@ed48, take a look at this at 1:20 in that I filmed last year. Though luckily the queues were non existent compared to those which I think might have been photoshopped somehow in the Vail one?
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?
^^^Not photoshopped. Lot of fresh snow in Summit County brought ought the powder hound hordes. Will probably be similar lift lines this weekend for a federal holiday, and they are predicting more fresh snow for the weekend. Add that to the Epic pass, and you get 20-30 minute lift lines.
What is Breckenridge like for lift queues at Christmas and New Years week? And Easter/ first two weeks of April?
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
We have been to Colorado 9 times and have only ever seen lift lines that have taken more than a couple of minutes to get onto the lifts twice. Both times was on presidents day (different years of course). The day was a write off. I have only ever seen slopes as busy in Europe before.
The Americans are fantastic at organising lift lines and getting people up the hills quickly by, on the few occasions it get busy, making sure every chair is filled to capacity.
I believe the video above was from Vail which is notoriously busy. We have ridden at Copper Mountain, Keystone, Winter Park, Breck, A Basin and a couple of others and they are so quiet. We stopped riding in France because of the queues and the total lack of interest in getting people up the mountain.
Thanks. Out of interest how do you rate Breckenridge for a two week holiday if we had to chose between 2 weeks at Christmas/New Year or Easter 2021 (which will be first 2 weeks of April). We quite like late season skiing in that we always do two weeks in Chamonix at Easter- but I have no experience of Colorado.
I am thinking we may prefer it if it is warmer/quieter/cheaper - but if there is a chance it could be closed that obviously outweighs the positives. We generally do both Christmas and New Year and Easter in Chamonix and usually prefer Easter.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Chamboy wrote:
Thanks. Out of interest how do you rate Breckenridge for a two week holiday if we had to chose between 2 weeks at Christmas/New Year or Easter 2021 (which will be first 2 weeks of April). We quite like late season skiing in that we always do two weeks in Chamonix at Easter- but I have no experience of Colorado.
I am thinking we may prefer it if it is warmer/quieter/cheaper - but if there is a chance it could be closed that obviously outweighs the positives. We generally do both Christmas and New Year and Easter in Chamonix and usually prefer Easter.
Easter is prime time for Breck. Way better cover in a ‘usual’ season. It’s primarily high and north facing so it preserves snow well.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Chamboy wrote:
What is Breckenridge like for lift queues at Christmas and New Years week? And Easter/ first two weeks of April?
New Year a bit of a crap show + weekends. There are ways and means to avoid the worst lines (basically by minimising time on Peak 8 and riding the slow chairs). But generally it's organised and relatively stress free.
I'd do Easter. Much warmer, Texans are off doing other stuff probably with guns and Front Rangers are cycling or golfing. And snowpack probably better.
Re Vail I've been in that line when it's been back to the bend, maybe 15 mins queue time. The footage was probably pretty early on Saturday morning and the queue is a result of geography - all the easiest accessed back bowls (i.e powder) flush to that lift. Later in the afternoon it'll be deserted while the queue to get back from Bue Sky will be over the bridge.
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.
Theres so much misinformation about lift queues on snow heads. There are a hard core of US disciples always posting about how bereft of queues US resorts are, but from talking to many people the experience seems to be when the snow of anyway decent the queues everywhere are epic, and there are in general fewer options for uplift than Euro resorts. Weekends ditto. The US disciples talk about bad lift queues in Europe. In many many years of skiing the only queue black spot was Ischgl.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@Dave of the Marmottes, Which lift do you think that is? I think it's 5, High Noon Express.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@peanuthead weather closures can make an Euro resort that has hordes of week long holiday makers a shitshow - see the St Anton thread or ask anyone on the EOSB last year how Val Thorens was n the day only Peclet was open. US/Canadian resorts if they are proximate to large urban populations can be a shitshow at weekends and on powder days forecast far enough in advance. But there are lots of places that aren't that proximate nor attract big destination crowds including some big names - you'd be surprised at how many chairs you can ski straight onto in Aspen for example. ANd there are plenty of places where teh skiing is first rate, but neither convenient enough for tourists or have a big enough population where lift queues ever become much of an issue, much like the non resort places in Europe.
