Colorado Skiing in November

November? really? That is very early to roll the dice on finding decent snow by planning a trip ahead of time.

Your best bet for real snow at that time of year is Wolf Creek. They are almost always open by Thanksgiving. You'd fly into Colorado Springs I suppose.

The next best would be Summit County resorts like Loveland and A-Basin which start making snow early because they are high up and therefore colder. They will have what is fondly refered to as "the white ribbon of death". It is called that because it's an alley of man-made snow blown only onto the trail and usually only on a couple of trails at that. All the Yahoos (like me) who can't wait for the season to get going, will be on said ribbon. good skiers, bad skiers, fast skiers, falling skiers. It's mayhem. You would fly into Denver for that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcano4 

Now when I say November, I mean November 30-December 3. Still not a good time?

It's iffy. Year before last, it was brilliant. But that was unusual. Weekdays won't be terribly crowded, but weekends can get a little hairy if there aren't a bunch of runs open. I wouldn't commit a lot of money to going then ... if you can wait and see, it's best. It won't be hard to find last-minute lodging for cheap, so transportation is the main thing. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by segbrown 

 

It's iffy. Year before last, it was brilliant. But that was unusual. Weekdays won't be terribly crowded, but weekends can get a little hairy if there aren't a bunch of runs open. I wouldn't commit a lot of money to going then ... if you can wait and see, it's best. It won't be hard to find last-minute lodging for cheap, so transportation is the main thing. 

Not only don't commit money now, but there is no reason to commit money.  Even if it is an Epic early ski season, there will be little ski traffic at the resorts that time of year, meaning you won't have any difficulty in finding lodging.  Folk just don't get fired up to ski until after Christmas.  As Segbrown indicated, because of limited terrain open, the slopes can be quite crowded.  So, save your money and wait to see how things are progressing.

Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcano4 

Now when I say November, I mean November 30-December 3. Still not a good time?

It's a crap shoot, but I've had great skiing that early.

Book your flights on Southwest into DEN, rent a car and be flexible.  If it doesn't look promising at the last minute, cancel and use the flight credit within a year?

Supposedly things are on track this year to be good early in Colorado.  Of course, last year was supposed to be good too.

 Ditto. And you will be able to get great deals even at the last minute. I stayed at the Westin at Beaver Creek, which is a very, very nice property, that same weekend last year and got a phenomenal deal. The skiing was terrible. Rocks everywhere and most runs not open. But I was there to watch ski racing and had no expectations of good skiing, so it was fine.

If you picked these dates randomly and are available to go another time, go another time. Go early January, when crowds are light but there is (usually) snow.

Many years ago I freestyled a trip to Breckenridge on very short notice in November.  This was back in the day that weather forecasts beyond 36 hours were worthless.  Called and booked a room on a Wednesday, left very early Friday morning arriving Friday evening.  Woke up to see the car covered and drove up to about 20" of fresh on the mountain.  It started puking again around 2pm.  We were staying on the other side of the tunnel.  I had to purchase chains to pass the checkpoint in order to return to the motel.  That was one of the best ski gear purchases I made that decade as I needed those chains at least 20 times in the days before owning a 4WD/AWD. 

Anyway, November skiing can be pretty good with little warning.  But, there's nothing to be gained in booking anything before mid December really early.