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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Vail Galaxy of Resorts: Part 2 of 3

Jim Kenney

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In Part 1 of this series, I relayed that I’ve been fortunate to ski 10 mountains in the Vail portfolio over the past four years. I am sharing insights from my time at all of them, including economical lodging suggestions, free or inexpensive resort services/activities, and tips on where to find the best ski terrain. Part 2 covers Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Park City.

Keystone

I skied Keystone for nine days in March 2015. I also made visits there twice before in the 2000s. I’ve learned to appreciate the mountain. It may not be the steepest and deepest, but several nice attributes make it an excellent destination for the right guest, such as tons of scenic intermediate terrain, night skiing (rare in the West), a huge terrain park, and an excellent synergy with the burly local’s favorite Arapahoe Basin, just five miles up the road. I think Keystone also offers slightly more affordable slopeside accommodations than many other Vail resorts.

a51.jpeg
Keystone's A-51 Terrain Park; photo by Jim Kenney


I have used VRBO to catch fine spring deals in the attractive condos at the newer slopeside River Run Village at Keystone. You can save even more if you consider some of the older condo and motel properties in nearby Dillon. As mentioned in my Breckenridge discussion, the density of vacation homes in Summit County makes it a good area for solo travelers to look for inexpensive rooms through Airbnb. The entire county is served by the free Summit Stage bus system, which could eliminate the need for a rental car.

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Pugskier @bamaman cruising Starfire trail on North Peak; photo by Jim Kenney

Finding free parking at Keystone is a breeze. There are large lots at both the River Run and Mountain House base areas. The River Run lot even furnishes little wagons to wheel your gear to and from the lifts. The Keystone-Arapahoe Basin Pass (~$350 depending on when you buy it) is a true bargain season pass for two complementary mountains.

Keystone is also one of the few Vail resorts that offers discounted lift tickets outside Epic Pass offerings. The short preseason window for this has closed for 2017-18, but typically the four packs of tickets for both Keystone and Arapahoe Basin go for about $200 in the early fall. My daughters used these four packs to join me at Keystone in 2015; being late risers, they took advantage of Keystone’s night skiing operations to extend their ski days.

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Tres hermanas above the Outback; photo by Jim Kenney

When staying near Keystone, I’m often in condo mode and use local supermarkets for supplies to dine in. However, I remember making repeated trips to Murphy’s Food and Spirits in Silverthorne for good and inexpensive fish dinners on Fridays during ski season. Butterhorn Bakery/Cafe in Frisco is good. Between the neighboring towns of Dillon, Frisco, and Silverthorne, there is a glut of dining choices, and the strong restaurant and pub scene at Breckenridge is less than 15 miles from Keystone.

The Keystone trail layout includes 3,148 skiable acres spread across three mountains. All three mountains feature fine intermediate-advanced terrain, but with different nuances. Dercum, the front mountain, specializes in excellent and long (~2,300 vertical ft) intermediate slopes including Schoolmarm, which on a quiet day is one of the best and prettiest low-intermediate runs in the US. The second mountain, North Peak, offers fine spring bump skiing on empty trails like Geronimo. The third mountain, the Outback, features a collection of great tree runs such as Pika and Timberwolf. Some days Keystone runs an inexpensive à la carte snowcat operation from the top of the Outback offering single black diamond skiing that is ideal for off-piste neophytes looking for a manageable taste of the backcountry.

keystone timberwolf 2015.jpeg
Timberwolf trail; photo by Jim Kenney

One gorgeous spring day in 2015, I took my wife (a nonskier at this point) on a 30-something-dollar scenic snowcat ride at Keystone. We had a really fun afternoon. The tour lasted about 75 minutes, and we climbed as high as 12,000 ft in a swanky snowcat. The driver was personable and stopped a couple times to let us get out and enjoy secluded views of the Front Range while he shared local history. Afterward, we dined al fresco at the mountaintop Outpost lodge. Multiple gondola rides from the River Run base to the departure point of the cat ride at the summit of Dercum Mountain and over to the Outpost (elevation 11,660 ft) are included in the price of the tour.