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.
@Dave of the Marmottes, yes of course you are right. The truth lies somewhere between the exaggerations. Of course probably the average person from Europe hitting N Am for skiing will be joining the epic queues at Vail, Whistler etc rather than going to small little known (in Europe) resorts. Against all this I have skied countless days all day long in top class resorts such as Tignes, Les Arcs, etc skiing straight onto chairs all the time, so all this rubbish about massive queues in Europe is also grossly overstated
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@peanuthead, Queues are not normally "epic" at Vail. The reason those photos have been plastered all over the internet is that they are remarkable. If it was like that every day, it wouldn't have received such notice. Vail is more crowded than many NA resorts, especially on weekends. However, I probably have at least 50 days there over the last decade, and I've never seen a line half that long.
Just putting this out there in case anyone every bumps across this thread when researching a trip. I wouldn't want someone to be put off going to Vail based solely on this thread.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@mr. mike, you are right, of course I am sure this picture is not typical. I haven't been but from many Americans and others I've met, Vail does have a bad rap for queues. Americans I've met in places like St Anton (which does not have a perfect queue record by any means!) have generally reassured me queues in places like Vail consistently worse than St Anton
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
But of course Vail has also reputation of being great resort with great hills so would be on most people's list of resorts if making the transatlantic journey. You are right to point out that if people want to go to Vail, they should go to Vail!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
mr. mike wrote:
@Dave of the Marmottes, Which lift do you think that is? I think it's 5, High Noon Express.
Yeah it's 5
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
If you have to tale a lift, is that still “off piste”?
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?
Interesting discussion. I met a bloke on a chairlift at Winterpark, he said he was in keystone for the big queue day. Claims he did 5 runs and 30min lift lines. I have no facts myself to back this up.
We've dealt with US queues in JH and Big Sky this season and frankly they are a PITA just like Europe. Although the order is much nicer than the push and shove of Europe. Outside of these crazy days the queues are close to nonexistent.
Agree with @Dave of the Marmottes, it's possible to minimize the pain by avoiding certain chairs.
Singles queue and dynamic route planning does help though. We will be avoiding the Vail/Breckenridge/keystone type resorts on weekends and holidays.
This is a continuation of the Epic and Ikon Pass discussions. There are black out dates on the basic passes, but if you buy the premium pass, you don't have any black out dates for holidays. The fact that Epic Pass resorts in CO got hit with a lot of snow, meant it was the perfect storm for all the locals to come out, along with all the powder chasers from around the country. And believe me, there are a lot of retired or self employed folks that look to ski powder on short notice that I have run into on the slopes. It's the new normal, at least in the States. If there hadn't been 40" of snow over a 2-3 day time period, and just grey cloudy and zero new snow over a 7 day period, there would have been probably no lift line. Jackson Hole was the same that weekend with the Ikon pass, 40min-60min waits. But last weekend with the President's Day holiday, and fresh snow, the lift lines were less than half that.
Meanwhile, at my home mtn. I skied powder and had almost no lift lines and bluebird sunshine over the holiday weekend. (My home mtn., Bachelor is owned by Powder Corp. and they haven't sold out to the big corp. ski company yet...)
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Frosty the Snowman wrote:
What queue. Couldn't take my eyes off the safety bar
In the US it's probably known as the 'vertigo comfort bar' and only used by wusses.
In Europe we now get to enjoy roller-coaster style 'compliance bars' that are non-user operable.
On the Saturday after xmas the Grand Valira had 30 minute queues for all interconnection lifts throughout the day, and at 4pm a chair broke down under the strain, leaving 200+ skiers having to hike up to the next nearest piste.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Quote:
And believe me, there are a lot of retired or self employed folks that look to ski powder on short notice that I have run into on the slopes. It's the new normal, at least in the States.
yes this is crazy, we've also met many people who just chase powder throughout the USA.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
