Posted on another thread, but if you're headed to Breck or Keystone to ski Christmas, you may want to seriously reconsider. They have next to nothing open, they have almost no snow, and they are expected to have warm temps beginning next week and little to no snow in the forecast.

They are on 24 inch bases…that's 60% of the average at this point and it's going to be melting hard when the temps get into the high 30s next week.

Without a significant storm before Christmas, that base will be in the teens… that's crazy bad and crazy low.

They are at 20% open for Breck and 16% for Keystone. Probs won't see that change much with the forecast.

For comparison: Vail is a 40 inch base at 49% open with more expected to open later this week and BC is 39 in h base w 31% open and multiple lifts expected to open this week.

yep, going to have to go hunting for snow if you want to ski in the next few weeks

Skied at Christmas a few years back. Winter Park was like 20% open. Swore I'd never do it again.

I have not had a lot of luck with Christmas skiing. Much more enjoyable to wait it out and head up after the snow makes its way. But I sure do like mountains at Christmas.

Glad we have been planning Wolf Creek/Purgatory these past six months!

18" at Angel Fire NM overnight but probably not enough to open additional trails for opening day tomorrow.

They don't have much either…. Wolf Creek just picked up 10 inches and is still skiing on a sub 30 inch base (27 inches). The storm expected 12/24 - 12/31 has almost completely fizzed out.

Wolf Creek should be skiing on almost 45-50 inches at this point. Last year the base was already over 60 inches at this point. So yeah, 60% of the normal base isn't something I'd be dancing over. That's gonna be almost every hill in CO right now. You guys may not know the difference but it's a bad and bare year thus far.

Brecks down to a 22 inch base w above freezing highs through Tuesday and only 2 inches expected through the next ten days. Still only 26% open. That's gonna be a death trap in a week.

wcb said:

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Skied at Christmas a few years back. Winter Park was like 20% open. Swore I'd never do it again.

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We're out that way now. Got here today. We're not skiing (we're over at the Y Snow Mtn Ranch) but we're planning some other activities… basically all of the activities have been cancelled or at least are in danger of being cancelled. What was gonna be a fun busy week is going to be more chill. Still fun, and my Texas kids that have never seen snow are tickled to death. Just gonna try to make the most out of it.

It's the least snow I've ever seen going over the passes from DIA back to GWS today.

JustPanda said:

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They don't have much either…. Wolf Creek just picked up 10 inches and is still skiing on a sub 30 inch base (27 inches). The storm expected 12/24 - 12/31 has almost completely fizzed out.

Wolf Creek should be skiing on almost 45-50 inches at this point. Last year the base was already over 60 inches at this point. So yeah, 60% of the normal base isn't something I'd be dancing over. That's gonna be almost every hill in CO right now. You guys may not know the difference but it's a bad and bare year thus far.

Brecks down to a 22 inch base w above freezing highs through Tuesday and only 2 inches expected through the next ten days. Still only 26% open. That's gonna be a death trap in a week.

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Wolf creek is 100% open

Vail still in business or low as well?

Vail etc are all struggling. There's not a hill in CO that looks good.

There isn't a single ski resort in North America that has exceptional snow right now and there are very few that have more than about a 30" base. Crazy conditions when looking around the continent.

Vail is only 25 miles from Summit county. Not much snow there either. Right now, we have a dusting of snow predicted for the 24th, 29th, 30th, but it's around a 50% chance each of those days. If you're coming to CO, expect crowds and lots of doing the same few runs over and over. Not a great start to the season.

Vail is expontially better than Summit right now. 25 miles in the mountains can make a huge difference. Vails on a 32 inch base and 50%+ open. Breck is on a 21 w 28% open. That's a drastic difference.

Edit to add: I wouldn't even be on Vail at a 32 right now. I've had several chances to go up and passed. There's ALOT of gravel in the groomers and I'm not trying to groove anything but a ski shop rental. It's just not worth it right now.

Thanks for the update - I'm new to skiing and didn't realize I should be concerned this "late" in the season. Last year I took the fam to Crested Butte, and we're returning the first week of January. Do I need to find some activities to do other than ski?

