Loveland, CO: 03/19/17

My wife and I hadn't gone on a destination trip this season so we scored some cheapskate Southwest tickets and flew to Colorado for 1.5 days in Denver (where it was 82 degrees) and three ski days. Arrived first thing Sunday morning at Loveland to a mostly full parking lot -- looking forward to a perfect spring day, which is exactly what we got:



One of the great things about Loveland is that even with a lot of people in attendance, we had nothing but ski-on lifts the entire day and a deserted mountain. During the spring, Loveland's horseshoe shape allows you to follow the sun from bell to bell -- starting on the far looker's right off Lift 8 above the Eisenhower Tunnel and progressively moving left through late afternoon:



Even with a blazing sun, the hard overnight freeze locked up the offpiste for most of the day and the groomed snow never quite corned up, but it was silky sugar and that was good enough for us.





Tickler Gulch:



Right next to Lift 8 is the Ginny Lee Cabin. No food or beverages, but a gorgeous deck where we took a break:





As a marketing geek, I'm a big fan of Loveland's classic old-school logo with the happy skier, which is virtually everywhere:











The de rigueur shot of my wife making friends with an onsite pooch:



The afternoon was fantastic:



Loveland is a well-known wind tunnel and once you got halfway up, it was pretty breezy, which doesn't bother me, except when I'm on the chairs (none of them have safety bars). That's why I always keep a death grip on the seat back! Returning from Bennett's Bowl:



Some liftie did a nice job with the whiteboard:



From the top of Spillway, looking across toward the terrain above the tunnel:

I have driven past Loveland a dozen times and never stopped.. Looks like a great mellow place..

I guess the recent warm spell has beaten up the snow pack...

JasonWx wrote

I have driven past Loveland a dozen times and never stopped.. Looks like a great mellow place..

You would love it. It's quite big: 1,800 lift-served acres with lots of nice long double-blue runs in the middle and steeper stuff along the very top and far left/right.

I love Loveland.  Used to ski it on mid-week powder days.  Chair 1 is awesome.  The whole place is really fun!