RSS
By Dan Davis trekkerphoto.com
Headline RSS FeedRealvail.com launches the season in style
December 22, 2007 —
They came, they saw, they partied into the early evening. And all is right with the world.
The first realvail.com holiday, greet-the-season soiree at Samana Lounge went off without a hitch last night (Friday, Dec. 21), successfully launching our site into the ether of cyberspace and simultaneously drawing rave reviews from a select gathering of business leaders, politicians, our friends and family, and of course, our adoring public.
RealVail may be able to lay claim to being the first and only Web-mag to get the new mayor of Vail, the esteemed Dick Cleveland, to venture into the hip night spot occupying the basement formerly known as Nick’s. In fact, we had three other council members there as well, perhaps constituting a public meeting, although they came at staggered times.
Thanks to our sponsors, Vodka 14, Samana, Roxy, Performance Sports and Surefoot, we showed all a good time and gave away plenty of swag, including some thongs for the throng. See Boyd’s blog for more details on registering for our new E-newsletter and thereby earning a shot at a $700 pair of Surefoot ski boots. Keep an eye on the site for a photo gallery courtesy of Dan Davis and trekkerphoto.com - coming soon.
As for the action on the slopes, Vail is reporting 8 inches of new snow in the past 48 hours, but Beaver Creek has ‘em beat with 11 inches in the past 48. And the Beav’ is opening up Golden Eagle today (Saturday, Dec. 22), the track for the Birds of Prey downhill. It’s a rockin’ run, so get out there and hit it hard. And look for some backcountry light to come online soon, with the Beav’ planning to open Stone Creek Chutes and Royal Elk Glade in the very near future.
Also on tap, the grand opening for the new Buckaroo Express Gondola at 9:15 a.m. (see our story in Real News). And we’ll see you out there on the hill.
Submit a comment on "Realvail.com launches the season in style"
By Dan Davis trekkerphoto.com
Realvail.com launch party kicks off the season tonight at Samana
December 21, 2007 —
Every day is a powder here at realvail.com … and every night is an après party.
So it’s fitting that on the day we celebrate the official launch of realvail.com with a public party at Samana Lounge in Vail Village from 5-7 p.m., the snow gods have smiled on us with a frosting of 5 inches of new snow Thursday and a bunch more flakes falling as of Friday morning.
So if you’re reading this in a drive-time (or Gulfstream-time) market, get up here today (Friday), ski some freshies in the afternoon, then stop by Samana (the basement place by Russell’s right by the Covered Bridge … used to be Nick’s, used to be the Keg) and join us for $5 Vodka 14 drinks, $3 Pilsner Urquells, live music and swag giveaways from Roxy and Performance Sports. First 50 guests get a drink on us.
See our full-page ad on page A18 of Friday’s Vail Daily for more details, and click on either Giveaway or Newsletter on our the upper navigation bar to register for our new Real-E newsletter and a chance to win a $700 pair of Surefoot ski boots.
Our party will be going on mere steps from Vail's annual tree-lighting celebration at 6 p.m. in Slifer Plaza just across the Covered Bridge. Families can start out in Lionshead with free caroling from 5 to 5:30 p.m., followed by a light procession from Lionshead to Slifer Plaza and then the main event at 6. Then head across the bridge to Samana.
And all the new snow comes at a perfect time for the Christmas crush next week. We hadn’t any significant accumulations since the 8 inches that fell on Dec. 12, but the temps stayed cold enough for the last week to keep our 30-inch base nice and soft.
And now it looks like we’re back in the storm cycle. Snow is in the 10-day forecast every other day for the next week or so, with the next 40-percent shot headed our way on Sunday and then again on Tuesday.
Get up, get out there and enjoy!
Submit a comment on "Realvail.com launch party kicks off the season tonight at Samana"
By David O. Williams
Vail Mountain holding up well a week after last significant storm
December 19, 2007 —
Day 14 of my season was an interesting one on Tuesday, spent in hot pursuit of a pair of 7-year-old twin-tip terrors all over Vail Mountain.
My oldest son Nick is out of school and wanted a “play date” on the hill with one of his buddies. I was merely along for the ride.
We jumped off Chair 6 and into the Chair 11 maze with high expectations of quickly reaching the top of the mountain and then verging off in any direction we chose (or, actually, that they chose).
But Chair 11 was bogging down for some reason, so I quickly pulled the plug and ordered an all-out charge to the new high-speed Chair 10 before that maze filled too quickly with refugees from Chair 11.
