UPDATE: Decent snow Friday PM through Sun AM for I-70 & north, favoring Steamboat. Stay tuned…
After a few sunny and snow-free days, the flakes will fall once again and just in time to close out 2009 with some powder. This is a fun time of year to be on the hill, usually with friends and family that are taking some time off. But there can be one big issue with resort skiing in late December – crowds. After the forecast, keep reading about my crowd-free, challenging, and well-manicured experience at a resort near I-70 (hint: you’ve probably never skied there).
Forecast
Thursday morning looks good. With the current choppy and somewhat firm base softened by light snow on Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, heavier snow on Wednesday night will provide a great powder morning on Thursday.
- Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with light snow starting in the AM for the south and mid afternoon elsewhere. Snow could become a bit heavier overnight into Wednesday morning.
- Wednesday: Wake up to about 1-3″ for many mountains west of the divide, up to 6″ in luckier areas in the central mountains. Mostly cloudy with light snow possible during the day, then heavier snow begins by late afternoon and evening. Snow could fall heavy at times overnight Wednesday.
- Thursday: Best powder of the week – be ready in the morning as the white gold won’t last long with holiday crowds. A general 3-6″ for much of the state, but I expect a few double-digit totals (counting from Tues PM through Thurs AM) at Telluride, Sunlight, Powderhorn, Aspen, and up through Beaver Creek, Vail, and Steamboat. Light snow could continue through the day, with some heavier, short-lived bursts of snow as well.
- Friday: Mostly sunny and warmer than Thursday. The exception will be along and north of I-70, where more clouds and some light snow might persist. Steamboat would benefit the most from any accumulations.
- Saturday: Mostly sunny and beautiful. Slight chance that Steamboat hangs on to light snow.
- Sunday: Mostly sunny and beautiful.
Sunlight
It’s about 20 minutes from Glenwood Springs and about a world away from the normal hustle and bustle of crowded holiday skiing. My friend Tamra and I scooted over to Sunlight Mountain Resort on Saturday, the day after Christmas, and found no lines, friendly folks, and some surprisingly good skiing at this lesser-known hill.
Tamra rips down The Heathen, a mid-40 degree slope just above the lodge.
For anyone that grew up skiing or snowboarding at a small local hill (read: not Vail), then skiing at Sunlight will feel like a homecoming, except that you will be surprisingly impressed by the terrain. Although the runs aren’t long, most have a consistent pitch that is sometimes lacking at other locations. I liked many of the runs and features (rocks, trees) because they were “Joel sized”: Big enough to challenge me, yet small enough to not scare the living #$%^ out of me.
Now for something that is truly extraordinary and that I have not seen in 24 years of skiing. At Sunlight, they literally trim their runs. The picture of Russ tells the story, complete with garden shears.
Ski patroller Russ clips a few rogue stalks that are "interfering" with The Zephyr trail. "We aim to please," he said.
You might think that Sunlight sent Russ out just ahead of me so I could write this glowing review, but in fact he said this was a normal activity for him every Saturday in the early season. For full disclosure, Sunlight did provide me with a lift ticket on Saturday, but the fun, happiness, and relaxation that I’m writing about was influenced by nobody but myself. While it is hard to not enjoy a day on the slopes, I’ll be the first to say when something kept my experience from being awesome.
Perfect lunchtime view.
There is a small cafeteria and bar, as well as a terrain park so you can get your jib on between tree runs. Sunlight says that “The Heathen” is one of the steepest trails in Colorado at 52 degrees, but my iPhone slope meter only measured low-to-mid 40 degrees. Still, a run with consistent mid 40-degree pitch and soft snow is enough to up your game a little, and the run is long enough to get your legs burning.
Want more eye candy? Here is a slideshow with more pictures…
I totally cracked up over the trimming of the stalks. “We aim to please.” That’s rad, and the picture to boot. Did you ski over it after he cut it out? …hahaha…For some reason that reminds me of the local lifties at Taos who ski-biked down at the close of the day because snowboarding wasn’t allowed and they didn’t know how to ski. Come to think of it: I don’t think these kids knew how to snowboard either. The small mountain nuances are simply unforgettable.
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Prodigal Sun – that’s an awesome story about Taos. And no, I didn’t ski over the stalks he just cut…I make it a point to stay far away from garden shears while quickly descending a mountain:-)
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Hooray for small town USA (read: not summit county)!!!
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I’ve seen trimming of the stalks at lots of ski areas including Crested Butte when there isn’t enough snow to cover them. So Joel, can you please make it snow? I’m thinking of stopping off at Powderhorn because I have to be in Grand Junction Sunday. Maybe I’ll send you a review?
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denisincb – I’m working on the weather machine…will let you know when the prototype is ready. Please do report back on Powderhorn!
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Thanks for the write up on the home hill. Nice to see it getting some well deserved attention.
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Just up there this evening..snow was falling….all seemed well in the world….
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Joel, the forecast was right-on. Beaver Creek (13″, but skied more like 7″) was good until 10:15am on Thursday, then it became a zoo. Gross Mtn. Express stalled for 20 minutes, the mogul machine showed up surprisingly early, full mazes, skiers colliding, etc. I should have seen this coming being New Year’s Eve. I then proceeded to hit up my stashes, which were good, but caution: there’s about 16″ of cold smoke pockets on top of rocks. No natural base out there, it’s a birds nest in the trees, some patches are bone dry, so expect to be skiing your beater skis if you’re heading out the gates. You guys don’t need me to tell you this, but I wish someone reaffirmed this to me; could’ve saved me the $40 tune–after skiing in the San Juans the past two weeks, I thought the centrals would’ve come a little father along. I was mistaken; bring the garden shears. We’re at 26% of our annual winter snowfall average in Summit. Eagle, I’ll give them 30% of the norm.
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Prodigal Sun – GREAT report from the Beav on Thursday. I was there and your report was right on…definitely still “on watch” in the trees as there is plenty of debris not too far below the surface. But the snow was nice. About your “average snowfall”, both Summit Co. and Eagle Co. are about 73% of average as of January 1st (according to SNOTEL data).
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thatnks for reconizing an awesomwe mountain! (and the awesome report)
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