Well, here we are. The 100th day and the 50th resort.

100DOW kicked off with a big party and ended with an even bigger blow-out. Jeff from The Slanket put me up in his fancy Vail ski house for a couple nights. After a bitter cold Saturday spent on Berthoud, I wasn’t sure if Old Man Winter was ready to give up the fight, but Sunday dawned as warm as any spring day I’ve ever ridden.

Click on the photo to see more of the 100th day

Free BBQ. Pond skimming. A free Wyclef concert. Vail certainly puts together enough end of the year festivities to keep the tourists happy. Ski bums, however, have little need of these fancy get-togethers which is why the locals head straight to the top of the mountain for the infamous 4 at 4 party.

I’m a little hazy on the details of the afternoon. Luckily, I took some photos. I do remember at one point chugging a box of wine with a tequila chaser and then someone screaming: “It’s Spider-Man!” at which point I turned around to see, in fact, a person dressed as Spider-Man dangling thirty feet up in a tree.

What a fucking trip.

I’m still recovering from the final week of 100DOW and too tired to write up the last six. Here are a few photos from the celebratory last day on the hill.

At the beginning of this project, I said that I would ride 50 ski areas. I never said that they would all be open. With only two days left in 100DOW and running low on ski areas, I made my way to Berthoud Pass.

Opened way back in 1937, Berthoud operated off and on until 2002 when it closed down for financial reasons. The lifts were removed and the historical lodge knocked down. I’ve always been interested in these “ghost ski areas”. There are hundreds of them scattered around the US — everything from a rope tow in Vermont to a full ski resort in Idaho (Tamarack which shut down last year).

I arrived early and took a hike to the top. I’m still on a snowboard so I stuck to the winding snowmobile track. The morning was warm, the snow was cruddy, and really I was just looking for an excuse to climb up to the top of a big ass mountain and take a look around. There’s not much of the white stuff left at the top — see the pictures below. But even with a few wrong turns, I couldn’t have asked for a better day to do some solo runs and reflect back on the last three months. I’m not sure if I’ll be in any condition to do that at Vail tomorrow.

The Cheat Sheet:

Berthoud Pass
Top of I-40
Winter Park, CO

With only a solitary double chair and surrounded by some of the largest ski areas in the country, Echo doesn’t try to compete with the big dogs. They’re the cheapest and closest ski area to Denver — and they’ve got tons of park features scattered all over the hill.

Like Eldora, this family friendly mountain is the place to learn and practice tricks. I’ve never been a big park person so I spent most of the day working over on one small kicker. Here’s a crazy connection: I ran into Judd who we met back on Loveland Pass a month ago. Good to see ya!

The Cheat Sheet:

Echo Mountain
19285 Highway 103
Idaho Springs, CO 80439

Mountain Stats

Click for a Larger Image

Ride Yukon 164
Retails Around: $550
I paid: $300
Bought At: Some board shop in Northern Cali

I love this board. It feels like riding a Cadillac down the steeps. Smooth and perfect for big mountain riding. It loses a full letter grade though for not making it through two seasons. The damn letters on the bottom are popping out. WTF? They also lose another half grade for not responding at all to my Keystone Light inspired message on why Ride should sponsor 100 Days of Winter. Dear RIDE, there’s still time to get this sorted out before 100 Days of Winter 2011.
Grade: B-

Descente Passport Jacket
Retails Around: $270
I Paid: $220
Bought At: Peter Glen Sports

The Descente brand makes me think of neon colors, Europeans, and the eighties, but this modestly colored coat ended up being my go-to jacket. It’s light and warm, waterproof, and durable enough to not tear after multiple scrape ups with trees. At a price tag of $220, it’s about half the price of your trendy outerwear. Oh yeah, I almost forgot…it came with 40 free lift tickets. No gimmicks, no joke. $3500 bucks worth of free lift tickets.
Grade: A

Burton AK Pants
Retails Around: $350
I Paid: $0
Bought At: My friend’s closet

My buddy who works at Burton gave these to me because they were too big for him. I put them on three years ago and never took them off. This season, they finally showed a sign of weakness when one of the lower zippers tore open, but after 250+ days, I’m willing to cut them them a break.
Grade: A-

Camelbak Snow Pack
Retails Around: $120
I Paid: $0
Bought At: EMS

Gear companies take note: This is how you make gear for outdoor people. Durable. Strong. Able to last through multiple seasons. I got this Camelbak for a promotion I worked back in 2002. Since then, this pack has been my backcountry buddy. Sure, the trend now is for packs with way less straps, but I’m not willing to take the chance. I’ve beaten this thing to death and there’s only a little wear and tear to show for it.
Grade: A+

Salomon Pledge Boots
Retails Around: $300
I Paid: $120
Bought At: EvoGear

I’ve been wearing Salomon boots for five seasons now. It must be the skier in me, but I like my boots tight enough to cut off circulation. I bought these at a huge online sale. The only downside — they’re white with a paint splatter design. Lucky for me, the snowpants cover up most of it.
Grade: A-

There’s nothing quite like spending the afternoon trying to track down a sewage disposal center. It’s a disgusting, splatterific job which is made worse by having to perform it in the bitter cold/snow/sleet. Here’s an example of the worst job on the tour.

4. Arizona Cops

Specifically one particular asshole which you can read about right here. He pulled us over on a bullshit reason to search our car. Regardless of whether his hunch was absolutely correct still means I can’t hate him for wasting our time. Also it’s nice to see that now Arizona officers can pull you over for no reason whatsoever. America!