21 inch base at Breck.

We've been in Copper since Friday… certainly nothing special but considering we only get one shot at this a year, we accept and enjoy. There have been no lines which is also a huge bonus.

Umm I've been encouraging people to ski wolf creek. I think you need to review the name of the thread and my other posts.

Wolf Creek is picking up 1 1/2 ft over the next 5 days and has a 30% deeper base than Breck and gets far fewer skiers. It's WAY below its average but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. I wouldn't be paying for anything in Sumco, but Routt, Pitkin, San Juan's and Sangres have a much deeper base and a much better 5 day forecast.

You guys probs don't know ****ty conditions anyways…

Im at Breck right now for work and its gnarly. 21 inch base, 30% open, and 35 degrees. 5-6 inches expected Saturday/Sunday. It's rock hard re-freeze with gravel in the groomers. That's gonna eat some people's bases.

And no where in CO has a good snow pack. That's just the facts. Some are better than others but everywhere is sparse compared to the 30 year median.

Here are the snow basins and the snowpack. 14 percentile…. So yeah the snow sucks but it's especially bad in summit county. No way would I be spending thousands of dollars to ski on a 19-21 inch base that's 19-30% open. I'd be pivoting to another area of the state or a different state or rescheduling. We've had probs 60% cancellations and our snow is light years better.

Here was last season:

And yeah WC is way below the median…

Purgatory is crap right now. Skied it and Telluride this weekend. They both need a ton of snow. Skied WC last week. It's all open but the coverage is sparse in a lot of spots. Steamboat isn't too bad. Vail / BC are hard packed groomers but at least there's a base. Keystone has next to nothing open and no base. Breck is all man made hard packed machined groomers and has very little open and tons of gravel in the groomers. Their new mountain ops team needs some work. They are cutting corners off runs and carrying gravel down a couple hundred yards from the cuts. Really bad for your skis but there's nothing for them to work with and once that spray is on the run, there's no way to cover it without natural snowfall. The rollers and kickers at Breck are all trashed too. Not sure who's grooming them, but you'd think it was their first season with how things look.

Telluride is the lowest I've ever seen it at this point and only 19% open too.

WP is ok. 31 inch base and 48% open. Anything that's less than 40% open is going to be a **** show. Vail is 57% open and much larger than the other hills in the state and it's an ant hill right now. I'll take a picture of the front face headed down to Gondola 19 tomorrow - it's scary packed and that's Vail w 57% open. Imagining those crowds at Breck with only 30% open or Key with only 19% open and it's scary because they will have 2-3x more skiers than Vail come Christmas / NY. There's gonna be a lot of injuries at this pace.

Snowmass still has a good base and decent snow. If I was picking a place to go it'd probs be there.

Edit to add picture of PTEXing my bases after Purg/Telly. Shouldn't have to PTEX a base when you run groomers all day but that's how bad the coverage is in spots. You can't avoid the minefields you just bring out old crappy gear that you don't mind destroying,

Not the year to skimp on renting a helmet either. You knock your head on this refreeze and your brains will be splattered half way across the run. Saw a guy today that clipped his toes w another skiers heels, and it sounded like an explosion when he hit and there was a blood trail that easily went 10-15 yards down the hill. I wouldn't ski without a helmet ever but I really wouldn't ski right now without one. For $8/day that's an easy decision to potentially avoid a traumatic head injury. I'm guessing that guy today got at least a couple dozen stitches and maybe some staples too.

We skied Purgatory Monday, and WC Tuesday through tomorrow. It was snowing when wet left this afternoon very steadily. Purgatory had many ice patches. Today we started seeing them at WC, too, but hoping to have a few inches of powder in the morning. No complaints. Great memories for the family.

WC is supposed to get 16 inches over the next 5. Should be nice from that point on for a week to 10 days.

I unfortunately won't see it.

49 degrees in Steamboat. Yikes.

WC got 8" yesterday and Base now at 32"

We skied it Tuesday through Thursday, but had to leave, and we're trying to find some way we could stay a few more days and see this new snowfall over the weekend. If you're there, enjoy it!