A month in Winter Park

[ectobar]

Aside from getting stuck in a tree well at one point it was a great day.

 

One of my first days in Sqauw 2 years ago, a buddy of mine got stuck in a tree well that was easily 6 ft deep. It took him about half hour to build himself some steps sturdy enough to climb out. Completely nuts. That was also one of my first days out west ever, and that was not something I even thought would be remotely possible to happen.

 

Glad you made it out ok.

 

And that pic from the lift is awesome.

[phillycore]

SICKTARDED man... I know EXACTLY what you mean by not being able to keep up with Glenn in the trees...

That guy is like pop tarts... CRAAAAZY GOOD!!!

 

Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun and the conditions look great as well..

 

Keep killin it man

[method9455]

Sunday was good as well. We ended up riding a lot of the trees under the Panorama lift, they seem to be the must filled in of any trees and there aren't any rocks or stumps poking through. I forgot my phone so missed Nick/Dan/Glenn which was disappointing, though at one point Glenn saw me from the lift and called me out, but we never met up after that. Not sure if they lapped us in the trees (likely) or headed off to another lift, we waited for them at the bottom for a while but we never met up.

 

I busted out my skis again today but left early at about 1 because we thought my friend was flying in today. Whoops, he is actually coming in tomorrow. Thats what happens when you haven't looked at a calendar in a week. It's nice to be on vacation and not even count the days left in it. So that was a waste of time but we went into town for a bit and made up for it. Tomorrow I'm probably going to ski again and maybe grab a group lesson in the afternoon. I'm starting to remember what to do but I spend the whole time yelling at myself as I go down the trail, I don't lean forward consistently and need to keep my shoulders more square to the hill. It's funny I can't actually do the pizza thing either, I tried to just scrub some speed in a lift line the today and almost died. We went through the park today but didn't hit anything. It is pretty immaculate and they have a nice range from mini to huge with every size in between. I'm not too interested in doing park except for some time in the superpipe because there are so few pipes near home, but not yet. Dont need to get hurt halfway through the trip.

 

Tonight we went snowshoeing in the dark, it was really cool. We've been hopping in the outdoor hot tub Jersey Shore style the last few nights, but we haven't actually made it out to a bar yet except for the avi class. This Friday I'm sure we will hit a bar and Saturday/Sunday maybe a sports bar for football, but I don't have an opinion on the nightlife in town yet.

[method9455]

All pictures from Sunday

 

The bowl a few days after the storm

 

 

 

The trees below the bowl

 

 

A sweet shot of Mary Jane, pictures never do the view justice but this one was pretty good

 

 

Trailmap

 

[nick malozzi]

Actually Dan, Glenn, and myself all called you out as we were all on the Pano. We lapped you somewhere in the trees but were headed down to the super gauge since we had already put in close to 10 laps in those trees and it was getting ridiculously schwagged out. We didn't do any runs after that as we were all starving. You'll be up for awhile, so I'm sure I'll catch you one of the coming weekends.

[ectobar]

Gents, Sun. 1/24, I'll be ending my westwardly trip in Winterpark. It would be cool to meet up with some of you if possible.

[method9455]

Didn't ski much today, maybe 3 hours. Spent most of it in the park. The features are well groomed except the superpipe was icy, there is decent flow but everything is very standard, nothing unique or imaginative. There actually aren't that many features per run either, Sidewinder definitely has more hits because the non-huge park is only about 2/3rds of the length of the mountain. The snow was good, it was about 40 and bluebird so it felt very much like spring although coverage is still good, we don't seem to be taking a bit hit on the snowpack melting away despite the temperatures because most of WP faces north and east.

 

Checked out NASTAR - $10 for unlimited runs in a day, they run it 7 days a week. I'll have to do it one day, I wonder how I will score.

 

My friend Clay flew in today so now there are 3 of us. Tomorrow should be good showing him around WP for the first time. Danielle and I have lessons in the afternoon, her for bumps on snowboard and me for skiing, I have to start carving more than washing the tails around. We'll see if they are worth it, but at $49 each for 2.5 hours it was tough to beat the deal - 35% off usual rates because of season pass and booking early.

