What would you get if you combined Vail ski area, 10 inches of fresh snow, blue skies and sunshine, and a Saturday? You’d get an extremely crowded mountain, but a great day of skiing nonetheless.
Jane and I reserved a condo in Frisco at the Mountainside complex for Friday and Saturday night, January 10 and 11 so we departed Denver at 6:30PM on Friday night expecting to avoid the traffic congestion on I70 on Saturday morning. Unfortunately it was snowing heavily from Georgetown all the way to Frisco resulting in stop and go driving from mile marker 220 through the Eisenhower Tunnel. We didn’t reach Silverthorne until 9PM when we stopped for a quick dinner at Chipotle, and we finally arrived at our condo by 9:30. Our unit was on the third floor so that required several trips with our belongings, and consequently we didn’t get to bed until 10:30.
Jane Under Lionshead Gondola
The heavy snow was unfortunate for driving but well received by skiers. Because of the exhaustive travel on Friday night, Jane and I didn’t wake up until 7AM on Saturday morning, but when I checked the ski reports I discovered that Vail received 10 inches of new snow. We hustled to eat breakfast and make up for lost time, but the best we could do was leave Frisco by 8:30 and arrive at Vail by 9:15. By the time we waited in the line to enter the parking garage, put on our boots and ski clothes, hiked to the chairlift and rode to the top of Born Free lift it was between 9:30 and 10:00AM, and we could see that most of the powder below us was already chopped up. We’d largely missed out on a rare powder day at Vail in spite of lodging only 45 minutes away.
Lots of Snow
In spite of the missed opportunity we made the best of our day, and it was spectacular nonetheless. We found some powder caches on the front side and then worked our way across the mountain to Two Elks Lodge for lunch. We learned from several friendly skiers that Blue Sky was a zoo, so we stayed on the front side in the afternoon and had some outstanding runs on Blue Ox and Ouzo before concluding our day on Born Free. The high temperature climbed to 30 degrees and the sky was a perfect blue. Even after the powder was tracked out, we enjoyed soft packed fresh snow and gentle moguls.
Looking Strong on Ouzo
One of the highlights of the day was getting acquainted with a nice family of four from Mexico City that joined us at our lunch table. The family consisted of a husband and wife with a 15 year old son and 13 year old daughter. Jane and I struck up a conversation with the kids while the parents were getting their food in the cafeteria, and we were very impressed with their mastery of English, and their poise when talking to strangers. I gave the mother my business card, and we hope to exchange contacts and stay in touch.