Backcountry Ski Trip Report: Red Mountain and Panther Peak

Last weekend (1/28-29), I again made the trek up to Central California to do some backcountry skiing. I'll be honest, the skiing wasn't very good. In fact it was pretty bad. But like all difficult things, it was a formative experience and I learned a lot. The story is best told by breaking it down into lessons learned.

Lesson #1: Avoid Parking in Grandma's Front Yard: On Saturday, we were planning on skiing Red Mountain, which is located between Shaver Lake and Sierra Summit on Rt. 168. So we drove up most of the way the night before and decided to sleep in the back of John's Explorer. We parked on the side of the road around midnight and figured everything was fine. I guess we were a little close to Grandma's house because her dog got wind of us around 1:45. Grandma decided to come out and find out if we were ok. She was actually pretty cool. She had no problem with us sleeping there for the night. It just took away from the little sleep we were getting in the comfy confines of the Explorer.

Lesson #2: Bring Toilet Paper: I've gotten too used to staying in places that provide you with toilet paper and of course forgot to bring my own. So shortly after waking up, I had to go and do my business...toilet paper or no toilet paper. Unfortunately, there were no leaves on the ground and all the trees were evergreens. I decided that they wouldn't be too comfortable or effective. The best solution I came up with was to grass wrapped with an old REI receipt.

Lesson #3: Get a Hide a Key: We arrived at the Red Mountain trail snow park around 7:15. We then had breakfast and put our gear on. To keep us entertained, we had the Sirius satellite radio blasting tunes from the "Hair Nation" station. A minute later, John shut his door and realized that he had locked the keys in the car (they were still in the ignition) with the radio still on. So we were presented with a dilemma. Do we go on the ski tour or do we get the door opened? Rather than getting a professional, we decided to try and open it ourselves. Picture John standing on top on the roof of the Explorer using one of his skis as a lever to pry open the door with me trying to jam my ski pole into the opening John created in a sad attempt at hitting the automatic lock button. As expected, it was completely ineffective. I was really surprised that no one driving by stopped as it looked like we were trying to break into the car. Once we gave up on doing it ourselves, we decided to go on the tour and deal with it later.

Lesson #4: Usefulness of GPS and an Altimeter: Neither John nor I had ever been out to Red Mountain. John had heard about it from a friend and had read a description of it on the Sierra Club Ski Mountaineer's website. But that was about all the knowledge we had. On the positive side, we did pick up a topographic map of the area. But unfortunately, none of the trails were labeled on the topographic map, the trails themselves weren't labeled very well, we were stupid and talked ourselves into taking the wrong trail. Not wanting to waste time, we decided to take what we thought was the geographic straight line to the trail we wanted to be on. We eventually made it onto the trail. But we were really never sure where we were on the map or how far we had left to go. We only realized that we were on the right trail when we reached West Lake at the base of Red Mountain. For me, the hike wasn’t the hard part. It was only 6.5 miles and the climb was very gradual. Most all of it consisted of following Snowmobile tracks. The hard part for me was the uncertainty. GPS would have obviously cleared that up. But as long as you have a topographic map, an Altimeter would also have given you a good idea of where of you were by telling you which iso line on the map you were on. (Note: This is similar to the technique we used on the sub where we would use ocean depth to fix our position.) If you want to do this tour without getting lost, just follow the signs at first for the Red Mountain trailhead and then for Red Mountain. (We errored in thinking that we were already on the Red Mountain trail as soon as we left the parking lot and that the first sign for the Red Mountain trailhead would loop us back to the parking lot)

Lesson #5: Bring Basic First Aid: About halfway into the hike, I got a pretty good sized blister on the back of my left ankle. When it first started hurting, it made me wish that I would have brought some mole skin with me. Luckily, John had a role of duct tape, which turned out to be an excellent temporary fix. We made a small duct tape square by putting folding one strip of duct tape in half (sticky side to sticky side). We put this against the blister and then taped that to my foot. So now you know one more use of duct tape. Despite the fact that this wasn't very serious, it did make me think about what I would do if something more serious happened. In the future, I'll definitely bring a basic first aid kit along with me and I might take a wilderness first aid course.

