We spent a few days in Colorado last week.  

We skied Breckenridge on Thursday.  Partly Sunny day in the 30s but really windy at times. Once we got away from the crowds we had a lot of fun.  We parked at the gondola rode up and literally skiied from 9 AM - 4 PM.  Great time and we were exhausted.  Here's a few Breck pics.

Day 2 took us to Beaver Creek on Friday.  Nice swanky place with $35 indoor parking.  Crowds were managable but one section was closed off due to high winds - Arrow Bahn Express.  It was a little warmer that day. The morning was great but it got a little mashed potatoes in the afternoon.  After a big day on Thu, I shut down at 3 PM for my free choc chip cookie and grabbed a beer and listed to the band.  Here's a few pics, once again a great time

Now comes day 3, Keystone.  We had sooo much fun there in 2016 we decided to return.  Well, basically, it sucked ass.  High winds closed both gondolas and most of the backside of the mountain in the AM.  We arrived about 830 and parked in the last row.  By the time we got to the Summit Express lift the line was massive (no gondola).  We finally got to the peak at 9:40 AM.  Made one run and waited another 30 mins for the Argentine lift, took that to Montezuma and waited another 30 mins.
We hoped the lines may have thinned so we tried a top to bottom run back to Summit Exp.  BIG mistake.  By now it was after 11 AM and the line from Summit was literally across the small bridge and would easily be a 40 minute wait.   We grabbed lunch and walked back over.  It was a sea of humanity.  10X worse than Ballhooter ever was.  People were still coming in and buying tickets.  We punted, chalked it up to bad luck, a learning experience and left.  What a bummer.  

Look at the lines to the lift all the way across the bridge.  You can't even see the lift on the front left.  The empty lines on the left are the closed gondola.

Sorry to hear about the bad Keystone experience. What you experiened does happen when the wind is really bad and you can't get to North Peak or the Outback. Everybody that normally would be spread across three mountains is forced to use the front side of one.

Breck would have only been a bit better. Peaks 6 and 10 would have been closed, as would Imperial Express and probably 6 chair. The t_bar probably would have been open. Breck is normally windier than Keystone.

Your best bet at Keystone would have been the Peru lift. The terrain isn't that good, but the lift lines would have been shorter - then again there would have been Last Hoot under the lift. Windy days normally also close the A-51 lift, if it was open, Go Devil would have been accessable to get back down to Peru.

The few times I've run into the situation you described, I either skied Peru or abandoned Keystone and went to A-Basin. Your ticket would have worked there.

I was thinking of you while we were there as I recall your posts of it.  We love Keystone - it was just the "perfect storm".  We chatted with a few employees who basically told us what we should already know, do your best to avoid Saturdays if possible.  I wish one of them would have suggested A basin as you did.

No resort is immune to weather and crowds.  I think what irritated a few of us was them continuing to sell lift tickets while the lines continued to grow out of control.  People were walking to the bridge saying "wow, look at the lines" and we were thinking, oh you are soooo screwed.

We'll be back because we really like the trails near Summit Exp (Sante Fe is an all time favorite trail).

The one positive was that we got everyone in our group to agree that Saturday will be a travel day from now on and we will ski Sun, Mon Tue then travel back on Wed.   Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.

I think of it more like goto Abasin and then Keystone is the backup. But if I was at Keystone on that kind of day then godevel, packsaddle, and the middle peru liftline and treeshots are good.  Anyway Breck looked good; was the lifline pic of the new peak 6 chair?

pagamony wrote:

I think of it more like goto Abasin and then Keystone is the backup. But if I was at Keystone on that kind of day then godevel, packsaddle, and the middle peru liftline and treeshots are good.  Anyway Breck looked good; was the lifline pic of the new peak 6 chair?

 

Pretty sure that was Independence but don't hold me to that - first time at Breck.  If I'm not mistaken, peak 6 was closed due to wind.  Our group is made up of 'blues" and we did not ski that area and would have given all the blue trails

Because of my broken ribs (courtesy of an out of control snowboarder at SS-Cupp runout) all my skiing for the rest of this season will be vicarious via DCSkiers reports pictures and comments!  Really enjoyed yours BlueDon; keep them coming!! Made me feel like I was there with your group!!!

MorganB, aka The Colonel

"Pretty sure that was Independence but don’t hold me to that - first time at Breck"

That sure looked like the bottm of Peak 7 - Independence - to me. (pic 1)

BTW, I almost never ski weekends until April - hate the crowds The normal key to skiing on Saturday or Sunday  (at least in Summit County) 

1) Either start at 8;30 and be prepared to quit by 10:30 or 11

2) Or start after 2:30 and ski til either closing or darkenss (at least at Keystone)

Your situation probably negated the normal options - limited open terrain is a real killer.

FYI. busiest days are (in order) Saturday, Sunday, Friday aftrer about 11 am, Monday if there's fresh.