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Is Beaver Creek any good in Mid April

post #1 of 13
8/16/11 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 

Next April I will be staying near Beaver Creek for business.  It is sweet that I will not pay for travel or lodging but since my business has nothing to do with skiing it will not be during prime ski season.  My question to the forum is "Is the the skiing any good at Beaver Creek in mid April?"

 

I will probably be there from 4/6 through 4/10.  I know this is the tail end of the season but if I can still get some Spring skiing in that would be awesome.  If anyone has any experiences and can share how late the season really runs that would be great, I can't get a straight answer from the resort.

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post #2 of 13
8/16/11 at 10:25am

It is possible for it to be great. Its a big mountain with lots of aspects. Carefully planning your runs to follow the sun could make for a terrific day. On the other hand, the mountain could be half brown by then.

 

Check the snow reports before you go. It could dump at any time so if it were me, I'd come prepared regardless of the snow report.

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post #3 of 13
8/16/11 at 1:54pm
Beaver Creek is currently scheduled to close April 8...but Vail is close, and not bad either. wink.gif
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post #4 of 13
8/16/11 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 

A half brown mountain is better than an all brown mountain!  I'll take a free trip and half brown if Beaver Creek is open beyond their scheduled close date.  As a guy that does a lot of skiing in Eastern PA I know how to have fun in questionable conditions.  I'll keep an eye on the conditions and hope for the best.  Thanks for the response.

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post #5 of 13
8/16/11 at 4:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wookie View Post

A half brown mountain is better than an all brown mountain!  I'll take a free trip and half brown if Beaver Creek is open beyond their scheduled close date.  As a guy that does a lot of skiing in Eastern PA I know how to have fun in questionable conditions.  I'll keep an eye on the conditions and hope for the best.  Thanks for the response.


Doubt they will be open beyond their scheduled date even if they have a 10 foot base- Vail Resorts typically close when they say they will and in BC's case, there may be an issue with Elk Migration. 

 

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post #6 of 13
8/16/11 at 7:56pm
Thread Starter 

MEfree30 -

 

Thanks, this is what I have heard (and what I was afraid of)  but I can't get a firm answer as to if it is the posted closing date, elk migration, or weather that controls the actual closing date.  Weather I could deal with since I am used to East coast ski resorts squeezing a few more days out of what can best be described as slushy inclined ice rink.

 

I have gotten conflicting stories from a variety of friends.  One told me there was plenty of snow last season but mountain was restricted due to the elk.  A few other have told they were out there around April 20th (after the planned closing) and enjoyed beautiful spring skiing on a fully operational mountain. 

 

If anyone is a regular out there I would love to know the real scoop.  Worst case I can "slum it" down the road at Vail (per SKI-3PO's suggestion) which is posted to be open during my time in CO.

 

 

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post #7 of 13
8/17/11 at 7:34am

I don't know of any extension of the season by the VR in the past 10 years.  I doubt it will happen.

 

That being said, it is not that far from BC to Summit County.  You can even hit A-Basin if BC is closed and conditions are lousy at Vail.

 

Mike

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post #8 of 13
8/17/11 at 8:44am

There is no way of knowing until roughly mid-March of next year.  Conditions change quite a bit from year to year.  If they have a large base in mid-March, even with really high temps they'll make it. Otherwise, a marginal base means you should hope for low temps.  I've skied BC around those dates and had everything from amazing powder to skiing on mud.  

 

Your best bet in the area is Copper, not Vail.  Copper's base area is 1000' higher than Vail and BC.  Plus, Sunsation will be going on.

 

There will almost certainly be no season extension beyond their planned closing date.  It's based on Vail policy and nothing else.  Some people might say their forest service special use permit doesn't allow it, but I'm pretty sure that's not true.  (I haven't looked at theirs specifically, but it's not in most.)

 

Short version: take your skis.  April can be some of the best skiing of the year and you don't wanna miss it if it starts going off.

 

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post #9 of 13
8/17/11 at 1:37pm



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by vinn View Post

There will almost certainly be no season extension beyond their planned closing date.  It's based on Vail policy and nothing else.  Some people might say their forest service special use permit doesn't allow it, but I'm pretty sure that's not true.  (I haven't looked at theirs specifically, but it's not in most.)

 

 

I think it also has to do with their labor -- they start to lose staff, and even if conditions were stellar, it'd be hard to hold onto enough folk to stay open.

 

Mike

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post #10 of 13
8/17/11 at 3:49pm

also, again cynically, late season extensions would not likely garner a lot more out of town new paying customers.  More likely would mean more local folks hitting that resort as prime winter sports "destination" vacation season is seen as over by tax day.  For Vail resorts most/many would simply be using more days on their various season passes -- so where is the extra revenue stream from extending a season -- rentals and food sales mostly, some lessons?

 

 

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post #11 of 13
8/17/11 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, you guys have cleared up a lot of the unknown but the bottom line is that even if BC is closed/closing I hope to be able to find fun spring skiing nearby (so long as the weather cooperates).  Specifically job151 makes a lot of sense, if the goal of most area mountains is to make money off of season pass holders add time to the season is not good for business.  In my home area the resorts live off of day passes, lessons, tubing, and food/booze sales so as long as they can make snow (or ski on frozen grass) they will stay open and extend the season.

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post #12 of 13
8/18/11 at 10:01am

The question isn't "will the skiing be any good", but rather "how many extra ski days can you extend your visit"? smile.gif

 

I did a search with keywords - April Colorado - from the trip reports section of this forum.  You should enjoy paging through the favorable results:

 http://www.epicski.com/search.php?advanced=1&search=april+colorado&titleonly=0&byuser=&output=all&containingforum%5B%5D=36&replycompare=gt&numupdates=0&sdate=0&newer=1&sort=relevance&order=descending&Search=SEARCH

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post #13 of 13
8/18/11 at 10:44am
Thread Starter 

Jamesj - thanks for research.  I am planning on bringing my gear and have extended my stay a few days.  The primary reason for my initial question was to find out if I could spend all my time at Beaver Creek.  They schedule to close two days after I arrive and I was hoping that they had a history of extending their season if the weather looks good.  From the responses it sounds like I can't plan on a BC season extension but should be able to find plenty of skiing nearby.

 

For the record my 4 day business trip is now 10 days (4 days of work with 6 days/10 nights of fun)!!!

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