it can. All you have to do is avoid the main two lifts in the middle of the mountain and not go during a holiday weekend. And there is never, never a lift line over in Western Territory."

From my experience everything has a line because Snow Shoe has a poor layout where the same lift services all terrain types.

Which is why Western Territory doesn't have this problem because it only services blacks. Generally speaking if you're on a black you know how to get on a lift and get off.

2/22/2010 2:42:10 PM

^eh, most people just don't go to Western Territory. Which I'm thankful for. Lift lines usually aren't that bad on the Widowmaker lift either since it mainly serves blacks. Powder Ridge and Powder Monkey usually don't have long lift lines but they're not high speed lifts so the ride is long. Regardless, over the years I've rarely spent more than 5 minutes waiting to get through a lift line at Snowshoe.

2/22/2010 3:06:37 PM

the two stoppages while waiting for the lift servicing wintergreen's blacks pretty much sums up saturday.

the snow was great though and the crowds were pretty good until around lunch time.

going to winterplace for the first time saturday. any idea how it will compare to wintergreen in terms of crowds?

2/22/2010 3:48:49 PM

I've never been to Wintergreen so I can't directly compare the two. But I've had HORRIBLE experiences at Winterplace due to crowds. HORRIBLE.

Last time I went there I went b/c I had a free lift ticket. It sucked so bad b/c of the crowds. I vowed never to go again, free lift ticket or not. That was 6 years ago and I haven't gone back.

2/22/2010 4:08:01 PM

^that's not encouraging. it's a trip through work, so it ended up being fairly cheap.

transportation, lift ticket, lunch, and dinner for $45.

2/22/2010 4:29:24 PM

Hopefully conditions will be okay for you. Gonna be warm in NC this weekend.

2/22/2010 4:57:19 PM

They should be fine. High of 37 tomorrow. Wed-Sat the high is below freezing. 40% chance of snow through Friday. Now if the people will just stay away.

2/22/2010 5:28:05 PM

This feels like the shittiest winter (for snow) to date for me, up in MA. Whenever it does snow, the next day it's at least 40... and there haven't been any Nor'easters which usually rape us with a 1'-2' (a couple times a winter at least.

2/22/2010 6:20:52 PM

^where are you? I live in Boston and have been going to Wachusett for day or night trips almost weekly. Last weekend we went to Cannon Mountain up in NH. That was pretty damn good. Slightly too serious for me on a snowboard. Conditions were great, though. it snowed 3" saturday night and continued snowing all day sunday. You can take the tram (first tram in the US) to the top and it was up in the clouds, couldnt see shit that day. Pretty fun. and the powderiest snow i've seen on the east coast.

I'll do Wachusett again the next two weekends (only 50min away from me) and then we're doing Killington the March 12th weekend, can't wait.

I just bought my first board, too, a Sierra Crew from sierrasnowboard.com. Has really great reviews and comes in a Wide for my big ass feet. I guess its a relabeled Burton Custom for a lot less. Its 50% off now making it $250. Got some Ride RX bindings for it. Can't wait to try it out on friday!

2/22/2010 10:52:35 PM

Quote :

"^where are you?"

...I'm like 20 miles west-northwest of Worcester. Everywhere south and southeast of me has been absolutely hammered with snow, but I've got shit from every storm. Yeah, Wachusett's good for its size and it's like 30 min. away, but it's a haul to go anywhere north (at least 2 hours to get to Vermont or New Hampshire... low traffic). I'm wicked pissed though, because I have 2 boards:

- a 152 Burton Twin with random K2 bindings
- a 156 Burton un.inc. with un.inc. bindings

...and I haven't been able to use the box that my friends and I made. We haven't been able to keep any snow on the ground for more than 3 days because it gets so fucking hot. This box is sick, too, and I can't even use my Twin jib board at alllll.

2/22/2010 11:15:03 PM

Wicked sick duuuuude! I wish I had a box.

2/22/2010 11:31:52 PM

Quote :

" BTW, any of you guys ever use http://www.liftopia.com ? It's a great Expedia like website for finding discount lift tickets "

We got our lift tix from liftopia for our recent trip.

$72 for a lift ticket + a $15 food coupon (no minimum purchase) at certain restaurants on site. The food at the normal cafeteria style places was meh, but the $15 coupons also worked at this quasi-mexican joint in the village that had some pretty damn good food. All we had to pay for was tip.

Ticket window price was $92. So it worked out well.


V - Seriously. WTF.


[Edited on February 22, 2010 at 11:45 PM. Reason : massholes.]

2/22/2010 11:34:30 PM

Quote :

"but it's a haul to go anywhere north (at least 2 hours to get to Vermont or New Hampshire"

Don't look to us for sympathy. We're in NC and you're bitching about a 2 hour drive to the Vermont ski slopes?

2/22/2010 11:43:21 PM

^He's also 17 so I'm sure to his rents thats a haul

2/22/2010 11:46:43 PM

mom can you run me up to the slopes in vermont real quick

2/23/2010 12:57:50 AM

Quote :

"I wish I had a box."

...I'll ignore the wicked sick part & you shitting on my age. However, this is the box my friends and I made:



(that isn't me, that's my friend)

We just used this black Lexan material that my friend got from his work (2 short, thin sheets) and like 16 2'4's or something like that. The material's wicked expensive, but after we rounded out the edges... it's honestly the best box I've ever ridden; so slick & buttery.

2/23/2010 6:37:53 AM

Is there an adblock for dumb new england phrases?

2/23/2010 8:19:18 AM

Damn bro! Looks like you guys are shredding the gnar!

2/23/2010 9:33:46 AM

Wicked frickin' pissa!

2/23/2010 9:49:37 AM