Westbound Boarder

Perfectly poised in South Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Ski Resort deserves the title it boasts. I know it is cliché, but this place is truly heavenly. Sprawled across the California/Nevada border this resort has epic shredding and almost even more epic night life (casinos included) and the view from the top says it all. Overlooking the 22 mile lake and the Casinos of South Lake Tahoe, this place is where the shred scene meets the night life.

With over a foot of fresh and mostly clear skies, our Weekend shred sesh in Tahoe was absolutely perfect. Up early on Saturday to ensure fresh tracks, we met up at the bottom of the Gondola and were on our way. We were lucky enough to have a couple of tour guides to show us the best spots on the hill to ride, which means we have some sweet tracks to tell you about. As Heavenly has over 4,800 acres, sprawled over 3,500 vertical feet, this place is massive and the tour guides were a treat and not to bad to look at, either (just sayin).

We were at the top of the Gondola ready to begin our day at about 9am and the first thing we noticed was how empty the place seemed, there was no one on the lifts or the runs. Apparently with the casino night life and the fact that the bars that don’t close, people generally get a later start at Heavenly, which is fine by me.

You know you are shreddin a rad hill when the theme of the day is, “that was the best run of the day!!!” No joke, after every run we took, we had a new fav and could not imagine it getting any better. But it always did. We spent the first part of our day charging any and every tree run we could find around the Olympic Chair lift, which was a perfect way to warm up. From Olympic we headed over and Conquered Mott and Killebrew Canyon’s, which boast amazing views of the rain shadowed Nevada side at the boundary of the resort. We worked our way over to Sky Express and hiked around to find an unscathed canyon and then moved on to the hands down, best run of the day….

The abundance of sick tree riding covered in cornices didn’t hurt the Heavenly vibe. There were drops around every corner and the trees were perfectly spaced, enabling you to charge through them full force. With that, it is all about the North Bowl at Heavenly. With two old school, slow, triple chair lifts, you won’t find too many people in these parts as they don’t want to put up with the lift; but it is more than worth it. Make your way over to north bowl and find The Burn and Nevada Woods. Talk about unscathed, fresh pow, tree runs, with perfect drops and pitch. These are the runs you dream about and were without a doubt the best run of the day…until we made our way over to Maggie’s Canyon on our way to lunch.

We ate lunch at the only full-service dining experience on the Heavenly Mountain, The Gunbarrel Grill at the Lakeview Lodge. This place features Napa Valley-influenced California cuisine and an array of select meats, cheeses, grilled vegetables and a gourmet salad bar. The Gunbarrel Grill offers wonderful entrée selections at great prices, (for the mountain anyways) as each entrée at about $20.

We wrapped up day one on the hill with a park session at the small park underneath the Groove Chairlift (which is just up the hill from the Gunbarrel Grill).

To my surprise, the more I bragged about Heavenly, the more I heard people talking smack. The complaints were predictable, that this place is so big and I found myself traversing all day. Guess that is what happens when you stick to the groomers all ? I guess with any mountain you don’t know, this can be your first visit experience. However if you make a plan (or stick to our tips from above)…I am sure you won’t be on this bandwagon. This weekend to Heavenly was one of my top five ride sessions for sure. So don’t overlook it if you are planning a trip to Tahoe. Also, the night life is legit, so there is totally something for everyone!

Check back soon for our South Lake Tahoe night life review!

Last week, Danielle, Rochelle and I all took an epic trip to Vail, our second annual snowboard trip to Colorado.  But this year, instead of spending the entire time riding Vail, we decided to try something new and shred at several different resorts.  Enter, Breckenridge.

Ever since last year’s Winter Dew Tour, I’ve been dying to ride at Breckenridge, CO.  Several of the biggest names in snowboarding call Breck their part-time home – Shaun White, Chanelle Sladics, JJ Thomas and Bobby Brown, just to name a few.  And the park and super pipe consistently top Transworld’s best list.  The combination of the high elevation, expansive free terrain and variety of terrain parks makes Breckenridge a top-notch resort in my book.  Oh, and parking was free for parties over four the day we went – love that they promote carpooling! (Normally, it’s $5 weekdays and $10 weekends, which is still pretty inexpensive in comparison to Vail).

This would be the medium park

When we arrived to Breckenridge, we thought we might as well start out the day right with a run through the park.  Looking at the trail map, we noticed there were three different types of parks – small, medium, and large.  We decided to settle for the in between and hit the medium park (also because it was the most convenient from where we started out, Peak 7).  Well, apparently the folks at Breckenridge do not quite go by the standard definition of “medium” we had envisioned … Compared to what we’re used to riding at Hood and High/Bear, this “medium” park was HUGE!  After staring awe struck for a moment at the top, glancing down at the tables below, we decided to bypass the park (this time around) and sit on the side, watching some of the local riders pass through.  Well, nearly thirty minutes later, our jaws were open just as wide as they were when we first sat down.  We had never seen so many amazing free skiiers and snowboarders all in the same place!  We sat and watched 720 after 720 whiz by, and then quickly came to the conclusion that everyone who rides at Breck is pro … or all pros ride at Breck.  Either way, it was really cool just watching all the talent built up at the mountain throughout the day.