Lesson #6: The Skiing at Red Mountain is not worth the hike: Even if you don’t get lost, it’s a 5 mile hike to get to the top of the mountain. So it’s not easy to get to. The west facing ridge has a nice steep 400 ft vertical ridge. But it’s west facing. The north facing bowl we heard so much had a nice rocky steep section that last for about 30 vertical feet. It was followed by several hundred vertical feet of boring low grade crap. The snow at the top was very wind packed and slick while we did find some powder in the woods below.

The trip back to the car was easy. It took us 1.5 hours. Its not all downhill. So you’ll either have to put your skins back on or carry them like we chose to do. Thanks to the grumpy front desk guy at the Tamarack Lodge (just up 168 from the snow park), we were able to get AAA to send someone out to open the Explorer up for us. Amazingly, the battery was still full of juice with the radio going at full blast all day.

The next day, we skied Panther Peak at Sequoia National Park. The tour leaves from the Wolverton parking lot (just like 9979 which we did over MLK weekend). You just follow the yellow trail markers and it will guide you there. It only took us about 2 hours to reach the summit. The skin up was made easier by following John’s skin track from when he went up the previous weekend. The run down Panther Peak gives you about 700 vertical feet of low grade, north facing trees. The first 100 feet at the top is more exposed and we found it to have a very heavy crust. While not great snow down below, we had about 8” of heavy, creamy powder. You definitely had to have some speed to help you turn in it. But it was fun! By the time we went up for a second lap, it had warmed up substantially. This caused the snow to stick to our skins. In the future, I’ll be sure spray some of the Black Diamond Free Glide spray onto it the night before. Since we didn’t spray it on the night before, we used some Globstopper wax. While not totally fixing the problem, it at least allowed us to make it back up for a second run.

What is Ski Porn?

That is the question I have gotten from some of my non-skiing friends. Some didn't know what it was while others, like my mother, were offended and thought that I was actually writing a review of the latest skin flick. Ski porn is hard core skier lingo for ski videos. If you don't believe me, just google it and you'll find a whole array of good clean ski videos to choose from. Ski porn is what we, who are addicted to skiing, use to satisfy our cravings when we can't get out to the slope.

Although not the same as when you are out there yourself, its still pretty invigorating/inspiring to watch the guy or the girl in the video skiing a beautiful line in knee deep powder down an insanely steep (>50 degree) pitch in the Chugach. You wish it were you when they huck a 50 ft cliff and land it effortlessly. You're glad its not you when the landing doesn't go so smoothly and the aforementioned huck is followed by 20 cartwheels down the slope without the skis releasing. My ACL hurts just watching. Even though what they do far exceeds our abilities, it does motivate us to get in the car for that 9 hour drive in search of good snow and great terrain. So, if I offended you, I'm sorry. But ski porn is what it is and I will not give in to political correctness and call them ski movies. That just sounds so lame.

Backcountry Ski Trip Report: Weekend at Sequoia

I spent last weekend skiing the backcountry at Sequoia National Park. It was both the first time on my new AT gear and my first time backcountry skiing since 1995. It turned out to be a great weekend. We got close to 2 ft of fresh, dry powder between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. The biggest surprise to me was how dry it was. Although not quite Alta dry, it was pretty close. It dedfinitely wasn't the typical Sierra cement I've heard so much about. The snow line was only at 3,500 ft.

Each day, we drove up to the Wolverton parking area in the morning and went out from there. On Saturday, I was a bit apprehensive about going out in the middle of the storm. But for the most part, we stayed in the trees and my buddy John (who lives in 3 Rivers just outside the park) was very familiar with the terrain and assured us it was safe. We started off on the Pear Lake trail before breaking off to go to the top of the peak we call 9979. The initial hike to the bottom of the bowl took about 3 hours. I was pleased with my stamina. I had no problems keeping up with John and apart from my lungs, I didn't feel all that tired. After another hour, we made it to the top of the bowl. It's a nice north facing bowl. Visibility in the bowl wasn't great. But we could see. Although the terrain was great (low grade bowl leading to widely spaced trees for about 900' vertical), I skiied terribly. The AT boots were a lot softer than my downhill boots. Consequently, I had trouble keeping myself centered. I was either too far forward or I was leaning back. At least on the first run, it seemed that I couldn't link more than 5 turns without falling. I fell more on our two runs that day than I had all season long combined. By the second run, I knew what to expect from the boots and started getting the hang of the new boots. I could now link 8 turns before falling.
On day two, we got off to a late start. It was decided that we had to ski with the girls that day. We didn't actually go on a full fledged tour. Instead, we again went to the Wolverton parking area and did laps up the hill directly across from the sledding hill. It was affectionately known as the "Beginner's Slope." But apart from the very top, it had a good intermediate/expert pitch. There were even a few rocks to jump. The big advantage to the "Beginner's Slope" is that its only a 10 minute hike from the parking lot. The disadvantage is that the run is only 400 ft of vertical. So it takes quite a few laps to get good vertical. We were the only ones who thought it was worth skiing. So it was completely untracked. The snow was excellent (8-10" of good dry powder). In fact, it was probably the best snow we had all weekend.

