Lift and Kids' Facility Improvements at Vail
Vail is upgrading two lifts on the east side of the mountain -- Chairs 10 (Highline) and 14 (Sourdough) -- to high-speed quads, cutting ride times in half to the popular Two Elk Restaurant and to also to China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin. Ride times on both lifts will be cut in half. This Colorado giant boasts the most high-speed chairlifts in the land: 16. At the same time, the Chair 15 beginner lift (Little Eagle) high on Eagle's Nest is being upgraded to a triple. Even beginners and non-skiers can reach Eagle's Nest via the Eagle Bahn gondola -- and ride back down again. Families will love the remodeled and expanded Golden Peak Children's Center (tel. 800/475-4543; https://vail.snow.com/winter/ss.kids.asp), with more space for the three to six age group (full day, $130 including lunch and ski lesson). At Vail Village, Mountain Plaza offers a much-needed coffee house meeting place, rental and retail, adult ski school and lift tickets and ski storage, all close to the Vista Bahn. No more slip and slide in the heavily trafficked Mountain Plaza area, as it blends into Bridge Street across a newly heated pedestrian plaza.
New Identity for Northern Montana Resort
The Big Mountain, MT (tel. 800/858-4157; www.bigmtn.com), is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a new identity: Whitefish Mountain Resort. Eventually, the website address will match the name on the entrance. Also in time for the big 6-0 are $20 million in upgrades, including a new $12 million day lodge, a new high-speed Chair 1 (formerly the Glacier Chaser, now the Big Mountain Express) to the summit and Chair 2 (Swift Creek) now upgraded to a high-speed quad. Add to that a new beginner skier area with a Magic Carpet and new beginner chairlift. The season is scheduled to being on December 8, 2007. Whether you stay in the town of Whitefish or on the mountain, plan on riding the free Snow Bus to get around.
Additional Lift-Served Bowl Debuts at A-Basin
Skidom seems awash with significant anniversaries this winter, and venerable Arapahoe Basin (tel. 888-ARAPAHOE; www.arapahoebasin.com) celebrates its 60th with a new lift and an 80 per cent expansion of inbounds, lift-served terrain. The new Zuma quad chairlift accesses Montezuma Basin, a 400-acre expansion with 34 runs, ranging from true-blue intermediate to vertiginous double-blacks. Even with this newly lift-accessed a, A-Basin is not a statistical giant by Rocky Mountain standards. Yet with its sky-high elevation, drop-dead scenery, formidably challenging terrain and long season (usually into June, occasionally July), it ranks way up there in the pantheon of great Colorado mountains. A-Basin has no slope-side accommodations, but it does have lodging partners in nearby communities. Also, any lift ticket good at Keystone is also valid at Arapahoe, so unless you're a rank beginning skier or snowboarder, give it a day's try if you're in Summit County.
Copper, Winter Park/Mary Jane and Steamboat: All in the Family
Since the close of the 2006-07, Intrawest, which already owned Copper Mountain and Winter Park/Mary Jane has also taken over Steamboat. A variety of tri-area lift deals are now offered through www.passwagon.com. Examples? The new Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus allows unlimited skiing/riding at Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper, and six unrestricted days at Steamboat, free skiing every Friday after 12:00pm at Steamboat. This pass must be purchased by September 3; other passes have different buy-by deadlines.
Speaking of Steamboat (tel. 877/783-2628; www.steamboat.com), the resort has committed a record $16 million to mountain improvements, including $6 million invested this year. You'll immediately notice the new Christie Peak Express high-speed detachable six-passenger chairlift that replaces three old chairs and dramatically cuts the ride time from 15 to less than five minutes. Also at the newly uncluttered the base area is a user-friendly re-grade of the Headwall slope grade into three distinct trails, each consistently pitched, plus snowmaking improvements. Not only will the entire Christie Peak experience be improved, but the new six-pack will also provide sigh-of-relief redundancy for the gondola. In addition, the five moving carpets (Tenderfoot, Colt, Filly, Tumbleweed and Sidewinder) in the base area have been upgraded, realigned and lengthened. The old Southface chairlift is been repositioned further up the Headwall and upgraded to a triple, now called the Preview lift.
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