Vail
Sunday 20 April 1997

Weather

Mild but overcast with very brief sunny periods from time to time. Rain/snow threatened but did not materialise!

Conditions

At higher altitudes, the snow was hard early in the day but softened pretty quickly in the mild temperatures. Snow conditions at the bottom were marginal, with many bare patches evident.

Overall

I skied with Allen Brown for the second day running.

We started with a couple of groomed runs off the Avanti Express lift, to warm up legs still tired from the previous day and to give the snow chance to soften up.

We then headed up the Mountaintop lift via Mid Vail and towards a groomed run Headwall in China Bowl. Although the run was groomed and the snow condition was almost perfect, it was seriously steep and needed a great deal of care.

It was almost time for a break. While Allen headed for Mid Vail, I took the top-to-bottom run down Riva Ridge. After a groomed, easy start, the run steepened, with modest moguls. Tourist Trap was steeper with bigger bumps, but the snow was softer. The run out at the bottom was very heavy.

After coffee, we took Wildwood lift and then three runs into Game Creek Bowl:

Showboat, along the length of the lift, is pretty easily graded and provided some really comfortable mogul skiing.
Wild Card, somewhat steeper, had much larger moguls
Ouzo, groomed the previous day, was steep with soft snow

As a finale, we decided to try Sun-up bowl once again. The snow was heavier than the previous day and offered a real challenge.

The upper section was just heavy snow
About half way down there was a narrow gully with a clear skied line and steep moguls
The run out to the lift was narrow, with moguls in places

From the top of High Noon it was simply a matter of getting back to Lionshead. This needed a run to Mid Vail and the Wildwood chair to get to the top of Eagles' Nest Ridge. To get to Mid Vail, I took Zot which was relatively steep and had the biggest moguls oin the mountain.

This was almost certainly the last skiing of the season, and almost certainly the most advanced and physically demanding two days skiing I have ever done. Roll on 1997/8!

Vertical (feet)

16792

Runs

Lift	Vertical	Easy Runs	Intermediate Runs	Advanced Runs
Eagle Bahn	2230	Cub's Way	Born Free
Avanti	1100		Lodgepole
Avanti	1100	Eagle's Nest Ridge	Lodgepole
Avanti	1100	The Meadows	Ramshorn
Mountaintop	1100			Headwall, Sun Up Catwalk
High Noon	1850	Swingsville	Compromise, Riva Ridge	Riva Ridge, Tourist Trap
Vista Bahn	1950
Mid morning break
Wildwood	831		Showboat
Game Creek	950		Showboat	Wild Card
Game Creek	950	Eagle's Nest Ridge		Ouzo
Game Creek	950			Ricky's Ridge, Sun Down Catwalk
High Noon	1850			Zot
Wildwood	831	Lion's Way, Eagle's Nest Ridge	Born Free, Berries	Berries
Total vertical	16792