 

Actually went out to a restaurant tonight - Pearl Dragon for some chinese food and it was decent. Came home and Danielle had baked some desert and then we hit the hot tub which is always a good way to end the day.

[setagehtta]

Jesus H Christ man great TR...

 

I know that never in my lifetime will I be able to take a trip remotely like that. Your comment talking about not even knowing the day of the week made me laugh! I looked up the price for a season pass to WinterPark and I almost fell out of my chair. I can only imagine the cost of that trip...condo, food, nightlife,skiis/board, etc etc etc etc daaaaayam. Keep the TR's coming.

If you don't mind me asking, wtf do you do for a living?! Insane man insane.

[Johnny Law]

Actually went out to a restaurant tonight - Pearl Dragon for some chinese food and it was decent. Came home and Danielle had baked some desert and then we hit the hot tub which is always a good way to end the day.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IR381nRqqs

 

Seriously though sounds like your having a great time, we are all super jealous.

[method9455]

Jesus H Christ man great TR...

 

I know that never in my lifetime will I be able to take a trip remotely like that. Your comment talking about not even knowing the day of the week made me laugh! I looked up the price for a season pass to WinterPark and I almost fell out of my chair. I can only imagine the cost of that trip...condo, food, nightlife,skiis/board, etc etc etc etc daaaaayam. Keep the TR's coming.

If you don't mind me asking, wtf do you do for a living?! Insane man insane.

 

Thanks man, its worth every penny even in the relatively bad snow year. I don't know exactly how much money I've spent so far but I'll account for it at the end and I don't mind sharing that info. Honestly the time is the far harder part to get together than the money.

 

-Season pass was $329 each (cheaper than anything in PA, NJ, or VT would have been) and I bought mine and my girlfriends, so say $700

-The house was $1200, our 3rd will pay some portion of that but just say he isn't

-The airfare was less than $400 each after you include taxes, fees, and baggage charges, but like Doug said we didnt pay for it becuase we had frequent flyer miles

-Transport from the airport to the mountain was $240 round trip for 2

-Food I'm budgeting about $500 for the month

 

So 700+1200+240+500 = 2640 for 2 people. It will end up costing less than that because we aren't making it to $500 for food and our roomie will give me some amount of money for his room. Say you didn't have the frequent flyer miles but were only paying for yourself instead of for 2, it would be $1470 for the month per person. That is not bad. $49 a day. Totally worth it.

 

The first key for a long stay is to cook for yourself. We've eaten out three times - average price for 2 was about 30-40, and we did burgers, chinese, and pizza. Not exactly steak and wine.

 

The second key is to negotiate the housing. The place we are staying in is like $150 a night, but he was having trouble filling it for the month so he gave it to us cheap for that whole time. I got quotes from 1200-3000 for basically the same 2 BR 2 bath condo. The one we are in was actually our first choice because we like the location and the view. Check out vrbo.com and just try a bunch of people.

 

The final key was season pass price. I'd rather be in Utah, Jackson Hole, or Whistler (except for the olympics), but at those passes would add 400 or more each, so almost a thousand bucks more for me. Considering the snow conditions everywhere I'm very happy with my choice.

 

As for what I do - I save and don't blow my money on stupid shit. I'm a senior in college and I only work in the summer. But I paid for this trip, a car, and all of my expenses of living at school (food, beer, pretty much the only 2) other than rent. It meant not buying everything I wanted the last 2 years but this year its all coming to fruition and its totally worth it. I work a lot of hours, more than most people my age, but really it comes down to spending more than making money at my age.

 

 

//End aside

 

Today's TR

 

Took Clay up for his first day. Very warm, 40s. Snow was not spring soft but certainly good conditions for carving. Danielle and I had lessons from 12:30 - 3. $98 total for both, so sweet. 35% off by booking early and having a season pass. Both of our lessons were "group", but both lessons only had ourselves and 1 other person. Danielle took Steeps & Trees on a snowboard and I took the top level skiing before bumps. We did like 30-45 minutes on carving but there wasn't much to cover for me, just some minor tweaks. Then we started doing some intro to bumps and thats what I really needed. I can rip fast on a groomer but trying to get through bumps I suck on skis. It was a great lesson and at that price I'm going to take some more. Danielle's was good too but since there was less to learn because she doesn't really struggle with anything on a board.

