[Vermont Backcountry skiing]

Hey! I’m considering some April backcountry adventure on the east coast likely Vermont or New Hampshire. Hopefully April 8-9 but maybe April 1-2. 

I read that Mount Snow and others do uphill but would prefer to be on a mountain.

where have people been?

I know Tuckermans is popular but are there any others to consider?  

 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

Friday, March 17, 2023  

Night out in Denver, CO

-------

Vail was incredible. I’ve skied Vail a few times but it was years ago and on weekends. It was awesome to ski mid-week.

After Bart & Yeti’s, we got to the car around 4pm. There was traffic eastbound, so we got to Denver around 7pm. On the way home, we stopped to check out the bison alongside I-70.

We unloaded the car quickly and then went to return the Kyte car rental downtown.

This was my first time renting with Kyte. I liked that you could specify AWD/4WD and know the type of car. I've had bad experiences with traditional Hertz, Enterprise, etc providing a front-wheel drive SUV, which always seems like an oxymoron to me. The car was pristine, perfect condition, and significantly cheaper than other options - if anyone needs a rental in CO .. check it out. 

We hung out at Union Staton near Terminal Bar. For a train station, there seemed to be more people hanging out than waiting for a train. Choo choo. Even for non-train lovers - it's a cool spot. This isn't my pic but you wanted to give you the vibe.

Then, we went to Happy Camper in the Highlands area with my brother and his fiance. It had disco balls, light tunnels, campers, unique furniture, and groups of millennials taking 20 million selfies throughout.

The four of us had the Mike Pizza with Italian sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, parmesan & spinach/ricotta sauce. It was a bit pricey but good.

We hopped in the car and went to Bierstadt Lagerhaus in the RiNo neighborhood. It was St Pattys weekend so it was more interesting than usual. 

Bierstadt is a brewery with giant games. It has a giant game of beer pong that uses trash cans on rollers, corn hole where you toss a giant pillow-like bag, and a 7 ft connect four. 

There's old school Nintendo that plays as the backdrop for the DJ.

And free pineball machines. Someone (cough me cough) got a high score.

On our way out, there was a giant machine.

Some of these buttons made me giggle. Maybe it's an old printing press? Only PASR people would know. 

To cap off the night, @Schif scooted to the car.

It wasn't a Bleu parking lot scooter but it was still tons of fun.

Since Friday started at 7am and we were nonstop until 2am, we crashed hard and slept in on Saturday. It...was...glorious.

We packed. I met up with an old friend and then I showed Schif around my old 'hood. We drove by my old house which is now for sale. Denver real estate is mind-blowing.

Our flight left at midnight and we got back to the Philly house around 7am. It was a whirlwind of a trip, so we ended up sleeping for about 90% of Sunday. Bummed we missed the End of Season Party but hoping to be back this weekend!

 

 

 

 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

March 16, 2023
Vail, CO
—
@Schif and I woke up at the Evergreen Lodge. Earlier this week, the reports were showing about a foot of snow. We woke up to only 5- 6”. Booo. but it was still great.

We had some coffee and microwaved breakfast

We took the Lionshead Gondola up. There were about 4 people ahead of us in the singles line.

We dipped into Game Creek again. It had some untapped powder but got tracked out quickly. If you watch this video, mute your sound because I’m clearly out of breathe. This is after a couple runs. 😂

We dabbled on the front then headed to Sun Bowl and down Wow & Windows. It wasnt quite crust on dust... It was like crust on dust (in a frat boys house where the cleaning lady never came.) It was thick crust.

Around 12, we were at the top of Blue Sky Basin. Had some water, carrots, and granola

We skied all over. Got lost. Used the find my friend with EpixMix. I rested then we reunited.

I skied about 20k of vert. Schif got 36k of vert. He’s insane. 

we cracked some champs & beers, freshened up and hit up the apres scene.

but first - hot pocket. This is my fav post skiing hotel snack. I don’t care if the top of mouth is forever burned.

We strolled to the village and we saw a @GrilledSteezeSandwich lookalike.

