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Breck extends season

abc

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To compete directly with A-basin?

I wonder if AB had decided to pull out of the Epic pass deal? (But just not announce it yet)
 

snoseek

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To compete directly with A-basin?

I wonder if AB had decided to pull out of the Epic pass deal? (But just not announce it yet)

I've heard that only as a rumor but that would be a dream especially if they stayed off the ikon as well
 

jimk

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I've skied Breck about 8-10 days over the last three seasons and learned to like it a lot - to my surprise. I never skied it before 2015 and always thought it was a tourist trap. The lower mtn can be swarming with Texans, but there is a lot of really fun terrain up high. There is something more approachable about the town that I like too. More middle-class than Vail.

Hopefully Arapahoe Basin will stay largely the same as it's always been, regardless of changes in industry trends/linkage. There is a chance I will ski both places this winter.
 

dlague

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Well this has more to do with the National Forest Service allowing this. They were forced to close in April and open in November like Keystone. However that is all changing. Keystone will shoot for October next season and Breck will pick up May. Competition for A Basin? Yes, but Loveland is generally competing as well. I look forward to the competition to disperse people.

We have been to Breck 8 times so far and several dozen times since we moved here and we still find new spots there and different faces off the peaks. There are some really good blades and we still have not skied them all. As for A Basin, the new terrain is pretty cool but gets firm quickly due to the direction it faces. While they change things constantly, it still and probably for a long time will feel the same.

I am looking forward to more that one May option. Loveland goes to the second weekend on May as well. A Basin will remain the only June destination.20181225_174837.jpg20181230_112025.jpg

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abc

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Competition? In May?

I’m told people don’t ski past April anyway. And resorts close due not to lack of snow but lack of skiers.

I havent ski Loveland enough to know its terrain. But Breck isn’t that great in spring time. It’s base is really flat, making it really unpleasant in spring time slop.
 

benski

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Competition? In May?

I’m told people don’t ski past April anyway. And resorts close due not to lack of snow but lack of skiers.

I havent ski Loveland enough to know its terrain. But Breck isn’t that great in spring time. It’s base is really flat, making it really unpleasant in spring time slop.

Breck is also 1000 feet lower, there steeps are the same elevation but some are south facing, which Loveland and A basin have little of. Keystone has a base 1400 feet lower, and need to open terrain 900 feet lower to open with downloading. Keystone will also have to open a much longer trail. Its hard to see these ski areas opening as early and closing as late at A basin and Loveland. It probably makes sense though for Vail to open and close their ski areas more gradually.
 

Keelhauled

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Competition? In May?

I’m told people don’t ski past April anyway. And resorts close due not to lack of snow but lack of skiers.

I havent ski Loveland enough to know its terrain. But Breck isn’t that great in spring time. It’s base is really flat, making it really unpleasant in spring time slop.

I believe their plan is ski off the T-Bar and Imperial late season, with access from Independence on Peak 7--I take it to mean they would download off the mountain.
 

abc

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I believe their plan is ski off the T-Bar and Imperial late season, with access from Independence on Peak 7--I take it to mean they would download off the mountain.
That would be a good thing.

But like I mentioned in my post, will there be sufficient skier traffic to justify the extended operation on limited terrain? Many other mountains have terrain worthy of late spring operation. But they're typically not doing it due to lack of ... profit.

Anyway, I wish them luck. It'll be good for skiers.
 

KustyTheKlown

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To compete directly with A-basin?

I wonder if AB had decided to pull out of the Epic pass deal? (But just not announce it yet)

i skied a-basin on sunday and heard this repeatedly. the parking situation up there is dire. they have the best terrain in the region and can survive on their own. i would not be at all surprised to see them go independent again. and if they do, i'll support them and buy a pass and fly out to ski there. their new terrain is simply amazing.
 

benski

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i skied a-basin on sunday and heard this repeatedly. the parking situation up there is dire. they have the best terrain in the region and can survive on their own. i would not be at all surprised to see them go independent again. and if they do, i'll support them and buy a pass and fly out to ski there. their new terrain is simply amazing.

