In December Jen and I took off both Friday and Monday every week in order to head up into the mountains to ski those two days; getting a lot of skiing in, and avoiding the weekend crowds at the same time. December is now over, and saving vacation days is again a priority, but so is skiing, so this weekend we decided to tackle the traffic as terrible as it would be, and to our surprise – it wasn’t! This past holiday season has been odd. The resorts have seemed deserted on some of the days you would have expected them to be overly crowded. Not a complaint, just an observation.
Saturday we went to Winter Park hoping that we would be able to take the Panoramic Express all the way up to the top of Parsenn Bowl, but once again it wasn’t running due to weather conditions. The Panoramic Express is a brand new six pack chairlift at Winter Park that takes you all the way to the top of Parsenn Bowl at 12,060 ft. The last time we went to Winter Park it wasn’t running because of cold. I can only guess how cold it was at the top of the mountain. It was -10F at the parking lot when we pulled in that morning. Saturday it wasn’t the cold that was the problem, it was the wind. 60 mph gusts at the top, we were told.
Oh well, instead of being able to try some of the new glade runs they have cut in the Parsenn Bowl, we tucked into the trees at Mary Jane to get out of the wind and find some untracked powder. Not so much luck on the latter so we traversed to the other side of the mountain and found some good runs there. After lunch we continued our search for good snow and we found it. The Arrowhead run was the place to be that day at Mary Jane.
Resolution Bowl at Copper Mountain
Copper Mountain was the destination for Sunday. We got up early to avoid the perceived weekend traffic and was out of the of door before 7 am. Traffic slowed down from George Town to Frisco due to weather and 2-wheel drive cars with bald tires spinning out on the icy-slippery roads, but we found ourselves at the Copper parking lot not long after the lift had started running. It was a powder day! And the white stuff was still coming down! We got ready and headed up the Flyer lift to meet up with our friend Mike. Mike’s wife, Sue, unfortunately was home sick with a bad back. Too much skiing, and not enough stretching!
Mike putting knee to the ski
After a quick warm up run down Ptarmigan we headed over to Resolution Bowl. Resolution Bowl has quickly become one of our favourite areas at Copper. The snow was delicious and plentiful.
Jen making turns in Resolution Bowl
While doing runs in Resolution Bowl, numerous charges were being detonated over in the Spaulding Bowl. The recent heavy snowfall coupled with tons of snow being wind loaded into the bowl has made for a very unstable snow pack. A slab had slid in Spaulding Bowl earlier in the week almost taking a Ski Patrol guy out. Hearing and seeing the charges was a very real reminder that one has to be remain alert both inbound and outbound of ski resorts. Avalanches don’t know the difference. Bringing Beacon-Shovel-Probe to the resorts may not be that bad an idea, especially when Tucker and the rest of Copper Bowl opens up.
Avalanche control in Spaulding Bowl
As recent as last week a snowboarder was killed and caught by an avalanche just west of Vail Pass.