Then we hit the George for their happy hour. It was $5 beer & cocktails and discounted food. We got duck quesadillas and buffalo fries. Duck quesadillas were amazing!! 

it was a cool scene. I loved it. We chatted with at least 4 Lehigh valley people, Penn State alum, and a pittsburgher. 

we headed back to the concert in the village near the ice skating rink.

there we’re free high noon “samples.” We snagged a lot of samples. I really wanted their ski outfits though.

Someone… Did some shots with strangers while the Sponges played house music

Then we stopped at Frost and found some rad acoustic music

and eventually headed back.

it was fun but the scene really ranged in vibes. It felt like the apres ski concert area was trying to be Whistler but there were just too many khakis and furs in the concert area to really hype it up.

We’re finishing off the champagne and beers, while Schif is saying “We are” & I reluctantly respond “Penn State” while penn state plays Texas a&m in basketball.

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

March 15, 2023

Vail, CO

——-
 

On Tuesday night, Brian dropped @Schif and I off near Coors Field and we strolled downtown. I was blown away by McGregor Square. They had bars, stadium seating, and an arena style tv & surround sound- it felt as if you were in stadium. It was awesome.

We had a rental car reservation through Kyte. It was significantly cheaper and I loved that we were able to specify AWD/4WD.

On Tuesday night - We loaded up the Dodge Durango, watched some Ted Lasso with the gang, and went to bed.

Wednesday, we woke up at 5:45 and we’re out of the house by 6:15am.

No traffic to vail, so we checked in to the hotel mostly to get our parking pass at 8:30. I was surprised the room was already ready. 

We both had pretty low expectation for the Evergreen Lodge because it was the cheapest accommodations in Vail. But it’s great and so close. It’s next to the ice skating rink, library, and hospital near Lions head.

We dropped our gear. Picked up a coffee and danish from the lobby and strolled to Lionshead.

Eagle Bahn Gondola was closed so we took the lift to another lift to the top, then dipped into Game Creek.

Snow was the best on the north facing slopes like the front and blue sky basin.

We doodled around the entire mountain.

We saw this area and I was reminded that @Johnny Law told us to pack pocket dogs to grill. We should have listened to him.

But instead we stopped at the Dog Haus for a girthy dog with a Hot Mess Blonde Ale by Vail Brewing.

We hit up Poppyfields which was fun then it felt like it funneled you into a natural half pipe. The tight gully can be seen in the white narrows.

We skied about 50 miles, 30k vert and we’re both exhausted. 

We came back to the hotel and had some cookies, champagne, and beer. Appetizers of champions.

 

We napped then hit up Vail Village for a couple of hours. We saw these ice skaters, and couldn’t help to think they were paid by Vail to ice skate - they were legit so good.

… but maybe I’m just use to the shit show of an ice skating rink in Center City Philly. 

We stopped in Frost for a beer. Schif had a Coloradan IPA. 

One of my fav runs was off of Pete’s Express, so I had Pete’s Stash by Vail Brewing. 

Awesome day and went to bed excited to do it all again 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

7 hours ago, PSUFly said:

Nice report.   The breweries in Idaho springs are pretty good, not sure if you checked them out 

Yeah! Heard good things about Westbound and Down Brewing! Didn’t get there but maybe next time

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

6 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

My spidey senses are thinking maybe Schifdawg proposes to Nancy at the top of Vail…

Nope. My hands get so cold. If he thinks I’m degloving, @Schif doesn’t know me 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

Monday, March 13, 2023

Butler Gulch / Jones Pass Trailhead

 

@Schif and I worked remotely in the Denver area. Shut down our computers at 3pm MT and packed up the car.

since day lights savings time just happened, the sun sets at like 7pm’ish

so we drove to Jones Pass Trailhead / Butler Gulch for a quick touring sesh.

I’ve done this a few times, read the avy reports, and knew we were going to stay under treeline. The goal was mostly to exercise and try out the new gear.

as we got there, the Jones Ridgecat Tour company was loading up their bus of people 

and here’s Schif splitboarding it up past the ridgecat.

