Rob A
New member
Resort - Mountain Creek
Date - 12/9/07 (opening weekend)
Hours skied - 4 (8am-12pm)
Runs - 15
Rating - 8/10
I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised today. I had VERY low expectations for opening weekend at Creek, seeing as they only had piddly terrain open on Vernon and Canyon open on South (which is now park terrain), I feared the worse. I chose to go to South and ski Canyon as it can be very enjoyable, the terrain open at Vernon isn't worth the drive up.
Pulled in the South lot at 7:30AM, must have been 10 cars in there, which is shocking as opening weekend usually has the lot about half full by 7:30. Walk into the "newly designed" lodge, which was exactly the same except for a few paintings on the walls (which is good, didn't want the lodge changed). Day got off to a rough start as the lift broke down the first 20 minutes of the day, but after that it ran smoothly. I was expecting have to to play "dodgeboard" all day with all the new terrain crap and only 1 trail open. But all the the terrain park features on Canyon did not get in the way at all, and were easy to ski around. There were a few rails and small jumps up at the top of the trail where you could ski in the middle between them, or off either side. After that point (when the trail actually has some decent pitch) there was hardly any terrain park features at all. Most of them were off to the side after entering the Hawk Highlands to the right side. Everyone went to the right, I went left everytime and there were some nice carving opportunities in there, could really get a nice arc going and it was nice because you had the whole trail since all the boarders went for the features on the other side of the wide open meadow trail. Both runouts on Tail Spin and Cloud 9 held the snow well, and had were in good shape to make some carving turns, just had to be careful you didn't slam into anyone, but it was easy for the most part. The best part of the run was entering Giant Steps right before going through that flat park that brings you past the Granite Double Chair to the Hawk Highlands. There were no features there at all, and it had the best snow and pitch for carving. On a few runs I would stop right before Giant Steps decended to let the boarders go by, then have the whole run to make some turns, snow was in really good shape all day (hard pack, fast, no ice).
So overall I'd say I had a pretty good day, really good conditions, no lines at all (no wait even at 12pm, ski right on), and all park features were easily avoidable. That tells me I can continue to park at South and work my way over to the other peaks once everything gets going this year. And I have to say, MC is really making an effort to turn the place around. Everytime I entered the lift line I was greeted with a "How are you today sir?" or "Have fun" and all lift tickets are now scanned, making everything go alot smoother overall. The place as a whole seemed like it had a big attitude adjustment. And I can't believe the place was deserted on opening weekend, maybe everyone didn't want to deal with the park crap (expected) or just ditched it cause of high pass prices.
Now they have to get some more terrain going. The guns were blazing from the time I was there to the time I left on Jumping Jack, Big Bear, Cliff Run, and Lark. Big Bear could've easily been opened today, they just didn't groom it, not sure why they are waiting to open it. My guess is Lark and Cliff Run can be ready ASAP, as they were compeletely covered. Jumping Jack needs a little more time, but it's getting there. Drove past the Vernon side and didn't see any guns going unfortunately, from the road there seemed to be no snow whatsoever on Eagle Hunt/Lower Eagle, there was a pretty decent amount on Zero G however (I'm guessing they blew a little bit there). Granite had nothing and is being left to rot, which is idiotic as they can't connect the peaks without it. Hopefully the can expand the terrain quickly, they really need to start blowing on Granite though. But overall it looks like this season at MC may be better than alot of us though.
Date - 12/9/07 (opening weekend)
Hours skied - 4 (8am-12pm)
Runs - 15
Rating - 8/10
I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised today. I had VERY low expectations for opening weekend at Creek, seeing as they only had piddly terrain open on Vernon and Canyon open on South (which is now park terrain), I feared the worse. I chose to go to South and ski Canyon as it can be very enjoyable, the terrain open at Vernon isn't worth the drive up.
Pulled in the South lot at 7:30AM, must have been 10 cars in there, which is shocking as opening weekend usually has the lot about half full by 7:30. Walk into the "newly designed" lodge, which was exactly the same except for a few paintings on the walls (which is good, didn't want the lodge changed). Day got off to a rough start as the lift broke down the first 20 minutes of the day, but after that it ran smoothly. I was expecting have to to play "dodgeboard" all day with all the new terrain crap and only 1 trail open. But all the the terrain park features on Canyon did not get in the way at all, and were easy to ski around. There were a few rails and small jumps up at the top of the trail where you could ski in the middle between them, or off either side. After that point (when the trail actually has some decent pitch) there was hardly any terrain park features at all. Most of them were off to the side after entering the Hawk Highlands to the right side. Everyone went to the right, I went left everytime and there were some nice carving opportunities in there, could really get a nice arc going and it was nice because you had the whole trail since all the boarders went for the features on the other side of the wide open meadow trail. Both runouts on Tail Spin and Cloud 9 held the snow well, and had were in good shape to make some carving turns, just had to be careful you didn't slam into anyone, but it was easy for the most part. The best part of the run was entering Giant Steps right before going through that flat park that brings you past the Granite Double Chair to the Hawk Highlands. There were no features there at all, and it had the best snow and pitch for carving. On a few runs I would stop right before Giant Steps decended to let the boarders go by, then have the whole run to make some turns, snow was in really good shape all day (hard pack, fast, no ice).
So overall I'd say I had a pretty good day, really good conditions, no lines at all (no wait even at 12pm, ski right on), and all park features were easily avoidable. That tells me I can continue to park at South and work my way over to the other peaks once everything gets going this year. And I have to say, MC is really making an effort to turn the place around. Everytime I entered the lift line I was greeted with a "How are you today sir?" or "Have fun" and all lift tickets are now scanned, making everything go alot smoother overall. The place as a whole seemed like it had a big attitude adjustment. And I can't believe the place was deserted on opening weekend, maybe everyone didn't want to deal with the park crap (expected) or just ditched it cause of high pass prices.
Now they have to get some more terrain going. The guns were blazing from the time I was there to the time I left on Jumping Jack, Big Bear, Cliff Run, and Lark. Big Bear could've easily been opened today, they just didn't groom it, not sure why they are waiting to open it. My guess is Lark and Cliff Run can be ready ASAP, as they were compeletely covered. Jumping Jack needs a little more time, but it's getting there. Drove past the Vernon side and didn't see any guns going unfortunately, from the road there seemed to be no snow whatsoever on Eagle Hunt/Lower Eagle, there was a pretty decent amount on Zero G however (I'm guessing they blew a little bit there). Granite had nothing and is being left to rot, which is idiotic as they can't connect the peaks without it. Hopefully the can expand the terrain quickly, they really need to start blowing on Granite though. But overall it looks like this season at MC may be better than alot of us though.
