Colorado - Loveland + Vail - March 2023

[PSUFrankenstein]

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

[skiincy]

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 

Edited March 17, 2023 by skiincy

[skiincy]

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

[skiincy]

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 

Edited March 17, 2023 by skiincy
I can’t spell

[mbike-ski]

Love it ! Especially the skiing ants pic !

@antman12

[skiincy]

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.

[RidgeRacer]

Looks you guys are having a great trip. awesome stuff.

 

[Mixilplix]

Looks fantastic...Trips like that are so good for the soul...

[Schif]

Behind on writing reports so here it goes. 

Friday 3/17 was our final day at Vail. Staying so close to the snow is such a game changer because it eliminates the need to use a car or a shuttle and just grabbing your skis/board in the lobby saves so much time too. All of those factors meant that we could sleep until well after 7 and still have time to pack up the room, check out, grab a coffee for the walk and get to the snow right around opening, there was no fresh snow so the need to be in line right at 8:30 wasn't there.We decided to start the day over on Gondola 1, so we sipped coffee on the bus across town and on the short walk across the covered bridge and arrived at the Gondola around 8:45. On the walk we ran into this guy who alerted us to the fact that Vail is taking away public grills in some spots.

http://heyvailgocluckyourself.com/

  

The snow really wasn't great. The few inches from the day before had just set up pretty hard so it was the kind of day where I really appreciated the stellar grooming that Vail has to offer. This was the first day that I really focused on groomers and honestly it was super fun. Perfectly smooth trails, no ridges, no bumps, no cookies, just long, smooth groomers that you could really tear up. Trails that weren't groomed were just top to bottom bumps.

 Unfortunately, mid-morning we headed over to the Highline Express Lift on the recommendation of a bartender and wound up in a pod of diamond trails that were completely bumped. That ended up being a one and done. 

We went up to the top and headed to Two Elk Lodge to grab some water and check out the views that a mountain ambassador suggested to us. From there we dropped down the back side into China Bowl. @skiincy followed the cat track and I dropped down into Dragon's Teeth. The snow was hit or miss. You could get some semi fresh stuff, but you had to put up with crust to get there

On the way up I saw a bunch of people in the trees under the Orient Express lift and decided to head down there. Skiincy wasn't really in the mood to risk the crusty old snow, so she headed back to the front side to lap Northstar, a perfectly groomed diamond that gave off Razor's Edge vibes for 1500 vertical feet. 

The trees were still holding some decent snow, but you also had to deal with tons of bumps when it opened up more. From there I went back to Blue Sky Basin solo and ran a few laps there through the trees under the Skyline Express lift as well as through the trees on Little Ollie/Heavy Metal. Headed back towards the front to meet back up with Skiincy and wound up doing a top to bottom run from the top of Teacup Express to Vail Village. I hit the lap button on my watch which showed that it was a 4-mile-long run.

 Headed back up Gondola 1 and met up with Skiincy and checked out the lodges at Mid Vail which were super nice, especially The 10th, a full-blown country club dining room perched 10,190 feet. The rest of the day was spent cruising groomers and enjoying the perfect sunshine and relatively warm temps. At the end of the day, we cruised down into Lionshead and headed to Bart and Yeti's for a big plate of nachos that were just OK before we walked back to the hotel, got changed, had one last cookie from the lobby and drove back to Denver. 

 

 

I don't usually track vert/stats but I really liked the Epic Mix App. Here is a quick snapshot of my 3 days 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Schif

[skiincy]

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!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by skiincy