There were a few others touring. It was a mellow go but glad we got out. 

We’re basically like cody townsend and elyse saugstad if they were out of shape Pennsylvanians without a TGR deal or sponsorship.

Mike skinned up a short section to hit up some powder turns.

then we headed back to the car on the cat track as it started to snow.

we snapped a photo at the bottom … talked about the Henderson Mine and molybdenum, then headed into Idaho Springs.

we strolled the Main Street of Idaho Springs. I snapped this photo because I know this forum has train enthusiast and then we got a small beaujoes pizza (“Colorado style”).

 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

Sunday, March 12, 2023
——
5:30am
Thornton, CO

The gang left for Loveland at 5:30am. It was a struggle bus as the clocks sprung forward.

We arrived to Loveland early at 7am.

Brian & Schif got the basin breakfast with gravy. I got the burrito with green chili.

We stopped in the ticket window for our ridge cat card. 

And we’re in line by 8:10am, about the 4th chair or so. Me & Brian rode up with a liftie who told us to hit up Spillway to Richards Run.

Schif took Tigers Tail to Cats Meow which is skiers right after you get off the lift. He said it was dust on crust.

Brian & I had an amazing fun on Spillway & Richards. I did it twice. 

We migrated towards 4, ptarmigan (aka Parmesan), 9, and 8.

It was a powder hunt and so fun. Here’s a short video that my brother took of me & @Schif

around 11:30am, Loveland started bombing runs around on the ridge. It was pretty cool to see the dynamite and the watch/hear it run out.

the yellow is a group from the ridge cat and the pink is some dynamite and avalanche mitigation 

Even at 11:30… between the 8 and 4, we kept finding some powder stashes

at the end of the day, I felt like this kid though.

we had some cuties and a beer. This beer was rad. It’s a raspberry blonde.

then Loveland chili cheese friends 😍

 

After Loveland, we drove back to the Denver area. We went to the gym mostly for the hot tub - steam room - sauna and cooked dinner at my brothers’.

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

2 hours ago, saltyant said:

Glad you did some cool non-skiing activities on your ski trip. If I do that on my ski trip, like visit The Mint, everyone loses their minds.

Hahaha but to be fair - we’re also working remotely and not completely on vacation mode while in Denver.

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

That would be a nice wedding gift.    Also I don’t think anybody here knows who Mike is…

the snowboarder formerly known as shifdawg

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

In the words of @GrilledSteezeSandwich and @saltyant this is getting good.

Sunday we skied Loveland with about 4-6” of new snow yesterday. I’ll write more later.

Monday & Tuesday we’re working remotely and staying in the Denver area.

Then —> next skiing adventure is Vail from Wednesday - Friday with @Schif

and these are these are the upcoming reports..

I don’t know what “sneaky fun powder” is but I’m pumped. 

 

General Colorado snow forecast is snow on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

 

And this Vail specific report shows Wednesday - Friday as well.

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

2 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Nice report, I was just gonna say you could sell the snowboard but I didn’t know you also snowboard.  

I may give it to my brothers fiance since Brian gave the splitboard he won to Mike. We’ll see… 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

March 11, 2023 - part 3
 

Oops that last pic was the first run of the day line. I meant to delete it. 

——

so after my legs turned to jello, I strolled into the lodge. 

In the cafeteria, Toyota had a booth where they were giving away 2 snowboards daily and a big raffle at the end season for a car. 

so. you enter your info on an iPad and you can get sunglasses, a buff, or hand warmers. So we all snagged a cool pair of Loveland shades.

then you go to the table where there’s a bunch of stickers. And if you turn over one with a Toyota logo, you win a free Never Summer snowboard.

I was like - really? So you just flip it and you get to walk away with it?

and that’s what happened 🤷🏼‍♀️

crazy thing is … my brother won a Never Summer splitboard early season at a ski party. Then gave it to @Schif. So kinda funny that we’re 2 for 2 in snowboard giveaways.

this is the women’s proto type 2 with custom graphics of the Colorado C from the state flag.

