re: 2017-2018 Season Long Ski Thread

Early December is a crap shoot. This year would've been a miserable year to learn to ski on. You just never know with the snow. My first year in the mountains, it was full on winter by Thanksgiving. Past two winters have been slow starts.

The crowds in early December aren't nearly as bad as Spring Break and Mardi Gras, though.

Breck, Vail, and BC are good choices. Breck is an actual town with a great mainstreet compared to Vail and BC (though the town of Avon next to BC is nice, it doesn't have the ski town feel like Breck).

If you come early December, look at Keystone. They have great deals and it's down the hill from A Basin, which is my favorite resort. Cheap lift tickets and good early season snow.

If you come in December and the snow isn't great, that normally means you can explore some other options in Colorado, besides skiing. Hikes/snowshoe, fly fish, hot springs, etc.

I guess I'd say, if you're dead set on a dedicated ski trip, go with March. Terrain will be all open. Snow is good.

If you're open to maybe a day or two skiing and a few days doing other things, save the money and go for December. You may have a ton of snow and a full on ski trip.

quote:

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Bamafan425 looking to go skiing either next Dec sometime before Dec 15 to save money, or may go during Mardi Gras.

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I'll echo the other folks who responded, that early in December is a crap shoot at best. If you want a ski trip for sure, just come during Mardi Gras. It took until Christmas this year for most resorts to get a majority of their territory open and that was on the back of a massive surprise snow storm on Christmas.

Breckenridge has a good ski school from what I understand and you can stay out in Frisco or Dillon/Silverthorne and maybe save a little money instead of staying at the resort. If memory serves, the options around Vail/Beaver Creek are limited.

Reliable snow in early December- Lake Louise in Canada. I’ve done it a couple of times in early to mid December with no issues

Northface Thermoball Triclimate

Can you guys give me some advice on how you think this jacket that I bought will work as a ski jacket. TNF makes a jacket identical to this one but it's called a thermoball snow tri jacket. Not much difference in the 2 as far as specs and benefit ratings.
Last year all I had while skiing Copper in mid January was a softshell, base layer, and a layer of clothing so I should be much warmer with this purchase. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

I’m jealous, you’re gonna have to share some pics. I want to take an avy class but it’s not like I have any buddies from Florida who are competent enough for some BC skiing.

It looks like you had a great day out there. I shouldn’t have asked for pictures though, every time you post it gets harder and harder to resist the urge to move to the mountains

I was only taking an avalanche education class, so it wasn't a true guided trip with the Powdercats. We used the cat to get further into the backcountry so we could analyze snowpits and practice beacon rescue.

We managed to get a few runs in as well, but it was mostly about education and practice.

Took my AIARE 1 through Colorado Mountain School in Estes Park/RMNP, great instructors.

I have 10+ days at PC thus far.

Mostly weekend skiing which is still prohibitively crowded due to the lack of open terrain. Lift lines were outrageous even for singles last weekend.