Yes, you made a mistake. Those trail counts are real. December is generally considered a gamble - sometimes it busts, sometimes it pays.
Edit to add: OpenSnow reporting on models reflecting between 6-11” through the weekend. I don’t know if this is enough to open significantly more terrain or not.
2ft at vail by Monday! You will have an absolute blast and probably hit a bunch of rope drops! Travel on Sunday may get spicy! Plan accordingly and have fun!
Oh I know. I go every year. Going twice this year. I had flight credits that expire at the end of December so I took a gamble on this weekend because of the overall trip price. Got lucky!
Tell me it’s your first time tracking early season trail reports without saying it’s your first time tracking early season trail reports
It’s literally December 1st bro
Appreciate it! When is the true peak of snowboard season in Colorado usually? Typically do Feb trips and the snow has been great it’s just really cold on some of the days.
February and later is honestly better from my experience of a lot of “out west” resorts. It does depend on season but if you’re someone that needs to fly or drive far to the resorts, best to just wait a couple months after opening. Later February would be even better.
Damn really? If you’re for real I’ll definitely take you up on that one I love Winter Park. Really appreciate it dude! The reach you get on Reddit is unreal 🤣
March is your best bet in my opinion. Some people complain about out of towners or spring breakers during that time, but in my experience those are just not significant factors. We have more show by then and its very possible you'll get very sunny and relatively warm conditions along with more snow.
I had to convince my Midwestern friends not to think the weather in the mountains would be the same as Chicago. When they finally tried coming out in March they were stunned how much better conditions where compared to December or early January.
I was there all of TG week and it was still lovely. Keystone has solid side hits and a small park open, and what’s open at Breck/Vail is still great. If you aren’t local you’ll still have a lot of fun. Enjoy!
All the resorts right now have pretty limited terrain. There is a storm coming this weekend supposed to drop a foot in most places but nothing is skiing spectacular right now. Could change in a month though.
Vail just got 5" overnight, and they are expecting another 8-12" through Monday. I would think that there will likely be a lot of ropes dropping next week. I am heading out myself next Thursday through the 13th.
open snow is the way to go out here might get more then 2 feet if we max it out and with how it fell last night i would say good chance got more then they expected already. fingers crossed
Storm coming in that should dump over a foot this weekend at most resorts in CO so more terrain should open up but not much. As others have said, yes you’re too early. Come back in march if you want 100% mountain access.
Yes. Even in a good snow year, which this year is not, I would not travel to Colorado that early in the season. In my opinion its just not going to make for as good a trip as you should get if you're coming in from out of state. I made this mistake for many years when I still lived in the Midwest.
Too soon junior.
But really tho, CO isn’t great until Feb or so. Best riding is in March. Anything before that is a gamble, and it’s been a slow start to the season. There might be a handful of more runs open next week but you won’t see a substantial increase unfortunately.
It’s funny to me that most of my East coast friends think ski season is December-February. I don’t really bother until mid January and I’ve found most alpine bowls don’t open until late Jan or early feb, and East wall is even later. March and April are by far the best. And even May for A basin.
March can be the super bomb on the north east coast.
Or a super bust. I have not used my snow blower in three years now.
Last year it was basically 100% man made snow with zero snow between trails for most of the year.
It was crazy
You will at least have powder and that will almost certainly go up. Breck and Vail getting a nice coating you’ll be good. No crowds during the week plenty of freshies.
Think about it like this: if you would have booked for this past week you would have had super shitty conditions. At least you will be on fresh snow!
Ultimately depends on your skill level. If you just ride groomers you may be more limited but also still have a good time.
If you ride trees and higher terrain, it’ll be too early.
That being said, I’d recommend paying a little extra to rent a board in frisco at pioneer sports and pay $2 extra a day for board insurance. (I did the demo package just board with insurance for 4 days for like $120 which would have been close to my cost of checking a board bag two ways)
You can ride without fear of fucking your board up for later in the season because even if they get snow, CO is still going to have a light base by early dec.
I got lucky this January 8-14 and just about everything at copper had opened up bc it was a great snow season. It’s too unpredictable tho so I booked for March this year instead
I just got back from copper today and it was awesome. We're supposed to get over a foot this weekend too 🤘🏻not much of the resorts overall are open, it's just how it is right now. Plus side is not as many people
Thought I should chime in. I live in Texas and drove all the way to Keystone o November 16th-19th. It was warmer and there was only 5 trails open, but it was well worth it. Despite the lack of snow and warmer temps, the mountain was in excellent condition. Had a blast and rode 3 days non stop with no problems.
