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Cross-Country Board Tour

3K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  Chicagoguy 
#1 · (Edited)
So, here I go again (on my own.) Last year I took a Professional Leave and traveled in-search of good snow and good people. However, due to technical and climactic difficulties, I never blogged the trip. This year, I'm doing it again, hoping for better productivity. After a brief visit to Stowe, Vermont with my school's ski club (I'm a coordinator,) I set-out on a Tour of the West. My students dubbed this trip Snowbbatical Round 2. I arrived in Breckenridge on February 20th.

A big storm was set to drop a ton of snow on the Midwest, and Breckenridge reported a whopping 5 inches. I went and played for a few hours, but was so grumpified by the conditions off the T-Bar that I'm not even posting photos or video from that day. The next day, despite my grumpiness, I took the advice of Joel from Opensnow.com to go out and enjoy the snow. I'm glad I did. Here is a rough little edit.

Vail Day 2 - YouTube

I will update as often as possible.

My Itinerary includes:
Feb 21 - Breckenridge, CO
Feb 22 - Vail, CO
Feb 23 - Sleep
Feb 24 - Vail, CO
Feb 25 -Drive to Pike's Peak
Feb 26 - Copper Mountain
Feb 27 - Steamboat Springs
March 1 - Vail, CO
March 2 - A-Basin
March 3 - Keystone, CO
Mar 4 - Aspen Highlands
Mar 5th - Snowmass
Mar 6-7th- Undecided
Mar 8th - Hike Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon, CO
Mar 9th - Hike Arches National Park
Mar 10th - Hike Canyonlands National Park
Mar 11-15 - Salt Lake City Resorts (Dates To Be Determined, Resorts to include Canyons, Snowbird, Snowbasin, Solitude, Brighton, Sundance)
Mar 16/17 -Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Mar 18 - Grand Targhee
Mar 19 - Hike Grand Teton
March 21-25 Return to SLC
March 28-May 1 - South Lake Tahoe (Dates to Be Determined/Resorts to Include: Heavenly, Kirkwood, Squaw, Homewood, Alpine Meadows, Northstar, Mt. Rose, Sierra at Tahoe)
May-July (TBD Yosemite, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Big Sur, Santa Monica, San Diego, Joshua Tree NP, Sedona.......)


:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:
 
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#5 ·
May-July (TBD Yosemite, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Big Sur, Santa Monica, San Diego, Joshua Tree NP, Sedona.......)


:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:

If you only have a limited amount of time or money, hit up the Central CA coast over So Cal for sure.

Well, it depends....

santa monica and san diego will have crowded beaches with sun and hot chicks in g strings. But they are some of the most annoying self centered human beings on the planet and the beaches are filthy and polluted. I wouldn't want to go in the water is most areas. Traffic is some of the worst in the country.

Cental coast is unspoiled and gorgeous. However it will be over cast and in the 60s even in the summer.

Sonoma is good only if you like wine. Santa Cruz is fun. Put San Fran/Berkeley/East Bay on the list too.

Also, there's a good chance Mammoth will be open in June this year :D
 
#10 ·
I've been pretty frugal all the way and I have friends in Santa Cruz and Santa Monica, so I should be good. I'll hit all the spots along the way and San Fran will be put on the list. Thanks! I've been there before, but I should hit a Giants/Phillies game. Any suggestion of what to do in Berkeley?

Mammoth is definitely a consideration, as well.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Sorry for flaking-out, folks, I've been trying to stretch-out my scooch-leg! .

I hate to re-direct, but much more up-to-date, thorough coverage is on my blog: neednsnow.com

Well, I've made it to Salt Lake City, the land of 60-degree Mid-March Temperatures. Knocked-out Breck, Vail, Keystone, A-Basin (zzzzzz), Steamboat, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass, and Powderhorn. I balked on sunny days at Copper and Beaver Creek in exchange for a day of kite-boarding on Lake Dillon. It wasn't a bad trade-off, but I need to really get my resorts in. One friend once told me "It isn't about quantity, it is about quality." Well the quality of snow is mediocre, this year, so I'm trying to knock-out quantity!

Vail Day 1:


SteamBoat


Vail Day 2


Vail Day 3


Aspen Highlands


Snowmass


Powderhorn


This past weekend I spent some time with a friend Hiking and Touring in

Hanging Lake, CO


Arches NP in UT


Canyonlands NP






I'm taking a few days to organize my stuff before another stretch of travels and days on the hill. Over the next few days my itinerary includes:
Sundance
Canyons
Jackson Hole
Grand Targhee
Sundance
Snowbird
Solitude
Snowbasin
and Powder Mountain.

Let it Snow!
 

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#12 ·
Yeah, from the title of your thread, I thought you were skootching coast-to-coast too :laugh:

Anyway...so much to do in Berkeley, never enough time.

Start at the UC Berkeley campus at Bancroft Ave, work your way down Telegraph Ave. Street vendors, head shops, music stores (Rasputin, Amoeba), 510 Skateboarding is a local shop. And food of every kind (Top Dog on Durant Ave is a campus favorite).

Walk down Bancroft Ave away from campus toward downtown Berkeley. Games of Berkeley, Fantastic Comix, more food.

Drive to the "gourmet ghetto" on Shattuck Ave. for Cheeseboard pizza. Line out the door, closes at 3 pm. So good you might not notice it's vegetarian. Farmers' Market on Thursdays.

Trendy boutique outdoor shopping area on 4th Street. The Vivarium a block away sells snakes and other reptiles. Always a fun place to walk in a check out. Down the street, good cheap counter-service Indian food at Vik's.

If you have a lady to impress, go to the Berkeley Rose Garden in the Berkeley hills when the flowers are in bloom and have a picnic. Walk through the underground tunnel to Codornices Park, grab a piece of flattened cardboard, and go down the concrete slide. Further into the Berkeley Hills, check out Indian Rock if you like bouldering.
 
#13 ·
Right-on. Thanks for the thoughts. Lady friend may be making visit to SFO, so getting out to Berkeley might be a great idea. I'm all about the concrete slide and if the Veggie Pizza has tofu on it...there's some points to be score'd there!
 
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