Maybe they will join the Freedom pass. That would be a big addition for that group and fitting more fitting.
 

KustyTheKlown

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i was describing a-basin to my girlfriend, justifying why we were skiing a day off of our pass, and i compared its vibe to magic, mad river, and plattekill. she loves all three of them. she's a total beginner so she has zero opinion on terrain, but cares very much about feel and vibe. as soon as i made that comparison she was in. she preferred it immensely over copper. she can barely ski (can make her way down greens, gets tired after an hour), but she loved a-basin and even tried those super easy glades right off the top of black mountain express chair.

i love it there, both for the feel/vibe, and for the steeps. can't wait to go back with more time so i can ski the new hike out terrain.

for those not familiar - a-basin added the beavers and the steep gullies to inbounds. the beavers got a new lift. the steep gullies require a 20-30 minute hike along the creek back to base. i'm sure tons of locals who skied this terrain forever are pissed, but for us, its amazing
 

BenedictGomez

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i love it there, both for the feel/vibe, and for the steeps. can't wait to go back with more time so i can ski the new hike out terrain.

Have you skied Loveland?

I liked Arapahoe Basin, but of the two I preferred Loveland. If I lived in that area I'd probably rarely drive through the Eisenhower tunnel, prefering to just ski those two places. And they're cheaper to boot.
 

KustyTheKlown

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have not skied loveland. have eyed it from 70 many times. need to check it out, and eldora.

i'm back out in co in march, silverton. stoked, but a bit scared of all the hiking.

banff/revelstoke in feb
 

jimk

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i was describing a-basin to my girlfriend, justifying why we were skiing a day off of our pass, and i compared its vibe to magic, mad river, and plattekill. she loves all three of them. she's a total beginner so she has zero opinion on terrain, but cares very much about feel and vibe. as soon as i made that comparison she was in. she preferred it immensely over copper. she can barely ski (can make her way down greens, gets tired after an hour), but she loved a-basin and even tried those super easy glades right off the top of black mountain express chair.

i love it there, both for the feel/vibe, and for the steeps. can't wait to go back with more time so i can ski the new hike out terrain.

for those not familiar - a-basin added the beavers and the steep gullies to inbounds. the beavers got a new lift. the steep gullies require a 20-30 minute hike along the creek back to base. i'm sure tons of locals who skied this terrain forever are pissed, but for us, its amazing

Thanks for the mini-report. I hope to ski some of that new terrain in about 4 weeks. If I get some good photos I'll post here.
 

deadheadskier

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i was describing a-basin to my girlfriend, justifying why we were skiing a day off of our pass, and i compared its vibe to magic, mad river, and plattekill. she loves all three of them. she's a total beginner so she has zero opinion on terrain, but cares very much about feel and vibe. as soon as i made that comparison she was in. she preferred it immensely over copper. she can barely ski (can make her way down greens, gets tired after an hour), but she loved a-basin and even tried those super easy glades right off the top of black mountain express chair.

i love it there, both for the feel/vibe, and for the steeps. can't wait to go back with more time so i can ski the new hike out terrain.

for those not familiar - a-basin added the beavers and the steep gullies to inbounds. the beavers got a new lift. the steep gullies require a 20-30 minute hike along the creek back to base. i'm sure tons of locals who skied this terrain forever are pissed, but for us, its amazing
Loveland and Highlands have a similar Vibe. But I prefer A Basin's terrain to the other two. And I haven't skied there since prior to Montezuma coming online. I'd be very interested to ski the steep gullies because I had one blissful run in there and another where I could have died.

Senior year of high school my family took a trip out there and stayed in Keystone. Skied Keystone two days, Breck 1, Copper 1 and Abasin 2. I skied with my folks all days except A Basin. They were terminal intermediate skiers and really didn't dig what A Basin had to offer, but obliged me in going there twice as it's really where I wanted to ski.