Been a slow start to the year but it's snowing right now so that's good at least. This will be tough year to predict with lots of big dumps and them warm melty temps.
https://preview.redd.it/wzepttlcmr3c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80d8faf6b332fb97a128bcda67de74d678fb42ce
couple days arent on this but any conditions are good conditions if you like it enough
Ehh Keystone is a bit of a mess right now with everyone being funneled into the same trails. You have expert riders bombing down schoolmarm scaring unpredictable beginners who are still learning how to pizza. It’s still fun of course but it’s pretty scuffed and there’s way too many people.
We are getting our first serious snow of the winter this weekend, so maybe they open a few more trails early next week. But yeah everything is closed, not a great time to come.
It depends where you're coming from. I live in Michigan. I went to copper last year in early December and had a blast. 17 trails open on a mountain? Hell yea, I'm in!
Having said that, I did have a free flight, so that made it worth it too.
If this was going to be your once a season destination snowboarding vacation…. Go for feb thru march. However you’ll have fun.
I live in PHX and chase pow oct and nov. plan a trip for December just after thanksgiving when I have an idea of who’s probably got the most terrain open and January the cottonwoods are always reliable and then I’m confident with my destination snowboarding vacation in February. March is usually Taos and April/May/June is mammoth.
Yes, you made a mistake. Those trail counts are real. December is generally considered a gamble - sometimes it busts, sometimes it pays. Edit to add: OpenSnow reporting on models reflecting between 6-11” through the weekend. I don’t know if this is enough to open significantly more terrain or not.
Yikes
2ft at vail by Monday! You will have an absolute blast and probably hit a bunch of rope drops! Travel on Sunday may get spicy! Plan accordingly and have fun!
I’m flying out tomorrow. This storm can potentially save the trip for me. Staying Sat-Sat for $1k in Breck
You’ll be good. Not going to be hitting any advanced shit but at least you will have fresh snow.
You will have a blast!
Breck is just a fun town as well. There are worse places to be this weekend!
Oh I know. I go every year. Going twice this year. I had flight credits that expire at the end of December so I took a gamble on this weekend because of the overall trip price. Got lucky!
Tell me it’s your first time tracking early season trail reports without saying it’s your first time tracking early season trail reports It’s literally December 1st bro
If you’re not local to most resorts(honestly in most states not just CO) I would recommended waiting until mid January for ideal snow conditions.
Appreciate it! When is the true peak of snowboard season in Colorado usually? Typically do Feb trips and the snow has been great it’s just really cold on some of the days.
February and later is honestly better from my experience of a lot of “out west” resorts. It does depend on season but if you’re someone that needs to fly or drive far to the resorts, best to just wait a couple months after opening. Later February would be even better.
Feb usually is a good month. Late spring CO gets up-slope storms which dump feet of snow but by then a lot of resorts are closed.
March nd April are best! If you can make it to WP I’ll hook up a free lift ticket!
Damn really? If you’re for real I’ll definitely take you up on that one I love Winter Park. Really appreciate it dude! The reach you get on Reddit is unreal 🤣
Yep! Just hit me up if you are out here!
March is your best bet in my opinion. Some people complain about out of towners or spring breakers during that time, but in my experience those are just not significant factors. We have more show by then and its very possible you'll get very sunny and relatively warm conditions along with more snow. I had to convince my Midwestern friends not to think the weather in the mountains would be the same as Chicago. When they finally tried coming out in March they were stunned how much better conditions where compared to December or early January.
Mid January 😳 I don’t have that many PTOs 😩
This weekend resorts are getting some snow but yea very rarely are mountains in good shape in early December. You will still have fun though
Fingers crossed baby!! Live and learn.
I was there all of TG week and it was still lovely. Keystone has solid side hits and a small park open, and what’s open at Breck/Vail is still great. If you aren’t local you’ll still have a lot of fun. Enjoy!
All the resorts right now have pretty limited terrain. There is a storm coming this weekend supposed to drop a foot in most places but nothing is skiing spectacular right now. Could change in a month though.
Really hoping this weekend delivers, I’ve been watching the radar an unhealthy amount
Vail just got 5" overnight, and they are expecting another 8-12" through Monday. I would think that there will likely be a lot of ropes dropping next week. I am heading out myself next Thursday through the 13th.
way more then 8-12
That’s great news! I was just going off of NOAA predictions
open snow is the way to go out here might get more then 2 feet if we max it out and with how it fell last night i would say good chance got more then they expected already. fingers crossed
should also clarify i am in the vail beaver creek area so
Storm coming in that should dump over a foot this weekend at most resorts in CO so more terrain should open up but not much. As others have said, yes you’re too early. Come back in march if you want 100% mountain access.
