For early season on a bluebird day with no one here.My ability to ski the slow line fast does suck
Another first world problem is adding an image to a post while on a chair lift. (Got it now.)
When's the Pugski app coming out?
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Colorado Purgatory does not suck
- Thread starter SlideWright
- Start date
For early season on a bluebird day with no one here.My ability to ski the slow line fast does suck
Another first world problem is adding an image to a post while on a chair lift. (Got it now.)
When's the Pugski app coming out?
Don't go Texas Week.
First western mountain I ever skied.
Thread Starter
TS
Purg is celebrating it's 50th year and the new owner jumped on replacing the back side chair 8 to a high speed quad. Now rather than an almost twenty minute ride, it'll be 5 or 10. Better exposure and snow, along with the Maze for fun trees and runs with OK vertical without crisscrossing traffic. The front is a cluster cuss of criss crossing trails and cat tracks which funnels to the base. There is zero lift lines and open skiing during the week. Overall, there's a better vibe, now that the owner is a passionate skier and not in it for the real estate.
Due to the fact you have to traverse all around the mountain, prompting the nickname Traversatory and a friend had a bumper sticker made which reads: "Purgatory...We have AWESOME Horizontal"
It's a great place to learn about optimal glide and waxing! The eye candy alone is worth getting out of bed and not bad for a 'neighborhood' ski area.
Due to the fact you have to traverse all around the mountain, prompting the nickname Traversatory and a friend had a bumper sticker made which reads: "Purgatory...We have AWESOME Horizontal"
It's a great place to learn about optimal glide and waxing! The eye candy alone is worth getting out of bed and not bad for a 'neighborhood' ski area.
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Thread Starter
TS
Well....get your butts over here. We have room. Of course we'll have to hit Telluride, Silverton and maybe Wolf Creek, too, not to mention unlimited backcountry options.
Can't wait to ski it. Plan to be there as part of my 30th year-on-the-planet, dirtbag ski safari through SW Colorado: Monarch -> Wolf -> Purg -> Silverton? -> Powderhorn
If there is a good place to read up on terrain / do's / don'ts / timing, I'd love to know about it.
If there is a good place to read up on terrain / do's / don'ts / timing, I'd love to know about it.
Thread Starter
TS
BC terrain or Ski Area terrain? If you are touring the SW & San Juans, add Telluride to your list. The most snow tends to happen February thru March and April, but you never know. One year it snowed over a hundred inches in a week. Other times it can be a drought. It can be warmer than central and northern Colorado so the snow can transform and we have 30 degree temperature swings every day with lots of sunshine. This year, El Nino is supposed to track south and maybe even Taos or Flagstaff are worth considering if you are chasing snow.
Any questions, just ask.
To be clear on this thread, it was tongue in cheek about early season skiing. The conditions are decent but still thin. Purgatory is vertically challenged compared to other areas. Wolf Creek is too, though it gets tons of snow. Both can get old if you are expecting great terrain and vertical. Telluride, Silverton & the San Juans offer great options with spectacular scenery.
Thread Starter
TS
Happy 50th birthday Purgatory weekend! Good friends, sunny day, backside opened, low crowds, great views and SKA's new 50 year commemorative Pilsner. This place will spoil you, especially during the week.
Rumor has it that more than 2 1/2 times past amount of water was used for snowmaking. I definitely have mixed feelings on this. It has been several years since daily skiing has been available early season. Hats off to the new owner and hope his actions succeed. The new Legends high speed chair 8 grand opening is Dec 19th. Hopefully, there'll be more natural snow by then.
Best quotes from the weekend:
From a friend: "Corduroy is my favorite fabric."
On Ski Barn's marquee: "El Nino 2016. It's too big to fail!."
Rumor has it that more than 2 1/2 times past amount of water was used for snowmaking. I definitely have mixed feelings on this. It has been several years since daily skiing has been available early season. Hats off to the new owner and hope his actions succeed. The new Legends high speed chair 8 grand opening is Dec 19th. Hopefully, there'll be more natural snow by then.
Best quotes from the weekend:
From a friend: "Corduroy is my favorite fabric."
On Ski Barn's marquee: "El Nino 2016. It's too big to fail!."
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That sounds like my kind of trip. You will have a blast and get to see the prettiest part of the state to boot.
Yep. I'm pretty stoked for it. Testing the van winter camping setup this weekend, although I'll also have a pad to crash at in Durango. Need to migrate my planning thread from Epic over to here. Haven't been down to SW Co yet either.
We got good snow, probably 12-18" per day the Spring Break that my friend and I skied there. +1 to skiing vert more than traversing a lot..
Thread Starter
TS
One year it snowed over 100 inches around the end of February/early March. We went cat skiing across the valley and at the top of the first run I stuck my pole in full length up to my shoulder and did not hit bottom = true bottomless powder! We had to find the steepest stuff around in the old growth trees so we could generate enough speed to make turns, avoid avalanche areas and for visibility it was nuking so hard. Talk about a memorable day!
Thread Starter
TS
Bullseye (for a change). 25" since Saturday. Hope this continues!
Thread Starter
TS
Regarding the Grand Opening of the new Legends (Lift 8) high speed quad, Saturday, below is a portion of the new trail map. The 'midway' loading is gone and a new Legends feeder trail extension meanders west of the lift and across the last pitch of Ray's which was among the only top to bottom trails on the back without much crossing traffic and has the most vertical. Definitely a bummer but a net positive trade off. Before if you skied the last pitch of anything below the Legends feeder trail, including the Maze and ended up at the bottom, you had to alternate chairs to allow for the midway loading. On a powder day, this really sucked. There are also a couple new trail cuts between Boudreaux's and Ray's:
This is the story we did on Purgatory from a couple of years ago. These will add a little flavor to this thread:
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Thread Starter
TS
^^^^^
And I was there around that day, too. Good stoke!
And I was there around that day, too. Good stoke!
Thread Starter
TS
6 min for lift 8! Vs 18