First night there we eat at the hotel bar. I hit it up with the bartender Dave. This guy was a total early 90s Aki bum dude brah. Bleached blonde ling hair, totally radical. Probably about 25 years old. His nickname was "Pain Cave Dave" because of his local reputation for dropping the biggest cliffs A Basin had to offer and punching a cave into the ground when he landed that had to be painful. I stayed at the bar after my parents went up to bed and he fed me beers promising to show me around A Basin. I returned to the bar late night every night of the vacation to get blitzed by the guy thinking it was the coolest thing at 18 y/o.

First day out at A Basin was a packed pow day. He showed me around everything on main mountain and we end the day with a run down the gullies. I ski at other areas around the county with my folks the next few days, then meet up with again for the second tour. It had snowed about 18" the night prior. We head up Pali and immediately head out to the gullies. First guy in our group of five sets off a massive fracture line above the second gullie. Pain Cave and his 3-4 other buddies are panicked. My avalanche ignorant 18 year old self is like "What's the problem?" They just tell me to STFU and slowly back out. So we do back towards Pali. By the time we are all clear we see that fracture slide with a massive rumble. Yikes. Not something a typical 18 y/o eastern resort skier would know anything about.

So, I definitely want to see how this terrain is managed now that it's inbounds.

And again, you'd love Highlands if you've never been. As posh a reputation Aspen has, the Bogner crowd doesn't really ski and if the do, it's at Snowmass. Ajax a little bit too, but Highlands is totally laid back. Time a trip with a show you want to see. The Belly Up is a classic. You won't regret it.

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KustyTheKlown

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Been to highlands and hiked the bowl but I was 20 and really new to big skiing. need to go back
 

jimk

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DHS, you were a cagey high schooler! IMHO the highlight of the Montezuma Chair terrain at A-Basin is what they call Founder's Ridge. Moi about ten years ago:
800x600px-LL-c0748a20_copyofDSCF0655.jpg

Same area, West Montezuma Bowl, better shot from four years ago with skiNEwhere scoping things out above a big cornice he is about to drop:)
900x900px-LL-008b1ec5_CopyofDSCN0099.jpeg

In near background are runs from Keystone (just above his helmet). Farther in background and a little to left are runs from Breckenridge; see how I got this thread back on topic:)
 
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dlague

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Funny to read how people judge different ski areas and pick a preference.

We ski Loveland, A Basin Breck and Keystone all the time. I find that each of them have great stuff.

Keystone's trees over at the Outback are really fun as well as bumps on North Peak and long fast cruisers on Dercum's Peak.

A Basin's new terrain is very nice, anything off Pali Lift is awesome. The hike to terrain on East Wall is exhausting but fun. Montezuma's west wall does have some of the best skiing on a powder day.

Loveland has some fun and fairly steep runs off Chair 1 now Chet's Dream. Runs off Chair 9 (Continental Divide) are great on powders days and very fun most other times. Chair 4 and Chair 8 offer some cool tree runs as well.

Breck - the upper bowls on Peak 8 and Peak 7 have many challenging runs that hold wind blown powder blown over the peak. Chair E offer some really cool bump runs, lots of good stuff off Peak 10, even Peak 6 from the top has lots of opportunities.

Lots of talk about which place is better but all offer great terrain. Clearly A Basin and Loveland are higher elevation but Breck does boast the highest terrain to be lift served. From the top of Imperial Express Lift there are so many options and lines to ski. If that is where they plan of having spring skiing that would be awesome. The bases at most of the mormore prominent ski areas here in CO are between 60-100 inches We have gotten pounded with snow so far.

As far as skier traffic, A Basin gets packed in during May even when Loveland is still open. Adding Breck to the game will be awesome and spread some of the people around. I am looking forward to it.

BTW powder days in May are to die for.

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abc

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As far as skier traffic, A Basin gets packed in during May even when Loveland is still open. Adding Breck to the game will be awesome and spread some of the people around.
Seriously?

I haven’t gone to Colorado in May for a while. But even in late April, Breck was pretty deserted. So is A-basin except on weekends and powder days. Hard to imagine how “packed” A-basin is in May. And even if it is, whether it gets any relief by Breck being open.
 
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