On day three, we went back to 9979. Thankfully, we were greeted with a bluebird instead of a snowstorm. When we got to the base of 9979 bowl, we headed up the trees to the right (when facing uphill) instead of skinning directly up the bowl. We made good time and broke John's record with a time of 2:59 from the Wolverton parking lot. For our first run, we headed down through the trees we had just skinned up through. That face is northwest facing so the snow at the top was already pretty crusty. But once we got further into the trees (thinner and more exposed to sunlight at the very top) it was very good. We got some excellent video. Tyler and Carl quit after the first run. Tyler was tired and Carl's boots hurt. Dave, John and I went up for another 2 runs. We did one more run in the trees and finished it off with a run in the bowl.
All together, we climbed close to 10,000 ft of vertical throughout the weekend. For that, we got in only 9 runs. It might seem like a lot of work for not a whole lot of skiing. But it was absolutely wonderful. I actually enjoy the skin up. I like the fact that it forces me to slow down and enjoy the scenery. The other big thing is that you're guaranteed first tracks. Consequently, you have none of the anxiety that you have at a lift serviced ski area on a powder day. There is no mad rush to get to the powder before its tracked up. So you just end up taking your time and enjoy the day more. I know that I was spoiled with the snow quality that we had. But we were the only ones out there and it was great.

Ski Porn Review: Altavision

Before leaving Alta last weekend, I got my hands on the first Wahsatch Powder Productions release entitled "Altavision". It is a simple, extremely low budget movie that focuses on great powder skiing. What I liked best about the movie is that they kept the focus on the skiing. The movie was basically one big face shot. It was only a matter of how you got to it: deep powder in open bowls, landing in powder after hucking a 40 ft cliff, or making beautiful turns through the trees. Unlike most other videos today, they did have a park scene, but it was kept to a minimum. Additionally, the Stevie Wonder bloopers scene was hysterical. Their crashes are far better than the standard Warren Miller falling off a lift or firemen running into each other. They are also more believable than those videos which show guys getting swept off a 50 ft cliff by an avalanche and walking away. If we got off of our butt, took a drink, and got a little courage, these were things that we might actually attempt. You can't help but laugh at each crash. The scene proves true the old saying we had on the boat, "Another person's misery is our greatest joy!"

While I really enjoyed the movie, there are a few areas that they could improve on for their next production. First, the movie needs more dialogue. It had the skiing and it even had decent music. But it would be more interesting to have a narrarator talking about where they're skiing, philosophizing about skiing powder, or even just introducing some of the skiers. Secondly, there are lots of interesting personalities at Alta and it would be cool to hear some of their stories. For example, Rob the guy I wrote about from the lift the other day was hysterical. A monologue with him just going off would be great. Finally and most importantly, the movie needs more chicks. I'm not saying that they need to blow their budget and bring in Sarah Burke or Ingrid Bakstrom, but it would be nice for them to showcase some women skiers and to let us know that they are women.

Despite my criticisms, overall I thought it was a fine piece of ski porn and highly recommend it. If you're interested in obtaining a copy, you can email Wahsatch Powder Productions at: wahpowprod@yahoo.com.