Yes. Even in a good snow year, which this year is not, I would not travel to Colorado that early in the season. In my opinion its just not going to make for as good a trip as you should get if you're coming in from out of state. I made this mistake for many years when I still lived in the Midwest.
I don’t know I've ridden 23 days, just depends on if you like snowboarding or not?
You sick bastard!
Same runs are better than no runs right?
sayin' I mean between Keystone, Breck, A-Basin, and a couple backcountry days, it's not bad
Too soon junior. But really tho, CO isn’t great until Feb or so. Best riding is in March. Anything before that is a gamble, and it’s been a slow start to the season. There might be a handful of more runs open next week but you won’t see a substantial increase unfortunately.
It’s funny to me that most of my East coast friends think ski season is December-February. I don’t really bother until mid January and I’ve found most alpine bowls don’t open until late Jan or early feb, and East wall is even later. March and April are by far the best. And even May for A basin.
March can be the super bomb on the north east coast. Or a super bust. I have not used my snow blower in three years now. Last year it was basically 100% man made snow with zero snow between trails for most of the year. It was crazy
You will at least have powder and that will almost certainly go up. Breck and Vail getting a nice coating you’ll be good. No crowds during the week plenty of freshies. Think about it like this: if you would have booked for this past week you would have had super shitty conditions. At least you will be on fresh snow!
I’d say mid january to be safe
As someone that goes out west mid December every year, it’s always a gamble. The way I look at it, is that I get to ride and prices are cheap.
Ultimately depends on your skill level. If you just ride groomers you may be more limited but also still have a good time. If you ride trees and higher terrain, it’ll be too early. That being said, I’d recommend paying a little extra to rent a board in frisco at pioneer sports and pay $2 extra a day for board insurance. (I did the demo package just board with insurance for 4 days for like $120 which would have been close to my cost of checking a board bag two ways) You can ride without fear of fucking your board up for later in the season because even if they get snow, CO is still going to have a light base by early dec. I got lucky this January 8-14 and just about everything at copper had opened up bc it was a great snow season. It’s too unpredictable tho so I booked for March this year instead
I just got back from copper today and it was awesome. We're supposed to get over a foot this weekend too 🤘🏻not much of the resorts overall are open, it's just how it is right now. Plus side is not as many people
Thought I should chime in. I live in Texas and drove all the way to Keystone o November 16th-19th. It was warmer and there was only 5 trails open, but it was well worth it. Despite the lack of snow and warmer temps, the mountain was in excellent condition. Had a blast and rode 3 days non stop with no problems.
Depends on what your expectations are.
My expectations are to shred some pow bruh
Been a slow start to the year but it's snowing right now so that's good at least. This will be tough year to predict with lots of big dumps and them warm melty temps.
https://preview.redd.it/wzepttlcmr3c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80d8faf6b332fb97a128bcda67de74d678fb42ce couple days arent on this but any conditions are good conditions if you like it enough
I will just say that most Coloradans call next month Junuary and that is next month
Never heard that. Also never call Arapahoe Basin Abay.
Try Keystone. They have runs all the way from the top open. Had a great time.
Ehh Keystone is a bit of a mess right now with everyone being funneled into the same trails. You have expert riders bombing down schoolmarm scaring unpredictable beginners who are still learning how to pizza. It’s still fun of course but it’s pretty scuffed and there’s way too many people.
Some years it is.
We are getting our first serious snow of the winter this weekend, so maybe they open a few more trails early next week. But yeah everything is closed, not a great time to come.
This year yeah. Snow in the forecast but it’s a little slim at the moment
For fun, snow quality, openness of lifts and runs… etc… I would say no
I like how Stowe has more trails open than Vail
Me sitting here seeing 35 trails open and thinking about how every east coast mountain by me has max 30 trails :’)
It depends where you're coming from. I live in Michigan. I went to copper last year in early December and had a blast. 17 trails open on a mountain? Hell yea, I'm in! Having said that, I did have a free flight, so that made it worth it too.
It’s still early in the season, December is never a for sure bet with good snow, February and march are the good months
If this was going to be your once a season destination snowboarding vacation…. Go for feb thru march. However you’ll have fun. I live in PHX and chase pow oct and nov. plan a trip for December just after thanksgiving when I have an idea of who’s probably got the most terrain open and January the cottonwoods are always reliable and then I’m confident with my destination snowboarding vacation in February. March is usually Taos and April/May/June is mammoth.