You can now ski to the bottom at Vail after storm drops more snow than expected
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Vail Mountain opened the bottom of its Bear Tree run on Tuesday following a larger-than-expected storm that brought more than 8 inches of fresh snow to the slopes.
With that opening, downloads are no longer required on the mountain and more than 3,000 vertical feet of skiing is available from the top of Chair 4 (elevation 11,250 feet) to the bottom of Gondola One (elevation 8,200 feet.)
While the new opening only allows skiers and snowboarders to exit the slopes from the Vail Village egress point, crews said they are hoping to have egress to the Lionshead side of the mountain open by the end of the week. No additional runs were opened on Tuesday leaving Swingsville and Ramshorn off Chair 4 and Meadows off Chair 2 as the only terrain available to skiers.
A rope blocks the barrier between the Meadows and Kangaroo Cornice runs, but alongside that barrier a swath of deep, ungroomed snow was available for powder hounds who were able to manage the short hike there on Tuesday.
The 8-inch measurement Vail recorded on Tuesday came in at 5:32 a.m., and more snow continued to fall after that.
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That’s more than was forecasted. The National Weather Service called for accumulations of several inches and meteorologist Joel Gratz, who offers more localized ski area forecasts on OpenSnow.com, called for 3-6+ inches “ready to ride on Tuesday morning.”
Gratz said the narrow band that delivered the snow on Monday night will weaken and sag south on Tuesday morning.
“Snow will gradually end across the northern and central mountains through the late morning,” Gratz said. “Then on Tuesday midday and afternoon, snow showers will reform over the northern and central mountains with just a dusting to 2 inches of additional snow for most mountains.
“However, there could be pockets of 3-4 additional inches in any lucky spot that happens to be hit by a stronger cell,” Gratz added.
A Hazardous Weather Outlook, issued by the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office, will remain in effect through the beginning of next week.
“After a warmer and drier period, another chance of accumulating mountain snowfall arrives by late this weekend and persists into the early to mid-week period,” the National Weather Service said in the outlook.
