FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles
Day 1: Vail
02.11.04 - I booked my flight to denver, colorado months in advance with the brash assumption that mother nature would generously dump light fluffy powder during my vacation. However, the lack of precipitation in the approaching weeks made me nervously second guess my decision: did I pick the wrong week? month? destination? I felt like a sports gambler watching my team lose and realizing that I was never in control of the outcome. Regardless of the gloomy forecast, I squashed my ski equipment, clothes, and doubts into three bags and headed to the airport; somehow I knew that this trip to colorado would be worth every bruise, core shot, and sleep deprived night when it was all skied and done.
The first stop on my colorado ski trip was the most famous I-70 corridor resort: vail. Vail's often highly affluent crowds over the years have given the mountain a bad rap among hard core skiers. However, those who have taken the opportunity to ski on its 5,289 acres of terrain with a vertical rise of 3,450 feet quickly realize its worthy of recognition as a true skier's mountain.
When Barber, Jarret, and myself trekked through vail village we could see the fresh 3 to 4 inches while the snow flakes continued to fall. My predictions for snowfall during my week no longer seemed asinine, and I prepared to take credit as the savior for the regions precipitation drought. When we reached the lift line, I realized the three of us embarked on this mission differently: Jarrett had his trusty never summer snowboard, barber had his tele-mark setup with black diamond cross bows, and I had my rossignol XXX's with an alpine setup.
We took the vista bahn express lift to mid vail, then jumped on the
wildwood express en-route to an elevation of 11,250 feet. Riding up on
these lifts made the vastness of vail's terrain apparent. The aspect surprising
me the most was not the vertical gain, but the amount of horizontal territory
as the lifts sometimes went down the backside of ridges and across valleys;
in every direction there seemed to be limitless skiing as far as the eye
could see.
We finally reached the peak and prepared to cruise through some chewed
up pow. Thanks to a fresh tune from Centre Ski and Bike in watertown,
massachussetts, I officially began my colorado ski vacation with a fast
and furious descent. The trail contained a mix of semi-steep and flatter
terrain allowing for high speed GS turns through the slightly filled in
crud. A couple of times the bumpy terrain forced me to straight line till
I could lay down another GS turn. Who said I was out of control?
We headed over to the blue sky basin area where we hoped to tear through some good snow. Surprisingly there were no people to be found on the mountain as we took our second run down skree field, a small open bowl with a couple of intermittent rocks. Telleing through some soft snow, Barber hopped off a rock uninhbited because of the wide open area below. Meanwhile Jarrett took another route between some rocks enjoying some mid-boot high snow.
Our routine for the rest of the day focused primarily on runs off the skyline lift with a couple off pete's express. One time we skied a trail called in the wuides, where I jumped off a 6 or 7 foot cliff into some deep and light pow. Several times we tore through some glades off of cloud 9 which had great snow and a low angle pitch. The best part of the afternoon was that the snow conditions got better as the day went on because of the continued precipitation and small crowds. Towards the end of the day we lapped a snowy run that had three phases: first a gladed section, second a wide open bumped up bowl, and thirdly a river banked speed racer section leading to the lift. Everything from ski companions, snow conditions, small crowds, to great terrain, made my first day skiing in colorado a complete success.
~CG
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Older Archives
11.19.04 - Let's Get This Season Started
09.29.04 - 5 Tips to Skiing Better This Season
09.18.04 - Summer Meditation
07.27.04 - Pics of the PNW
07.14.04 - Line's New Line: 2004/2005
07.06.04 - Yesterday
06.15.04 - Cathedral
05.13.04 - Tech Tip#2: Post-Season Tune-Up
05.01.04 - Atomic Releases 2004/2005 Skis
04.13.04 - First Chair
04.07.04 - K2 Releases 2004/2005 Skis
03.25.04 - Redemption
02.29.04 - Big Jay on Leap Day
FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles:
02.11.04 - Day 1: Vail
02.12.04 - Day 2: A-Basin
02.13.04 - Day 3: Breckenridge
02.17.04 - Days 4 and 5: Crested Butte
02.22.04 - Day 6: The Other Vail
01.27.04 - Part 2: Champagne on New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.20.04 - Freedom
01.12.04 - Part 1: Champagne On New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.05.04 - A.P.B. - Jay Needs Snow
12.28.03 - Big Jay
12.27.03 - 6th Chair, 1st Chair, 1st Tram...A Great Day
12.08.03 - Big Monday
12.07.03 - Anticipation
12.05.03 - Opening Day
11.22.03 - 10 Ideas to Kick the Pre-Season Blues
11.01.03 - Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
10.04.03 - Tenney Mountain Opens – October 4th
09.01.03 - FC Magazine Launches Online Winter Home