Skiing on Thanksgiving weekend? Conditions are great in Summit County
KEYSTONE RESORT» At the end of a rewarding day of skiing and camaraderie, Meg Free and two friends paused for cellphone photos on top of Keystone’s Dercum Mountain at one of the most photogenic overlooks in Colorado skiing. To the southwest, the setting sun shone through exquisite cloud formations that hung over the slopes of Breckenridge, and Lake Dillon beckoned far below them to the west.
The terrain they skied Wednesday was limited, but the snow conditions were good, Free said.
“Any day at the mountain is a good day,” said Free, who lives in Parker. “I would say the snow has a nice couple of inches on the top. It’s not deep powder skiing. It’s not icy. It’s kind of a nice in-between. It’s great for easy turns.”
Free and her friends, who also live in Parker, stopped at Keystone on their way to Steamboat, which got 11 inches from the snowstorm that pummeled the Front Range on Monday and Tuesday. Summit County resorts didn’t share in that bounty, which also brought more than a foot of snow to Eldora, but Free and her friends were glad they stopped at Keystone despite its meager snowfall this week.
“I would say that we expected better conditions because of how much snow we got in Denver, but it was still a good day,” said Allie Barton. ”I had fun. I always have fun on the mountain.”
Snow conditions and terrain totals at Front Range mountains for the Thanksgiving weekend are fluid. On Wednesday, Keystone, Breckenridge and Copper Mountain had what resorts call “packed powder” conditions and were icy in spots, but more snow is expected in the mountains on Friday. Breckenridge and Copper Mountain plan to open more terrain during the weekend.
Copper Mountain had the least open terrain of the Summit County resorts Wednesday, but that’s partly because some slopes on the east side of the mountain have been reserved for ski racer training. National teams from the U.S. and Europe have been training there for weeks in preparation for the World Cup season. Rich Sirvato of Dillon was thrilled with the conditions he found at Breckenridge on Wednesday, his 30th day of skiing already this season.
“I think conditions are amazing,” Sirvato said at the top of the Colorado SuperChair lift on Peak 8 as the wind howled near timberline. “You can’t beat it. Since Oct. 15, we’ve been getting blessed with the goods. The coverage is really good. There’s a lot of man-made snow.
“In the afternoon when it gets shady, it gets pretty slick, a little bit icy, but you don’t see a lot of rocks sticking out,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of land mines to worry about. I wouldn’t play in the trees — there’s not much coverage in the trees — but if you want to cruise some groomers and have some smiles with your friends, it’s the time to do it.”
Over on Peak 9, Don Kent was skiing with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and twin grandchildren.
“Skiing conditions ... are good, for what’s open,” said Kent, visiting from Chicago. “Not a lot of crowds, so that’s good. You could turn the wind down a tad, but other than that, it’s great.”
David Gau of Greenwood Village savored the end of a good day Wednesday at Keystone’s Summit House and encouraged Front Range skiers to come on up.
“For November, we thought the conditions were really solid,” Gau said. “Wish we had gotten the snow up here that we got in our driveway in Denver. It looks like there are a handful of (trails) that are very close to being open, so I would expect the next couple of weeks to be really good.
“But look, skiing is skiing,” he said. “You’ve got to get up here.”