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By Jack Affleck/Vail Resorts
Headline RSS FeedVail opens another lift, more terrain
November 28, 2007 —
When word came down Wednesday morning that World Cup downhill training had been cancelled at Beaver Creek due to six inches of fresh snow overnight (another four fell during the day), I did what I hope any self-respecting ski journalist – or ski racer, for that matter – would do. I grabbed my skis and headed for the hill.
I was greeted on my seventh day of the ski season not by a powder day, but at least what I was hoping and praying four after Day 6 at Breck on Monday: much softer snow beneath my boots.
Vail received four inches of white gold overnight Tuesday and another two inches during the day Wednesday, allowing them to open the Pride Express Chairlift and some more runs in the Lionshead area of the mountain.
It is now possible to ski from the top of the Eagle Bahn Express Gondola to the base of Lionshead, and parts of Bwana, Simba, Cheetah, Safari and Born Free are open, as well as the fantastic beginner area at the top of the gondola (so the kiddies can stay out of the fray).
That’s more than 2,200 vertical feet if you’re counting and more than doubles the skiable terrain from 76 acres to 175. Given the fact that the entire front side of the mountain has been open by this time of year the last two seasons, it’s seems a bit silly to crow about only 175 of more than 5,200 acres being open. But as dry as it’s been lately, believe me when I say this is cause for celebration.
As is the weather forecast calling for more snow Thursday afternoon and on into the weekend. I didn’t make it for the “rope drop” on Bwana (see picture accompanying this blog) but I can tell you it was fun to turn my skis loose on slightly softer, somewhat more natural snow over more than 2,000 vertical feet, and if the snow in the forecast comes through, we’ll be talking about much more significant rope drops in the coming days.
Now back to the ski races (see story in Real Sports and my previous blog below).
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By David O. Williams
Fresh snow good news for skiers, bad news for racers
November 28, 2007 —
Funny thing about World Cup ski racers is they don’t like powder days.
Well, actually they like them just fine on an off day when they can rip it up with the boys, but on training or race days downhill racers especially don’t like to see any fresh fluff. They prefer a vertical ice rink ideal for achieving speeds of up to 80 mph and potentially hundreds of feet of air.
Wednesday’s downhill training on the Birds of Prey course was scrapped due to six inches of new snow overnight. Their loss is definitely our gain. Look for snow to continue throughout the rest of the week and more trails and lifts to open up in time for the weekend.
But the snow should hold off long enough to get in Thursday’s super-combined (one run of downhill and one run of slalom). The downhill goes off at 11 a.m. (shuttle buses only to the Red Tail finish area since there’s still not enough terrain open to ski there yet). The races are free and open to the public.
The bad news, though, is the man who won last season’s inaugural super-combined on the Birds of Prey, reigning overall World Cup champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, definitely won’t be able to defend his Beaver Creek title and may not be able to defend the overall crown.
That’s because of a nasty crash in Tuesday downhill training that cost him several teeth, a broken nose and opened a deep gash in one of his legs (courtesy of one of his ski edges). Svindal, who already had two wins this season, including Sunday’s super-G in Lake Louise, Canada, lost it coming over the Golden Eagle jump and had to be transported to the Vail Valley Medical Center.
Norwegian race officials say Svindal will be out an undetermined amount of time and definitely will not race at Beaver Creek. While that might seem to be good news for American hopefuls, it’s actually a real bummer for ski-racing fans.
Svindal is a good-humored 24-year-old who kicked back at a press conference after last season’s win at Beaver Creek and pontificated on being the new Norwegian on the block after years of success here for his more-famous countrymen, Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Lasse Kjus.
Svindal was supposed to do a 2 p.m. ski-down with fellow Longines ambassador and tennis great Andre Aggasi Wednesday at Beaver Creek in a fundraiser for Agassi’s charitable foundation and as a promo for the Swiss watch company. No word on whether the American grand-slam great will snowboard the hill solo.
Of course the big news out of all of this is that the snow is finally falling in earnest. Vail reported four inches new overnight and it was still snowing at 10 a.m., with another three inches on tap. Breck was the big winner statewide with nine inches new overnight.
I’ve always said, if you need some fresh snow, schedule a World Cup race. Don’t worry, though, the races will go on. Last year it was cold and snowy and everything went off without a hitch (mainly due to the world’s best mountain ops, race crew and army of volunteers). And race fans were even able to enjoy some fresh pow between events.
Speaking of events, after Thursday’s super-combined, the place to be is Beaver Creek Village, where Cracker will headline a bid party for the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships. The band goes live at 5, but the party gets going at 4:30. The first 500 people on the free shuttle bus (between 4 and 5 p.m.) from the base of the mountain get a voucher for a free drink – beer, wine, soda, water, you name it. Then jam to Cracker while the kids enjoy free ice skating in the Village.
Who knows, you may even run into Bode Miller as he weaves through the crowd in an effort to duck the local press (he stiffed the gathered journos after Tuesday’s training run). Oh well, as long as he defends his downhill title from last year, all is forgiven. This year’s downhill is scheduled for 11 a.m., Friday, weather permitting.