keystone jim kathy snowcat.jpeg
Scenic snowcat ride; photo by Jim Kenney

Arapahoe Basin

After a brief period under the Vail banner two decades ago, Arapahoe Basin was divested from Vail Resorts in 1997. It is a remarkable bonus that it continues to be included on the Epic Pass all these years later. In many respects, ABasin is the anti-Vail resort and one of the essential "core" places that advanced/expert skiers should not miss. The bumps of the Pallavicini trail pod are some of the steepest and best anywhere; the chutes off Zuma Cornice are super scenic; the extreme hike-to terrain of the East Wall is off the charts.

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Pugskier @Michael R. scoping out Zuma Cornice; photo by Jim Kenney

The classic A-frame base lodge at Arapahoe Basin is retro-chic, and the mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge is the perfect observatory from which to sip a bacon Bloody Mary. On a pretty day, THE place to be for après ski in all of Summit County is the Beach, ABasin’s slopeside parking lot. In the spring, it is full of partiers and DIY BBQers. ABasin also features an insanely long 8-month ski season, an offbeat local's vibe, moderate prices, and mostly moderate crowds. I hope you get the picture. Arapahoe Basin is a fun-loving budget skier’s dream that drips with character.

arapahoe basin ranger.jpeg
Arapahoe Basin character; photo by Jim Kenney

The 2017-18 season will mark the debut of a major new terrain expansion at ABasin in sidecountry called the Beavers and Steep Gullies. The area is to the looker’s right of Pallavicini and will be hike-to only this season. It will include two groomed runs, trees, open bowls, and double black diamond gullies. A fixed-grip quad chairlift will be installed by the 2018-19 season, but to get out of the Steep Gullies, skiers will need to hike 15 or 20 minutes up a groomed track.

arapahoe basin spring from rt 6.jpeg
View of ABasin from Route 6; photo by Jim Kenney

The extraordinary advanced terrain at ABasin is part of the aforementioned synergy with the predominantly mellower slopes at Keystone. The contrasting vibe between the two mountains, locals vs vacationers, is stark and provides a fuller representation of Colorado skiing. Guests of ABasin can also benefit from the handy Keystone lodging and base area infrastructure, including dining options and skier services.

arapahoe basin vince bumps.jpg
Pallavicini lift line; photo by Jim Kenney

Free parking is not an issue at ABasin. There is plenty of it, but on good days you need to arrive early, and very early to get prime space at the Beach. One of the best cost savers at ABasin is simply bringing your own food, drinks, and lounge chairs to conduct lunch and après right there in the parking lot. Management is very welcoming about it.

Besides offering ticketing through the various Epic Pass products, Arapahoe Basin also cooperates with Liftopia. Advance purchase single or multiday tickets can be purchased off Liftopia at significantly reduced rates throughout the ski season, about $55 to $70 per day depending on dates. ABasin’s location near I-70 and the eastern edge of the Front Range makes it a good place for guests to visit on their last ski day before heading to Denver International Airport.

arapahoe basin bacon bloody marys.jpeg
Sampling Bacon Bloody Marys outside Black Mountain Lodge; photo by Jim Kenney

April 1 is a big party at ABasin. It’s Gaper Day, with an impressive tailgate scene of locals and nearby college kids in all manner of crazy costumes. I was there a couple years ago and got a ringside seat while riding the Pali chair. The crowd noise echoed off the mountains like a football stadium full of crazed pirates. Be there or be square:).

