Just got my pass! Decided on the Rocky Mountain Super Pass + this year. Unlimited at Copper, Winter Park, Eldora, 6 days at Steamboat and 3 days at Crested Butte.

May still end up getting a season pass to A Basin for early/late season as well. Less than 2 months!!!

Purchased my demo skis I had last season. Pair of Atomic Panics. Will use them for early/late season skiing. Then I have the Icelantic Nomad Rkrs with Marker Duke AT bindings for every day use. Hoping to do a bit more back country skiing this year.

8/21/2014 2:02:12 PM

Arapahoe Basin opened this weekend! Most other resorts open over halloween weekend. Can't wait.

10/19/2014 6:46:20 PM

just booked my flight to california this past weekend

10 days at heavenly, northstar, and kirkwood for me this year

10/20/2014 10:09:10 AM

http://vimeo.com/108679294

10/22/2014 9:12:07 PM

Big Sky might finally get more flakes this Sunday (scheduled to open 11/27). Still nothing much in Jackson or Targhee. Utah might have a bummer of a winter from what the old timers are saying

10/22/2014 10:56:46 PM

Winter Park in December + as many trips to Snowshoe as possible to make the season pass worthwhile.

10/23/2014 9:16:15 AM

I love Winter Park!!!

10/23/2014 10:37:50 AM

Yeah I'm stoked! I didn't make it out west last year so I feel like this trip is overdue.

10/23/2014 10:40:58 AM

That video was fucking awesome

10/23/2014 2:55:03 PM

Got hurt last year before ski season was in full swing. This year I'm prepared with a season pass to Mammoth and new set of skis.

Passing on going home for Christmas should give me a bunch of time to get some use out of them this year.

10/23/2014 5:02:34 PM

I'm headed to Breckenridge, CO for Thanksgiving.
First time skiing. Should be fun.

10/24/2014 12:22:14 PM

Breckenridge is a great resort when it's not crowded.

10/24/2014 12:46:54 PM

I'm hoping Mammoth gets some decent snow this year. Can't wait to make the drive up there.

10/24/2014 1:14:16 PM

Quote :

"Big Sky might finally get more flakes this Sunday (scheduled to open 11/27). Still nothing much in Jackson or Targhee. Utah might have a bummer of a winter from what the old timers are saying"

Yeah it's not supposed to be a great winter out west this year

10/24/2014 2:41:15 PM

Yeah most of the forecasts I've read are unsure about Colorado / Utah. Further northwest is definitely supposed to be dryer unfortunately. 18" base at A Basin already! Probably going next weekend.

10/24/2014 4:51:15 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention....The season pass at Snowshoe gets me $250 in "Snow Bucks" to use at Winter Park since they're both owned by Intrawest. That will cover 3.5 days of lift tickets if purchased in advance. That's a pretty stellar deal considering they were selling 14/15 season passes last spring for $199. I've already used the season pass for two days of spring skiing and it's good all winter this season.


[Edited on October 24, 2014 at 10:50 PM. Reason : w]

10/24/2014 10:49:05 PM

Any recommendations on where to buy ski wear for a reasonable price?
I'm cruising REI sales, but that would still run me $300 for pants, jacket, and gloves.

11/3/2014 7:16:27 PM

Depends where you are. In Denver there's a bunch of ski sales in August/September where you can get last season's stuff for 50%+ off.

Also depends what type of skiing you're doing. If you want full Gortex, ski only groomers, ski in lots of powder, want insulated, etc.

--I prefer REI. I get 15% cash back on purchases and their return policy is quite generous (1 year). I used it on my ski pants and jacket halfway through the season. It's usually MSRP (unless there's an outlet sale) but the 15% cash back is nice (with the card) and I don't have to deal with returning things online which is a hassle.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 7:44 PM. Reason : s]

11/3/2014 7:39:11 PM

I'm buying gear to spend three days at Breckenridge.
That is the extent of my needs.

11/3/2014 7:51:40 PM

Do you fall a lot? Just wear a raincoat with some layers underneath. Doesn't make sense to invest in a lot of equipment if you aren't skiing regularly.

11/3/2014 7:55:53 PM

Looking at doing that.
Currently, the plan is gloves and pants for $160, wear layers for the top half.
Just wanted to see if there was an option I was missing.

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:02 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2014 8:00:55 PM

Yeah truthfully you can ski in whatever you want. It doesn't even have to be water proof. It all depends if it's actually snowing, you fall a lot, or you plan to ski in a lot of powder. You see guys skiing in jeans and a vest / long sleeve shirt that are experts. I don't even ski in an insulated jacket. I wear a silk base layer, a smartwool long sleeve, then a Northface Gortex shell. Even if it's 10 degrees out. I run warm though.

