abc
Well-known member
This is the second part of my "Fresh tracks & Mid-winter condition in April" trip I took to Colorado.
After a little over a week in Copper Mountain (and they closed their back bowl despite all the storm), I decided I really need to use my pass for what it's intended: ski BOTH Copper and Winter Park.
Besides, I've had a bit of success in bump skiing, a mini-breakthrough. So I was dying to get more practice in Winter Park which is renowned for having massive amount of moguls of various sizes and shapes to suit different skill level. I asked a Winter Park regular for recommendation of a list of progressive bumps to try...
But first, I had to refresh my legs from the endless powder days of Copper the previous week. So after I was done skiing at Copper on Friday (4/11), I drove from Copper over to Winter Park by way of Kremling, stopping at the hot spring and soaked my tired legs to the bone in their 19 hot spring pools of increasing temperature!!!
4/12: sunshine & warm, slushy bumps, soft in the trees, gorgeous views off the ridge (& manky chopped-up powder in the bowls)
With the forecast calling for snow the next day, I decided to take it easy and just use the time to familiar myself to the mountain. I've been to Winter Park twice before but both times I only skied Mary Jane side. I wanted to see a bit of Winter Park.
By now, I got my warm spring day routine down pat: follow the sun as it softens the surface. That means starting on Mary Jane first, slowly work my way up higher to the ridge. The view off the Panorama chair was absolutely stunning! (sorry, no picture yet, till later). I was rewarded with decent soft snow as the sun worked its magic. Skier traffic was so low a lot of lines in the trees were still untouched days after the last snow fall, some of which I dutifully tracked up!
The wind, however, started to pick up and got fierce on the ridge. (and I had been forewarned by the guest service that the Pano chair might stop if wind got too strong) On my run back down to the Pano chair, I noticed it had stopped. Figure it's probably gone on wind hold, I took the chair next to it. As my chair was going up, I noticed there were still people on the Pano chair, and it had not been moving for a good 10-15 minutes since I first noticed it. I was lucky I escaped being stuck on it for extended time. I must have missed the hold by a mere few minutes.
So I attempted a few of the "easy" bumps my buddy recommended: Dandy Dancer (x2), Columbine, Golden Spike which isn't "easy" by any stretch of imagination! Later in the afternoon, went over to Winter Park as it soften up, got quite a few very good run on some of the blue groomers off the Olympic chair. But for the life of me, I couldn't quite figure out how to get to the Pioneer chair. And it's getting late so I thought perhaps they stopped running, or didn't run it at all due to late season (being a late season snob myself)
4/13, snowing!
My friend, who used to be a RME van driver, analyzed the storm track and its implication on road condition, decided to drive up from frisco mid-morning. And I had no reason to hit 1st chair either. I used the remaining late morning time to get a bit more familiar with Winter Park. The temperature was lower and the sun wasn't out (duh!) so the surface didn't soften up much. Not entirely enjoying the condition, I decided to first have early lunch, then ambled over to the free Mountain Tour meet up point, to find myself being the only one who's interested in the tour. I immediately mentioned my interest in figure out how to get to the Pioneer and Eagle Wind chair.
My friend arrived at the bottom of Mary Jane and, since I was the only tour participant, we arranged to meet up together. While waiting for my friend to come up on the Narrowgauge (funny/confusing name for a chair), another person showed up for the tour. So we were a tidy group of 4, perfect fit on the almost universal quad chairs WP employed.
Standing at the top to chit-chat, snow suddenly started to fly and fall in earnest. Add the wind, it was getting cold fast. So we moved off to the Pioneer area, perfectly shielded from the wind. Our guide showed us a sneaky way to get there in a slightly roundabout way using a short chair, eliminating the need to skate/pole, which would have been arduous in freshly fallen snow.
We lapped the chair a few times, our guide pointing out the various runs and trees in between, especially the area which would likely be a good candidate for long lasting powder fun the following day. The other participant wasn't quite as comfortable in the increasingly powdery surface. So we stopped and waited when necessary, and as a result, slowly turning into icicles.
The tour ended after 90 minutes. By then, it was snowing heavily and visibility was limited. I wasn't dressed warm enough either. So we called it quit at 3 o'clock and spend the rest of the lift operating hours surfing Belgian beers at the Cheeky Monk at the base village.