 

THe 1-2" of snow we were supposed to get today didn't materialize. They keep saying "big snow next week" in the forecast but it hasn't happened yet, I'm a little nervous. I'd like to get a big storm by Tuesday because that is when Danielle has to head back to school, shes already skipping the first two days of class to ski so she can't delay anymore.

[method9455]

Actually the other day I was snowboarding after skiing for two days, and I was totally jonesing to be back on my skis. I like them both but skiing is more rewarding right now because I can feel progress every day. At the start of this trip I couldn't link more than a few turns together on a blue and now I'm ripping down the blacks at about 80% of my snowboarding max speed. Next stop bumps and trees.

[setagehtta]

Thanks man, its worth every penny even in the relatively bad snow year. I don't know exactly how much money I've spent so far but I'll account for it at the end and I don't mind sharing that info. Honestly the time is the far harder part to get together than the money.

 

-Season pass was $329 each (cheaper than anything in PA, NJ, or VT would have been) and I bought mine and my girlfriends, so say $700

-The house was $1200, our 3rd will pay some portion of that but just say he isn't

-The airfare was less than $400 each after you include taxes, fees, and baggage charges, but like Doug said we didnt pay for it becuase we had frequent flyer miles

-Transport from the airport to the mountain was $240 round trip for 2

-Food I'm budgeting about $500 for the month

 

So 700+1200+240+500 = 2640 for 2 people. It will end up costing less than that because we aren't making it to $500 for food and our roomie will give me some amount of money for his room. Say you didn't have the frequent flyer miles but were only paying for yourself instead of for 2, it would be $1470 for the month per person. That is not bad. $49 a day. Totally worth it.

 

The first key for a long stay is to cook for yourself. We've eaten out three times - average price for 2 was about 30-40, and we did burgers, chinese, and pizza. Not exactly steak and wine.

 

The second key is to negotiate the housing. The place we are staying in is like $150 a night, but he was having trouble filling it for the month so he gave it to us cheap for that whole time. I got quotes from 1200-3000 for basically the same 2 BR 2 bath condo. The one we are in was actually our first choice because we like the location and the view. Check out vrbo.com and just try a bunch of people.

 

The final key was season pass price. I'd rather be in Utah, Jackson Hole, or Whistler (except for the olympics), but at those passes would add 400 or more each, so almost a thousand bucks more for me. Considering the snow conditions everywhere I'm very happy with my choice.

 

As for what I do - I save and don't blow my money on stupid shit. I'm a senior in college and I only work in the summer. But I paid for this trip, a car, and all of my expenses of living at school (food, beer, pretty much the only 2) other than rent. It meant not buying everything I wanted the last 2 years but this year its all coming to fruition and its totally worth it. I work a lot of hours, more than most people my age, but really it comes down to spending more than making money at my age.

 

 

//End aside

 

Today's TR

 

Took Clay up for his first day. Very warm, 40s. Snow was not spring soft but certainly good conditions for carving. Danielle and I had lessons from 12:30 - 3. $98 total for both, so sweet. 35% off by booking early and having a season pass. Both of our lessons were "group", but both lessons only had ourselves and 1 other person. Danielle took Steeps & Trees on a snowboard and I took the top level skiing before bumps. We did like 30-45 minutes on carving but there wasn't much to cover for me, just some minor tweaks. Then we started doing some intro to bumps and thats what I really needed. I can rip fast on a groomer but trying to get through bumps I suck on skis. It was a great lesson and at that price I'm going to take some more. Danielle's was good too but since there was less to learn because she doesn't really struggle with anything on a board.

 

THe 1-2" of snow we were supposed to get today didn't materialize. They keep saying "big snow next week" in the forecast but it hasn't happened yet, I'm a little nervous. I'd like to get a big storm by Tuesday because that is when Danielle has to head back to school, shes already skipping the first two days of class to ski so she can't delay anymore.

 

WOW I didn't expect a response like that. You're right,not nearly as much as I had pictured. Thanks! I look forward to this thread everyday!

[JFskiDan]

Jesus H Christ man great TR...