To play it safe I'd make sure everything you have is waterproof then just wear layers underneath to save on cost. The only difference between a outdoor raincoat and a ski jacket is that ski jackets usually have powder skirts which you probably won't need. Same thing with ski pants. They just have a boot skirt that helps snow from getting up into the pants. Again not a necessity.

--also big pockets help for multiple flasks.

At Breck check out Horseshoe bowl. It's one of my favorite smaller bowls there. Peak 6 (new last season) is pretty cool too depending on conditions (it can get icy). It's a blue alpine bowl which is pretty cool.

Check out the Imperial lift/bowl. All the shoots to the left are awesome. They're all double black extreme terrain due to all the random rocks. Great one to do when it's white out conditions because you don't see any of the rocks.

e.g.:





Also the highest lift in NA (I think it still is):



[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:17 PM. Reason : s]

11/3/2014 8:05:49 PM

My wife already has ski gear, so we are just shopping for me.
My plan was under armor base, moisture wicking intermediate, t-shirt, fleece jacket, carhart coat.
Forecast is 8 to 34 degrees.


[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:20 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2014 8:18:21 PM

Yeah I'd burn up in that. A fleece AND an insulated coat? Yeah layers are good though because you can take things off if you get hot. The majority of people who come ski in Colorado end up wearing way too much then taking off half of what they have on.

^When are you going?

[Edited on November 3, 2014 at 8:22 PM. Reason : s]

11/3/2014 8:21:42 PM

Thanksgiving.
I'll bring all the layers, and decide what to wear based on the weather when we land and go to the hotel.
I'm usually pretty hot, but want to keep my options open, as this is a first for me.

11/3/2014 8:28:55 PM

Got my Steamboat Springs boat launch pass. (3) days of skiing before the end of December for $80. Hope it snows hard in the next few weeks.

11/3/2014 9:27:46 PM

^Nice! Looking forward to doing Steamboat again. The weekend I went was sucky conditions (was raining at the base).

11/3/2014 9:45:59 PM

Copper mountain tomorrow. We've been getting snow all week in the mountains. Can't wait!

11/15/2014 7:05:35 PM

6-8 inches of fresh powder at Copper today!!!

11/25/2014 11:47:24 PM

if anyone goes to steamboat don't forget to hit up the hot springs! no clothes after dark

http://strawberryhotsprings.com/

11/26/2014 12:27:04 AM

We've got a couple trips to Steamboat lined up. Will check out.

11/26/2014 1:20:12 AM

The hot springs in town are pretty great. Huge pool, a couple of waterslides, and a bunch of small to mid-sized hot tubs. They're across from the Rabbit Ears motel.

[Edited on November 26, 2014 at 11:21 AM. Reason : l]

11/26/2014 11:21:13 AM

http://www.oldtownhotsprings.org/

11/26/2014 1:43:25 PM

Hot springs are great and all but I prefer the ones that take a 7-8 mile hike to get to. It weeds out the people I don't want to be in a hot spring with. Also it's more of a destination then just driving up to a place. Plus it's free.

11/26/2014 2:06:43 PM

New board! Gnu Carbon Credit BTX in 159W.

Debating whether to even take my Flow 164W to CO next month. It is a fantastic powder board, but I don't know if 5cm is enough of a difference to even worry about carrying two boards.

[Edited on November 26, 2014 at 5:33 PM. Reason : l]

11/26/2014 5:29:57 PM

Made it to Breckenridge. Hitting up slope 9 tomorrow.


The view from our balcony


Enjoying the snow

11/26/2014 7:59:21 PM

Nice you picked a good time to go!

If you want a great place to go check out Prost in Frisco. It's only ~10 mins from Breck:

http://www.prostfinebeers.com/www,prostfinebeers_com/Welcome.html

They have a great beer selection (can get liter drafts) and a fantastic German sausage menu with 6-7 different types of mustard.

11/26/2014 11:16:30 PM

Winter Park was crazy this past Sunday! 10-12" of new snow at the top. First pic on /r/skiing today was from Winter Park:

12/16/2014 1:54:27 PM

Alright everyone help me out! Where is a good place to go locally over MLK weekend or the weekend after?
Want to get in a good two days of snowboarding and let the gf and friends ski or whatever they choose. Would love to get a cabin with a group, but if NOT at least something we can go during day, stay at hotel, and MAYBE go out at night? I assume I will hear Beech and all the APP areas....anywhere else?

12/16/2014 9:53:27 PM

What does "locally" mean to you? If you are willing to go to Virginia, it opens things up somewhat--Wintergreen and Massanutten would be my suggestions and both of which would be less than 4 hrs from Raleigh. A little farther and you could get to snowshoe which is arguably the best slope close enough for a weekend trip.

