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Winter Park - Skiing
By Robert Bates | |
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Beginner / Early Intermediate
Winter Park is a good place for the first time skier to begin to learn. Genuine green trails are located in two different regions - the discovery learning centre and under the looking glass chair over towards the Vasque ridge area. The Discovery Park learning centre is easily accessed from the main Winter Park day lodge through the Gemeni Chair, though access to the looking glass area requires some lengthy flat sections to be traversed. The inclusion of long winding greens from the top of Winter Park mountain immediately allows you to begin exploring a little more, as well as opening up access to the major on mountain dining options and the spectacular views of the Fraser Valley.
From here it's easy to access the single blue terrain (Winter Park splits the intermediate terrain into two levels) and the flattering cruising down towards the
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Pioneer Express provides a natural progression to allow your skiing to improve, but always with cut-offs to easier terrain if you feel uncomfortable.
The network of blue trails extends across all five peaks, and it's easy to begin racking up the miles exploring the mountains, and the groomed trail from the top of the timberline lift allows you to get high up into the tundra and down comfortably.
Progressing Intermediate
Unlike most of the North American megareasorts, grooming at Winter Park is concentrated primarily on the green and easier blue slopes. Whilst this does permit lots of high mileage cruising and is all well and good, the search for steeper groomed terrain provides limited results - there's a pretty steep jump from the blues to the normally steeply mogulled blacks.
The Winter Park Ski school works well in this regards however, with lessons being denoted not by ability, but by topic. I took the Intro to Moguls course and by the end of the two and a half hour class we were all making our way down some of the blue-black bump runs off the top of Winter Park mountain. Admittedly it wasn't the straight down the fall line ripping through the bumps line that you see in the mogul comps, but it demystified the technique, removed the terror, and opened up most of the terrain, including the fabled Mary Jane.
Underneath the Timberline chair, Parsenn Bowl is a progressive intermediates playground. With a not too steep fall line, you can head down the bumps, powder or into the glades with confidence, exploring the terrain at your own pace.
Advanced
Whether Winter Park is for you depends largely on what really motivates you and the type of skiing you're after. Admittedly this is true for any resort, but with its present network of lifts the possibilities are very polarised here.
Mary Jane has the No.1 Moguls in North America as voted by Ski magazine year after year. Once the base forms it's left ungroomed for the season, consistent good-sized bumps forming down it's relentlessly steep main face. Runs down the sides have some viciously steep sections, and you realise it's not for nothing that these are branded expert only. There are plenty of opportunities to head down through the glades in Parsenn Bowl and down the backside of Parsenn also.
However, if you're more into bowl skiing, cornices, cliff chutes and wide expanses of steep, untracked powder, it's best to take a wait and see approach to see how any expansion opens up terrain. Vasque Cirque, home to Winter Parks more extreme terrain is presently hard to access - requiring a long traverse from the top of the timberline lift, then another long pole out from the base and then two lifts to get back to where you started. The ski patrol does offer a tow part of the way from a snowmobile at times, but otherwise it can take the good part of a morning to get in a run. If you do want great backcountry skiing though, the snowcat skiing offered at Berthold pass is probably the thing to try…
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Robert Bates stayed at the Vintage Hotel, located a short distance from the Winter Park base area. Special thanks go to Kate Roberts and Joyce Burford for arranging everything.
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