Ski Trip Report: You Win Some and You Lose Some

The old saying goes that you win some and you lose some. As ski days go, Saturday was one of the worst ski days I’ve ever had. Temperatures were only in the low 30’s. But there were high winds that made it feel far colder and turned most of the snow to absolute crap. Yes, I know that I sound like a complete west coast weather weenie and you might say that I’ve forgotten my northeastern roots. If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re absolutely right. I’m soft and I’ve been spoiled by great weather and snow conditions. But you’d be spoiled too if your ski season had gotten off to the kind of start that mine has. Anyways, now back to how the day actually went. Winds were coming from the west. When we actually got smart about figuring out where the wind was depositing all the blowing snow, we did find some good snow in East Greeley, Greeley Bowl, Gunsight and Glory Hole. But by then, I was mentally out of it (didn’t really want to be out there) and was skiing terribly. I was leaning back on my skis the whole day and had no energy in my legs.
(Lone Pine on Ridge, looking up from East Greeley)
The only highpoint in the day was meeting another one of Alta’s interesting personalities on the chairlift. I hope all who go to Alta have the pleasure of one day meeting Rob Rowley (Rob, sorry if I messed up on your name, I’m going from memory of what I saw on your pass). Rob is an absolute riot! Like Red Man, Rob looks a bit disheveled. He’s in his mid 40’s, is slightly overweight, had gloves but wasn’t wearing them, has long hair, and has a pair of fairly new Fischer skis with 25 year old bindings. According to Rob, his mission in life is to get the POW POW and to the ride the first chair every day he’s there. Like Red Man, he does not actually live or work anywhere in Utah. He’s from the great skiing state of Virginia. Within the first few minutes talking with him, he will proudly tell you that last season he got 37 first chairs, 2 seconds, and 1 third. Probably more impressive, is the 22 double double’s that he got the year before that. The double double involved first chair on both the old Collins and Germania lifts (both replaced last year with the Collins High Speed Quad). According to Rob, the difficult part wasn’t being first in line on the old Collins double. It was surviving the Chinese downhill, with some of Alta’s best skiers behind you, to the Germania lift. Legend has it that one day Rob rode up with a former US ski team member who characterized the aforementioned Chinese downhill as the scariest run of his life.

Another story Rob shared with us was the time he met the guy he was on the chairlift with. It was 10 years ago and they were both staying at the Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge. Rob checked the weather forecast at the front desk and saw that 6-8 feet of snow were predicted. He thought it was a typo. But no, it wasn’t. It was the storm of all storms. They ended up with 99” of 4% moisture content (really dry) snow. The road coming up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta was closed for 2 of the next 3 days due to avalanches. On one of those days, they did try opening the road. But after 4 cars made it up, another 4 were buried in an avalanche and it was closed for the rest of the day. Despite all this snow, Alta did manage to keep the lifts running. I jokingly asked Rob if it was deep enough to necessitate the use of a snorkel. His response was that it was it was too deep for a snorkel. It would just clog up with snow. In that depth of snow, he prefers the filtered breathing mask. He said that it’s pretty weird to be standing at the top of a slope and to see the top of the powder chest deep, 12” below your goggles. It must have been absolutely incredible. I wish I was there. But breaking first tracks on the high traverse must have really sucked!

The National Weather Service predicted 4” of new snow Saturday night with another 4-7” on Sunday morning. At 4 in the morning, I woke up and was stoked to see blizzard like conditions outside. When I woke up again at 7, I was disappointed to see that the blizzard conditions had given way to blue skies and had left only 4” of new snow. But I figured that the 4” would significantly improve conditions from yesterday and a bluebird was always good. Dad and I made it over to the lifts by 8:45. The lifts were running, but were only taking ski patrol up at that point. There was one person waiting in line before us. At first I thought it was a liftie. Then I realized it was Rob. He had just arrived at Alta the week before. So this was first chair number 4 for the season. Dad and I got chair number 3.