12/17/2014 6:05:49 AM

^^^ That's a badass picture

12/17/2014 8:57:47 AM

^^^^awesome pic man!

Quote :

"Alright everyone help me out! Where is a good place to go locally over MLK weekend or the weekend after? "

The answer on the east coast is: nowhere, at least over MLK weekend. Every place you go will be a cluster fuck and you'll be lucky to get more than 10 runs in over the course of a day thanks to crowding.

Bought my flight yesterday for Durango, CO. Heading out there 3rd week of January. Going to be skiing at Telluride, Purgatory and maybe one other local place. Snowmobiling will also be had.

12/17/2014 9:28:24 AM

Quote :

"^^^ That's a badass picture "

Not me. I just noticed the first pic on reddit.com/r/skiing was from Winter Park the same day I was there. I need a Go Pro mount like that.

Can't wait to check out Telluride. I heard it's awesome. We're doing an extended weekend at Crested Butte pretty soon as our pass includes 3 days there.

12/17/2014 9:58:07 AM

Any good deals that snowshoe or wintergreen have that we can't see at beech, etc?

12/17/2014 2:53:37 PM

Quote :

"Winter Park was crazy this past Sunday! 10-12" of new snow at the top. First pic on /r/skiing today was from Winter Park: "

Wow...I think I rode the lift with you on Sunday. And yes...It was a pretty epic day. Monday was great too.

12/17/2014 8:42:57 PM

Nice! Do you live in Colorado?

Tips for you guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPg4HuIQt9c#t=186

12/18/2014 12:09:08 AM

No, I was just visiting. Were you wearing bright yellow pants? I talked with a guy on the lift wearing an orange coat and bright yellow pants that day who was familiar with the Raleigh/RTP area.

I rode Saturday through Tuesday. Here's a quick rundown of the trip:

Saturday: Blue skies and soft packed snow. We rode everything that was open over about 5 hours and called it a day. It was a good warmup for what was coming. I couldn't believe how good the snow was for a "bad" day and it looked like a lot of people stayed at home. Empty trails everywhere.

Sunday: Powder day! We got around a foot of fresh snow. I think we were around the 10th group on the Zephyr lift out of the village. First tracks to the Olympia lift and several first tracks through runs in the Mary Jane area. After MJ we took a few runs through the woods around the Hi-Lonesome lift iirc and then went to lunch. Ended up riding from 8:30 a.m. until around 3:30 p.m. then hit happy hour at Lime. I think we rode everything that was open, or at least close to it. There was fresh powder to be found all day, especially if you were willing to venture into the woods. Even on Village Way at the end of the day we were finding untouched caches of powder. It was great.

Monday: Another 4"-6" of fresh snow on top of the powder from the day before. It was fast and butter smooth all day long. Great day of riding. This was my personal favorite. I think this is when the Pioneer Express lift opened and started servicing the Vasquez region, but I need to look back at Alpine Replay to confirm. In any case, we found some steeper and deeper sections to ride towards the end of the day that were really fun.

Tuesday: Snow was starting to get packed and ice formed in a lot of spots. I came down with a cold. Took a few runs and called it a day early. Didn't matter...The previous three days made the trip all worthwhile.

Overall...This mountain is huge, it is uncrowded, the terrain is great, and I want to go back sometime to ride terrain around Eagle Wind and Panoramic.

12/18/2014 2:03:37 PM

Panoramic is AWESOME. You start above treeline and can dip into the trees at any point. I've spent days doing 10-11 runs just from that lift.

No wasn't me. I'm 2nd from the right (in yellow).



I've got these badass bamboo polls now though:



-And yeah Winter Park and Copper are awesome. Much more local than places like Breck or Vail and a lot less crowded. The food and booze are cheaper. I like the feel overall a lot better. Don't get me wrong I love skiing Breck and Vail but sometimes you don't want to have to deal with lines on a powder day.

Oh and you don't have to deal with the tunnel traffic on 70 east of Dillon. Much easier of a drive.


[Edited on December 18, 2014 at 2:23 PM. Reason : s]

12/18/2014 2:19:04 PM

those are pretty sweet poles

god i can't wait to get out to tahoe, i didn't ride at all last winter

hope they get some more good snow between now and early january

12/18/2014 2:31:01 PM

^^ Ah, ok...I thought that was you in the pic up there. I should have read the thread. The guy I spoke with was wearing a similar colored jacket to the one in the pic. Agreed on Winter Park being friendly and inexpensive for food and drink and really friendly as well. Everyone there was great. It's hard not to be in a good mood in a place like that.

I have really lucked out on my last two trips out west. We got 19" over two days on this one and something like 46" over 4 days on my last one (Steamboat 2 years ago).


[Edited on December 18, 2014 at 2:47 PM. Reason : l]

12/18/2014 2:32:14 PM