Vail
Monday 3 January 2005

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

This was probably the best day of the week. I was starting to come down with a cold and sore throat but it didn't actually stop me skiing. We were up bright and early and got to Vail not long after 8am. We managed to fiddle around for about half an hour until the lifts opened. Chris was having a great deal of trouble walking in his ski boots, but they were fine while skiing, so he decided not to try to get a different pair.

Starting from Lionshead, we took the Born Free chair rather than the Gondola. It was a little cold, but that was not really a problem. What was a problem when I tried to take a photograph was the lack of a memory card in my camera! After a cruise back to the base area, we went back up the same lift and decide to cut across to Pride to reach Eagle's Nest and the entry to the backside. We were in for an unpleasant surprise - Bwana marked as blue was ungroomed, frozen and in the early stages of mogul preparation.

From Eagles's Nest, we took the cat track down into Game Creek Bowl. Snow conditions did not look particularly good so at the top of Game Creek, we headed straight on into Sun Down Bowl via the direct route, Straight Shot down the middle of the bowl. With heavy, cut-up powder, this was skiable, but very tiring. Happily, High Noon is a slow chair and gave us plenty of recovery time. In Sun Up Bowl, Headwall was groomed and offered a steep but comfortable route down to the bottom of Sun Up lift.

Back on the "front side" we gradually made our way towards Patrol Headquarters and our first comfort stop of the day.

Suitably refreshed we started to work our way towards the furthest outpost of Vail, Blue Sky Bowl. This was not straight-forward. The restaurant at Patrol HQ is below the summit area, so our first task was to get back to the highest point and then take Timberline Catwalk and Sourdough Lift to a point where we could get back into the back bowls. Poppyfields should have taken us down to the bottom of Blue Sky Bowl but Chris took a wrong turn and we ended up at the bottom of Orient Express lift instead. This did not really matter because we were enjoying the skiing. From the top of Orient Express lift, we turned right into Siberia Bowl and took Orient Express run across and down the open bowl. This time we took the correct turning across a bridge to the base of Skyline Express lift.

The next run was one of the best of the day. We started down the ridge from Belle's Camp and then turned left into the gladed area of Montaine Glade. We passed signs warning of cliffs and skied around the trees and rocks. Earl's took us back to the top of Blue Sky Basin, where we took the rather easier and mostly groomed In the Wuides to the base of Tea Cup lift up towards Two Elk Lodge for a mid morning break.

Feeling withdrawal symptoms without a camera, I bought a disposable 35mm film camera to use for the rest of the day. It struggled with contrast, but gives a good idea for the brilliant conditions. After our break, we headed back towards Blue Sky Basin. This time, we found the right turning at the bottom of China Bowl across to the base of Skyline Lift.

Two Elk Lodge

China Bowl

This time, we turned left at the top of the lift and made our way down towards the bottom of Pete's Express Lift and a non too easy cruise down Grand Review.

Skyline Express Lift	Skyline Express Lift
View from the top of Skyline Express	View from the top of Skyline Express
Cloud Nine

It had been a pretty good day and we were getting a little tired, so we started the long trek across the resort back to Lion's Head base. The first task was to the front side via the long Orient Express lift and the Wapati drag lift to Two Elk Lodge overlooking China Bowl.

View towards the top of China Bowl	Orient Express Lift
View across China Bowl	View across China Bowl
The rim of China Bowl -- Silk Road	The top of Orient Express Lift
Rocks on the ridge at the top of Orient Express Lift	Looking down into China Bowl
Silk Road along the top of China Bowl	Wapati Lift
Wapati Lift	The end of Wapati lift

Next we needed to cross the breadth of the resort. After the challenge of the back bowls, Tin Pants marked green should have been no problem. Unfortunately, near the bottom of the run, just above the entrance to Northwoods Lift, I got tangled with a beginner and ended up falling hard, with my cell phone in my breast pocket. It hurt! A couple of weeks later, when it still hurt, I found out that I had cracked a couple of ribs. Happily it was late enough not to spoil the day.

Not sure where this is

The bowl above Mid Vail

In some discomfort, I managed to ski across Eagle's Nest Ridge and Born Free to end the day.

Eagle's Nest Ridge	Eagle's Nest Ridge
Born Free
Lionshead Base	Lionshead Base

Runs

Last updated: 7th February 2007