Shortly after getting on the lift, it started snowing again. It turned out to be another great powder day. We got first tracks on Greeley Bowl and North Rustler. At that point, we put the no friends on a powder day rule into affect and split up. Next I took a run off of the high traverse. To my delight, I again got first tracks on Stone Crusher and Lone Pine. The next run I met up with Red Man and we hit High Rustler and took a bunch of runs in Eagle’s Nest. Before taking me into Eagle’s Nest, I again had to sign one of his iron clad confidentiality agreements promising not to show anyone his secret stashes. By 11:00 (when the original forecast called for the storm to let up), the storm only intensified. With much regret, I decided to meet up with Dad at the Peruvian for lunch.
(Wildcat Lift in Snowstorm)
After lunch, we took one run before we were forced to go our separate ways, me for maintaining my sanity (I hate to wait) and him to keep from having a heart attack(trying to keep up with me). I originally meant to head out to East Greeley. But not seeing any tracks going towards Glory Hole, I hiked out there and again got first tracks. Next, I moved over to the Supreme lift and had an excellent run in Catherine’s area and got first tracks in 2 chutes in Supreme Bowl. I was elated that at 2:30 in the afternoon, I was still getting first tracks. Granted, both chutes had sketchy entrances that probably discouraged most skiers, but anyone with a little ingenuity could have skied them. By that time, there was at least a foot of fresh powder in the untracked areas. So it was real good. I finished the day with a couple more runs in Eagle’s Nest before heading back to the Peruvian to get cleaned up before catching the van down to the valley. To top that all off, the perfect day ended with one of those perfect moments. Before I caught the van down, I headed up to the Peruvian bar for a beer. I was sitting in a big soft leather chair, next to the fire, drinking a PBR, and listening to a Dead cover band. I was just sitting, smiling, and thinking that it doesn’t get any better than this.
(Grizzly Dad in Snowstorm just after skiing Eagle's Nest)

Ski Trip Report: Back At The 'Bird

I skiied the 'Bird today. I had the honor of skiing with John "Red Man" Reif, a local legend. Red Man is a 54 year old professor of Nanoscience at Duke who calls the the bunkroom at the Alta Peruvian Lodge his second home and manages to average 50-60 days per year at Alta and Snowbird. He is a living library on the history and locals' stashes at Alta and Snowbird.

When we got to Snowbird, I got the unpleasant news that the Gad 2 Lift was broken. Apparently the bull wheel cracked 2 weeks ago and a new one is being manufactured in Canada. It will be several weeks until it will be open again.

Despite that bit of bad news, the day overall was excellent. We were treated to another bluebird. Temps were in the mid 40's. We started off skiing Mineral Basin, which was in the sun in the morning. Unfortunately it took the first 2 hours of the day for the snow to really soften up. So we were skiing on frozen crud and death cookies. We should have just stuck to the groomers. Around 11, we headed for the main ridge under the tram. Red Man swore me to an oath that I would never show anyone else his secret powder stashes. So sorry, all I can do is tell you the trails we went down. (Not that I have a chance of remembering where they are next time I come back since I was just trying to keep up with him as we were constantly ducking in and out of the trees and down chutes.) Almost every run we did off the ridge, we started off going down Great Scott. Its the 45 degree slope right under the tram with a bunch of people standing looking over the edge. The entry involves a ~5' drop in. The cover was a little spotty today. So you really had to pay attention to the rocks sticking out of the snow. Once you were in, the snow was absolutely fantastic. After skiing down the main part of Great Scott, we would then traverse over to the nose of the main ridge at Snowbird. From there, we took runs down the Wilbur Chutes, Lone Pine, and Dalton's Draw. They were all very excellent and uncrowded. The only issue was the entry which involved skiing over rocks. Luckily I only ended the day with one core shot. Somehow Snowbird just doesn't agree with my skis.

Red Man might be 54 years old. But I have to admit that he skis faster than me. I prefer taking lots of short agressive turns down the fall line. He generally just makes big fast GS turns through anything. We didn't stop for lunch and skiied together until 2 when he headed back to Alta. To be honest I was kind of glad that he left because my legs were just about out of gas and I would hate to admit that I had been beaten by a 54 year old.

When we got back to the Peruvian we were greeted with the news that Alta had opened up the Baldy chutes today. I was disappointed to hear that I had missed it because they look fantastic. I've never skiied them but plan on hitting them tomorrow.

Ski Trip Report: First Two Days at Alta in 2006

Life doesn't get any better than this! First, I do New Year's in Vail. Then I join my dad for 5 days at Alta. Like the last couple of times I've come up here, I'm staying at the Peruvian. I came the same week as last year. Its amazing! Apart from a few new faces, its almost the same people staying here. Every conversation begins with something about you looking familiar. This sure says something for customer loyalty and what a great place the Peruvian is.