 

I know that never in my lifetime will I be able to take a trip remotely like that. Your comment talking about not even knowing the day of the week made me laugh! I looked up the price for a season pass to WinterPark and I almost fell out of my chair. I can only imagine the cost of that trip...condo, food, nightlife,skiis/board, etc etc etc etc daaaaayam. Keep the TR's coming.

If you don't mind me asking, wtf do you do for a living?! Insane man insane.

 

x2....kudos for being able to pull this off...i get excited when i can squeeze an extra day out of a weekend....

[method9455]

Got a little jacked up yesterday (Thursday). Went boarding, my boots are giving me a bit of trouble. I lost control and fell, unfortunately I only had 1 foot in and landed with my heelside edge down but my chest to the snow. Somewhere near 90 degree rotation on my knee. It was not good. I ended my day then after that, so only got about an hour of riding in. I iced the knee for the better part of the day and took a lot of advil. It's black and blue today and pretty sore but no pain so I think I'm ok.

 

Went skiing today to avoid that snowboard boot issue. We got up there at 10 and stayed until close at 4. We got about an inch of snow last night, could use a hell of a lot more though. I'm pretty confident on groomers now pretty much no matter what the pitch/condition/speed. Bumps are another story, I can barely make it down a trail with bumps so I need to seriously work on that.

 

On the plus side I was airing off of rollers and drop offs today and it was a hell of a lot of fun. On the down side, I kind of hucked an 8 foot cliff today. I intended to drop like 4 feet and land on the bottom run out, but I took too much speed and cleared the whole damn thing to flat. It was pretty funny, at least there was a lot of powder at the bottom.

 

Forgot the camera at home, but I will bring it tomorrow. We are certainly hurting for snow, the average snowfall for January is 80", and as of the 15th we've gotten 16". But what that really means is that some of the glades are not skiable. All the groomers are fine and all the bumps runs that don't face south or west are fine. It's not icy, we could just use some powder. A lot of the locals are unhappy but I'm still having a good time. I just hope it snows again before Danielle goes home on Tuesday, we've only had 2 powder days so far.

[method9455]

We climbed up to the top of Winter Park today, maybe an extra 100 feet above the top lift. The views were amazing.

 

 

 

Everything in this pictures is inbounds, but not currently open

 

 

And this is why, the entire area has slid

 

[Schif]

Incredible pictures. WP even without a lot of snow looks unbelievable.

[method9455]

It's been a busy few days. Pulled an all day 9-4 session on Monday, snow flurries and 2-4" that came overnight made conditions much better than the holiday weekend. Crowds were high on Saturday and Sunday - not like a Saturday at Camelback, Mountain Creek, or Mount Snow etc - but compared to skiing onto every chair without a line like it has been midweek it was noticeable. Monday crowds were not bad at all. Danielle left today (Tuesday) so we spent last night packing and today we did a few things in town before her car came for the airport. The rest of the trip will undoubtedly be less fun for me but her college already started their spring semester and she can't play hookie to ski any longer.

 

Here are some pictures from Monday. Snowy at times, this was around 12:30 and some tracks could still be made. 2-4" of snow fell, not exactly a powder day but helped soften up the surface a lot.

 

Danielle hiking out further on the bowl traverse for some fresh tracks

 

 

Danielle dropping into the bowl

 

 

Riding it out

 

 

Clay ripping it through the bowl, me in the background watching

 

 

My day didn't go as well, this one came after trying to gap over a cat track, I came up a few feet short and bounced down the landing, felt that in my neck this morning but it was funny at the time. I do have a video of the attempts but haven't posted them yet

 

 

This one was after I tried to cut around a bush to fast and it caught my toe edge square, everyone else thought it was hilarious because it looked like I got nutted

 

 

Looks like some more snow is on the way. Utah just got hit and our forecast is for about 20" in the next few days.

[method9455]

Quiet week. Did a lot of skiing practice and did NASTAR one day. Started snowing Friday and hasn't stopped yet. High winds have blown it all around though so hard to tell how much actually fell. On the windward areas there is basically nothing new, but on the lee sides it is knee deep. The bowl and eagle wind (the most advanced area) were not open today because of high winds which I'm kind of happy about. The wind is blowing in the direction to fill up the bowl and now tomorrow when the lift actually runs there will be far fewer people to compete with for tracks. We got up for first tracks today and had a great time.