Park City

Park City is a great ski vacation destination. Among major US ski areas, its access (45 minutes) to an international airport is unrivaled. I skied it multiple days in different months in each of the last three winters. Perhaps its lone detraction is that it suffers just a tad in comparison to the powder-spoilt ski areas in nearby Little and Big Cottonwood canyons. Otherwise, Park City is the best all-around resort in Utah, featuring a booming ski town, 7,300 skiable acres of varied terrain, and 41 lifts.

mcconkey.jpeg
View from McConkey's Express chair; photo by Jim Kenney

Although it is among the top three largest ski areas in North America, in a February 2015 visit to Park City I was amazed to find one of the least-expensive near-slopeside bed solutions in the Vail galaxy of resorts. I slept 150 yards from the Payday Express chair in the men’s dorm of the Chateau Après Lodge for $40 a night. This deal may only work for guys under 6 ft and 200 lb, as the bunks are old and tight, but ski bums, start your dieting now because this rate also includes a decent continental breakfast. (And they have a women’s dorm, too.) See here for details.

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The dorm at Chateau Après Lodge; photo by Jim Kenney

There are other, more conventional lodging bargains in the Park City area including moderately priced older condos and several chain motels in nearby Kimball Junction (approximately 5 miles north of Park City). There are a bunch of inexpensive dining spots in Kimball Junction, too, including fast food, pizza, Mexican, and the like. For informal, moderately priced meals, I like Squatters Roadhouse Grill on Park Avenue on the edge of town. If you're strolling on Main Street at Park City and looking for a good little lunch place, I can vouch for Cafe Terigo. The High West Distillery is also fun. If you’re going upscale the Prime Steak House is great, but you will pay dearly for it. You'll need to make reservations for many Park City restaurants during busy times.

sundance.jpeg
At 9 am, the Park City Sundance festivalers are still in bed; photo by Jim Kenney

There is plenty of free parking beside the slopes at Park City, at both the Payday base area and the cabriolet lot near Canyons Village. I especially like the parking lot at the cabriolet, and it is a convenient option for day trippers coming from Kimball Junction or Salt Lake City.

As with Vail, one of the best forms of inexpensive entertainment in Park City is to just get out and walk the town, with its blocks of shops, bars, and restaurants. If you have a day off, the Utah Olympic Park/Alf Engen Ski Museum is 4 miles north of town and a worthwhile and economical outing. A ride on the Olympic bobsled is one of its draws. Those who enjoy inspirational music can make a 40-minute après ski drive to downtown Salt Lake to catch more than 300 singers and musicians in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's free Thursday night rehearsals. My wife is still humming songs we heard in 2016.

choir.JPG
Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice; photo by Jim Kenney

My favorite advanced terrain at Park City, from left to right on the trail map, include the bumps of McConkey’s, the chutes of Jupiter, the trees of Peak 5, the bowls of Ninety-Nine 90, the glades of Tombstone, and the off piste from Super Condor. Most days you’ll find moderate to minuscule lines at all of these lifts. The new Quicksilver gondola very effectively connects the old PCMR and Canyons ski areas and serves its own secluded expanse of off-piste terrain called Pinecone Ridge.

peanuts gang.jpeg
The Peanuts gang on Charlie Brown trail near the summit of Ninety-Nine 90; photo by Jim Kenney

I do a lot of brown bagging for my ski lunches, and my favorite place for that at Park City is on the scenic patio of the Summit House above the Motherlode Chair at an elevation of 9,250 ft.

While Park City provides what you'd call "resort skiing" with lots of wide, friendly groomers, when everything is open there is a month's worth of stuff to explore. Don’t be put off by the idea that it is a busy resort. Those 7,300 skiable acres include a lot of lightly trafficked steeps and off-piste terrain.

grande.jpeg
Checking out Grande trees near the Tombstone lift; photo by Jim Kenney

Coming soon, Part 3: Heavenly, Kirkwood, Whistler-Blackcomb, and Stowe.