So now on to the skiing. Dad and I got up here around 8AM on the 4th. There were 4" of fresh light Alta powder to go on top of the 10" they got the day before. This presented me with an ethical challenge. On the one hand, its a powder day and we all know that there are no friends on powder days. My dad is 56 years old, a smoker, and severely out of shape. So skiing with him would mean missing out on a lot of good turns. On the other hand, he did fly all the way from Taiwan to go skiing with me. The decision wasn't made any easier when on the 2nd run when dad lost a ski almost as soon as we hit the powder. Not having powder cords, Murphy's law dictated that his ski burried itself in the snow. We spent a good 30 minutes digging for it. We were just about to write it off and I was about to leave him when he stepped on it with his boot. Damn!!! So dad had his ski and we were back to skiing together again. (Note: Our first stop after finding his ski was to visit the ski shop and get him some powder cords. He has been bitching about them being a pain in the ass every since.)

So what was good on day one? While waiting for dad to buy powder cords, I found some fairly untracked snow in Greeley bowl and Greely Hill. We spent the early afternoon on the Supreme lift. The areas to skier's right and left of the lift are littered with amazing chutes. The snow cover was good. I didn't hit any rocks. Although very steep, the entries to most of them do not involve jumping any rocks. Catherine's opened while we were in at lunch. But after getting back out, I made the hike out there around 1:30. Everything that was easy to reach was already tracked up. So I hiked all the way to the outer edge of the area boundary. To my delight I was treated to a nice moderate pitch (Note: Most of Catherine's is moderately pitched) with only 4 other tracks through it. Although only a spray, I got this season's first face shot on that run. Shortly thereafter, I split with dad and made laps off the Collins lift until closing. To get back to the lodge, I took Wildcat Bowl and Blackjack back to the Peruvian. That whole face off of the Wildcat lift is one of Alta's best kept secrets. Even though it was the end of the day, it was only mildly tracked and the shade kept the snow nice and light.

Today they opened up Ballroom just after 9AM. So instead of the normal groomer for our warmup, we warmed up on the Ballroom traverse. Since it was the warmup, we stopped about midway and then skied down. I didn't make dad do the whole traverse. I let my dad go down first and was amazed. The old man was skiing powder and making nice looking turns. I was so happy for him. Every other time I've taken him into powder he's always looked really uncomfortable and I've felt guilty for taking him down those runs. But today he got it! You da' man dad! Just after lunch as we were getting off the Sugarloaf lift, they opened up Devil's Castle. So of course we followed the mass of waiting local powder addicts through the gate. Getting into Devil's Castle involves a good hike. So don't go there unless you're willing to sweat. I wasn't willing to wait for dad to deal with his powder cords, so we immediately got split up. It was beautiful powder down the first pitch. After that first pitch I followed a few tracks towards a knowl. One of the things I love about Alta is all the suprises you find. For me, this was a cliff band on the other side of the knowl. Not being the huckmeister, I opted for a narrow chute instead of the 15' cliff with the mystery landing. The chute was quite an adrenaline rush. It goes with out saying that it was steep. But to start off it was only 2 ski length wide. So at first you could make hop turns. Then it narrowed to less than a ski length wide and to get out you had to do a straight line and duck under a pine tree before it let you out into this awesome powder field that almost no one had been in. This brought me to face shot number two for the season. I love face shots! After that I got another two runs in Devil's Castle. Again Dad and I split up at the end of the afternoon. I took a number of runs down West Rustler. But the best runs were in Eagle's Nest. The chutes were narrow, the entries sometimes a bit hairy, and the snow was tracked but dry.

So now that I've been here for two days, how does Alta compare with Vail? First, the people at Alta are here for skiing the skiing as opposed for the social scene. They wear functional clothing that often doesn't match instead of one piece Bogner suits. They all have a burning passion for skiing and are intensely devoted to Alta. Second, besides a few ski shops, there is no shopping up here. So if you're looking to buy a new fur coat, its probably not the place to go. Third, Alta is much smaller than Vail. You could fit Alta into Vail's back bowls. Lastly, Alta is much steeper than Vail. I didn't ski a run at Vail that is as steep as any of the chutes or most of the bowls at Alta.

