How to tell the difference between an east coast skier and a west coast skier

[just jane]

We skied at Keystone on Monday; I totally thought of this thread. It was, to my western way of thinking, pretty ice and unpleasant in a lot of places. Sometimes my skis slid on icy patches! Yikes! Keystone has a reputation among the locals of being icy; I will be informally dubbing it the “east coast” mountain from now on!

 

[BlizzardBabe]

Western: Q. where do you want to ski? A. We can follow the sun and ski the backside first. From there we can investigate the glades. Then we can hit the bowls. There are some cool chutes on the north side we should do too. Terrain park might be fun after lunch. Let's look for some deep pow in the trees off of Chair 132.

Mid-Atlantic: Q. where do you want to ski? A. Down.

 

[BlizzardBabe]

sigh

 

[Jilly]

Q. where do you want to ski? A. Down.

I use that as a joke when I'm with a group. I don't care, just down is usually good.

 

[Tennessee]

@just jane I have been skiing at Copper and experiencing western hard pack like I’ve never skied before. So it might not be just Keystone…. We did ski at Ski Cooper and the conditions were excellent! They don’t make snow at Cooper. It is snowing now in Leadville so conditions should improve if we get 6-8” tonight and tomorrow

 

[just jane]

I skied Copper for years! It’s one of my favorite mountain. Sorry it wasn’t great. The east front (off Super Bee) can get pretty icy for sure. Keystone is worse, IME, and also I think with warming temps, all the Summit county hils are crossing the freeze/thaw line more frequently and getting icier.

Hopefully conditions at all of them will be great with this storm! (I have to work all week! )

 

[Little Lightning]

@just jane I have been skiing at Copper and experiencing western hard pack like I’ve never skied before. So it might not be just Keystone…. We did ski at Ski Cooper and the conditions were excellent! They don’t make snow at Cooper. It is snowing now in Leadville so conditions should improve if we get 6-8” tonight and tomorrow

We were at Copper this afternoon and I agree the conditions are hard pack. Usually the snow around the Timberline lift is pretty good but not today. Doesn't sound like this storm will do much but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.