• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

Eldora 12/02/2016

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Conditions: Pristine PP - mix of MM with natural coated with about 2 inches of fresh.

Having every Friday off due to a four day work week, it makes for good mid week ski days. Now with recent snowfall and Eldora posting powder shots on Facebook and holding a free ticket Eldora from a Warren Miller movie, my wife rallied and made the call to ski here. I great call it was. The temp was about 20 degrees and it snowed all day making for the perfect setting.

Eldora has been opening terrain fairly fast and we were interested in skiing what some refered to as Colorado's Pats Peak. The overall size is 680 acres and they are only 32% open but that provided plenty for us to ski.

Our first run was on Jolly Jug and it felt so sweet. No one else on that run and we let our skis run. This trail had varied changes in pitch and skied really nice and fast. In fact as not to repeat, all the runs have lots of pitch changes that are fun. We did go over to Little Hawks for the fun of it but my wife and son were not happy about it - great learning area.

After heading back to the Cannonball lift we went up and skied to Dream Scream then down Around the Moon to Lower Ambush which ended up being one our favorite runs which we repeated several times. From the Indian Peaks lift. Lower Ambush was a blast because it has several steep drops that we could launch from and Round the Moon had nice bumps forming. When we headed to the lodge we headed down Hornblower to Klondike which was another favorite.

We ended up taking a break and eating lunch it the Taproom upstairs. The lodge is really nice and the bar had a real cool vibe. We packed our own lunch - the ole hotdogs in the thermos trick

When we went back out we headed back to making runs to skiers left of Cannonball lift. Hornblower was a nice cruiser but had some flat spots. Dream Scream was lots of fun and was a preferred path. Windmill was a nice run with but only skied it once. We did poach a tree run which had a nice 6-8 inches of powder at the top of Indian Peaks.

Overall it was a great day using a free lift ticket from the Warren Miller movie. We are excited to try it when the runs off the Corona a lift are open.

8de6d8244319c15394a3cb55f4251faf.jpg


f22c7c3c916d71c9262591dc2a4924d9.jpg


3a8ba460b245b555cb68aa6c23fcc30f.jpg


ec5cc9bb21ea12788a7080fffbea4516.jpg


df9499127c337b7636a1811deb686728.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app
 

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
3,971
Points
63
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
Interesting that you stated Eldora is Colorado's Pats Peak. My son was up there Friday and Saturday with his ski club friends and texted me that it reminded him of Elk Mountain Pa.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Interesting that you stated Eldora is Colorado's Pats Peak. My son was up there Friday and Saturday with his ski club friends and texted me that it reminded him of Elk Mountain Pa.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Well those are not exactly my words. Someone mentioned that when we considered skiing last winter. It is a whole lot more than Pats Peak at 680 acres when 100% open about 5 times the size of Pats. It did remind me of New England style skiing since it is below tree line. All fixed grip lifts until next year when they will install a HS six pack. We have additional 2 for 1 deals for Eldora which we will use on a Friday deeper into the season.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
i skied there last year and described it to friends as the Ski Sundown of Colorado.

smaller than the rest but a fun place with a lot to offer.
But 680 acres when completely open is nothing to sneeze at when comparing it to Northeastern Ski Areas. Size wise would be like #8 largest in New England out of 45+.

In Colorado it sits close to the middle of the pack in size compared to Colorado's Ski Areas.

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app
 

gmcunni

Active member
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
11,502
Points
38
Location
CO Front Range
But 680 acres when completely open is nothing to sneeze at when comparing it to Northeastern Ski Areas. Size wise would be like #8 largest in New England out of 45+.

In Colorado it sits close to the middle of the pack in size compared to Colorado's Ski Areas.

if i lived in CO north of Denver i'd be a season pass holder @ Eldora.

daughter just committed to CU Boulder so i suspect i'll sneak in a few Eldora trips over the next few years.
 

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
3,971
Points
63
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
if i lived in CO north of Denver i'd be a season pass holder @ Eldora.

daughter just committed to CU Boulder so i suspect i'll sneak in a few Eldora trips over the next few years.

No you wouldn't. You would be a Rocky Mountain Super Pass holder, have Eldora to play around on when not at Copper or Winter Park. Get the plus and add days at Steamboat and Crested Butte.

Congrats on the daughter getting into CU. The boy loves it. Maybe we will see you out there.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ
 

skiNEwhere

Active member
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
4,141
Points
38
Location
Dubai
They are trying to undergo a pretty aggressive expansion (some has already been implemented), but it's getting pushback from the environmentalists of course....

900x900px-LL-e29ef90f_http___www.eldora.com_uploads_pdf_Eldora20Mountain20Resort20201120Master20.jpg

Haven't skied there in a couple years. It's small but a fun little area. They generally gets less snowfall than the other ski areas west of the divide, but when Colorado gets those upslope storms it can get dumped 2-3 feet of snow easily when most other resorts only get about 8 inches. Unfortunately I found out that everyone in CO knows this so parking can be a sh*tshow on those days, and actually run out. Eldora was on the Epic pass a few years ago, curious why exactly they switched to RMSP.
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Think it was sold. They are on the Max Pass now as well.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Bought by POWDR!

At first my thoughts were - Why doesn't POWDR create their own multi resort pass. But they have through partnerships (
Intrawest, Powdr, Boyne) called - you guessed it the MAX Pass.
 
Last edited:

4aprice

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
3,971
Points
63
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
Bought by POWDR!

At first my thoughts were - Why doesn't POWDR create their own multi resort pass. But they have through partnerships (
Intrawest, Powdr, Boyne) called - you guessed it the MAX Pass.

For us its great how the Max Pass lines up with RMSP. Obviously my wife and I get limited time out west, but having the boy out there get the RMSP is perfect as we can all do Copper, Winter Park, and Steamboat together (could do Eldora too).

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

PS How do I get Brighton and Solitude to join RMSP?:lol:
 
Top