Trip Report: Beaver Creek & Vail - Mar. 2024
Cathy Margiotta | Published on 4/21/2024
There’s a certain charm to skiing on real snow, isn’t there? There are no scraping sounds, no one screaming to hang on to what little purchase they have, or cursing the dirt and rocks that are putting deep gouges in your skis.
Nothing but the whoosh of sliding through powder, or graceful skimming over nicely groomed slopes. Both conditions lull us into thinking that skiing is easy, and in these conditions it really is.
McCoy Park (Mahyar Malekpour)
Beaver Creek base (Abby Anderson)
The Charter (Lee Anderson)
Snow worshipper (Abby Anderson)So began our trip to Beaver Creek, when we had about fifteen inches of snow waiting for us on Sunday, another fourteen inches on Monday, and a regular dusting every night after that. McCoy Park had the easiest untracked powder. Throughout the week, though, we all struck out across this vast resort for powder, trees, groomers, moguls and freshly groomed runs from Red Buffalo to Arrowhead.
It was Rick’s first experience with real Colorado powder:
“Skiing into a two foot high mound of snow and coming out with the same velocity and no slush caked on your boots was a new experience. It took some getting used to and I have to say that I had a much closer encounter with the snow than some of my fellow skiers. [Editor’s note: Did you fall, Rick?] By the end of the week I was feeling much more confident, though part of that was due to conditions getting a little more groomed.”
Beaver Creek has been on Tom’s bucket list since forever because of the variety of terrain and its suitability for our club members. Do you agree with his comments on his favorite places to ski?
Red Buffalo: Where else will you find a whole area of approachable green and blue trails right off the summit?
McCoy Park: A shallow bowl of mostly green terrain where you could ski anywhere—through the woods, in the bushes, across open fields, or on groomed trails, bopping back and forth as you like. Despite the modest pitch, this area had some of the deepest powder on the mountain and was a lot of fun. Even Michael and Max enjoyed the trees there, and I was still able to find patches of untracked powder on Friday afternoon, five days after the first big dump.
Larkspur Bowl: Long runs through a big, open, nearly treeless area. Stay to the right for a semi-groomed blue, or move left for more of an off-piste experience. Steve and I did several laps there on Tuesday, and I went back for another run with a few other folks on Friday.
Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead: Long green and blue cruisers with plenty of room to maneuver. I was in Bachelor Gulch for a couple of hours by myself on Wednesday afternoon and had as much fun as I have ever had on skis. I was really in the zone that afternoon, with stuff that I normally have to think about just happening automatically. Amy, Mahyar, Rick, and I were back there on Friday morning for some fast-paced skiing before connecting with Cathy's crew for a few more runs.
Back on Saturday night, we all got briefed on the two ski-in ski-out trails that were accessible from The Charter. The problem I had was that despite the two maps Jane gave us and the Slopes app, I couldn't find my way back by the trail at the end of the day on Sunday, and some cranky employee wasn’t any help with directions. Not too embarrassing if it were just me, but I had all these club people following me as if I knew where I was going. Hello! We ended up taking the shuttle back.
I don’t feel too ridiculous because Janet and Betsy tried a similar adventure on the second option of the return to The Charter. But they took the wrong trail and ended up far from home. A nice young man in a Village Connect bus stopped as he came upon them. He even got out of the bus and loaded their skis in the rack. According to Betsy, “It’s nice to be taken care of before you know how bad you need it.”
Steve enjoyed how Beaver Creek left an ungroomed path down some of the slopes so that our diverse group could ski together yet enjoy whatever challenge we wanted.
Our condos at The Charter were comparable to the best accommodations we've had on any of our club trips. The shuttle made the location convenient, just a short walk to Beaver Creek Village, with ski-in/ski-out access to the Elkhorn lift via a connector trail. The trek up the semi-grand staircase at the end of the day was the least favorite part, which made the shuttle far more appealing, plus George the driver was a nice guy. We could also access the main base in the village via the Charter shuttle, which ran continuously during the day except for a couple of hours around lunchtime when George went skiing.
There were cookies and hot chocolate at 3 pm every afternoon. I went often. And then—there’s Lee who enjoyed the Charter so much he had to bow down in worship.
On Wednesday, Trey and Mary Jane snowmobiled.
Wednesday was also snowshoe day for Mahyar, Susan, Amy and Tom. They walked around the golf course near The Charter, but Mahyar literally went one step further and hiked to the top of McCoy Park. Mahyar “highly recommends taking half-day or full day off on a ski trip to enjoy the beauty of nature at a slower pace than careening down the slopes on skis.” [Editor’s note: Mahyar, you don’t careen down the slopes that much. You ski well.]
That evening brought the group dinner at the Blue Moose. It was an enjoyable, informal setting with great pizza, salads, and drinks. Mahyar bragged to our very tall, vision-challenged young server that we brought the snow with us. He asked that we not take the snow with us when we left.
Thursday was the optional Vail trip, and boy was it a beautiful blue bird day over there. Me, Steve and Mahyar met up with my Vail instructor friend, Trish, who took us on the grand tour of a place that’s even bigger than Beaver Creek. Those bowls!! Those trees!! That same day, Tom, and Amy met Amy’s high school classmate, Shawn, who manages a couple of the Vail restaurants. He took them on his version of the grand tour. We all met up for a few runs on the front side, then Tom and Amy begged off for a BBQ lunch at the on-mountain Wildwood restaurant. Transportation to and from Vail was easy to use and on time, however, there was another semi-grand staircase to conquer on the way up to the Beaver Creek bus level.
 Steve, Cathy, and Trish (Mahyar Malekpour) |
 Tom & Amy at the Back Bowls (Shawn Parker) |
 So much terrain at Vail (Amy Crockett) |
Thursday night was also time for the Snow Down, complete with fireworks. Six club members skied down, four others were there to cheer and take photos. It was a well organized display of green, blue and red skiers making their snaky shape way to the base.
Our food extravaganza was Friday night, our last night. If you didn’t have enough to eat throughout the week, here was your chance to bulk up even more on everyone’s leftovers. Chips, dips, cookies, nuts, veggies, fruit, and wine, lots of wine. There was a notable pile of wraps and sandwiches that made their way onto our bus trip to Denver the next day. Even though everyone made their best effort to devour all the food, it was an impossible task, and the leftovers were given to the staff.
From what I’ve heard, the flight home for all of you was uneventful. Of course United overbooked the flight. I mulled over their offer and decided to take their United cash, free room, and two food vouchers. Amy said I took one for the team! Maybe I did, but there were only two problems with my decision: the next day at the airport, I had no one to talk with. All my friends were gone! And then there were two tries at landing the plane Sunday evening in Norfolk due to high crosswinds. That was different!
Would many of you agree Beaver Creek ought to be on the do-again list? All of you had a great time. Mahyar coordinated a seamless trip. It is an area so vast, I doubt everyone got a chance to explore every nook and cranny. I didn’t. And I know Steve never made it down Birds of Prey even though he talked about doing just that all summer.
I had a great time challenging some people to bump up their game and watching them respond with a smile. Skiing really is easier when you attempt to ski with some technique, yes?
I’m looking forward to our adventures next year and hope to ski again with all of you. You guys made it a lovely and successful ski season for our club.
(Abby Anderson)
P.S. Am I really that short?
Photo albums: Beaver Creek | Vail