1/25 - 2/10, 2017, Summit County, Colorado

[abc]

If you make it to Summit County look me up via PM.

will do

 

[4aprice]

2/2 Breckenridge


My host works in Breck in the afternoon. So we went for a early morning start before she reports for work.


The groomer on Peak 10 was soft yet fast. The wind was blowing (as usual for Breck) and moving snow from upper slope and dumping them on the slope, refreshing the surface better than the best groomer cat! There's almost no one around. So we lapped it many times as quickly as we could.


Despite the wind, we suddenly noticed the t-bar was running. And then the Impreial chair too. We had to leave the wind blown freshies we were lapping to go to the t-bar? Such hard choice we had to make!


But as quickly as they openned it, the wind had a different idea for us. Just as we grabbed the t-bar, it stopped. After a few minutes, we were told the wind was too strong and they can't run the t-bar any more. Soon after, Imperial chair was also closed, which we sort of expected.


It's getting close to the time for my friend to report to work. With both the t-bar and the Imperial down, there's not a lot of interesting terrain for my friend the local ski bum. So she left to rest up for the start of her long work day.


I went back to Peak 10 only to find the Falcon chair was also on wind hold. Well, it's time for lunch anyway...


Even after lunch, the Falcon chair was still not running. So Peak 10 was out of play. Unfortunately, the rest of Breck's lower mountain consist of mostly glorified greens mislabled as blues, and cross country skiing on the greens. I aimlessly cruised around for a bit and decided to throw in the towel.


Quitting early also gave me a chance to go see those gorgeous snow sculptures in daylight, which is a totally different experience.

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I'm a little surprised by your report. I was at Winter Park this same day, not that far away as the crow flys. The snow started falling about 11 and really picked up by 1. We had been skiing up on the trio of Pioneer, Olympia and High Lonesome and getting peppered with the wind/snow combo. We then made the trip over to MJ where we discovered a much more sheltered, warmer, Challenger Lift and a beautiful stash of fresh without the wind. Best skiing of the year for me so far. I was surprised not to see that snow in your report.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[abc]

I was surprised not to see that snow in your report.

We didn't get the snow in Summit County till the following Monday/Tuesday (2/6-7).

When it finally came, it was nice.

 

[dlague]

I am finding this weekend to be very hard in the AM until the strong sun is out. Looks like 10 AM start times and skiing to last Chair will be the best option out here. A Basin tomorrow and Monarch on Monday.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[4aprice]

I am finding this weekend to be very hard in the AM until the strong sun is out. Looks like 10 AM start times and skiing to last Chair will be the best option out here. A Basin tomorrow and Monarch on Monday.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

We never hurry in the spring. You get so many of what I call 50/50 days (Hard 1/2 day then soft), and I enjoy the afternoons more with the higher sun angle. I would say there is still a few more weeks of I-70 madness left but your coming from the Springs, no? You probably don't have to deal with that.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[abc]

Normally February is not the time to talk about spring conditions in Colorado.

It's an unusual situation for the Rockies this year.

 

[dlague]

We never hurry in the spring. You get so many of what I call 50/50 days (Hard 1/2 day then soft), and I enjoy the afternoons more with the higher sun angle. I would say there is still a few more weeks of I-70 madness left but your coming from the Springs, no? You probably don't have to deal with that.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

We play it by ear. Sometimes we do sometimes we don't. Went to Keystone twice and traveled I70 both times with no Problems on either Friday or Sunday. Monday evening will be the problem which we skipped.

This February has been lean on snow but conditions remained good except this past weekend. Keystone was hard and fast in the morning and softened up in the afternoon. But bumps never really materialized as skiable.

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[dlague]

Normally February is not the time to talk about spring conditions in Colorado.

It's an unusual situation for the Rockies this year.

I was looking historically and February is often lean on snow and it is their kind of thaw month. March and April comeback roaring.

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