4/14: Powder Day!
(to be continued)
After a little over a week in Copper Mountain (and they closed their back bowl despite all the storm), I decided I really need to use my pass for what it's intended: ski BOTH Copper and Winter Park.
Besides, I've had a bit of success in bump skiing, a mini-breakthrough. So I was dying to get more practice in Winter Park which is renowned for having massive amount of moguls of various sizes and shapes to suit different skill level. I asked a Winter Park regular for recommendation of a list of progressive bumps to try...
But first, I had to refresh my legs from the endless powder days of Copper the previous week. So after I was done skiing at Copper on Friday (4/11), I drove from Copper over to Winter Park by way of Kremling, stopping at the hot spring and soaked my tired legs to the bone in their 19 hot spring pools of increasing temperature!!!
4/12: sunshine & warm, slushy bumps, soft in the trees, gorgeous views off the ridge (& manky chopped-up powder in the bowls)
With the forecast calling for snow the next day, I decided to take it easy and just use the time to familiar myself to the mountain. I've been to Winter Park twice before but both times I only skied Mary Jane side. I wanted to see a bit of Winter Park.
By now, I got my warm spring day routine down pat: follow the sun as it softens the surface. That means starting on Mary Jane first, slowly work my way up higher to the ridge. The view off the Panorama chair was absolutely stunning! (sorry, no picture yet, till later). I was rewarded with decent soft snow as the sun worked its magic. Skier traffic was so low a lot of lines in the trees were still untouched days after the last snow fall, some of which I dutifully tracked up!
The wind, however, started to pick up and got fierce on the ridge. (and I had been forewarned by the guest service that the Pano chair might stop if wind got too strong) On my run back down to the Pano chair, I noticed it had stopped. Figure it's probably gone on wind hold, I took the chair next to it. As my chair was going up, I noticed there were still people on the Pano chair, and it had not been moving for a good 10-15 minutes since I first noticed it. I was lucky I escaped being stuck on it for extended time. I must have missed the hold by a mere few minutes.
So I attempted a few of the "easy" bumps my buddy recommended: Dandy Dancer (x2), Columbine, Golden Spike which isn't "easy" by any stretch of imagination! Later in the afternoon, went over to Winter Park as it soften up, got quite a few very good run on some of the blue groomers off the Olympic chair. But for the life of me, I couldn't quite figure out how to get to the Pioneer chair. And it's getting late so I thought perhaps they stopped running, or didn't run it at all due to late season (being a late season snob myself)
4/13, snowing!
My friend, who used to be a RME van driver, analyzed the storm track and its implication on road condition, decided to drive up from frisco mid-morning. And I had no reason to hit 1st chair either. I used the remaining late morning time to get a bit more familiar with Winter Park. The temperature was lower and the sun wasn't out (duh!) so the surface didn't soften up much. Not entirely enjoying the condition, I decided to first have early lunch, then ambled over to the free Mountain Tour meet up point, to find myself being the only one who's interested in the tour. I immediately mentioned my interest in figure out how to get to the Pioneer and Eagle Wind chair.
My friend arrived at the bottom of Mary Jane and, since I was the only tour participant, we arranged to meet up together. While waiting for my friend to come up on the Narrowgauge (funny/confusing name for a chair), another person showed up for the tour. So we were a tidy group of 4, perfect fit on the almost universal quad chairs WP employed.
Standing at the top to chit-chat, snow suddenly started to fly and fall in earnest. Add the wind, it was getting cold fast. So we moved off to the Pioneer area, perfectly shielded from the wind. Our guide showed us a sneaky way to get there in a slightly roundabout way using a short chair, eliminating the need to skate/pole, which would have been arduous in freshly fallen snow.
We lapped the chair a few times, our guide pointing out the various runs and trees in between, especially the area which would likely be a good candidate for long lasting powder fun the following day. The other participant wasn't quite as comfortable in the increasingly powdery surface. So we stopped and waited when necessary, and as a result, slowly turning into icicles.
The tour ended after 90 minutes. By then, it was snowing heavily and visibility was limited. I wasn't dressed warm enough either. So we called it quit at 3 o'clock and spend the rest of the lift operating hours surfing Belgian beers at the Cheeky Monk at the base village.
4/14: Powder Day!
(to be continued)
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