LINK to Part 3: https://www.pugski.com/threads/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-vail-galaxy-of-resorts-part-3-of-3.8848/
 
Last edited:

ChrisFromOC

Putting on skis
Skier
Joined
Jan 14, 2017
Posts
149
Location
So Cal
In Part 1 of this series, I relayed that I’ve been fortunate to ski 10 mountains in the Vail portfolio over the past four years. I am sharing insights from my time at all of them, including economical lodging suggestions, free or inexpensive resort services/activities, and tips on where to find the best ski terrain. Part 2 covers Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Park City.

Keystone

I skied Keystone for nine days in March 2015. I also made visits there twice before in the 2000s. I’ve learned to appreciate the mountain. It may not be the steepest and deepest, but several nice attributes make it an excellent destination for the right guest, such as tons of scenic intermediate terrain, night skiing (rare in the West), a huge terrain park, and an excellent synergy with the burly local’s favorite Arapahoe Basin, just five miles up the road. I think Keystone also offers slightly more affordable slopeside accommodations than many other Vail resorts.

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Keystone's A-51 Terrain Park; photo by Jim Kenney


I have used VRBO to catch fine spring deals in the attractive condos at the newer slopeside River Run Village at Keystone. You can save even more if you consider some of the older condo and motel properties in nearby Dillon. As mentioned in my Breckenridge discussion, the density of vacation homes in Summit County makes it a good area for solo travelers to look for inexpensive rooms through Airbnb. The entire county is served by the free Summit Stage bus system, which could eliminate the need for a rental car.

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Pugskier @bamaman cruising Starfire trail on North Peak; photo by Jim Kenney

Finding free parking at Keystone is a breeze. There are large lots at both the River Run and Mountain House base areas. The River Run lot even furnishes little wagons to wheel your gear to and from the lifts. The Keystone-Arapahoe Basin Pass (~$350 depending on when you buy it) is a true bargain season pass for two complementary mountains.

Keystone is also one of the few Vail resorts that offers discounted lift tickets outside Epic Pass offerings. The short preseason window for this has closed for 2017-18, but typically the four packs of tickets for both Keystone and Arapahoe Basin go for about $200 in the early fall. My daughters used these four packs to join me at Keystone in 2015; being late risers, they took advantage of Keystone’s night skiing operations to extend their ski days.

proxy.php

Tres hermanas above the Outback; photo by Jim Kenney

When staying near Keystone, I’m often in condo mode and use local supermarkets for supplies to dine in. However, I remember making repeated trips to Murphy’s Food and Spirits in Silverthorne for good and inexpensive fish dinners on Fridays during ski season. Buttehorn Bakery/Cafe in Frisco is good. Between the neighboring towns of Dillon, Frisco, and Silverthorne, there is a glut of dining choices, and the strong restaurant and pub scene at Breckenridge is less than 15 miles from Keystone.

The Keystone trail layout includes 3,148 skiable acres spread across three mountains. All three mountains feature fine intermediate-advanced terrain, but with different nuances. Dercum, the front mountain, specializes in excellent and long (~2,300 vertical ft) intermediate slopes including Schoolmarm, which on a quiet day is one of the best and prettiest low-intermediate runs in the US. The second mountain, North Peak, offers fine spring bump skiing on empty trails like Geronimo. The third mountain, the Outback, features a collection of great tree runs such as Pika and Timberwolf. Some days Keystone runs an inexpensive à la carte snowcat operation from the top of the Outback offering single black diamond skiing that is ideal for off-piste neophytes looking for a manageable taste of the backcountry.

View attachment 39068
Timberwolf trail; photo by Jim Kenney

One gorgeous spring day in 2015, I took my wife (a nonskier at this point) on a 30-something-dollar scenic snowcat ride at Keystone. We had a really fun afternoon. The tour lasted about 75 minutes, and we climbed as high as 12,000 ft in a swanky snowcat. The driver was personable and stopped a couple times to let us get out and enjoy secluded views of the Front Range while he shared local history. Afterward, we dined al fresco at the mountaintop Outpost lodge. Multiple gondola rides from the River Run base to the departure point of the cat ride at the summit of Dercum Mountain and over to the Outpost (elevation 11,660 ft) are included in the price of the tour.

