Anyone skiing xmas day?

[RockSki]

Yes! A. Amazing shortened (11-3) and discounted ($25) day at whitewater, Nelson, bc, Canada....

 

[missyd]

I went skiing on 24.Dec. ... christmas dinner with my family isn't so interesting. So I prefer skiing.
Weather was cloudy and a little bit too warm. But only a few skiers on the slopes (Laax - Switzerland) .... actually I never seen the slopes / chairlifts so empty as on 24.12.2009!!!

 

[Slidergirl]

I worked yesterday at PCMR. It was a very light crowd. Plenty of time between people to scan. It was the first day that the Jupiter lift was open. In our morning meeting, our boss was recommending that we don't bring up the new skis/boards to Jup - until it gets skied down some, who knows what you'd encounter under the snow. I think a good time was had by all on the slopes, though. It was a cold day, but not that bad due to calm wind.
I'm dreading today, though. Add Christmas crowd to the usual weekend crowd, and, well, it's not a pretty sight. Hopefully, the cold (highs only to the teens) will keep some of the folks away... We'll be doing our usual cold-weather drill - rotating 10 minute breaks inside the lift shack to keep warm. AND, occasional runs down to Bumps & Grinds for hot coffee!!!

 

[geargrrl]

We've nixed skiing today ( day after...) as the crowds get truly horrendous. My son is just dying to go ( he lives in PHX) but battle lift lines on the one or two days a year they occur is not our idea of fun. Tomorrow though, probably!!

 

[DRskier]

We skied both 12/24 and 12/25 in what seemed like spring conditions. Very nice family outing with neices and newphews all participating. We get on the mountain early since we drive our daughter to her job at the ski resort. Were skipping the day after Christmas since we heard its the second busiest day of the season. Resort management told my daughter that based on advanced ticket sales they expected eight times the number of skiers present on Christmas day.

 

[ski diva]

Resort management told my daughter that based on advanced ticket sales they expected eight times the number of skiers present on Christmas day.

Where's this?

 

[SnowHot]

Skiing here would have sucked yesterday with the wind and rain. Today we have marginal snow on top of the rain from yesterday so I opted to wait until tomorrow to ski.

I was reading some snow book accounts on Facebook and it looks like many of you had great skiing yesterday!

 

[DRskier]

I really don't want to say which resort it is because I don't want to scare people from going up to this particular resort. This time of year can be make or break for some locations. This particular resort almost never has lift lines, except during a few major holidays each year. I will say its located in California at a location within a 2-3 hour drive of several urban areas. Pretty much all California ski resorts get hammerred the day after Christmas.

 

[abc]

Well, Tahoe resorts tend to be really busy even DURING Christmas.

Don't know about the so-CA resorts.

 

[DRskier]

I grew up skiing SoCal ski areas. 15-20 years ago, 35 minute lift lines were common on any Saturday when the snow was decent. Now that we have a nice resort near our home in Northern California with no lift lines on most days, I don't think I could stand SoCal ski lines anymore. I guess I am spoiled now.

 

[SuZieCoyote]

Christmas Eve

Skied Christmas Eve at Breckenridge. Very, very cold, windy and a layer of about three inches of snow over hard crust. By noon, the slopes were overskied and sheets of windblown ice. There was a fair amount of powder in the few treed areas that were open and some of the mogul fields (the ones not destroyed by boards) and that was nice.

Witnessed the aftermath of yet another fatality at Breck - watched from the lift as a 41 year old skier from Florida was being put on the sled. He missed a turn from the blue Angel's Rest trail at the Monte Cristo trail and and hit his un-helmeted head on a tree.

Soooo. That was a downer and Christmas day was sucky cold (sub-zero with wind chill) and I opted out. Going back next week. Hope it will be better.

 

[skibum4ever]

Sorry to hear about a fatality at Breck. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

Hearing about conditions at Breck, I'm really glad we didn't drive to CO.

We spent 3 beautiful, sunny, calm days skiing at Mammoth. There were no liftlines and the snow was great. Skiing yesterday was the best way I know to celebrate Christmas!

Drove home last night because we didn't want to face today's crowds; however, looking at the web cams it was not especially crowded today. I believe that will change starting tomorrow!

 

[joycemocha]

Skied yesterday at Bachelor for the first time--crowd was not too bad, but it was pretty well chundered up by 1 pm. Mellow crowd where I was, for the most part--lovely experience considering it was my first time there. Barely got off the greens as I was skiing with DH and DS, neither of whom are comfortable venturing too far off of them, and by the time I was solidly on my own, my thighs were screaming bloody murder (well, okay, only my 3rd day out and I'm still fighting metatarsal foot pain). Still, according to Bachelor stats, I achieved 11 turns with 7000 vertical elevation (I know, I know, a little thing compared to some Divas...but that's compares to one of my more intensive long and hard days at Timberline!).

But I did get in a couple of blues, and if the thighs hadn't been so tired, I would have gotten in some more!

 

[LadyLes]

The extended family and I went skiing on Christmas at Homewood while in Tahoe for a family vacation. What a great little place! It was perfect for our big group with a variety of skill levels. (9 of us total, including my 4 y.o. half-sister's first ski day ever!) And the views really were incredible! It wasn't crowded at all-we were skiing fresh corduroy until noon!
The 'big kids' group:

DH & I:

I have great memories of skiing on Christmas day during family ski trips as a kid, so this was a fun day of sticking to family tradition!