So my first run of the day, with a couple of second-graders, was the bump run Log Chute, which is the “L” in the notorious mogul combo of PPL (Prima, Pronto, Log Chute). A fair amount of carnage later and we were comfortably on our way up 10.
A quick high-speed ripper down Whiskey Jack and we were on the equally new Chair 14, which takes riders quickly up to Two Elk Lodge and has eliminated the need for surface lifts to get people to the famed mountain-top restaurant (rebuilt after an eco-terror arson attack in ’98).
We pounded down some pizza and then dove into China Bowl’s Poppyfields run for a high-speed rollercoaster ride down to the Skyline Express lift and up into Blue Sky Basin. From there it was a no-brainer, for the boy’s at least, to attack the amazingly fresh snow still lingering in the In the Wuides run down into Earl’s Bowl.
Because the Earl’s Express chairlift wasn’t running and it’s a long run-out at the bottom, nobody was skiing this moderately-pitched piste. The last time I’d hit it was Friday, and even then I was amazed it was still holding snow from the previous significant snowfall – an 8-inch dumping a week ago Tuesday night.
So to still find freshies there a week after the last measurable snow was pretty wild, and cold temps in that span of time had kept things nice and light. From there we headed up Tea Cup Express and did Genghis Khan back into China Bowl, which was a bit more bumped up and crusty than my previous foray on Friday.
One more Tea Cup ride and another Whiskey Jack to Chair 11 and we capped off the day by jumping into North Rim (still some soft stashes in the shadows of the trees), under Chair 11, down Log Chute and then Brisk Walk to Golden Peak.
So despite a lack of snow for a week and a base dipping below 30 inches (27 at this writing), I can honestly report the mountain is in good shape for mid-December. There were patches of dirt and grass in some of the high-traffic areas and I don’t want to think about the hill if we don’t get any snow before Christmas, but luckily it looks like we won’t have to deal with that prospect.
Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday a couple of inches of new snow were in the forecast and then snow showers are expected to continue intermittently Thursday, with a little better chance of accumulation Thursday into Friday.
That’s good news for the little rippers I rode with Tuesday, and even better news for all the holiday hordes on their way out west with visions of powder days dancing in their heads.
Submit a comment on "Vail Mountain holding up well a week after last significant storm"
By Dan Davis trekkerphoto.com
Deep freeze keeps snow light, lines short
December 16, 2007 —
Days 12 and 13 of my ’07-08 ski season (Friday and Saturday) can best be summed up by two words: freaking cold.
When I jumped on the Vista Bahn on Vail Mountain Friday around 9:30, the mercury was loitering in the neighborhood of 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius for our international readers). Two “warm-up” runs in Northwoods produced the exact opposite effect, and in fact resulted in a patch of frostbite on my face.
But skiing being a sport of sacrifices, I pushed on through and started to heat up a bit after pounding down Milt’s, followed by Genghis Khan. The snow on those exposures (more south and east) was a bit chunked up, but a quick jaunt into the north-facing environs of Blue Sky Basin generated some soft and sometimes untracked fluff.
Since an anticipated storm Thursday night fizzled and produced a mere dusting – although a friend pointed out we shouldn’t get greedy, since three weeks ago we were on strips of man-made surrounded by mud – all the snow on Friday was a holdover from an 8-inch storm Wednesday.
Incredibly, Earl’s Bowl in BSB was untracked in large sections two days after the storm, something rarely seen at Vail. The next day, the temps were even lower, and there was still some untrammeled snow.
My wife and I dropped off our oldest son in Vail Devo Saturday and jumped on Chair 6 with the thermometer showing a brisk two degrees. After a few chilly cruisers we hit Yonder trees in Sun Up Bowl around 11 a.m. on Saturday and found great snow and zero line at Chair 5, owing largely to the zero temps. The snow should still be nice Sunday, and the crowds likely fairly light.
Friday has replaced Sunday as a high-traffic day for some reason, either because people would rather play hooky than miss a Bronco game (even though they hardly bear watching this season). But for whatever reason, Sunday is usually a great day to get out – and the temps will be much more conducive, with highs approaching 30.
The next shot of snow should be coming in mid-week, so we may be looking at a repeat of last week with a Wednesday powder day and virtually no lines. If that’s the case, you’ll want to be here because there’s nothing better.
Submit a comment on "Deep freeze keeps snow light, lines short"
Next