 

Haven't been updating becuase it was a quiet week and without Danielle getting action pictures is a lot harder. We were a lot better coordinated so all the pictures came out pretty well. Clay and I are not and so all the pictures from this week kind of suck. I took some today but haven't looked at them maybe some came out.

[setagehtta]

man what a bummer to have your girlfriend leave after such a long vacation. Coming back to reality after experiencing that must really SUCK.

[sibhusky]

I've been enjoying your trip reports and am jealous of the amount of snow you DO have.

[method9455]

The last week up until Friday we were stuck under a high pressure system. It meant plenty of bluebird days in the 20-25F range for a high with little wind. Great days except without snow and the with a holiday weekend leading into it the surface was pretty hard all week. Not icy but certainly hard pack. I was on my skis for most of the time, except for a day of park and NASTAR on my snowboard. Didn't really get any pictures or any major updates, just 4 days of learning a lot on skis. I'm enjoying skiing a lot more than snowboarding right now, probably because it is novel after so many years of snowboarding and my snowboard boots are shot to hell. I have probably 150 days on them and they bit the dust although I'm still using them. I have to be the only person with ski boots that are amazingly comfortable all day but own snowboard boots that hurt like hell and are packed out beyond repair. I'm not going to buy new boots out here though, I want to use my discount at home and save 60%. So for now I only use the snowboard on powder days and I'm skiing the rest of the time.

 

On Friday the weather started changing for the better. It has snowed a lot over the last few days, not as much as forecast but certainly a lot. It came with a lot of wind so the snow report is basically meaningless. I think more than a foot feel but with 45-60mph winds you have areas with 0 new and areas with more than knee deep. You just have to play the mountain right. Because of the wind a lot of the lifts were closed over the weekend (unlike Camelback, they run their lifts in decent winds but when you start talking 40 mph+ on exposed lifts, I'm not getting on them even if they run). The upside was that today they ran a few lifts for the first time since the snow storm and we got fresh tracks without any crowds.

 

Starting on Friday - January 22nd

 

Clay ripping a bit before the storm started. This picture came out fuzzy but I don't care I think its funny.

 

 

This is me on a blue groomer, this is about as bad as the groomers got and its still a lot better than home. I'm having a hell of a good time ripping on the skis, if only I could learn how to do bumps.

 

 

Saturday - January 23rd

 

The forecast said 7-11 on Saturday, but it was late afternoon. We got a few inches Friday night though so while not a powder day it was fun.

 

Sunday - January 24th

 

Powder fell but the wind was brutal and so was the cold, definitely below zero. It snowed all day. The lifts were having a lot of issues with wind and several were closed. It was too damn cold to take off my gloves so I only have two pictures.

 

 

Knuckle dragging for the camera

 

 

Monday - January 25th

 

Today was freaking epic. Wind was over, snow was still falling and we got a few inches over night. No crowds what so ever. I grabbed the first civilian chair. I figured since the lifts were opening and there were going to be a lot of untracked snow there would be a lot of people so I showed up at 8:30 but apparently not. First chair is at 9 and nobody else showed up until 8:50. 25 people total. By lunch time it got to be a normal crowd but I was really surprised by that. We had fresh tracks on mary jane, they groomed out some of the runs last night and then a few inches fell and they were so silky smooth. I got 5 or 6 laps in on the groomers in the first hour and still was getting fresh tracks on them at 10 - that is rare. Then I started working the bumps and trees and was getting knee deep fresh tracks right under the mary jane lift until about 12.

 

Glenn and his girlfriend showed up around 12 so we started riding with him. There was still plenty to hit on mary jane but they finally opened up the panoramic chair that accesses the bowl at about 12:30. Glenn led us through a nice set of trees with completely untracked powder to get to the pano chair. We met up with some more of his friends and went up the pano lift. The top of the bowl was completely wind scoured as expected but as soon as you dropped below tree line it was awesome. Knee deep and much more on the wide open trails, plus a lot more in the trees. It was nice that the lifts opened in a staggered manner because normally you'd have to choose bowl or mary jane, but today I got fresh tracks for a long time on both.

