March 24, 2010
Sun and snow is the perfect combination
by Tony Chamberlain/
Dining and deckin' outdoors are spring staples when the sun turns on. (photo: Tony Chamberlain)
Obviously spring skiing/riding is a totally different animal. But even in April, there are days when the cloud cover and cool temperatures give us a revisit of winter. So the T-shirts and shorts crowd should have a back-up plan.
And yet on the ideal spring day the very combination of sun and snow lifts the spirits like no other chemical concoction I can think of. Upper mountain sundecks are full of tanners and partiers, and the very best areas have outdoor dining and good rock (not head banging) music pumping in the warm air.
Of course the crisp snow of early morning is corn by late morning, and skiing corn is a little like riding a wave: its best moment is just before crashing. So too, corn becomes mush in a twinkling, and that means either head for the sun deck, or try to find some dark hole of a trail on a non-sunny side of the hill.
I can’t give you a ‘best’ places for spring skiing, only some of the places where memories are most vivid and lasting. And these alone might bring me back to such places – some familiar, some remote – across ski country near and far.
► Zurmatt, Switzerland is perhaps the most spectacular place in my memory. If there is a quintessential ski region, this is it. Like most alpine spring skiing, Zurmatt is about high snowfields and glacier skiing, as the snow spreads down from the craggy peak immediately recognizable as the Matterhorn.
Ski racers stay up here well into the summer, though sadly the Alps’ glaciers are melting away at an alarming rate. Still, there’s plenty of broad snow to cruise on for a few hours before returning to the chalet village below, and the wonderful sidewalk cafe life of a warm spring apres ski.
► Whistler/Blackcomb (despite the Olympic meltdown problems) stays snowy right through May, with those terrific bowls that descend the cirques down into town. The lower approaches can be total slush in spring, but the environment above and below are superb. I have not been this year, but friends tell me there’s lots of Olympic wear and paraphernalia being sold in shops at post-event prices. And, the apres ski life is excellent.
► Summit County, Colorado is an oft-mentioned fave of mine, and is so named because of the two mile-plus altitudes that produce a dry snow that holds late into the spring. Some areas close because of a lack of business, but as you drive west on Route I-70 you will run into Copper Mountain – the best exposure for spring skiing – about 1½ hours out. Nearby is the legend of spring skiing, Arapaho, or A-basin, which collects as much as six new feet of snow in April and May.
Get your fat skis and head for this gorgeous spring powder. This is not exactly an Aspen or Breckenridge resort, but rather National Forest. But the party life goes on in the form of tailgate parties by the hundreds at the base.
New England has a number of contenders. Among the top spring choices are Sunday River, which has several exposure spots along and between its many peaks and valleys. Not far away is Sugarloaf, whose glades and snowfields offer plenty of spring offerings, from real steep and deep to wide open and wet cruising.
Killington – which used to aim for a June closing – is another obvious choice. The deep glades hold snow long into the season and there’s so much terrain that those back alleys and dark holes are all over the mountain. Also, Killington is often rated as numero uno in the East. In one category – party time – it is undeniable. This place rocks in the sun.