View attachment 39069
Scenic snowcat ride; photo by Jim Kenney

Arapahoe Basin

After a brief period under the Vail banner two decades ago, Arapahoe Basin was divested from Vail Resorts in 1997. It is a remarkable bonus that it continues to be included on the Epic Pass all these years later. In many respects, ABasin is the anti-Vail resort and one of the essential "core" places that advanced/expert skiers should not miss. The bumps of the Pallavicini trail pod are some of the steepest and best anywhere; the chutes off Zuma Cornice are super scenic; the extreme hike-to terrain of the East Wall is off the charts.

View attachment 39070
Pugskier @Michael R. scoping out Zuma Cornice; photo by Jim Kenney

The classic A-frame base lodge at Arapahoe Basin is retro-chic, and the mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge is the perfect observatory from which to sip a bacon Bloody Mary. On a pretty day, THE place to be for après ski in all of Summit County is the Beach, ABasin’s slopeside parking lot. In the spring, it is full of partiers and DIY BBQers. ABasin also features an insanely long 8-month ski season, an offbeat local's vibe, moderate prices, and mostly moderate crowds. I hope you get the picture. Arapahoe Basin is a fun-loving budget skier’s dream that drips with character.

View attachment 39071
Arapahoe Basin character; photo by Jim Kenney

The 2017-18 season will mark the debut of a major new terrain expansion at ABasin in sidecountry called the Beavers and Steep Gullies. The area is to the looker’s right of Pallavicini and will be hike-to only this season. It will include two groomed runs, trees, open bowls, and double black diamond gullies. A fixed-grip quad chairlift will be installed by the 2018-19 season, but to get out of the Steep Gullies, skiers will need to hike 15 or 20 minutes up a groomed track.

View attachment 39072
View of ABasin from Route 6; photo by Jim Kenney

The extraordinary advanced terrain at ABasin is part of the aforementioned synergy with the predominantly mellower slopes at Keystone. The contrasting vibe between the two mountains, locals vs vacationers, is stark and provides a fuller representation of Colorado skiing. Guests of ABasin can also benefit from the handy Keystone lodging and base area infrastructure, including dining options and skier services.

View attachment 39073
Pallavicini lift line; photo by Jim Kenney

Free parking is not an issue at ABasin. There is plenty of it, but on good days you need to arrive early, and very early to get prime space at the Beach. One of the best cost savers at ABasin is simply bringing your own food, drinks, and lounge chairs to conduct lunch and après right there in the parking lot. Management is very welcoming about it.

Besides offering ticketing through the various Epic Pass products, Arapahoe Basin also cooperates with Liftopia. Advance purchase single or multiday tickets can be purchased off Liftopia at significantly reduced rates throughout the ski season, about $55 to $70 per day depending on dates. ABasin’s location near I-70 and the eastern edge of the Front Range makes it a good place for guests to visit on their last ski day before heading to Denver International Airport.

View attachment 39074
Sampling Bacon Bloody Marys outside Black Mountain Lodge; photo by Jim Kenney

April 1 is a big party at ABasin. It’s Gaper Day, with an impressive tailgate scene of locals and nearby college kids in all manner of crazy costumes. I was there a couple years ago and got a ringside seat while riding the Pali chair. The crowd noise echoed off the mountains like a football stadium full of crazed pirates. Be there or be square:).

Park City

Park City is a great ski vacation destination. Among major US ski areas, its access (45 minutes) to an international airport is unrivaled. I skied it multiple days in different months in each of the last three winters. Perhaps its lone detraction is that it suffers just a tad in comparison to the powder-spoilt ski areas in nearby Little and Big Cottonwood canyons. Otherwise, Park City is the best all-around resort in Utah, featuring a booming ski town, 7,300 skiable acres of varied terrain, and 41 lifts.