3. Parking Lot Security

Actually, these guys aren’t really enemies, more like a nemesis. They’re just doing their job which is to not let dirtbags in RVs block snowplows from clearing lots. And we’re just doing our job which is to park as close as possible to the slopes, so naturally there’s some friction.

2. El Nino

Does anyone know what El Nino really does? The answer is “no,” but that doesn’t stop people from blaming El Nino on everything from a crappy winter in the Northwest to losing their car keys. I could the go the rest of my life without hearing the phrase: “It’s an El Nino Winter.” Just because it’s in Spanish doesn’t mean that that you understand it.

1. Dave the Dick

Renting a ski house means that you’re going to get folks on vacation. And these “animals” might possibly want to stay up past nine o’clock. Dave the Dick gave us a $100/night steal on the basement to his mansion, but I gladly would have paid more to avoid the scenario of having to party like I was sixteen and this was my parent’s house. Dave the Dick threatened to throw us out, although I do give him bonus points for making me read the rental rules aloud to my friends. Classic asshole move.

Here’s the link to his place which I would only rent if you’re over the age of eighty. What a dick.

I had been to Winter Park twice before and both times I must have missed the entrance to the Mary Jane base area. This is the Winter Park I’ve been looking for. No crazy base village with pay parking lots and me getting completely lost in the basement trying to find the ticket counter. No sir. Mary Jane is the real deal.

I crossed Berthoud Pass to a sight I didn’t expect to see. Snow! Isn’t that something else this late in the season? Dust on crust conditions prevailed, but what the hell, who doesn’t like snowfall. I don’t care if the ski area is closing in six days. Let it fall!

Click for larger image

The Cheat Sheet:

Winter Park Ski Resort
150 Alpenglow Way
Winter Park, CO 80482

Mountain Stats

Back when I worked at Keystone and got a pass to all five Vail Resorts, I frequently found myself up at A-Basin. It was much smaller than Keystone, but there were also way fewer tourists, a population that I absolutely wanted to avoid on my days off. And I loved “The Beach”, an epic party spot for RV campers right on the slopes.

Needless to say, A-Basin was at the top of the list for this adventure. Then I found out that The Beach now costs $150 to park to your RV. Are you fucking kidding me? $150?! And you can’t spend the night there. Boo! So we skipped the Basin on our first pass through, but here I am, sans RV and with less than a week to knock out five ski areas. Also, my sweet, sweet, sweet Descente jacket is still kicking out free lift tickets.

Like Keystone, major expansion has happened at A-Basin. They finally got the Montezuma Bowl opened (it was just a rumor when I  lived there). See the trail map below. The old A-Basin is just the top map so you can see that Zuma completely opens up the backside.

It’s pretty fawesome with lots of fun lines. At least, they looked fun. My day at A-Basin was bulletproof hardpack and high winds so I had to settle for just scoping out the terrain for my next trip — and digging the views from the highest lift accessed terrain in North America.

Click to see a larger map

The Cheat Sheet:

Arapahoe Basin
28194 U.S. Highway 6
Dillon, CO 80435

Mountain Stats

“I love Eldora,” the guy on the lift told me. “When I was younger, I used to go to Summit every weekend, but now that I have kids, this is my mountain. My son just rode his first black today.”

The ten year in question looked like he wanted to die — for some reason it’s just terrible when your father talks to strangers on the ski lift. But I knew from experience that this young ripper was swelling with pride at conquering one of the major ski milestones.

If you couldn’t already tell from some of the mountain selections on this trip, I love family mountains. It’s the atmosphere. The parents here aren’t dumping their kids into ski school for the day while they go sip drinks at some fancy mountain top lodge. They are out there tearing it up. Reminds me of my old man teaching me how to ski “Masshole” style at Mad River Glen when I was a youngster.

Eldora was packed for its last weekend. Another blazing sunny day along with lots of good folks enjoying the weather and the company. Just up the street from Boulder, Eldora may be tiny, but it’s a hell of a good time.

Click to see a larger image

The Cheat Sheet:

Eldora
2861 Eldora Ski Road 140
Nederland, CO 80466

Mountain Stats

After growing up on the East Coast, I was unprepared to move to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. My first year there I counted 22 bluebird days in a row, which for a born and raised Vermonter, felt like I was living on a tropical beach. Steamboat also trademarked the term “champagne powder” — snow so fluffy and so light it’s barely there. Then there’s the trees — possibly the best tree skiing in the country.

Eight years later, Steamboat still doesn’t disappoint. Like Aspen, they got hit with the big April storm leaving them with an incredible 21 inches over three days. During my two days, the sun came back out — and stayed out providing some of the best spring skiing so far.

I dove straight into Shadows and Closets, a long tree run that starts at Storm Peak. Steamboat was riding like the middle of January, not the end of the ski season. No ice. No scraping. It was a mellow two days where I worked on my tan and reflected on all the changes of Ski Town USA: The brand new Christie Six Pack. The Heavenly Daze building has been knocked down. More massive hotels littering the base area.

Things have certainly changed at Steamboat since I left, but everything that I love about this town is still in place. Champagne powder, bluebird days, and excellent riding. Don’t care what they build at the bottom as long as they don’t mess around with the mountain.

Click for larger map

Apres-Ski Report:
There’s nothing more enjoyable than sitting on the “beach” at the Slopeside Grill, especially in the spring when the sun stays out late. If you stick around until ten, there’s a tasty happy hour with $3.00 pints and delicious brick oven pizzas.

The Cheat Sheet:

Steamboat Resort
2305 Mt. Werner Circle
Steamboat Springs, CO 80487

Slopeside Grill
1855 Ski Time Square Drive
Steamboat Spgs, CO 80487

Mountain Stats