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Photo by David Williams
Snow in the forecast for the rest of the week
November 28, 2007 —
Slowly, painfully, a ski season is starting to take shape in the Colorado Rockies.
It’s been a bit like trying to get juice from a potato so far – wringing moisture out of these damnably sparse clouds passing over the valley the last few weeks – but ski runs are slowly starting to open.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 28, 14 Colorado resorts are open for business, but barely, with three more joining the bone-dry fray Friday and two more on Saturday.
Most resorts are boasting only a couple of runs and in some cases some decent terrain parks (Copper Mountain is even offering a respectable superpipe), but the slow start to the season may dramatically pick up its pace the rest of this week.
Up to four inches of fresh snow was expected overnight Tuesday, Nov. 27, into Wednesday, and then the white stuff is in the forecast for the central mountains the rest of the week – with possibly significant accumulations by the weekend and highs in the 20s and 30s all week.
Powder is bad news for World Cup ski racers descending on Beaver Creek for the Birds of Prey races Thursday through Sunday, but good news for recreational snow riders confined thus far to doing high-speed laps on WRODs (white ribbons of death) around the state.
I will say, though, that these things are all relative. I grew up skiing in Western Pennsylvania (Blue Knob, to be precise) where the six ski days I’ve enjoyed thus far this season (at seven different resorts in the state) would for the most part be considered epic.
Monday I spent the day at Breckenridge with my brother-in-law and oldest son, pounding out 10 cruisers on the Bonanza run. To hardened skiers that might sound a bit painful, but when your kids is out of school, tearing it up at Breck beats the heck out of hanging out at home.
We wound up having a really fun day, and for the first time this season I can actually claim a little leg burn. Breck is offering a pretty decent product given the circumstances, and their terrain park was in solid shape.
Of course, we’re all hoping the stingy skies open up in coming days, and I’m especially hoping my seventh day out this season is a soft one.
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Photo by David Williams
Beaver Creek offers quality ski product for kids despite lack of snow
November 26, 2007 —
It’s either the world’s shortest gondola or the world’s fastest moving warming hut suspended above the snow by cables. I rode the new Buckaroo Express at Beaver Creek four times Sunday, and I’m still not completely sure which it is.
The Buck takes exactly three and a half minutes to whisk you to the “top” of the Beav’s beginner area, and the Haymeadow run – in surprisingly good shape given the lack of snow of late – takes about the same amount of time to get down, even with my 4-year-old son Max in tow.
Then you begin the process of taking off your skis and schlepping them on the gondy all over again. Max and my 7-year-old son Nick enjoyed the novelty the first couple of times but then started complaining about having to take their gear off and drag it onto the Buck.
Maybe it’s just because they’re hardy mountain kids (or so I’d like to think) but they seemed to prefer the old, open-air chairlift on what is undoubtedly the best base-area beginner ski terrain in the valley.
But if I put my marketing hat on and look at the long-term thought process behind the Buck, it starts to make more sense. Beginners are freaked out by inclement weather, and though we’ve had precious little of it lately, the snow will come, and when it does there will be some never-evers who will appreciate the comforts of the Buck.
Sunday was not one of those days. While it was only in the 30s and blessedly not one of the balmy, near-60-degree days common throughout most of the month, it was still quite sunny and pleasant. The good news, though, is that change is on its way.
The possibly season-saving cold snap and little bit of snow that rolled through the valley last week will be followed by a string of likely snow days beginning Sunday night and stretching into mid-week and on into the weekend (of course, just in time for the World Cup – see story in Real Sport).
After a hair-raising run with Max on Vail’s Born Free trail last Wednesday (the largest single ski mountain in North America currently only has 76 acres open after a mere 3 feet of snow has fallen so far this season), the Haymeadow run was a far more relaxing experience. And the new gondola will clearly be a great boon in the summer when the new alpine slide is installed.
We pulled the plug on a Moab trip over the Thanksgiving weekend due to the more winter-like temps and headed up to the Beav’, which opened Friday. It was surprisingly worthy, and coupled with catching the last day of free ice skating in the Village, the boys and I had a really good day.
Monday, Nov. 26, Nick and I are off to Summit County to explore some of the resorts with a little more terrain open – maybe aiming for an A-Basin/Breckenridge double. As of Monday, half of Colorado’s 26 ski resorts (13 total) are open for the season with very limited terrain.
My goal is to hit all 26 this season, and after five days on skis so far, I’ve tallied six (A-Basin, Loveland, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Vail and now Beaver Creek). Let’s all pray to the snow gods that I haven’t chosen the absolute worst season to launch this quest.
Channel 9, the NBC affiliate in Denver, reported Sunday night that snowpack throughout Colorado is 70 percent of normal, and that there were only 136,000 vehicles traveling through the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70 between Wednesday and Saturday over the Thanksgiving weekend compared to 159,000 during same period last year.
But, most ski resort officials will tell you the Thanksgiving holiday is not a big moneymaker anyway. It’s more of a set-up for the rest of the season, i.e., early snow translates to early reservations. If the snow comes, the bookings will pick up. And weather forecasts are looking promising for the coming week.
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