Come on dude, really?!

After watching the pros in the park, we rode through the pipe for a while (not the smoothest pipe I’ve ever  been in, but I definitely blame it on the conditions – it hadn’t snowed in days – and not the resort itself).  The 18 foot walls were super fun, and the pipe was nicely cut.  One of the things I really liked about Breck was their “progressive” park system.  Their parks are set up in steps, or difficulty levels, so riders can start from the small parks when they’re first learning to jump and work their way up.  There are three small terrain parks and one small pipe, one medium park, and one large park and super pipe.  So riders who start  riding at Breck can go through the park system and take it up a step when they’re ready.  And since I am a person who grew up learning to ride a baby park, then immediately transitioning to a large, comp-style park, I can definitely appreciate this style of “at-your-own-pace” learning.  Also, Breckenridge has a really neat Web site called Breck 1080, where you can actually preview the features, meet the team riders, and watch videos before you head up to the slopes.  But park riding definitely isn’t all there is to Breck, unlike some jib-heavy resorts.  There’s tons of free terrain to ride as well, and several bowls and fun tree runs, really making Breckenridge a well-rounded resort.

Lunch!

Now, Breckenridge boasts a lift with the highest elevation in North America.  It’s called the Imperial Express Super Chair (at the top of Peak Eight) and it sits at a record elevation of 12,840 feet.  To put that in perspective, the highest point reached by a chair lift at Mt. Hood Meadows is 7,300 feet, and the top of Palmer at Timberline, one of the few resorts open for skiing year-round, is 8550 feet.  That’s kind of a big difference.  Even though the dismal Colorado snowfall (or lack thereof) during our stay made for some pretty icy runs near the peak, we finally decided that we couldn’t not take at least one run down.  So after lunch, we headed up the 6 Chair to make it over to Imperial before it closed for the day.  We had to rush because the lift stops operating at 3:15.  We made it over to Imperial by 3:02, but of course with our luck the lift had just closed at 3pm, early due to conditions.  Bummer.  But then again, we now have an excuse to go back to Breck next year!  Insider Tip: If you get a chance to make it to Breckenridge, especially on a powder day, I’d recommend starting out your day on the Imperial Lift before the bowls get chopped out.  And before the lift closes.

After our journey to find the top (which we didn’t) we made our way over to Peaks 9 and 10, the final side of the hill we had yet to experience.  And we finally found the small terrain parks!  The small parks were a lot of fun to ride.  We particularly liked Eldorado, because the jumps had a lot of pop and a nice, solid landing.  The perfect way to end our day.

The lifts at Breckenridge are open 8:30am to 4:30pm, with the gondola operating 8am to 5pm, but one of the cool things about Breck is that if you think that 8 hours on the hill isn’t enough (???) then you can head straight to Keystone, which is one of the only resorts in the area open for night skiing (your ticket is good for both resorts).

Overall, I really enjoyed riding at Breck, and I think it is one of my favorite places I’ve ridden at so far due to the vast versatility of park and free-ski options.  I was really surprised at how big Breckenridge is.  Though it’s only half the size of Vail, it really didn’t seem like it, and we definitely didn’t cover as much ground as we would have liked to in just one day.  We had also heard that Breck was a lot less steep than Vail (our skiier friend, Kevin, said Breck isn’t his favorite for this reason), which is true to some extent, but there are definitely a fair share of steep runs as well, especially if you hit the back bowls above peaks 8 and 7.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of super steep runs because I like straight-lining it the whole way down, so I thought Breck was perfect, especially since there wasn’t much powder or fresh snow when we rode.  Insider Tip: If you head out to the Vail area during icy conditions and are able to add some flexibility to your resort riding plan, I’d recommend riding Breck over Vail or any of the other resorts, namely because there are more options to ride less iced-out runs than the other nearby resorts.

Also, if you can swing it, I’d recommend staying in Breck for a night or two, at the very least.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity this year, as we had prior arrangements in Eagle-Vail, but the town of Breckenridge is so adorable, I wish we could have stayed and checked out the nightlife!  Unlike Vail, which is a bit more family-oriented, IMHO, Breck tends to attract a younger crowd, likely due to its stellar reputation within the snowboard community and younger audiences.

Perfect blue bird day!

Now, I had always thought that Breckenridge (or any Colorado resort, for that matter) was purely a winter resort with not much to do in the summer other than dream of the first snowfall of the following year.  However, in talking with a few Breckenridge locals, I learned that this is not the case.  Not at all.  Breckenridge boasts more than 100 miles of bike trails (yes, I say “more than” because they stopped counting after they reached 100), the Peak 8 Fun Park, which features everything from Alpine slides to Colorado’s largest human maze.  Also, we hear the vibe is a lot more chill and laid-back in the summer, so this might be a good option for a relaxing, laid-back summer vaca.  Like the saying goes, “Perfect Mountain, Perfect Mountain Town.”  I’ll add “year round” to that one.