I haven’t snowboarded since 2012’ish. since we’re going to Vail for a few days, I’m going to put bindings on it and take it for a spin. 

All in all - amazing day.

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

powder day to remember + a free snowboard.
…

anyway - Saturday ended with me giving Schif a quick tour of downtown Denver including the Union Station (because trains), Coors Field, Larmier Street, 16th Street, and LoHi.

at the house, we had some air fryer chicken and veggies then headed to bed by 9:30pm for some more Sunday skiing.

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

March 11, 2023 - part 2

we got in line at 8am. Chair opened at 8:30am.

lots of hoots and cheers.

some people skinned up and skied down. Sometimes it was ski patrol coming down. Here’s a video of ski patrol with the crowd clapping.

the line for lift 1 (aka Chet’s dream) was surprisingly short. quick selfie for our family text thread.

Almost immediately the four of us got separated in the lift line and just like that - no friends on a powder day.

it was deep, like knee to waist deep. It was incredible. 

@Schif will add color but it was great snow all around.

The lifts were opening gradually and somehow we got the luck where 6, 4, 8, 9, opened shortly after we got there. There was powder to be found everywhere. 

the clouds started to move and blue sky shines through.

Ski tracks were starting to form everywhere.

This was probably the most people ever in front of me. The lift lines were near non existent.

More line pics. Loveland is awesome.

I stopped briefly at the hut off of lift 8 around 11am. Still untracked lines existed. 

we eventually started skiing together’ish towards the end of the day. Cheeks are red from the wind burn or maybe it’s from the smiling.

I got this short video of Schif ripping down 9 (?) or maybe off of life 4.

 

This is already really long … part 3 coming

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

Saturday, March 11, 2023

All week we were getting messages from Brian.He subscribes to Open Snow.

The stoke was high. Brian, Kaitlyn (his fiancé), @Schif and myself were out of the house by 5:15am. 

the drive took 1hr 45min with the traffic and we were in the lot by 7:05am. People who left Denver late had a drive time of 3+ hours. 

I-70 was congested but stoke was still high. We got there plenty early. The Loveland snow stake was reading about 11”

 

Somehow Spotify knew our energy and queue’d up Its Gonna Be a Good Day by Nappy Roots as we were booting up. The hype and stoke was incredible.

We snagged breakfast in the lodge. Let’s have a moment of silence to admired Loveland breakfast.

Prices are cheaper than the east coast and hands down delicious.

Brian got the basin breakfast.

 

Schif got a burrito with green chili. And me & Kaitlyn split one.

more to come… I’m waiting for some videos to load 

[Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023]

TLDR: we landed in Denver Wednesday. We’re tourist. And read snow reports.

——-
on Wednesday, @Schif and I left for Denver.

Our flight was at 6:40pm, so we finished up some work then boarded an American Airlines flight. 

My brother (Brian) picked us up and we went to his house in north Denver.

On Thursday, we worked remotely, exchanged some texts with @Barb and toured around Boulder. 

As we drove towards Boulder, the golden hour hit the Rockies and it was gorgeous. Can’t seem to find that pic - although it wouldn’t do it justice.

We checked out Chautauqua Park, walked around CU Boulder near the football field, and poked around Pearl Street briefly. We didn’t see anyone stealing a mattress from their roommate in Boulder though. 

We stopped at Lifetime in Superior for a quick workout and headed back to Thornton.

We ate dinner at the house, had a Spiked Seltzer, read some upcoming snow reports from Open Snow, and went to bed early.

——

Friday was similar. We worked remotely but we stopped at Red Rocks.

We walked up and down the steps and throughout the park. Colorado’s altitude to humbling to say the least. Red Rocks was undergoing construction but it was still amazing as always.

We stopped at Total beverage. The place is huge. It’s as if Roger Wilco got his PhD from an ivy. The selection is incredible. We hit up some free samples before picking up beers and champagne.

For dinner, we went to my favorite restaurant Esters. It’s near my old house. I love the vibe but also love their fat tire nachos.

