Benny Profane
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- Jul 25, 2020
The drive from Wolf Creek to Telluride will be the most spectacular mountain drive in the west you'll ever do. Co. 550. Silverton is in the middle of that.
Looking for advice for southern Colorado
- Thread starter MarzNC
- Start date
MarzNC
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- Jul 18, 2020
Got great views while my ski buddy, Bill, drove from Telluride to Albuquerque a few years ago. We took the scenic route going by Silverton and Purgatory. We'd gone to Telluride for a few days after Taos with the same friends who will be going to Colorado. He showed me where he usually stays with his XC ski club in Silverton. Then his favorite microbrewery in Durango.
MarzNC
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- Jul 18, 2020
Perhaps some day. Need a few more Taos Ski Weeks first. Only started those four years ago.
I didn't start skiing off the High T at Alta until after age 50. Didn't think to start taking lessons myself when I started my daughter at age 4, about 15 years ago. It took a knee injury (not skiing) for me to I discover the huge difference between a standard intermediate group lesson and a private or semi-private lesson working with a L3 instructor who had 20+ years of teaching experience. I opted to pay for lessons instead of a knee brace. Also helped to find out that I could easily work on fundamental skills at a small hill like Massanutten. I never expected to ever be skiing terrain like Taos black trees, much less double-black terrain after hiking the Ridge after a deep powder storm. Heck, I never expected to like skiing trees.
Taos Feb 2020
MarzNC
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- Jul 18, 2020
Another question . . . if the goal is to be skiing in trees during low visibility, which is better between ABasin and Loveland? I don't have issues with low visibility, but one of my ski buddies does. She handles it much better than a few years ago but still needs trees to stay out on the slopes when the fog/clouds/snow are thick.
Milo Maltbie
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- Jul 21, 2020
IIRC the all lifts at both ABasin and Loveland unload above the tree line. We had a frightening (to me) flat light day at ABasin a few years ago, but once we got down a hundred yards or so the trees were sweet. I've only skied Loveland a few sunny days so I don't remember anything but wide open slopes.
Keystone is a good choice for trees if you're concerned about flat light.
mm
Keystone is a good choice for trees if you're concerned about flat light.
mm
Worse than flat light, skied Abasin during a dump, vertigo in the bowls, had to head for the trees to get some perspective. Skied toward the base from the Zuma chair, was expecting it to be downhill the whole way, quickly started going uphill after starting out. It really messed with my head when what I was expecting wasn't what was happening.
At A Basin you can ski frontside trails and trees from the Black Mountain Express or the new Pali Lift without being above tree line. That offers you a lot. You may even be able to traverse over to the new Beavers area. Beavers Lift would take you above tree line, but you could continue in the trees below the Beavers Lift if you either have skins or are willing to hike and established route from the bottom. You can also access Steep Gullies from the new Pali Lift, with the same hike out required.
If you head to the summit and vis is bad it will take some work to get to nice trees in lower Zuma or over in the Lightning Trees off the Mountain Goat Traverse. Lightning Tree require another hike/skin up to Zuma Lift.
Never skied Loveland.
If you head to the summit and vis is bad it will take some work to get to nice trees in lower Zuma or over in the Lightning Trees off the Mountain Goat Traverse. Lightning Tree require another hike/skin up to Zuma Lift.
Never skied Loveland.
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Milo Maltbie
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- Jul 21, 2020
I skied ABasin back before the Zuma lift. Three of us skied from the top of one lift, and the light was so flat I couldn't tell if my friends in front were above or below me. I thought I was standing still until I put my pole in. That was crazy, but the trees were sweet that day.
mm
MarzNC
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- Jul 18, 2020
This little ski safari is for checking out indy ski areas. Partially to stay away from the usual crowds, although most of the ski days will be midweek.
One of these days, my idea is to get an Epic pass and spend some time at all the VR resorts in Colorado over the course of the season. After spending a week or so warming up and getting fully acclimated to skiing at over 10,000 ft.
One reason I'm likely to return to Steamboat is that it's not as high as the other Colorado resorts. Plus just far away enough from Denver that the crowds are a bit less. Although now that Southwest is flying to Hayden, that opens up another option for how to get there or fly home.
It's so easy to fly non-stop to Denver, compared to having to change planes to get to SLC or other gateway cities for skiing out west. I pretty much only fly Southwest for ski trips. Figure the more I know about Colorado skiing, the better.
