Loveland, CO 04/03/15

For the past few days, there had been a fair amount of chatter about a storm that was supposed to hit the I-70 areas on Thursday with anywhere from six to ten inches of snow. I made plans to ski everyone's old-school favorite, Loveland, but the storm took a late turn and ended up dropping nine inches on Breckenridge and eight on Keystone, while the mountains along the divide -- Loveland, A-Basin, Winter Park -- only reported three or four.

Given the day-ticket prices for the Vail Resorts, I stuck with my plan for Loveland and it worked out with lots of first tracks and low crowds. The trick was to hit lines where the wind had blow in snow over the refrozen base (it had been really warm here until yesterday's storm); otherwise, you'd be hitting a scratchy bottom. On the upper mountain, it certainly felt like more than three or four inches and even though the sun was blazing, it was midwinter cold -- couldn't have gotten out of the teens.


Waiting for the 9 am lift opening


First Run, Just Below Ptarmigan Roost


Me on Perfect Bowl


Zip Basin


Tickler Gulch


Zip Trail


Above The Eisenhower Tunnel


Looking West Over the Ridge (name those two ski areas!)


As reported in my Mag article four years ago, I'm a big fan of Loveland. Even though it's quite good-sized, you never get that industrial-tourism feel of the big mountains on the other side of the tunnel. There are no high-speed lifts and no safety bars on any of the chairs. If you're ever out here and want to try an anti-resort with a big convenience factor, Loveland is a great call.

On our bucket list....

LOL Ray you need a barrel not a bucket.

That looks good to an eastern skier and probably to a western skier this year too. With your luck these places should be paying you to come out and ski.

Nice pics James.

looks like keystone and Breck...
funny how all the sheep go through the tunnel to ski the big guns down the road and forget about this jewel...
by the way it looks like your dropping your shoulder


No need for a bucket or barrel...a few less weekends at pico and you would be all set...

Great place!  I rate it right there with Plattekill and Mad River as the anti-resort!

Spectacular!!! Thanks for the late season boost!