We loaded up gear and went to bed for an early alarm clock. 
 

Spoiler alert: Saturday was amazing. After 25 years of shredding the Poconos, Schif had his first powder day. And I won a Never Summer snowboard.

[PASR End of Season party?]

19 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Have fun, I thought Loveland opened at 830am.  

You’re right. 8:30.

[PASR End of Season party?]

11 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

How’s Colorado?  I heard big snow is coming to the mountains. 

On the road to Loveland now, about 30 min out - getting there around 6:40am. We’ll eat some lodge breakfast and get in line early for the 8am chair. 
 

open snow was predicting 1-3 feet of snow. 
 

Loveland’s website said at 5am there was 7” in the past 12 hours, and 10” in the past 24 hours.

JDAIP

[PASR End of Season party?]

On 3/7/2023 at 11:27 AM, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

That sounds horrible or switch your flight home to a non red eye.  

Ehhh it’s not that bad. 

[2023/24 Epic Pass Prices]

7 minutes ago, saltyant said:

It's just cuz I paid like $550 or so last year for the full pass, I think. I get the full pass because I wanna go to rad places like Breckenridge. I'll probably end up paying the 9-0-9, which is also the name of the B17 bomber I almost died on

Look at the details though... You CAN go to Breckenridge, Okemo unlimited with the Epic Local Pass.

Epic Local is unlimited at Breck, Keystone, JF/BB. Park City is unlimited with day restrictions around the holidays. 

https://www.epicpass.com/passes/epic-local-pass.aspx

 

The full epic for $909 makes sense if you're skiing for more than 10+ days at Vail, Beaver Creek, or Whistler. It also makes sense if you plan to ski on/around Christmas. 

[2023/24 Epic Pass Prices]

1 hour ago, saltyant said:

$909. I'm so triggered. I think that's at least $300 more than last year. WTF. I think we should hold hands and peacefully protest this travesty at Epic Pass Headquarters. @Ski2Live Live2Ski how much higher is this than the inflation rate? 

 Eh. $909 is for the full unlimited though. Look at the different options @saltyant

If you plan in advance, you can likely get by with the Epic Local, which is $676. The same price as Blue.

The main difference between the full and the "local" is the restriction on holiday dates and limits to 10 days at Vail, Beaver, & Whistler each. It's not that bad.

[3/5..clouds and sun…variable conditions.]

On 3/5/2023 at 12:28 PM, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

….and in the house were Johnny Law, PARidge, JFDan, Matt Edge, Atomic Jeff, Enjorales, Pops, TP4, Bethlehem Ford crew minus Bethlehem ford guy, Schifdawg, Wally, Dime, Toast and many others.  
 

I think it’s funny that Wally was listed 😂

[PASR End of Season party?]

I prefer the 19th.

Me and Schif arrive to PHL on Sunday 3/19 at 6:30am.. we’ll be jacked up on Red Bull but we’ll make it to the lot for the blue sess of the season.

[2/18/23….way better than expected.]

22 minutes ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

Don't see a RTop forum, looked like the 2/18 discussion. Were lines nonexistent all day at Blue too?

Yeah. Lines were non existent at Blue. i was really surprised.

Accidentally slept in. Someone didn’t set an alarm. Someone hit snooze. But got on the snow by 8:45am fortunately.

loved cruzis cabin / main steeet / switchback. 
 

dream weaver and coming soon we’re good. 

[1/21/23…PASR day…variable conditions.]

@GrilledSteezeSandwich- that last photo should be posted on Blues website since they love to use stock images. Maybe they can use it near the photo of the bubble chair.

——

I was waiting for the Schif at the top of the OG-6 and tried to catch a photo of the PASR crew. No one is looking though 🤷🏼‍♀️

when @saltyantwas above us, I snapped this pic of the row. @Benm looks like he’s in a mega church and getting his praise on.😂

on the way back to Philly, we saw this helicopter dangling doodads on mcarthur road.

Snow was sugary.
 

Lazy Mile was my fav run and dreamweaver was my least. Entertaining day regardless.