Ski Trip Report: New Year's in Vail

I just finished my 4th day of skiing at Vail. While it lived up to some of my negative expectations, it has also surprised me in a lot of good ways. I’ll start off with the good. The skiing has been better than expected. While the mountain lacks a lot of the rocky steep chutes that Squaw, Alta, or Jackson have, the terrain is actually decent. The front side of the mountain is pretty much entirely traditional tree-lined slopes. There are a few good runs through the trees and the bumps by the Highline lift are enough to give your thighs a real fun for their money. But I wouldn’t spend too much time on the front side of the mountain.

Vail’s real treasure is the back bowls. They are HUGE. By themselves, they are over 3000 acres. I was treated to the joy of a foot of fresh powder on New Year’s Day. The combination of the back bowl’s expansiveness and the fact that everyone was too hung-over to ski, meant that I was getting fresh tracks from 0830 to closing. It was one of the best powder days of my life. Early on in the day when the visibility sucked, I was mostly sticking to the trees in China and Siberia Bowl. While in some areas the trees are pretty close together, most of the trees are very skiable as long as you go slow. Once the visibility improved, a local pointed me to the Mongolia pomma. I hate to spoil a good thing. But there was absolutely no one over there. I had a number of fantastic runs in Bolshoi Ballroom and Inner Mongolia Bowl. The only downside to heading over that far is that the pitch becomes more moderate in Inner Mongolia Bowl and the catwalk at the end is fairly long. But if you’re looking for fresh tracks, it’s well worth it.

To finish off New Year’s Day, I went with some locals on the Mintern Mile. It’s a backcountry trail that takes you from the ski area boundary at Lost Boy in Game Creek Bowl to the ski bum town of Mintern. It was awesome! The first part was moderately pitched untracked powder, alternating between open meadows and glades. Then we had a half hour down a fairly flat narrow trail through the woods. Although flat, you can get going pretty fast and it’s too narrow to turn. Because of that, the trail is affectionately called the Luge. After getting to Mintern, we spent the next hour drinking Margaritas in a real classic ski bar. The inside entrance was filled with skis and snowboards. The walls were lined with old ski pictures. It was absolutely packed with locals who had just finished up their day of skiing.

The snow quality was also very good. Despite temperatures being in the upper 30’s to mid 40’s, the snow was pretty dry. Vail was reporting a 51” mid mountain base. Although this was less than what was Snowbird had 3 weeks ago, I didn’t hit a rock until the last day. This was due to the mountains here being generally less rocky than in Utah. So the important thing to remember is that the cover at Vail could be excellent compared with Utah even though its base might be less.

The biggest surprise was the cost. I wasn’t expecting Vail to offer a good military discount. But even on New Year’s weekend, the ticket only costs $45 for active duty military. Sorry for you non-military types. You still have to pay the outrageous sum of $82. If you know that you may be coming here at some point next season and you are ever in Colorado on business, you might want to get a Colorado ski pass. It covers unlimited skiing at A-Basin, Breckenridge, and Keystone and 10 days at Vail/Beaver Creek. All this for only ~$320. The only hitch is that it isn’t good at Vail over Christmas and the first time you get it, you have to buy it in person. After that, you can renew online.

We flew into Denver International and used the Colorado Mountain Express Shuttle to get to Vail and back. In good weather, plan on the drive taking 2.5 hours. On the day we went to Vail, with some snow from the night before and heavy traffic, it took us 3.5 hours. It costs $68 each way. So factoring in the time and the cost, it makes sense to fly into Vail/Eagle airport if you can get a good deal.

Now onto the part of Vail that met my expectations. The last two resorts I’ve taken trips to have been Jackson Hole and Alta/Snowbird. Vail is definitely on a completely other level on the ritzy scale than they are. We were staying at the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa. Although a 4 star hotel and one of the best hotels in Vail (normally $460/night), we got it on hotwire for $150/night. It’s a nice place with a swank bar for Après Ski. But they really try and nickel and dime you. I was disappointed that you actually had to pay to get internet access. Even most budget motels include that free of charge. The women who come here are dressed to impress. Fur is definitely big here. So expect to see them decked in designer clothes, fur coats, and fur boots. Along with that, people come to Vail as much for going out at night as for the skiing. So if there’s bad weather (ex. Snowstorm) or it was a big party night the night before (like New Year’s), expect to see the mountain pretty empty for the first part of the day. At first it kind of pissed me off that no one wanted to come out for a great powder day. But then I realized that it just meant more powder for myself and it didn’t both them that they were missing out on some skiing.