 

Glenn wanted to do some side country stuff. I know of three gates, there are probably more that I don't know about. Only one of them is open right now, and I think nobody has gone through in a while because there were no tracks before us at all. Glenn, his girlfriend, one of his friends, and myself went for it. Everyone else continued inbounds. Glenn prefaced the drop in with, don't go too far right there is a 40 foot cliff that will kill you and don't go too far left because there is a creek you have to climb out of. The three of them dropped in and I lost them almost immediately. I followed close to their tracks as much as possible but it was tough terrain. Steep, tight trees, and completely untracked snow easily waist deep. More snow than I have ever been in. It got hairy at points with some pretty good drops and some logs to ride on/over, not to mention the standard tree wells. I got stuck a few times and thats honestly the scariest part, if you are floundering in a tree well alone in the side country its pretty sketchy. I thought that we would drop down and meet up with the resort maybe 500 feet below. No. I realized the name "40 gate" means it goes all the way down to route 40, which is a good 2,000 vertical foot below the gate. It took me a long time to get down, maybe 20 minutes or more. They were waiting for me down there and we walked back about a half mile to the access road for the resort and took a shuttle back to the base area which is a few hundred feet higher than the road. It was about 10 degrees today and when I got to the bottom of that run I took off all but my base layer I was so damn hot. It was by far the hardest, scariest, snowiest, most fun line I have ever taken. I actually was tapped out after that, it was about 2 so I met up with Clay and headed home around 2:30.

 

What an epic day, definitely was great to have a guide today. I would have found a foot of powder, but without Glenn definitely not the bottomless powder in the side country.

 

Today - January 25th

 

This is how I like my lift lines on powder days.

 

 

Clay laying some tracks near the Pano

 

 

Just 2,000 more feet of trees like this, except a hell of a lot steeper. This was the entrance.

 

Edited January 26, 2010 by Kevin.

[nick malozzi]

aw snap.. droppin the 40 son. time for me to get my ass back up there.

[Johnny Law]

Slackcountry nice!

 

Movin on up to the east side to brand new apartment in the sky....was that the jeffersons or 227 ?

 

Man days like that are the best, real game changers, you realize how far there is to travel and how much more there is out there to learn.

[ectobar]

Kev,

 

Tried to get a hold of you last sunday through here using my phone. Did not go so well. Uber crowded, but still quite sweet. We only rode from 9-12:30 (had to catch flight), and never ended up making it anywhere other than the Mary Jane section of the Mt. But still a great day none the less.

 

Because no one ever took this pic before...

 

Very cool place. Definitely looking forward to getting back there some time.

[method9455]

Johnny Law - It was an eye opener for sure. Got my heart racing for the first time outside of the park in I really don't know how many years.

 

Ecto - I should have given you my number but glad you had fun. With the crazy wind a lot of the mountain was closed that day, I stayed on Mary Jane and over on the Pioneer lift in the trees all day so you didn't miss out on anything by staying on MJ.

 

Doug - As for night life, it was pretty evident the first two weeks of January with the college trips up here, but now things are pretty quiet. We went out Sunday night to the Pub for both football games and it was packed/could barely get a table. We ended up sharing our table with some people and had a good time. That seems to be the best place in town, we've been to a few other bars but nothing sticks out in my mind. I haven't seen a dance club but honestly we're not looking for that crap. Nightlife definitely doesn't compare to Tremblant which had the best apres-ski of anywhere I've been, and even Mount Snow had some places that we knew about. We didn't go out when we were in Stowe at all so I can't compare the two.

 

Tuesday - January 26

 

Bluebird, relatively warm, emptier than any day we've been up here. There were more employees than patrons. Really surprising because there was definitely still powder to be found from the weekend and two inches more fell last night. I didn't expect powder so I was on my skis, first time in powder on them and it was very strange. It makes the snow feel deeper than it is because you sink a lot more than on a snowboard (even on 100mm waist skis) which is cool, but I missed just slashing the crap out of it and it seems like a lot more effort to get around in compared to a board. In the afternoon we lapped some real bump runs on Mary Jane which we have avoided so far on skis, did about 8 or 9 runs through and made significant progress on learning how to do them without just skidding around like a noob.

 

Fresh tracks were still around with about 6" of powder, here Clay laid a few new ones before I dropped in behind him.