TR: Wannabe finally gets himself to Vail

Well, I had a day off work coming to me...so I took it today after a few inches were reported all around the area.  I haven't been to Vail yet this season, so I headed that way early this morning.  I got there early enough to get very early rides on the lift...note the lack of any tracks, even under the lift.

I figured someone needed to track things out...maybe this guy?

The snow had all blown to the East sides of things...so Lover's Leap (for instance) was pretty deep and soft:

Interestingly, I found the people at Vail to be the most friendly I've yet encountered.  One guy even showed me around for a while and swore me to secrecy concerning his stashes.  I ended up getting separated from him (which was a bummer) but I did find this instead.  I skied it the rest of the day and had fresh lines to myself for hours.

The trees took their toll though.  I have a few holes in my coat and one tree even tried to steal my pass.  In the pic below you can see the crack through the pass as well as the keyring (now a key oval) that was holding it onto my coat.  That'll teach me to wear my pass on the outside when I'm not at ABasin (i.e. when I'm somewhere that has RF scanners).

Anyway, it was a pretty good day...definitely worth the extra driving.  Now, can I get a multi-foot dump of snow please?

Great TR!  Gotta love Vail!

My only complaint about yesterday is that Vail is too big...for the first time this season I had to consult a map to figure out how to get from where I was to where I wanted to go.  And even at that, I had to ask directions a couple times.

It's a real problem...they should make it smaller.

LOL at smaller.

Tuesday was incredible for a few hours. It began pretty rough though. We set out reasonably early for Blu Sky Basin; up Riva and then 3rd or 4th chair on Northwoods. By the time we passed the Yonders it was near white out and howling wind. We pressed on down Sleepytime and were passed by sleds who we found soon enough roping things off, Closing Blue sky. Up the incredibly slow #17 and back to Two elks for some shelter; it really was a full on blizzard. After about 45 minutes the clouds vanished and blue skies were crystal clear. The next two hours were some of the best skiing I have ever had. I've never had fresh tracks quite like it. With the limits my knee imposed I was thrilled with the ~2-3" of fresh on top of a groomed Big Rock / Cloud 9. We also lapped The Star and Grand Review a few times.

This was my first trip to Vail and I can't wait to go back with a healthy knee. There really does seem to be something for everyone. I would avoid Sunday (day before President's Day) though. Crowds were insane .

BTW, my new Nordica Hot Rod Jet Fuels seemed a perfect match for all I wanted to accomplish on this trip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabe 

 

My only complaint about yesterday is that Vail is too big...for the first time this season I had to consult a map to figure out how to get from where I was to where I wanted to go.  And even at that, I had to ask directions a couple times.

 

It's a real problem...they should make it smaller.

Aww man, was that you we saw bouncing down the front of Lover's leap??Then scree field and Iron cross????? We had a handfull of Bears in Vail this week (Bazzer and Bazzerr Jr,Deliberate1 and his wife,Clive ummm he's new to posting here,We had several unconfirmed sitings of Vailsnopro,took some pics of him from behind we never did catch up but will post the pics on a trip report. Jon Wils was in the area as well.Tuesday was great snow but several other days also where great.
 

Sorry everyone missed you, next time we will post in capitols.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Boot 

 

Aww man, was that you we saw bouncing down the front of Lover's leap??Then scree field and Iron cross?????

It's possible...I never pay much attention to the names of everything I'm on.  Just throw a snowball at the person next time.  :)