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Winter Park, CO - 12/26

skiNEwhere

Active member
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
4,141
Points
38
Location
Dubai
Conditions in the glades, 3-4 inches of powder
Outside the glades, loose to packed powder

So I feel like I am finally getting to the point where I know the character of individual resorts in the state. When I first moved here, I sort of just blindly drove around and skied random places so that I could figure out what area I liked the most.

Copper Mtn has been a favorite of mine due to its trail layout, smaller crowds (as long as you stay off of the American flyer and American eagle during peak times) and bowls. But Winter Park is making a push for #1


I skied Winter Park twice a couple of years ago, but I didn't really know what I was looking for and just kind of skied all over the place. Yesterday I skied primarily the trails in Mary Jane and off of the prospector lift as well.

Bumps, bumps, and more bumps! Winter Park got off to a slow start this year (last month at this time they had only 3 greens trails open!!) but have been getting hammered with snow as of late, which bewilders me a little bit seeing as I live only 7 miles away but have received only half as much snow.

But anyways, they have most of the Mary Jane area open, and pretty much every trail in the Mary Jane trail pod is bumps. I included a pic of outhouse, which is actually off of the zephyr HSQ and leads to MJ. There is still evidence of early season conditions, as there are the top of rocks, shrubs, and stumps to watch out for, but I brought my rock skis so it wasn't a huge deal other than getting ejected by a hidden rock :/

The only parts of Winter Park yet to be open are the cirque (bowl skiing) and Eagle Wind (right below the cirque, primarily glades). According to ski patrol though, Eagle Wind should be open Saturday for directed skiing.

It's kind of funny, if you read yelp reviews for WP, the thing both praised and criticized the most are its moguls. Not the quality of them, but the quantity.


You'd be hard pressed to find a diamond or above that doesn't have moguls on it.

After 5 and a half punishing hours (over 1 hr active slope time) my legs were finished. Best outing yet so far this year.

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