I’ve been somewhat putting off this post for quite some time due to a flurry of other fun events to write about, however, I’m finally getting to it!  About a month ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to try out and review Mt. High ski resort.  Being one of the only relatively close resorts to Los Angeles, I talk about Mt. High quite frequently in blog posts, so I jumped at the opportunity to visit and review the hill.  Man oh man, where to begin…

Mt. High is the closest mountain to Los Angeles, taking only about 1.5 hrs. to get there.  I was kind of bummed because when I originally mapquested directions, I noticed the resort was only a 45 minute drive from my Sherman Oaks apartment.  However, as I began my journey to the mountain – and got about 10 miles up Highway 2 – I noticed a sign that said the Wrightwood pass was closed.  Well, apparently, people used to be able to go this way, however, a bridge collapsed 3 years ago that was never replaced.  I guess it’s a lesson for me to check directions on resort Web sites and NOT on mapquest   Anyway, minus the whole getting lost part, it probably took me about 1.5 hours to get up to the mountain (the back way – 134/210 to the 15) from the Valley, which is still pretty decent.

Now, as I was driving along the highway nearing Wrightwood, I was sitting there thinking, “there’s no way a resort is anywhere close to here!”  The roads were completely bare and there was no snow anywhere in sight.  Not to mention the fact that I was basically on a small Freeway!  Then, all of a sudden, on my left a ski resort appeared out of nowhere!  It was like one of those dreams where you’re trekking through a hot desert and all of a sudden your sand mirage turns into a mound of snow… OK, you get the point.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical of this strange, rather large mound of snow to my left; but hey, can’t complain!

The snow ended up being a lot better than I expected.  Although I’m used to the cooler weather at Mt. Hood, when the temperature at Hood is anything above 32 degrees it either rains or the snow is so sticky anytime past noon that its practically worthless.  Mt. High, on the other hand, was nothing of the sort.  It was about 40 degrees out and perfectly sunny (I sported my fleece all day because it was “too hot” to wear my jacket – aka, I forgot it) and the snow was actually decent.  I love spring skiing, and with spring skiing-like conditions all year round, Mt. High was made for me.

When I arrived, I parked at the lower lot because the main lot was already full, but it was only a 5-minute or so bus ride to the main lodge.  Mt. High is split into two completely separate resorts – the East Resort, which has a few chair lifts and freeride runs, and the West Resort, which is the snowboarders haven, and also considered the main resort.  I’ll talk about this one first, since its the first part I hit.

The East Resort of Mt. High really reminded me of a smaller version of Big Bear – it was basically one big park.  The entire hill.  The park, dubbed Faultline (check out the layout here; they’re on MySpace too!) was rad – it had rails and jibs I’ve never seen anywhere else!  I now see why pros come in nationwide to ride at this SoCal mountain.  The jumps were great too; it had a few different slopestyle parks, each one a different level.  It had a small one, great for beginners, two medium sized parks, and a gigantic one, where they hold many of their comps.  The one thing I didn’t like, though, was that (similar to Big Bear) the parks weren’t marked off from the rest of the hill.  There were so many times when I saw a beginner just sitting on the edge of a lip taking a quick break (really?!) or a reckless rider cut in mid park.  Despite this minor nuisance, though, I still had a blast (the East resort has a super fun atmosphere, with a lot of young, but not overly annoying, riders); so much so that I didn’t want to leave to go to the West Resort!

But I was SO glad I did.  Its funny, the two resorts are part of the same mountain, but carry completely different vibes.  While the East side is fun, crazy and crowded, the West side is relaxed and calm, and there really aren’t big crowds or long lines.  The runs are much longer (the West peak’s elevation is about 200 feet greater) and there are less people on the hill.  Though there wasn’t a wide variety of runs to choose from, they were the perfect steepness and it was fun to straightline the entire run from top to bottom.

The only couple drawbacks about Mt. High are a) It tends to get pretty crowded (I’ve heard you should either arrive early in the morning, about a half hour before the mountain opens, or after 2pm; and b) Well, its small.  To be completely honest, though, the size didn’t really bother me.  There are definitely days when I’m in the mood to freeride, scope out new tree runs, or build kickers in fresh pow, and on these days Mt. High wouldn’t be the best pick, but there are also days where I’d be perfectly happy spending 8 full hours in the park, and for these days Mt. High is perfect.  In fact, its home to probably one of the best parks I’ve ever ridden through.

Another thing that’s great about Mt. High is the number of fun events they have catered to the college-aged demographic.  For example, they have frequent concerts, events such as ‘College Night,’ competitions like ‘A Snowboard Contest,’ and a solid happy hour (dollar hot dogs!)  They are also very technically integrated, with fun programs like weekly podcasts riders can subscribe to so that people can continue to think snow even when they’re not on the slopes.

All in all, Mt. High’s a great time!  If you live in SoCaland are looking for a close weekend getaway, I’d give this one a three thumbs up.