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View from McConkey's Express chair; photo by Jim Kenney

Although it is among the top three largest ski areas in North America, in a February 2015 visit to Park City I was amazed to find one of the least-expensive near-slopeside bed solutions in the Vail galaxy of resorts. I slept 150 yards from the Payday Express chair in the men’s dorm of the Chateau Après Lodge for $40 a night. This deal may only work for guys under 6 ft and 200 lb, as the bunks are old and tight, but ski bums, start your dieting now because this rate also includes a decent continental breakfast. (And they have a women’s dorm, too.) See here for details.

View attachment 39075
The dorm at Chateau Après Lodge; photo by Jim Kenney

There are other, more conventional lodging bargains in the Park City area including moderately priced older condos and several chain motels in nearby Kimball Junction (approximately 5 miles north of Park City). There are a bunch of inexpensive dining spots in Kimball Junction, too, including fast food, pizza, Mexican, and the like. For informal, moderately priced meals, I like Squatters Roadhouse Grill on Park Avenue on the edge of town. If you're strolling on Main Street at Park City and looking for a good little lunch place, I can vouch for Cafe Terigo. The High West Distillery is also fun. If you’re going upscale the Prime Steak House is great, but you will pay dearly for it. You'll need to make reservations for many Park City restaurants during busy times.

proxy.php

At 9 am, the Park City Sundance festivalers are still in bed; photo by Jim Kenney

There is plenty of free parking beside the slopes at Park City, at both the Payday base area and the cabriolet lot near Canyons Village. I especially like the parking lot at the cabriolet, and it is a convenient option for day trippers coming from Kimball Junction or Salt Lake City.

As with Vail, one of the best forms of inexpensive entertainment in Park City is to just get out and walk the town, with its blocks of shops, bars, and restaurants. If you have a day off, the Utah Olympic Park/Alf Engen Ski Museum is 4 miles north of town and a worthwhile and economical outing. A ride on the Olympic bobsled is one of its draws. Those who enjoy inspirational music can make a 40-minute après ski drive to downtown Salt Lake to catch more than 300 singers and musicians in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's free Thursday night rehearsals. My wife is still humming songs we heard in 2016.

View attachment 39076
Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice; photo by Jim Kenney

My favorite advanced terrain at Park City, from left to right on the trail map, include the bumps of McConkey’s, the chutes of Jupiter, the trees of Peak 5, the bowls of Ninety-Nine 90, the glades of Tombstone, and the off piste from Super Condor. Most days you’ll find moderate to minuscule lines at all of these lifts. The new Quicksilver gondola very effectively connects the old PCMR and Canyons ski areas and serves its own secluded expanse of off-piste terrain called Pinecone Ridge.

proxy.php

The Peanuts gang on Charlie Brown trail near the summit of Ninety-Nine 90; photo by Jim Kenney

I do a lot of brown bagging for my ski lunches, and my favorite place for that at Park City is on the scenic patio of the Summit House above the Motherlode Chair at an elevation of 9,250 ft.

While Park City provides what you'd call "resort skiing" with lots of wide, friendly groomers, when everything is open there is a month's worth of stuff to explore. Don’t be put off by the idea that it is a busy resort. Those 7,300 skiable acres include a lot of lightly trafficked steeps and off-piste terrain.

proxy.php

Checking out Grande trees near the Tombstone lift; photo by Jim Kenney

Coming soon, Part 3: Heavenly, Kirkwood, Whistler-Blackcomb, and Stowe.

Jim, thanks for these incredibly detailed reports. They will be quite helpful to me as I plan future trips with my family as your descriptions and pictures do a great job of pointing out the specific attributes of each resort and town, which can be really hard to determine based on resort websites, etc.

Keep up the great work!

Chris
 

SkiNurse

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:golfclap: Looking forward to the next episode!
 

Ohioskier

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Thanks @Jim Kenney your trip reports are very helpful. I’ll be selecting a trip west next season and these are great to help decide where to go.
 

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