 Poster: A snowHead
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So here I am, propped up in bed wide awake at 04:00 am local time in Winterpark. Jet lag, don't you just love it?
This is pretty much my first time in America (a two day flying visit last year for business being my first) and I am here in search of the mythical North American powder. By the sounds of things I could have stayed in Europe and headed for the Alps! It was snowing quite hard here as the transfer bus drove up the pass to the resort and the temp today is due to be minus 20 Celsius allowing for the wind chill. There are 14 of us in the resort at the moment and another 14 driving up this morning, having arrived in Denver too late for a transfer.
Watch out for updates and tales of daring deeds.
Did I mention the jet lag?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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He's right y'know, I'm in the bed next 2 his....
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hiya - get yourself out and about for breakfast at Sharkeys in the main town if you've got the time - proper Yankee diner experience!!!! On left hand side mile or so away from main resort - ask if you can't find it!
MIGHT not be able to fit 28 of you in tho' all @ once - you may need to squeeze in on a rota...................... 
Enjoy!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Day one was interesting. It was bright and sunny but freezing cold with a bitter wind. The wind had taken all of the loose snow leaving very hard pistes with ice in places. Not knowing where to go, we headed over to Vasquez Ridge, which was a big mistake. Down the piste straight into the biting wind, then on the flat at the bottom loads of polling. Knackered! Sadly one of our party only managed about 300 yards before falling. ACL. Recovery off the piste etc.
Day two has been much better. We awoke to find about 20cm of fresh powder and very little wind. First run of the day down Hughes into the village was ACE! We also had a guide for the day, so he showed us all of the nice bits and told us what to ignore. Yesterday we foolishly went down Trestle, a very steep and narrow unpisted black which was full of massive moguls. Oh how the guide laughed when we told him!
Some general observations on the resort: The lifts are generally rather slow compared to 3v or Espace Killy. They could do with spending some money on them. Very few have traditional barriers at the entrance so it's very easy to advance too far too early. The Americans don't use the safety barriers on the chairs very often, and some of the older chairs don't have them anyway! The lifties are all very cheerful, even at the end of the day. The resort employs people to stand at strategic locations to help with any issues that you may have. I asked whether I should wear red or orange lipstick to go with my ski jacket. The answer came back 'red' with a large grin (I am a bloke, by the way). The lift passes are good old fashioned plastic/paper things with a barcode on them. The lifties come along the queue line with hand held readers scanning everyone individually. What a palaver! The resort busses are like American school busses, except painted grey. They have racks down the outside for skis, which is a great idea!
Tomorrow we have another guided day, and today's guide said there may be more fresh snow. Bring it on!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you have the funds try Powder Addiction Cat Skiing - I had a great day out with them a few years ago.
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Hiya - glad u r (mostly) having good time and commiserations and best wishes to the ACL victim........
Your description of W P made me smile - very accurate. Also typical of most USA resorts I've been - they prefer people at lifts to technology. And they LOVE organising queues - should u ever encounter one. Lifts can be ropey, true - but given a choice I'd rather be in USA / Canada for the ambience. Hope u keep having fun 
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You wouldn't want to have been in Tahoe these last 10 days. No snow for nearly a month when we arrived, a 4 inch flurry in the middle of our trip,which freshened up the higher pistes, but made sod all difference to the off piste (either hard and mogully or reverted to rock and scrub). Yesterday we skied our last day in mush from top to bottom, avoiding rocks and being sucked onto the wet snow at the bottom. Going home today. I can see it could be fab in good conditions, but without then off piste, then it's not been worth the journey for the skiing. We have visited family, so in that sense the trip has been worthwhile
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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WP is my favourite resort.
Are you at the mountain lodge?
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| Perty wrote: |
| You wouldn't want to have been in Tahoe these last 10 days. No snow for nearly a month when we arrived, a 4 inch flurry in the middle of our trip,which freshened up the higher pistes, but made sod all difference to the off piste (either hard and mogully or reverted to rock and scrub). Yesterday we skied our last day in mush from top to bottom, avoiding rocks and being sucked onto the wet snow at the bottom. Going home today. I can see it could be fab in good conditions, but without then off piste, then it's not been worth the journey for the skiing. We have visited family, so in that sense the trip has been worthwhile |
Hiya -REALLY sorry u have had ropey snow in Ca. Me and my gang were there a few years ago and hit 7 resorts which were cool in their own right but again the snow (LACK OF) impaired the skiing; much as the scenery and endless vistas of Lake Tahoe with odd bits of desert chucked in vaguely sort of / attempted to make up for it. Hope it's not gonna be a perennial prob but seems a fixture for now......................
Overall Ca is a bit too far to go for questionable amounts of the white stuff - you won't see me that far West nowadays much as I love USA; tend not to go beyond Montana / Wyoming
All the best
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We are staying in the Vintage Hotel. We have the Cabriolet lift about 20m from the door. It takes us into the Village where it's a 200m walk to the base of the Zephyr lift. Big snow dump forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning. Today we availed ourselves of the many bump runs over at Mary Jane. Lovely soft fluffy bumps. I expect to get used to them here, then be brought down to earth with a bump when I venture off to the side of Swisses in Courchevel for the first time in March.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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The big snow dump turned out to be about 12" of the stuff. It pretty much snowed all day whilst we were at Copper Mountain on a day trip. Copper seems to be a nicer village than Winter Park, and I liked the runs there a lot. The bowls at the back of the resort are great fun. The main difference though between the resorts is the lifts. Copper has a lift system similar to European resorts; fast and efficient. Winter Park on the other hand has mostly elderly lifts which are slow. Today it was fine with a bit of wind up top, yet three of the ski terrains in Winter Park were closed. They have a new six person high speed chair up to the top of the resort and so far it has been open for about half an hour out of all of the days that we have been here. It strikes me as investment in the wrong place. The new lift closed whilst other slower lifts hard at work all day. Another thing is that they don't run all of the lifts in the week, there are quite a few of the really slow ones that are only operated at weekends. Cannot grumble about the snow, though.
Off to Breckenridge tomorrow for another day out.
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I'm checking out sloppy seconds at WP today. At lunch rock as I post ( finally a US resort with functioning WiFi!) Decent windbuff, bit wind crusty so opted for board. Trees are smoov like butta in places, sun crusty deathpolish in others. Cirque not open ( boo!)
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